CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Joe said, “That better not be Brux fucking around again.” They ran through the heat to the communications shed.

When they got inside they saw Brux shouting into the microphone. “Help is on the way.”

They rushed to Brux.

“Where’s the problem?” Joe asked.

“The coordinates are in your communicators.” He pointed to the monitor in front of him. “It’s on one of the first digging levels. The ventilation system is working at full capacity so you should be okay.”

Mike and Joe dashed in the direction indicated. Down ramps and through a few tunnels they arrived at the scene. A cloud of dust and debris hung a few feet above their heads and was dissipating rapidly. They could hear screams of agony mixed with wild coughing and choking.

They found Sry and three diggers clustered around a fourth man, Ake, on the ground. He was in his late teens. Thin like almost all of them. He had big zits and long shaggy hair. Ake had seemed friendly enough the few times Mike spoke to him. He writhed and screamed and choked. Mike and Joe knelt next to Sry on the ground.

“How is he?”

“He needs medical attention.”

“Where’s Gek?” Gek was the only person with medical training in the colony. Compared to a doctor on Earth, he’d had the first day of training of an EMT.

Sry shrugged. Mike tapped his communicator and seconds later got Brux. “Find Gek and get him down here.”

“He’s in the storage room looking for medical supplies.”

“Send men to help him look.”

“Already done,” Brux said.

Ake stopped screaming. Mike put a finger on his carotid artery. The blood still pumped. He saw the chest rise and fall. He had passed out.

Mike and the others knelt next to him. Five minutes later Gek ran up. He had with him what looked like an EMT person’s kit on Earth. He unhitched a wand-like, flashlight thick device.

Complex medical devices such as on Joe’s ship had not been given to them. They would have to make do with portable mechanisms that hikers used on primitive planets. These were like flashlights that gave off a beam that fixed things medically. Mike would have found this hard to believe if he hadn’t witnessed Joe being cured on his ship. That had been a spectacular display. Joe had assured him that the flashlight deals, although primitive according to the standards on Hrrrm, would give better care than the most advanced surgical department on Earth. Mike trusted his husband.

“What took so long?” Sry asked.

“It was hidden under ten tons of other stuff. We were lucky to find them this fast.” He worked while he talked. “Let’s see if this can do anything.”

A blue beam extended from the front. Gek began running it over Ake.

They’d never dared try one of these on Mike. They didn’t know what it would do with his different physiology. So far, there’d been no cause to need it. Mike didn’t know what he’d do if something really did go wrong with him. Earth’s doctors were a lot of light years away and were not on their way.

Mike turned to Sry. “What happened?”

Sry stood up. Mike and Joe followed him a few steps toward where Ake and his machine had been digging. Already the air was clearer.

Sry pointed above them. “Part of a newly dug ceiling fell on the kid.”

Mike said, “I thought the geologist had all this mapped out.”

Sry said, “And I double-checked the programming and the seam before they started.”

Joe said, “Where’s the computer guidance system on the machine?

Sry pointed it out. He and Joe went over it. Mike looked between them and the work on Ake. Gek was moving his blue glow inch by inch over the boy.

Sry said, “We don’t get cave-ins. We don’t.” He sounded frantic.

Joe ran his fingers over the face of the digger’s computer. Mike had seen Joe do magic things with computers on Earth. In Mike’s view, while Joe was on Earth, his husband was the most adept computer expert on the planet. Here he still seemed to be far more knowledgeable than many others.

Joe slammed his hand on the side of the digger then pointed at the computer screen. “You didn’t get a cave-in. Someone tampered with this.” Mike and Sry leaned closer.

Joe said, “Here’s your signature from when you last checked.” Joe moved several rows of dots and squiggles. “Here’s what overrode your program. Ake was just following what the computer said. He was ten feet into a faulty seam.” Joe looked up and examined the ceiling that remained. “I think if he’d been an expert at this, he might have realized the trouble after the first few feet.”

Sry said, “I’m the only one with extensive training. They’re all new. We trained on simulators. It’s not the same when you’re actually digging.”

Joe continued to tap on the computer. “This was set to malfunction.”

Sry said, “I’ll double-check all the others.”

Mike said, “Maybe we got all brand new ones because they’re defective.”

Joe said, “Or programmed wrong. I’ll help go over them.”

They turned back to Gek and Ake. Gek said, “He should recover, but this thing doesn’t do much more than the superficial. I fixed his broken leg and repaired an internal organ. It will keep him from any pain. It’s a good thing it didn’t need to do more and be used much longer.”

Mike thanked him. Ake awoke. Several men helped him shuffle off.

Later than night Joe crawled into their bed. Mike awakened. Joe said, “Sry and I went over all of the diggers. They were all sabotaged to go wrong at various intervals.”

“They didn’t think we’d figure it out after the first one?”

“Maybe they think we’re as stupid and impervious to reality as they are.”

“But it’s fixed?”

“Yes. Sry and I reprogrammed the first few and set the computers to replicate the new programming. It will actually take only a few hours for the machines to talk to each other.”

“What if there’s more hidden internally inside their instructions? Or inside other stuff we got?”

Joe said, “I’ve already assigned a man from each team to go over each piece of equipment for sabotage. Then if necessary I’ll do a final check on the electronics. Brux will help.”

“More man-hours taken from what needs to be done.”

Joe sighed, “It all needs to be done.”

Mike nodded. “I know.”

Joe adjusted the flimsy sheet that covered them. They put their arms around each other. “We did our best with this situation,” Joe said. “We will do our best with each situation that comes up.”

“And if our best isn’t enough?”

“Our best is all we’ve got.”

They held each other in fear and desperation until they both fell asleep.