Assignment Darklanding Read online

  So many traps.

  The sheriff slowed his pace and the Ungloks left him behind. He moved to the side as his head started to swim. One of the miners slapped him on the shoulder and gave him the thumbs up as he passed. The small group of eight miners continued downhill. With his back against the wall, Thad took long deep breaths, pulling hard against his respirator.

  He looked up and down the tunnel, letting his light shine through the darkness. The dust was settling now that the shuffling miners had passed.

  A horrendous screech tore up the tunnel, then thunder, and finally, a dust cloud billowed his way.

  His reverie broke and the former captain’s mind sharpened, focusing like a laser beam down the tunnel from where the sounds had come. He bolted downhill, running into the dust cloud before slowing, trying not to outrun his light.

  The sidewall had collapsed, but the roof was intact. Scaling bars and rock pikes protruded from the rubble. The humans were injured and trapped. The four Ungloks were away from the collapse, with their backs against the wall, standing perfectly still. Covered in dust, they looked like ghosts.

  The sheriff waded into the fall and started throwing rocks out of the way, freeing one miner after another. He stopped after a minute and looked at Jotham. “A little help, please?”

  The Unglok pointed to the wall and shook his head. “Can we brace it? We have a couple jacks,” Thad suggested.

  “Yes. Put one there against that crack and one over there.”

  The sheriff got to work as the men groaned and pleaded for help. First one brace, using the wrench to crank it tightly into place, then the second brace. As soon as he turned back, the aliens were furiously digging the humans from the rocks.

  Broken bones, bruises, lacerations. Their helmets had saved their heads. Thad and the aliens propped the miners up, five men, three women, but no foreman. “Where’s P.C.?”

  Jotham looked back with a blank expression on his thin face. “P.C.!” Thaddeus yelled and scrabbled across the rock on his way downhill. He found the foreman past the slide, bruised and bleeding, but mostly undamaged. His eyes were vacant.

  The foreman’s helmet was cracked. “Look at that! Takes a licking and keeps on ticking!” Thad told the man before turning serious. The Ungloks circled the pair. “Here’s what we’re going to do, P.C. We’re going down there to find the others and bring them out. We’ll be back for you, with the others, or we won’t be back at all.”

  P.C. looked at him. His jaw worked for a bit before anything came out. “But you’re not a miner.”

  “Today, I am. My friends and I are going deeper into the mine, look for survivors, because miners refuse to give up. We know that no matter what, someone is going to come looking for us. All we have to do is hang on until they get there. We are their someone. We gotta go, P.C. Stay here and keep the others comfortable. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

  The sheriff gripped the foreman’s shoulder, then let go, turned, and headed downhill with a bold stride. His light showed less dust the farther he went.

  Jotham caught up and walked casually beside him. “If I was a betting Unglok, I would say that where once there was thirty, we are now five, and the odds are finally in our favor.”

  “How so?” Thad asked, keeping his eyes forward and slowing as he came to an intersection.

  Jotham pointed to the left. They turned and walked that way.

  “Too many miners who don’t know the mine. You have us. We will be fine,” the alien explained.

  “How did you guys escape that last fall? It caught everyone else. All of them and none of you.”

  “We heard it before the others and jumped out of the way. They hesitated. In the mine, you must never hesitate. They say that those who delay, die. That’s what they say.”

  The sheriff stopped and cupped a hand over his ear, listening to sounds from below. Groans. Scrapes.

  “Come on!” he shouted as he took off running. The Ungloks loped after him, easily catching up and then matching his pace.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Shaunte drummed her fingers on her desk. “Screw this,” she declared as she removed her dress and put on her jumpsuit. There was only one like hers—service class, but with sleeves a different color. Some planets had multiple people in senior management positions who wore the Company’s distinctive uniform.

  Most planets did, but not an outpost on the frontier like Darklanding.

  She hurried out the door, through the saloon, and headed for the street where she intended to wave down the next shuttle and go to the mine.

  It took longer than she expected and she started jogging. People cleared out of her way. The worst thing they could imagine was the Company Man running. The people bolted in fear, racing for their quarters.

  To do what, Shaunte couldn’t imagine. She settled into a fast walk, something that demonstrated confidence instead of panic.

  The shuttle appeared, but it was nearly empty. She waved it down. It was the mine’s night shift crew. Only two miners were in their seats when the bus should have been full. Nearly all of the night shift had already reported and were working overtime.

  Shaunte groaned thinking about how much this accident was costing her. She still had no idea on the extent of the damage, either to the mine or to the personnel. Both would require a great deal of paperwork, but the loss of production would require more detail.

  Kill a miner, but don’t impact production? That would be a fairly trivial affair. The sheriff wouldn’t even have to investigate the death.

  She found herself questioning the priorities. She also realized that she should have gone to the mine earlier. “Damn sheriff,” she muttered.

  The shuttle dropped off its three passengers at the equipment shed. Shaunte led the way inside while the other two followed out of curiosity.

  “News?” she demanded of Davos. She had only met the man twice.

  “Miss Plastes! What are you doing here?”

  “The mine is broken, and I’m here to fix it. I admit that I don’t know how, but the people who do are down there.” She waved her hand in the general direction of the mine entrance. “And I’m going to find them.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Davos said politely as he handed her gear over. She knew how to put it on, but wasn’t experienced. She took her time while the other two threw on their gear as only experienced professionals could. Once finished, they watched her complete her preparations. Once ready, she hitched her belt to make sure her gear wouldn’t shift, then waved at the two miners to follow.

  When they reached the entrance, she thought better of her bravado. “Lead the way, gentlemen,” she told them. The two miners shrugged and headed into the mine, clicking on their headlamps the instant they crossed the threshold from the world above to the one below.

  The trio headed downward toward the first cave-in, through the narrow breach, and onward, staying to the left where the tunnel branched. They stopped when they saw the two bodies, but jack stands were in place and a gap had been cleared through the remains of the fallen ceiling.

  She noted the two casualties, using her pad to download their personal data from their implants before joining the two miners waiting impatiently near the rubble.

  Billy was on a ladder feverishly splicing a cable.

  “Is that to get power back to the bottom of the mine?” Shaunte asked, not caring if her question sounded stupid.

  The electrician stopped, looked over her shoulder, saw the jumpsuit, and replied cautiously. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Quick as you can, and thank you. We’re headed in.” Shaunte waved at the two miners to keep moving. They turned without delay and disappeared into the gap. She hurried to catch up, taking care not to touch the jack stands or the rocks. Her headlamp cast eerie shadows as she tossed her head back and forth in a failed attempt to shine the light everywhere at once.

  The miners ahead of her continued downward at a brisk pace until they started to run. She didn’t want to lose them in the da
rkness, so she took off after them. She did not have to run. They only went twenty meters until they stopped and crouched to talk with a number of men sprawled against the tunnel wall. The remnants of another cave-in was just beyond. Two jack stands were braced against the wall.

  “How unstable is this place?” she asked.

  One of the miners shrugged before he and the other man put on their respirators. Shaunte hadn’t thought about it, although the dust in the air should have warned her to put her mask on earlier. Or maybe they didn’t want to talk with her, and it was a challenge while wearing the respirator.

  They went from one person to another as they confirmed that all the miners were alive. Shaunte watched the two men breathe quickly, almost to the point of hyperventilating. She collected the information from each using her pad, while trying to be reassuring.

  She thought that her presence in that situation should have boosted their spirits. She’d always been taught to avoid the front lines of labor because they had nothing in common.

  Maybe my life is different, my goals different, but we’re all the same people, she thought. “We’ll get you out of here as soon as we find the others. Where is the foreman? Or the sheriff?” she yelled through her mask.

  The middle-aged woman started to lift an arm to point, but winced and gasped. When she calmed, she was able to cough out two words. “Down there.”

  The miners all squinted when she turned her head to look at the opening through the rockfall.

  When her two companions talked with the other miners, they turned their heads, never shining their light in the other’s face. Her inexperience was obvious.

  I’m not just like them. I’m not as good as these people. At least they know their jobs.

  She tipped her head up to look over the heads of the two men with whom she’d entered the mine. “Let’s keep going.”

  “We can’t leave these people here!” one of the men exclaimed. He looked angry.

  “There are more down there and they need our help, too.”

  “Sorry, ma’am. We’re going to start taking these out and get them some help.”

  Shaunte could have ordered the men, but she didn’t know the procedures well enough to be certain that they weren’t doing what they were supposed to.

  “I’ll go ahead,” she told them. They waved her away as she inadvertently shined her light in their faces. She mumbled an apology and turned her attention down the tunnel.

  She stepped through the cleared pathway, taking great care not to touch anything for fear of setting off another slide. On the other side of the fall, she saw a man in a working-class jumpsuit with stripes on his sleeves.

  The foreman. She hurried to him, but his head wavered and his eyes were unfocused. “P.C.!” she yelled through her respirator at his face. She shook him, which made his eyes roll back in his head. His chin dropped to his chest. The mask twisted on the foreman’s face.

  Shaunte adjusted it to help the mask seal. When she was satisfied, she stood and pointed her headlamp down the tunnel. Downward it went with a slight turn to the left before disappearing around a turn back to her right.

  She walked boldly downhill with only her headlamp to light the way.

  ***

  They passed ten side tunnels before the sheriff spoke. “There!” he said, pointing. Ahead, a hand stuck out of more rubble. It looked like a slab had come loose and levered downward, remaining intact as it hit, but that had brought down the surrounding stone. One man had been caught on the edge.

  The sheriff ran to the hand and grabbed it, but it was dead flesh. The sheriff and two of the Ungloks started digging. Jotham and the other surveyed the surrounding area.

  “Not good, Sheriff. The cave is unhappy. We should probably leave.”

  “No,” Thad declared as he kept digging until he could pull the body free. He removed his mask and started yelling. “Anyone in there?” They had heard the agonized howls of those in pain, both human and Unglok, but they couldn’t see anyone else.

  A voice yelled back from beneath the slab, before it degenerated into a racking cough. The sheriff moved the body out of the way, less delicately than he should have, but much time had passed since the initial reports of the cave-in. The Ungloks stood back, accepting the rocks that Thad passed, but not helping him dig.

  He took a break, his respirator struggling to keep up. Jotham talked with the other aliens in their language. He thought he heard his name mixed within the Unglok words. They stopped talking. Jotham moved the sheriff out of the way.

  “They say it is a great honor to lead a rescue.”

  “What took you so long?” the sheriff mumbled through his mask.

  “We don’t want to die during said rescue and the mountain is unstable. We will help free the miners and then we must leave, if we’re still able.”

  Thad nodded and motioned for them to start. He leaned against the tunnel wall and tried to slow his breathing. He thought he’d been in good shape when he arrived, but was finding out that he was not. He was tired and sore.

  He watched as the aliens quickly cleared the rubble, exposing a crawlspace beneath the leaning slab. The miners crawled to where they could be pulled out and one by one, four men, three women, and two Ungloks were removed. Of the nine, only two were uninjured—one of the women and one of the aliens. The rest would have to be carried out.

  The sheriff looked the woman in the face. “Is there anyone else down there?” He pointed to make sure she knew what he was talking about. She vigorously shook her head.

  “We were the bottom team. Didn’t you check the tag board?”

  Thad remembered the board. He’d had to put his temporary tag on the board before he could enter the mine. Everyone who went in had to put up a tag and then remove that tag when they left the mine. The Company was very strict about that. The tags were linked to the implants. The Company used them for pay purposes. The miners used them for accountability, since they never wanted to leave one of their own behind.

  The sheriff nodded to the woman.

  Thad pulled his mask down. “We each take one,” he told them. Someone pointed up the tunnel at the lone headlamp coming their way. “Belay that.”

  They waited until the other person arrived. The combined lights of the sheriff and the Ungloks shone up the tunnel. Thad saw the sleeves of the jumpsuit and the blonde hair sticking out from under the helmet. He crossed his arms and shook his head.

  “How’s it going?” she yelled through her mask.

  “Nine rescued, one dead down here. We don’t believe there is anyone deeper in the mine. We need to get these people out. You didn’t bring anyone with you?” the sheriff asked.

  “Two, but they’re helping the last bunch.” She pointed a thumb over her shoulder.

  They heard the scraping and clanking of a work crew, which drew everyone’s attention. From the nearest side tunnel, lights appeared and the group that the foreman had sent on the long journey to the bottom of the mine strolled out.

  “What’s up?” Pavel Stasenko called with the ten stout miners behind him. They weren’t wearing their respirators. Their route must have been clear.

  “You’re a sight for sore eyes. We need help getting this bunch out of here, and then another group partway up, and then more. It’s a total crapfest. You need your respirators from here on out,” the sheriff told him with his mask pulled away from his face, before letting it settle back over his nose and mouth.

  Jotham picked up a human, draping his arms over his shoulders as if wearing a backpack. One of the Ungloks picked up the injured alien, and the rest hauled someone to their backs.

  “The mine is not getting more stable as we stand here,” Jotham suggested.

  “Gotta go, Pavel. Lead the way out.”

  Stasenko nodded once. Shaunte headed up the tunnel first and scanned people as they passed. She scanned the sheriff last as she joined him to be the last ones out. Thad’s lip curled in disgust at being scanned.

  They had done t
hat to him when he served in the military. He swore ‘never again,’ but here he was, getting scanned, his movements tracked, his whole life serving at the pleasure of the Company.

  “Looks like we have everyone accounted for,” she shouted.

  The sheriff nodded. The Ungloks were out-pacing the humans.

  “Pick up the pace people!” the sheriff yelled past his mask.

  The group surged forward, spurred on by the realization that the aliens, natural cave dwellers that they were, were hurrying to get out of the mine. They adopted a shuffling run in order to close the distance.

  When they reached the next cave-in, they slowed to pass the obstruction without their vibrations or carelessness starting another rockfall. Pavel personally picked up the foreman and without hesitation, continued through the gap.

  They picked up the injured and the dead. Even the sheriff hoisted one over his shoulder. The man cried out in pain. “Sorry,” the sheriff called out, but he didn’t change what he was doing. If Jotham was to be believed, they needed everyone out of the mine.

  When they reached Billy, Shaunte yelled at her to join them.

  “But I’m almost done!” she replied.

  “We’re evacuating the mine. The Ungloks don’t think it is stable. We need to pull out and reassess,” Shaunte explained.

  “But production…”

  “Production will get rolling when we are sure it’s safe to work.”

  Billy hesitated. She had heard those words before, but they were never followed by action. Production always came first. People were expendable.

  “Give me one minute?” she asked. Shaunte watched the backs of the day and night crews as they continued uphill toward the mine entrance.

  “One minute,” Shaunte declared. The sheriff stood, shifting his weight nervously as time crawled.

  Billy’s hands moved in a blur before she wrapped tape around her last efforts. She jumped from the ladder and ran up the tunnel a few steps before stopping to throw the breaker. The lights blinked on in succession, lighting the way downward. The whine of the air handlers echoed through the empty space.