The readings must have been a lot better. The slight glow to the rock in sparse places gave me a bit of a clue. The rock itself seemed to be shedding a bit of its outer crust. I may not have had a lot of experience, but that didn’t look good. Then again, why was Jobbes still so close? He was still close enough to touch the massive chunk of rock.
I raised my voice and yelled out, “Emergency Comms! Abort! Abort! Abort! Jobbes, get out of there!” The message went out. All three lasers ceased. It was too late, however. The rock, only slightly overcharged, split. Jobbes took the brunt of the pressure wave. He was far too close, though had been starting to move away.
I heard my own voice ring out, but I only barely registered my body reacting. I flung myself into his trajectory, my eyes wildly looking for somewhere to throw us both into once we met. If we didn’t find something to stop us, we’d possibly continue on forever.
It was then I saw the remnants of a nearby asteroid we’d already mined. It was just big enough to stop us both. It was going to be a hard hit though. I didn’t really think much of it, I just chose the direction and took the suit there. Jobbes’ suit impacted mine with a wrenching change of inertia.
Moments later, though it felt like an eternity, we impacted the asteroid I had been haphazardly aiming for. I knew, because I felt every single muscle and joint in my body protest the intense impact of our strike. It did, however, stop us both. It far outweighed either of us.
I looked back in the direction of the ship. It was then that I realized that it was a tiny little speck in the distance. We had gone quite far in our tumble. I hadn’t really looked at how far away this mass of iron had been. I just remembered it from earlier in our shift. The memory of the fact that I was on the job, rousted me from my shocked staring. I was still holding Jobbes!
“Jobbes! Talk to me! Jobbes,” I exclaimed, screaming his name into proximity comms on the emergency channel. He didn’t stir, though his suit was still working, it seemed. They really built these Novikov suits.
It took a good few moments, but, I flipped him over. He looked unconscious. I reached down for my medgun. I kept one on me at all times. I aimed it at Jobbes’ form and watched for readings from his mobiGlas. One second, two seconds, three…
Finally, a reading popped up. A level 3 head injury, that wasn’t good. He’d need medical at the very least. Didn’t someone have a Pisces in the group? I looked up towards where the ship had been; it was getting larger in the distance. They had left a Prospector at the claim, it seemed.
I checked my oxygen levels. Still good, luckily. I looked down at Jobbes; his pallor looked very bad. He wasn’t going to have a fun time when he woke up. That was when I saw them.
They were very far in the distance, the only thing that brought my attention was a streak of red light from a weapon blast. There was a group fighting in the distance. There was no doubt they’d detected the Mole. It had a cross section bigger than some moons. This was about to become a very interesting day. First the overcharged hunk of Taranite and Quartz, now, this? The Mole was starting to get closer; it was then that the comms started to come through.
“Ca…n! J…bes! Can y… hea… me,” Rixton’s frantic and garbled voice came breaking through my suit with these words. I didn’t bother responding just yet, it wouldn’t go through. I began to do my best to stabilize Jobbes. I looked over in the direction that I had seen weapons fire. The weapons fire had ceased, but I could see engines burning full Quantum. This was about to go from bad to worse.
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