Deep Space Dead by Edward Chilvers Read Free Book Online Page A

upstairs and looked out of her window which had once let out upon nothing but stars but now gave out to a view of flowers and lush green fields. Fortunately Jak’s apartment held more or less the same view, and this was just as well because Arianna had agreed to move in with him during the next few days.
     
    The great bulldozers were rolled out along with the concrete, tar and stone chipping. Over the next few days the builders worked tirelessly to create the first road network. The lumberjacks set out from their stations and started to fell the tall, straight trees in the forests whilst the carpenters prepared them into long, straight boards. Miners went out with their machinery into the nearby caves and began drilling. Soon they came back and declared they had discovered a rich strain of iron ore. The engineers gleaned the spare parts from the ships engines and soon began to construct a smelting works. Looking around at it all Arianna was amazed it was all happening so fast whilst Ambra was so over excited to be almost completely out of control.
     
    Admiral Kalp chose a spot on a raised piece of ground just above the river for her mansion with the foundations being laid almost straight away. The Admiral’s retirement mansion was a priority for the new settlers and a symbol of the transfer to domestic, land based leadership.
     
    “I’m sorry, Jak. I’ve made my decision.”
    “But he’s an amateur!” Protested Jak. “I’ve aced him in every trial so far.”
    It was five days since footfall and the first proper meeting of the Council on hard earth. The meeting had begun amicably enough. Quotas were being met, the landing had gone perfectly, the ditches were dug and the remaining sections of the arboretum had been detached accordingly. Now that the groundwork was coming along nicely it was time to go further afield. It was time for the first scouting mission. There were two teams of twelve rangers on the Tula IV. Jak led one whilst the other was commanded by Sudd Wal, an athletic thirty year old with a muscular physique and a square, jutting jaw that matched his arrogance and ambition. The fact that he and his team had not done so well in the trials against Jak’s people was down in no small part to his precocious nature, although nobody could doubt his zeal and determination for the mission. Jak had always looked down on him and had seen him as something of a punk kid so the news that the Admiral had chosen him and his team to embark upon the first scouting mission was a body blow that could not go unchallenged.
    “Wal should go,” put in Sol, eager to twist the knife into his rival. “He’s earned the right after you went out in the orbiter.”
    “This isn’t about taking turns,” retorted Jak. “It is about being the best. You need the best team out there to make the initial scouting expedition and that’s us. My team was way ahead in the trials. We should be the ones to go.”
    “This is a prestige mission, Jak,” said Kalp gently, ever the diplomat. “Just as your mission was for your own prestige. They’ll be gone for ten days and all I’m commissioning at the moment is a brief sweep of the continent. I want them to map it all out, look for places of interest and fertile lands into which we might further expand, but there is to be no deep exploration at this stage. There isn’t any danger anticipated here. The rovers will go out for exploration only; afterwards you and your platoon will be able to come into your own. The fact he’s making the first mission means nothing. You’ll all get your turn.”
    “We’ll need you here, Jak,” said Sol, his tone smug and patronising. “Your team can scout the perimeter and valley, look for any interesting caves we might mine, or perhaps trek through the forests and see where we might set up another station.”
    Jak glared at him for a moment before turning his attentions back to the Admiral. “I don’t see why we can’t both go out,” he said,