The Ride. Tom Ph.D. Anderson
that every few steps I would break through another one. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it. It was soft and feathery and sticky. Walking through that first web was the bravest thing I had ever done.
No animal that moves under its own power will cross a gloride energy web, only men and gloride monsters will cross them. I looked at my supervisor as I felt the first web dissipate.
“You get used to it,” he said.
Eddie turned and walked farther into the mine. I followed. The first three boxes I checked needed no work at all. The next box needed one module changed and a gear needed lubrication. The next box needed to be completely rebuilt.
After I was done, Eddie offered to buy me lunch at a nearby lounge. He said the food was passable, but the beer was wonderful. I had packed a lunch, but needed a beer.
The Nimbus mine is one of the largest gloride mines in this sector, 250 levels but only one entrance. Most of the mine workers lived in the mine. Only the surface level ore haulers slept on the surface every day. There were lounges, dormitories, and even a small arena which occasionally had live entertainment. Mostly it was just used for the over-sized viewers.
I was assigned a bunk in one of the dormitories and there was no reason to ever leave the mine. It was usually a brisk two hour walk to the surface from my clock out. From the surface, the public land transport was cheap and efficient. I would happily have gone through twice as much for an hour in the sunshine in one of the local gardens drinking beer and watching the girls walk by. If I could talk one of the pretty local girls into having a beer with me, I felt twice blessed. Occasionally I was thrice blessed and I could talk one of them into sharing more with me than just a beer. On those rare occasions I spent the entire night on the surface. Most nights I spent in my bunk.
Gloride caverns are naturally luminous so lighting is never a problem, but a man misses sunlight. Other than the lack of sunlight and the total absence of green growing things, the most disturbing aspect of working in a gloride mine is the possibility of being killed by a gloride monster. Gloride monsters are huge rock burrowing, flesh eating creatures that are native to gloride formations. The odds of running into one of these creatures are very small. Of the ten million or so working gloride mines in the galaxy only about a thousand a year suffer a gloride monster infestation. Gloride emissions, which only begin in a concentration of gloride ore several miles in diameter, make metal brittle and most electronics impossible. Modern weapons don't work in a gloride mine, so generally when a miner sees a gloride monster; it is the last thing he ever sees.
The weeks went by. The two hour brisk walk became a one hour jog, and the gloride webs, when I noticed them at all, no longer bothered me. I had just finished adjusting a regulator on level fifty five, when an alarm was sounded and I headed for the nearest conference room.
A mining team of five had been cut to pieces and their soft tissue eaten. A croc had invaded the mine. This variety of gloride monster was larger than a ghoul, with more powerful shoulders and a single sharp claw on the end of each arm. The claws of a croc are made for slicing, while the claws of a ghoul are made for tearing and holding.
A ghoul hunter team was being sent for. In the meantime mining would go on. A miner who decided it was too dangerous to work until the croc was killed or captured would not be fired, but that miner would not be paid. Miners who continued to work would receive a hazard bonus, effectively doubling their pay and ceramic blade weapons would be provided.
There also was a bounty placed on killing the croc. The bounty was a little more than I would receive in ten years pay, and I was a very well paid mine employee. Better yet, the planetary government had agreed not to ask for taxes to be paid on the bounty. Employees were encouraged to form teams and hunt the croc in their off duty hours. I decided to continue working, but wanted no part in the croc hunting.
I was sitting in a lounge bar with two other atmosphere technicians. The lounges and the dormitories were safe rooms when the doors were locked. The walls of a safe room are designed so that the claws of a gloride monster cannot smash or cut its way through them. Usually they are made from ceramics reinforced with resins and with similarly made bars covering the doors. The doors to this lounge were locked and barred.
“My supervisor said we should keep working. It's a big mine. The chances of running into that croc are pretty small,” I said.
“We go from place to place. Our chance of running into that croc is much better then a group of miners that works in only one spot,” said Ken not looking up from his drink.
“Come on Ken, people need to breathe. They need us to keep working.”
“You do what you want. I'm not leaving the safe room again until that thing is killed. Ask Carl. He saw the bodies,” Ken said coldly.
Carl already had much too much to drink and would not speak again ‘til morning. Ken helped Carl to his feet and half carried him out the door that led to the dormitories.
“Ken's right you know. You are more likely to run into that croc. That's why we want to come with you on your rounds.” I turned to see three large powerfully built men standing behind me.
“I'm Johan, this is Andy, and that's Isaac,” said the largest of the three.
“I'm pleased to meet you. Are you gentlemen ghoul hunters or amateurs looking to make some money?” I asked them.
“We don't have a ghoul hunter license, but we are hardly amateurs. After we kill this croc we will qualify for a ghoul hunter license. If you let us follow you around we will give you a cut of the reward,” said Johan as he tried to determine what kind of man I was.
I let him know. “Keep the reward. While you are killing the croc I will run for help, and I do mean run. Is that fair enough?” I asked.
“Fair enough,” Johan replied.
I looked at the timekeeper over the bar and realized that my break was over and it was time for me to go back to work. “Would you gentlemen like to come with me now?” I asked as I got up.
“This is as good a time as any,” Isaac said as the three of them followed me out of the bar and past the safe room door and out into the mine.
I was working on an atmosphere regulator when a loud bang from down the corridor caused me to jump up knocking to the floor the device I was working on. Isaac and Johan dashed around the corner towards the noise and Andy stayed with me. Moments later the two hunters came back.
“It was just an ore hauler who knocked over an unbalance ore cart,” said a clearly disappointed Johan.
I realized I was sweating profusely and was having trouble taking a deep breath. “Are you alright?” Andy asked me.
“I’m alright, I just don’t particularly want to be sliced up and eaten.”
“You won’t be completely eaten,” Isaac said with a laugh, “after a croc slices you up they only eat the soft tissue.”
Johan gave Isaac a sour look and then looked at me with a gentle smile, “We want to kill that croc, but keeping you safe is our first priority. We won’t let you get hurt.”
I looked at the three of them standing in front of me. They were a solid wall of confidence. I realized I felt much safer, still… “Johan, if something were to happen to me, I have a letter to my Uncle in my vest pocket. I would be very grateful if you would make certain it’s sent to him.”
“Nothing is going to happen to you while you’re with us. But if the impossible were to happen, I will personally make sure your Uncle gets that letter.”
“Thank you Johan, thank you all. If something were to happen to the three of you who would you like me to make certain is told?”
They all laughed. “We’ve hunted creatures far more dangerous than crocs. It’s just that no one will pay you anything worthwhile unless you kill gloride monsters,” said Isaac.
I looked at them carefully. “Still the impossible can happen.”