Last Flight For Craggy Read Free Page B

had been
impressed with the change in Dillow. She was no longer trying to
act cool and professional to impress him with a view to him giving
her her tickets to qualify her as a freighter captain. Out of
uniform, she literally let her hair down, and even wore a little
make up.
    'Sleep well,'
asked Cragg, pouring them both a syncoff. He was sharing a table
with Misty.
    'Fantastic. I
think it's having twice the gravity of Moon that's done it. The
extra effort to move about must have tired me out.'
    Cragg chuckled.
'Or the booze you got through before you staggered off to bed.'
    'I was
perfectly sober, if you don't mind.'
    'Is that why
you danced naked on the tables?'
    'Ignore him
Fawn,' said Misty.
    'Just winding
you up,' admitted Cragg.
    Misty got up
and whispered a few words in Cragg's ear which made him chuckle.
Then she kissed his cheek and squeezed his thigh.
    'I have to go,
Tiger,' said Misty, a knowing look in her eyes. 'I'll see you
later.'
    'Can't wait,'
said Cragg.
    It was clear to
Dillow the two wrinklies were very good friends.
    With Misty
gone, Cragg said, 'Drink up. I want to show you something.'
    He led her out
to the central path that ran the full length of the Base, to a
steel stairway leading to an observation platform. The platform was
two metres wide, and had a panoramic window that wrapped around and
along the double shell of the Base for one hundred and fifty
metres.
    'Now that is a
view,' said Cragg.
    'It is pretty
awesome.'
    'That's the
Mons, as we call it here. Fortunately its an extinct volcano,
because I wouldn't fancy our chances if it blew. We are actually
inside a massive crater. It provides some small protection from the
wind storms we get all the time. Take my advice. Look at the
outside from the inside. Don't get yourself lost in a storm.'
    Dillow stared
out at the view. There were three major mining projects going on.
One was the deep mine. Moles, machines that tunnelled up to twenty
kilometres deep, were breaking up the minerals, and loaders were
scooping it up. They brought it to the auto sorters, that separated
loads into specific minerals, from there it went into fine
extraction machines, straight onto a continuous container train.
People constantly monitored the entire operation, keeping
everything moving around the clock.
    Five kilometres
west of that was the water boring crew, locating new underground
lakes of water. They were drilling close to three kilometres deep.
Plugs of removed rock and sand were carefully sliced up into metre
length sections and identified, then taken for analysis.
    To the east of
the mine, was the ground preparation for the new Base, number four.
That was to be twice the size of Base Three. They watched the
outside activity, then turned to look over the jungle.
    'No birds,'
said Dillow.
    'It was once
considered, especially for any endangered ones. They decided
against it due to the mess they could make of the base. Personally,
I think we should have suffered a little mess. So sadly no birds,
apart from those, of course.' In a clearing around the compost
area, several dozen free range chickens scratched around, pecking
at the worms. A couple of roosters ensured a healthy population of
chickens. 'Enough for a couple of eggs each per week. Eggs and the
occasional cooked chicken but that's a rare treat. The other
protein comes from the fish, same as on Moon. Unless you are
completely vegetarian, that is. Ever had chicken?'
    'Never. I do
eat fish. And a little synthomeat. Not much.'
    'That
synthomeat is nothing like the real thing. I think they make it
from essence of dodo.'
    She could count
nine people doing various jobs around the jungle. Gathering fruit,
pruning, keeping the paths clear. 'A fair bit of activity going on
in here.'
    'All
volunteers. They do jobs in their downtime. Therapeutic. And see?
At least four different ethnic backgrounds. Asians, westerners,
black, white, brown. Here we have something impossible on Earth. No
racial tension or friction here. Just