Star Kitten Read Free Page B

everyone gave in just a little, if not
completely. The greater good became nothing more than just the
greater profit motive, and from bottom to top, no one wanted to
admit it. When the existing veins of minerals were expanded and dug
out further; even more workers were needed to fill all the
workload; as well as replacing the dying and ruined laborers below
Rijel 12’s forbidding surface.
    New Australia Planetary Prison became a
death sentence to most all sent there, and within fifty earth
years, few expected to ever return when sentenced to work there in
the mines.
    Of course they had to be fed too; and a
network of food depots was devised by the Engineers. Ten, then
twenty, then hundreds of these depots sprang up within this vast
network which coursed through the planet’s caverns. Food Depots
were located near worksites and barracks; and as worksites and
mineral veins developed further, those food depots had to be
expanded. When new ore discoveries were found, MORE food depots had
to be constructed. And the original domed food warehouse on the
planet surface was expanded with phase after phase of additions
until it was the size of a small city. But the quality of food was
quite different for the guards and administrators than it was for
the poor souls slaving away in the mines.
    Prisoner processing and assignment to work
details were handled below the surface. Rijel 12’s original mining
operation was established on the site of a massive canyon formed
from the collapse of an ancient subterranean cavern. A surface
facility was built next to the canyon, then the canyon was
eventually converted into a massive loading bay for supply ships,
using a landing pad lift that elevated up to the surface to receive
arriving spacecraft. Once landed, the elevator lift descended
several hundred feet into the canyon below to be processed. Then a
retractable roof closed over the canyon to seal it off from the
forbidding elements of Rijel 12.
    New prisoners would be unloaded and assigned
to some part of the mines that required more workers (randomly at
first, then gradually based on species). There were always new job
openings, and there were always more prisoner ships landing. When
transport ships were completely emptied of prisoners, the other
side of the subterranean bay would open, and massive transport
vehicles would haul in loads of mineral ore, and eventually
precious gems too, to be loaded onto the emptied craft. Upon
completion, the retractable roof would open, the elevator platform
would ascend back to the surface, and the craft could take off once
again.
    By the fiftieth Earth year of operation,
there was a freighter landing every few days; and usually there was
another in orbit around Rijel 12 waiting their turn to land and
offload new prisoners!
    Pilots and crew were never allowed to leave
their ships; and most didn’t wish to. This was a prison after all,
and security was nearly air tight at all times. But what these
pilots and crew DID see when they landed? It was enough to send the
message back to their home planets that this was a truly hellish
place. They didn’t even need to see what was going on below. The
construction workers finishing their projects below could shed even
more light on the realities of New Australia Planetary Prison, but
even they didn’t care—not about inmates in a prison. They just
wanted to leave Rijel 12 and get back home as quickly as
possible.
    With all the financing of the Interplanetary
Authority, those enterprising Earthmen were brutally efficient in
devising a diabolical prison system that continued to feed the
hellish mining operation; and production goal-setting became
increasingly aggressive as the years passed. Government officials
began to “see dollar signs” as the Earthmen called it.
Profitability increased and the operation was a success within only
a few galactic years.
    Everyone was thrilled with the results.
    Well, most everyone was, anyway: Prisoners
in the early years