The Hell With Earthside: A Novella (STRYDER'S HORIZON Book 1) Read Free Page A

our feet on flat un-moving soil again.
    Look, I’ve seen what vengeance does to people. I saw what it was doing to me, and thank God, someone like Gregor had seen it six years ago as well. And as the gates to Earthside opened and Colonial officers led us in I didn’t have to remind myself of it. I was there to train someone else to take care of the Dessup Gang.  That’s as dirty as my hands were getting.
    I could do this. I could keep my emotions buried.
    Of course upon entering Earthside, I wondered if there was anyway to get my hands dirty at all. I had forgotten how beautiful it was. In no way did it look like a place terrorized by the Dessup Gang. Everywhere people bounded about with tattooed smiles and friendliness. There wasn’t trash anywhere. I was glad I hadn’t fixed my hair or makeup as that seemed to invite an array of odd glances. I felt like I needed a camera to collect them all, just to show how truly varied the look of disgust could be.
    Colonial Officer Davis must’ve thought I had intended to clean up as well. The second he spotted me he quickly ushered us into a Colonial guard station.
    The looks continued as we were marched into an immaculate mechanics’ bay. Ten drill-runners waited with the packing materials still on them. I wondered what it had cost them to get them sent down on a planet that had already been drilled. I also wondered if Davis had planned to get his officers to try a run without my help. Either way, I had assumed they’d be left over drill-runners rather than brand-spanking new ones. I might be at a loss if they had changed in six years.
    “Very shiny,” Gregor approved. He began inspecting them. Davis watched him for just a moment before he directed me towards ten officers who looked about as proud as stupid could look. They must’ve volunteered.
    Of course I understood that catching the Dessup Gang was an easy motivator.
    “Officers, this is Lady Kimberly Stryder. She worked for the KorCorp Drillers for five full seasons. She is an expert in drill-running and I am told she is also a skilled pilot of anything that moves.”
    I gave a polite wave. They smiled like they had no clue what they were getting into.
    “I will turn them over to you, Stryder. I will be right over here if I can be of any assistance. Just let me know.” Davis stepped back a single step. I guess that meant he’d be breathing down my neck the whole time.   So I had to keep in mind the end goal, the Dessup Gang.
    “Alright, the first thing I was ever told about piloting a drill-runner was the best advice I ever heard. It didn’t make sense at the time, but in time, if you live, you will probably find it to be an apt description of drill-running. My mentor used to say, ‘it’s not as hard as it looks but it is not as easy as it looks.’ Drill-running is done because no computerized system could survive the heat of the planet core. Instead, they jettisoned the smartest half-wits they could find with quick reflexes into a network of veins, a labyrinth of death. We’d shoot down hoping to find these tiny little slivers of 10-90a. We then had to latch a drill cup just right.  Then if we were lucky, we got to navigate out of the vein, only to go back in again a few hours later when the cup was full—“
    An irritated Davis cut in, “They’ve seen the documentaries, Stryder.”
    “What I’m getting at is the fact we did this over and over, going deeper and deeper each time. We memorized the veins and unfortunately, I don’t think I could forget them. Now the benefit you all have is that first off, the tubes won’t damage any computer you have on board. I would recommend outfitting these with imaging, weapons, and anything else Colonial is willing to front.”
    “We will be,” Davis said.
    “Good, the second thing is that we can start to memorize the tubes without ever going inside since the plans for Earthside can be uploaded into a VertDeck?”
    I wasn’t actually sure. But Davis nodded as