Space Race (Space Race 1) by Nathan Hystad (book recommendations for young adults .TXT) 📕

of accruing wealth, because the life of a corporate freight hauler wasn’t what it used to be.

In the old days, someone in my line of work was thought of as a hero: flying into space, making the dangerous runs in record time. Because in a galaxy where money determined everything, every minute counted for the Corporations.

My grandfather used to regale me with tales of grandeur. How he worked for the great Luna Corp when they first won the rights to the Moon. He toiled hard for them, and had eventually been able to advance from the cockpit into the boardroom. That was a different era, when the blue collars stood a chance of advancement. Preston Lewis had been a man of vision. I still missed him. His ambition was what had earned him the right to be named captain of the first mission to Proxima, though I wished he’d turned the position down.

Things like that didn’t happen now, not after spacecrafts had become a dime a dozen, with thousands of chumps like me fighting for jobs at the lowest cost possible. Free enterprise. Love it or hate it, it was our reality.

I remember reading from the banned history books hidden in my parents’ home, and wondered what it was like when governments, not businesses, led the people—but at the end of the day, I suspected there weren’t as many differences as the nostalgic elders would have you think.

“Sir, you have one hour and two minutes,” CP said through the airlock speakers.

“Did I ask—”

“You asked to be notified.”

“Fine. Thank you.” The airlock was shaped roughly like a hexagon, and I gripped the supports as I clipped the ThermaSuit around my legs. The torso banded together, sealing at the hips, and I grabbed the helmet from the shelf last. There were times I wished that I’d been smart enough to hire a crew, and this was one of them. If only I didn’t tire of people so much, it might actually work.

My helmet flashed dark, and then glowed yellow along the edges before returning clear. My vitals showed to the left, my heartrate elevated above my normal limits. The alarm sounded gently in my helmet, and I shut it off.

The suit was dark gray, with a computer screen embedded in the right arm, and I lifted it, pressing the communication activation icon with my glove. “Kol, come in.”

“Go ahead, Arlo.”

“Tell me the Grav-Seven is still operational.” If they’d deactivated the artificial gravity generator, this was going to be a risky rescue operation.

A pause. “It’s on, but set to lowest levels, for the base station only.”

It made sense. When the base was evacuated, why waste the power? But that didn’t help me at the moment. “Fine. Any idea what this Veera is doing in the station?”

“She’s been acting… strange. Different. I was sure she was coming around, after seeing her yesterday,” Kol told me, his voice wavering in my ears. I could picture him now, avoiding eye contact and twisting his hands again nervously.

“Strange how?” I didn’t want this to be messy. “Should I bring a Pulser?”

“I don’t think so.” His tone told me otherwise.

I used my code on the gunlock, and it hissed open. I took the handheld weapon, lowering it to my leg. It clicked as the magnets latched.

It was time to retrieve Veera.

I sealed the airlock to my ship and waited an excruciating minute while this side blinked red lights near the exit. Finally, it flashed blue, and I again added my code. The hatch slid open, and I instantly regretted every life decision that had brought me to Eris today.

The atmosphere was already beginning to break down, something it did in every orbit. Mining here was a tricky operation. It was a constant balance between being too close to the sun, which caused solid methane ice to convert straight to gas, and being too far away, triggering the atmosphere to freeze and fall like snowflakes.

The wind was incessant as I lowered from the belly of Capricious, past the container full of people and onto the surface. I moved downward, almost floating like a feather in the low gravity, but finally, my feet landed on the slick, freezing surface. I activated the boots, and my steps became heavier.

The gusts sent flecks of white all around me, but my helmet’s display allowed me to see my path to the structure I needed to access. I plodded one foot in front of the next, grateful at each step that the ThermaSuit was able to keep me warm and mobile. Eris was as inhospitable as they came, and I couldn’t wait to fly away, even if it meant returning to face my contact at Oasis.

The base’s primary structure was merely a shell, a box with supplies, and the real camp was underground. The shield was black, making it easy to spot against the white backdrop that was the dwarf planet. When I reached a hundred meters from the entrance, the wind was so strong, my body was tilted forward at a forty-five-degree angle.

My heart raced, and I glanced at the readouts, seeing how elevated it was. “Calm yourself, Arlo.” Despite my good intentions, my body didn’t heed my advice.

The walls were high, stretching twenty feet upwards, and I came upon the doors. They used an old lift and lock mechanism, not trusting wireless technology this far out. It heaved up and to the side, and I pushed inward, gaining access to the base. I ran in, slamming the door shut. Inside, it was tranquil, and my ThermaSuit lights guided my path as I followed the trail to Veera’s location.

There were crates everywhere, filed in neat rows, each probably holding more Elurnium than I’d ever use in a lifetime of flying. I paused, checking my clock. I had under forty minutes.

The entire camp would be shut down, their power sources on minimum, and I peered around the storage building, seeking cameras in the corners. Nothing.

I fumbled with a crate and tilted the lid open.