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in Bragan's locker. They would need it again that night.
He crept back to the storage room, uncertain of how much longer he had before
she returned. He needed to find a way to time the guards' movements during the
work cycle. The bastards had to have a weakness, and Jess was going to find
it.
* * * * *
Bethany ate her own small bowl of porridge in the kitchen. The
kitchen crew was cleaning up the last of the main evening meal, as well
as preparing special food for the blasters returning from the mine. They
worked in two shifts, blasting by day and guarding the slaves by night. Of
course, the elders, such as her father, weren't directly involved in
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the mining efforts. That would hardly be appropriate for their dignity. There
were also groups who traveled between settlements, and a very small
number who traveled to Discovery
Station, where the ore was processed.
Eventually, even that small bit of contact would be curtailed.
The cost of the ore-refining equipment was very high, but for a decade the
elders had been saving and planning for the day when they could start
their own refining operation.
Then they would be able to send shipments directly to the central temple on
Karos, where the Celestial Pilgrim himself had lived. All part of some
glorious plan she had never been worthy of sharing, she thought darkly. How
many women like herself had spent their entire lives working in service of
that plan? Did any of them every really understand what they were working for?
Her train of thought was broken when someone sat down beside her. It was
Moriah. The girl smiled at her nervously.
"Thank you for your help earlier," Moriah said quietly. "I hope you don't mind
me sitting with you."
She looked unsure of herself, almost as if she were afraid Bethany might stand
up then and there to accuse her of immoral behavior. Bethany smiled, wanting
to ease the younger woman's fear.
"It's nice to have company," she said softly. "I grew up here, but
I left when I was fourteen. I don't feel like I really know the people
here anymore."
"Yes, I remember hearing that your husband had passed," Moriah
replied. "Was it terribly hard for you? I felt like my life was over when
they told me GerÑmy husbandÑhad died in the mines. I was seven months
pregnantÉ"
"I'm so sorry," Bethany said. She could see the girl was still troubled.
It was hard to understand why a woman would be sad over losing a husband.
Then again, not all husbands were like Avram had beenÉ "I take it you had a
love match?"
"Yes," she replied softly. "I was betrothed to his older brother, but he died
before we could marry. I practically grew up with Ger. I fostered with his
family after the betrothal. I hate to admit it, but part of me was happy when
I heard his brother was dead. I don't think I could have stood living so close
to Ger as his sister-in-lawÉI guess I should just be glad for the time we
had."
"Was he a blaster?" Bethany asked. Setting explosives in the mine was one of
the most dangerous jobs on the station. Unlike other dangerous jobs, it
couldn't be given to slaves. As an elder, her own father had managed to avoid
working the mines for many years.
"Yes, a blaster," Moriah said, her voice trailing off. "I never thought things
would turn out like this," she added in a bitter voice.
Bethany nodded. There was nothing else to say. Her father had hurt this woman
and would probably hurt her again. There was nothing either of them could do
to prevent that from happening.
They sat without speaking for several minutes. Finally, her food finished,
Bethany set down her spoon and looked intently at Moriah.
"I realize I can't help you much," she said quietly. "But I just wanted to let
you know that you aren't totally alone, here."
"I realize that," Moriah said smiling at her shyly. "It's good to have a
friend."
Bethany nodded. They shared a situation, and now they shared a secret. It was
good to have a friend.
* * * * *
Jess lay quietly. He'd been resting, and listening, all day. One time sheÕd
nearly caught him. She'd been cleaning out in the main room, and had abruptly
walked into the storage room to get something. Fortunately, he had just
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returned to his pallet after getting a drink of water. If she caught him up
and moving the game would be over.
It was easy enough to track movements through the area during the day. There
were very few visitors. The blasters wouldn't come through until the slaves
had returned from the mines; to Jess' surprise, there didn't seem to be any
regular guard patrols. Just two men who stood outside the slave quarters, and
those stationed at the head of the mineshaft.
Of course, the slaves were usually far too tired to do anything that
might upset their captors in the first placeÉ
A plan was starting to take shape in his mind, but he still had quite a few
details to work out. He had realized not long after he'd first
arrived that it would be relatively easy to overpower the guards
watching the mine if their slave implants were out of commission.
While armed, they were vastly outnumbered. Their communication equipment
was poorly maintained. Failures had become commonplace, and no one gave it
any thought if they fell out of touch with each other. If he and the other
slaves could jump the guards one by one, no one would notice their absence for
an hour or more.
But once they got rid of the guards, they faced a whole new set of challenges.
There were only two ways out of the mine. One was with the ore, which ran on a
large conveyor up
and out to the transport ship, where it was loaded and taken to
the processing plant.
Unfortunately for the slaves, the conveyor ran through the same area that
housed much of the equipment used to produce a protective force shield over
the settlement. It kept them from being destroyed by other asteroids. But
the base equipment also produced a disruptive electro-magnetic field
that would kill any human who came too close to it. The entire system had to
be powered down before it could be serviced. There was no way they'd be able
to get out that way. Of course, if they could disable it somehowÉ So far, he
hadn't been able to come up with a way to do that.
But their other option, the main doorway, was a great deal more
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