Space haulers have a familiar complaint, too much work for not enough pay. The big corporation in charge controls the lives of many. This shouldn’t happen, someone should do something about it! Someone does…
Jax awoke to the sound of Lobecca’s klaxon ringing in his ears. A warning that the space-faring heap of a freighter had a situation it could not deal with on its own. His first thought was that he had dreamed the alarm since it’d been smooth sailing for the last nine runs from the Earth to the Moon. The strident alarm kept ringing. No dream.
His body slick with sweat, Jax pulled on a dirty shirt and left the rear sleeper section for the cockpit. He winced when he landed too hard on the worn captain’s chair. The lopsided seat forced him to lean at an uncomfortable angle to reach the alarm shut-off switch. The ship had alerted because the braking thrusters were not priming properly, and would therefore not fire during the critical approach to Earth. Hence, the wake-up call.
This wasn’t the first crisis Jax had encountered during his years of hauling rock. Too bad ongoing maintenance took most of the profit. The rest went back down to Earth in the care of his father and younger brother.
Having fixed the thrusters for this same problem before, Jax knew he still had time for repairs. Opening a small access panel on the cockpit’s floor, he squeezed himself down the narrow shaft. He took care not to disconnect any of the hundreds of fiber-optic connections that kept him from sucking on the vacuum of space. A bypass here; a connection there; he was back in business. The vibration of priming coils hummed from somewhere beneath the deck, confirming his repairs were a success.
Jax climbed out of the hot and suffocating space. He was tired of long waits in zero-g and smelling his own sweat for days on end. Out of natural space-faring paranoia, he completed a visual check of the massive load his hauler had in tow. The many scorched, but structurally sound containers trailed smoothly behind the ship and held nearly forty tons of refined regolith.
The next step of hauling would find Jax releasing each container down into Earth’s gravity well. A planned trajectory and accompanying atmospheric burn of reentry would generate tremendous amounts of heat, which would cook the ore within, the reaction causing release of the trapped helium-3 into capture-chambers inside each container. Upon a successful splashdown, Atmos Inc. would simply recover the gas needed for its massive energy needs, the fuel for their countless fusion reactors.
Jax cursed the word Atmos under his breath. The hybrid incorporated government loomed over too much of his life to be comfortable with. It was his boss and his landlord. And most everyone he knew was also subject to the same overlord. Sometimes, it seemed like they owned the whole damn planet.
Minutes later, the braking thrusters fired on cue, and Jax salivated at the thought of returning home. The approach would be a slow one. Still two more days at his current velocity, but he couldn’t wait to stand on a Florida beach and dive headlong into the cool and rushing water of the Gulf. Another alarm shrieked, snapping Jax out of his reverie.
This time, the sensor array informed him of an approaching ship, not on any scheduled flight path, and coming in fast. Jax felt a nervous tingling at the back of his neck. He had never dealt with pirates before. He could cut his load and run. That might work if they took the bait and left him alone. Of course, that would make his rent very, very late.
“Hail, please,” he said to the computer. No sooner than he said it, he remembered that the voice command module had broken down weeks ago. A single beep in reply reminded him so. He thought about mashing the SOS button. That would be the protocol if he had engine problems.
With no reply to his manual hail, Jax watched in helpless frustration as the unknown ship released a drone. Moments later, it attached itself to the hull and disabled flight control. There was no completing a cut and run now, even if he wanted to.
Minutes felt like hours until the hiss of airlock decompression. The invaders were aboard. Jax slicked back his greasy hair and forced a calm and collected look. He swiveled the pilot’s seat around to face his fate.
The first one through the lock wore a typical Atmos-issued spacesuit. It showed heavy armor modification, including a visortron hiding the face, all of which violated company policy. Two more anonymous boarders entered the small cabin, having to duck at the lowered bulkhead in places.
“It’s getting a little cramped in here,” Jax said. “Any reason you’ve illegally boarded this hauler?”
One of them grabbed his helmet with both gloves and gave a twist. As soon as he took it off and showed his smirky face, Jax took a small breath of relief. He never liked Carl Holderman, but at least he knew how sneaky the son of a bitch was.
“Hiya, Jax,” Carl said. “It’s been a long–”
“You know the Lobecca has a lockout so you can’t steal her. All I have is the regolith I’m about to drop for processing.”
“Oh, we don’t want your rocks, or your heap of a ship. But we have something for you.”
“I’ll pass. Word is that you’ve been running an illegal side hustle. You gotta know that Atmos has a price on your head, right?”
Carl walked over and inched in face to face, forcing Jax to lean as far back as the captain’s chair would go. “You man enough to turn me in?”
The confidence Jax had felt earlier had left him. This was a fight he’d surely lose with Carl’s thugs to back him up. Jax gently shook his head.
“Good call,” Carl said. “How about you join us? This company is becoming too powerful. We need help to fight them before everyone loses what little freedom they have left.”
“Hmm. It looks like you have plenty of freedoms, or at least take them.”
Carl frowned. “I take them because I have to. My father had told me of a time when anyone could go anywhere they wanted. Try that now, and you’d either get thrown into prison or blasted into oblivion. Heck, we can’t even travel across state lines today without having the right papers. Oh, and don’t forget that you have to know someone inside the government willing to do you a favor. For a small fee, of course.”
“I still won’t join you, Carl. Now…I’ve got a drop to do, so please leave.”
Carl backed away from the chair. “Since I know you, I’ll let you live. But I insist you join us.” He tapped to life a visual contained on his forearm. “Take a look at your cargo hold.”
Jax stood and focused on the small screen before him to see several of Carl’s men in space suits loading large cylindrical canisters into some open bins. “What the hell are you doing back there?”
“Nothing much, just evening the odds.”
“Dammit, Carl, what are you doing to my cargo?”
“My crew is adding several weapons to your inventory. Tech built out here, for use down there. Don’t worry, those beauties will remain safe since we are re-programming their particular container to forgo any heated extraction.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Let’s just say that a few concerned citizens below will need them soon. No sweat on you, right?”
“Running guns isn’t the answer,” Jax replied.
“Then what?”
“Well, how about organizing protests and raising awareness?” Jax knew that was a damn ignorant thing to say as the words left his mouth.
Carl scoffed. “Yeah. Back in the day, my father tried that. Look where it got him. Killed in one of those bloodbaths.” Carl’s face changed to a seriousness that wasn’t the usual joking demeanor of the man. “The only way now is revolution. Our so-called government and the Atmos corporation need to be separated like in the old days.. Each has their place, just not together. Definitely not what the founders of this country intended.” Carl returned to his carefree manner after finishing his monologue. “C’mon boys, we’re burnin’ daylight.” He walked back to his silent partners and donned his helmet.
Jax slapped both his palms on the airlock door as soon as they were away. “Goddammit, why me?” If he went to the Atmos authorities in possession of the stuff, no doubt he’d go to prison. No choice but to do the drop as if nothing had happened. Within minutes, Carl’s crew re-sealed the cargo unit and headed back into their ship.
Alone at last, Jax prepared for orbital insertion. He figured Carl must have a man on the inside who would retrieve the weapon bins before the automated Atmos recovery boats got to them. After initiating the cutaway of his entire load, accordion-like connection tubes retracted as each section detached from the next. One by one, Jax watched as each hold rotated its heat shield to face the Earth. He wouldn’t see it happen, but he knew that the success of the drop required each unit to descend under its own thrust. Fast enough to generate the needed heat for helium-3 extraction, but slow enough not to vaporize the entire machine before splashdown into the frigid Atlantic. After a few unnerving seconds, a quiet beep confirmed the final phase of the haul was complete. Soon, a credit for the job would show on his account.
Now only the front driving section/sleeper remained.
Jax never really enjoyed being a hauler for Atmos. He always thought his calling would’ve been something greater than being stuck doing the same job his father had done. But this was his life, and he had to accept it. No matter what. He set a course for his own fiery ride down through into the atmosphere.
#
It felt good to be home again. The weight of his body and a full stomach almost made him human again. Jax eased back from the breakfast table while his dad and brother continued to scarf down more hashed sausage and eggs. It seemed that was all they ever ate, or could afford.
His father, Robert, was retired, but still he had to work because the measly social stipends weren’t enough to even cover rent. Jax’s younger brother, Paul, also worked to keep the rent paid. Being a data-grunt didn’t pay much, but he had to work from home since he couldn’t use his legs. Despite them getting mangled in an industrial accident, Paul overcame the disability and was determined to help the family survive. In reality, the accident hit Jax way harder than he cared to admit.
“You boys get enough?” his dad asked.
Jax patted his distended stomach. “Yeah, but I’m gonna have to do another run.”
“But you just got here,” Paul said in an unusually loud and trill voice. “Why can’t we spend some time together? There’s a roadway over the trail where we used to hike. I could drive us along the entire route since dad fixed the truck.”
“I’m sorry, little brother. But I didn’t make enough to contribute my share of next month’s rent, so I don’t really have a choice.”
The look of disappointment on Paul’s face made Jax’s heart ache, adding new hurt to the scars of responsibility buried deep within.
“Well, I guess I gotta go back to work anyway,” Paul said.
Jax and his father remained silent until Paul wheeled into his room and began his shift.
“Back when I hauled,” Robert said, “it was never worth it. Minimal pay with no retirement benefits. Now all I do is drone repair to keep food on this table for you boys.”
Jax knew what came next.
“You should do the same and join me. At least you’d have a small retirement income.”
“No way, Dad. I’d never make enough to get those legs for him.”
Robert glanced at the half-closed door to Paul’s room and quieted his voice. “Would you drop that? He doesn’t even want them. He just needs his older brother to keep a roof over his head.”
Jax picked up his dirty plate and took it to the sink. He turned on the tap and ran some brownish water over it. “I haven’t done such a great job in helping you take care of him, have I?”
“Hey, watch how much water you’re using up over there, son. I had to cover the repair costs of Paul’s home terminal so he could continue to get work.”
Jax eased the faucet handle back down and gazed out the window at the debris-strewn yard that had once looked taken care of. After a long and silent pause, he said, “Hey, is my bike still in the shed, or did you have to sell it?”
“It’s still there. Look, son, I can tell that something is eating you up. Now, what’s really going on?”
Jax let out a long sigh, then he explained what happened with Carl adding a weapons cache to his haul.
After hearing the complete story, Robert said, “Jesus. That guy has always been trouble.”
“I’m going to bring this to the authorities right now, Dad. He had no right.”
#
Jax flew down the empty freeway on his old-school electric Harley as the wind whipped at his body. The Florida sunshine felt good on his face. He pointed the machine down the freeway off-ramp and came to a stop. A truck pulled up from behind and two men got out. Before Jax had time to react, one of them pulled a sack over his head. Without warning, they lifted him off the bike and threw him into the back of the truck, binding his wrists behind his back afterwards.
Great. The company must have already found the guns in his haul. This was it. And this was how Atmos usually handled people they considered trouble. He was going to be interrogated and most likely fired, and losing his job meant losing the house. Then they’d all be on the street and completely dependent on the government cheese. That would be a true nightmare. After a disorienting ride, they took him out of the truck and waited until the sound of a warehouse roll-up door came to a stop. After entering the building, they sat him at a table and removed the sack from his head. He saw a bare wall and a few metallic boxes. The only exit in the room was behind. A large man sat in a chair just inside the doorway, resting an old-style gun on his lap. The guard, no doubt.
A familiar voice came from behind. “Looks like you were gonna snitch,” Carl said.
Jax jerked his head back to confirm the man’s identity.
Carl gave a wry smile as he walked into view.
Well, this was both good and bad, Jax thought. “As a matter of fact, I was,” he said. “I’m not your delivery boy.”
“Not true, my friend. Your haul has helped us immensely.” Carl opened a cabinet along the wall and pulled out a military-grade blaster. After activating the weapon, he set it gently onto the table in front of Jax. The power-condenser inside the pistol whined to life, signifying it was ready to immolate any target the user might like. “That is a fifty-gigawatt pulse with a two-hundred round capacity right there. And now we’ve got more of these than we ever had… thanks to your latest haul.”
“Please keep me out of all this. I have my brother to take care of.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. I remember back in high school hearing about that fall your brother took. Damn shame. Guess you were never any good at looking after him.”
Carl always said things just to get a rise out of someone, and it worked. Jax strained to separate his shackled wrists to no avail. But at least his legs were still free. His chance came when Carl sauntered behind. Jax lunged backward with all his might. His body smashed into Carl, and Carl’s body smashed into the seated guard behind him. The guard’s flimsy metal chair collapsed, causing the guard’s gun to skitter across the floor and disappear under a cabinet.
Jax rolled onto his back and maneuvered his wrists around his feet to the front of his body. Next, he grabbed the blaster from the table with both hands and aimed it at the men. They clamored to their feet, but each froze when they saw Jax moving his finger over the trigger.
“Don’t follow me again,” Jax said. He backed out the open door as both men kept their distance.
“You won’t get away with this,” he heard Carl say.
Jax guessed he might be right in the end. But from now on, nobody was going to tell him what to do.
#
Paul answered the phone. “Are you okay? Dad has been looking for you.”
“I’m fine, bro. Is he there now?”
“Yep, I’ll go get him. But first, I overheard you earlier. Did you really tell the authorities what happened up there?”
“I didn’t get the chance. Best if I go away until all this blows over. I’ll send you what money I can for rent. And the good news is that it shouldn’t be long now until I can afford those Cyberdynes you want.”
“Heck, I don’t need those to get around. I just need you to be safe.”
Jax’s mind raced at what to do next. “Look, I need a ride. Please tell Dad I’m at the corner of Space and Time.” Jax always liked that intersection, so aptly named.
#
Dad’s old truck hummed until it came to a stop near the corner. He was in the passenger seat while Jax’s brother, Paul, was driving. Paul was an expert at tagging along when he shouldn’t be. The door of the beat-up Movisa creaked open in gull-wing fashion. “Get in,” his dad said. “I think I know how to fix this.”
After a short drive, they pulled into what looked like an abandoned launch yard, except for the old-style vessel sitting vertically on the pad. Vented gases billowed from the snakelike external refueling lines. The thing was antique compared to the Lobecca. It was the class of ship his dad used to run before Atmos took over the moon mining operation.
Jax and his father stepped out of the truck while Paul stayed behind the driver’s seat.
Robert looked up at the ancient Starship-style heavy lifter. “She’s already fueled and ready to go.”
“A haul, so that’s what this is about?”
“You bet,” his father replied. “I pulled some strings. Been planning this trip for a long time. The lunar mining operation is ready to expand; they just need more glue to do it.”
Jax knew what he meant. The operation had plenty of regolith, but they always had a need for more chems to bond it together to form a sort of moon-crete. The mix would harden to better than steel and provided excellent protection against the merciless radiation from the Sun.
“How the heck did you pull this off, Dad? I thought your flying days were over.”
“Well, I still had a few old connections with the glue-masters, so I negotiated a deal that Atmos couldn’t refuse.”
“Are we seriously doing this?”
Robert nodded in confirmation. “Think of it, son. After this, we’ll have the extra money we need. You’ll even be able to spend more time with your brother. I’ll give you all the details once we reach orbit.” He turned back to the truck and slammed the door into place with a hard pull.
Paul rolled down the window. “I’ll be on launch control down here. Too bad I’m not going, because I bet I’d move around up there better than either of you. Be careful.”
Something in Paul’s voice sounded off with his last two words, like he meant something more, but stopped himself just in time.
The truck moved away as they approached the waiting behemoth of a ship. Jax wanted to tell his dad what had happened with Carl, but for now he kept it to himself, as well as the powered-down pistol in his pocket. He couldn’t believe he would be heading back into space so soon, and in a bucket more than two generations old.
#
Jax glanced over at his dad during the hellacious vibration of lift-off. The old man was a great flyer. He looked just as at-ease as he did on the couch at home. Once they shut down engine burn for their coast to the Moon, the free time gave them a chance to catch up on what Jax had missed while he had been away. The cost of living reached an all-time high, and Dad’s fixed income made it hard for ends to meet. Paul worked an online job for an Atmos-controlled pharmacy, but his pay was even less than Dad’s.
Robert quietly took in Jax’s story about his second run-in with Carl and how he hadn’t had time to report anything to the authorities yet. The stoic look plastered on his face told Jax that his father just wasn’t concerned about the whole incident. Strange. At last, their ship entered lunar orbit and touched down in a small crater close to the mining facility.
“Why didn’t we land on the main pad at the base?” Jax asked.
Robert flipped the engine shutdown switch and sighed. “This isn’t a hauling run, and I don’t have clearance, or any hauling deal with Atmos.”
Jax felt the rush of blood to his face as confusion took hold of him. “What then — this haul is one big lie?”
“We need to put an end to the Atmos monopoly on energy. Also, I’m sorry I had Carl’s gang intercept you. That was a mistake.”
Full-blown anger enveloped Jax. “You told him what I was about to do?”
“Yeah.” He scratched his scruffy chin. “I’ve known of his resistance group for some time, but I never had the courage to fight like they do. Those Atmos bastards are taking over the whole goddamn planet now that they’re the only energy company left.”
Now Jax’s skin itched all over at the massive deception playing out. He clenched his fists and glared at the one man whom he thought he could trust.
Robert squirmed uncomfortably in his worn captain’s seat. “We, uh, have something in the hold on this ship. I need your help in getting it onto the base. It’s something that has taken me a couple of years to fully assemble.”
Jax noticed the way his father always deflected when he didn’t want to explain himself. “What is it, Dad? The whole truth, please.”
Robert lowered the tone of his voice. “A device. Capable of razing this entire base.”
“What the…” Jax replied. “Why do something like that?”
“Atmos needs to be taken down a notch. If we succeed, then it will cripple their fusion generation long enough for–”
“For what?”
“A revolt, no,” Robert continued, “a revolution. It’s time to take power out of corporate hands and place it back into the hands of hardworking citizens.”
“And how many innocent people are going to die? Does Paul know about this…this bomb?”
The look on his dad’s face confirmed it was so. Jax leaped out of his seat and searched his father’s eyes. “How can you even think of doing this? Hasn’t Atmos been helping us get by all these years?”
“Get by,” Robert replied. “That’s all we ever do. The lack of work has made us addicted to all the government handouts. And that’s the way they like it. We used to make it on our own, dammit. But not these days. Heck, we’ll never be able to afford those legs for Paul.”
Jax felt this all too well himself. The line to get any surgery was a long and painstaking process. He knew good people who died waiting in that line. His mother was one of them. The old heartache returned. If not for the delay of endless paperwork, the operation could have saved her.
“I know, Dad, I know. The social programs aren’t the best, but at least they exist. You can’t just blow up something because you’re not reaping the benefits of it.”
“That isn’t the half of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Back in the day, I blew the whistle on Atmos Mining when I discovered a skimming operation. Millions of dollars handed to the higher-ups that should’ve gone to help people. They canned me. Told me not to question it, or else. And shortly afterward, it became a crime to have any private enterprise. It’s just not right.”
“I’m over this. We’re leaving.” After Jax entered the proper coordinates for a safe passage back to Earth, he grabbed some loose cable and wrapped it quickly around Robert’s waist in an effort to tie him to the chair, but it didn’t work. His dad was surprisingly strong and had much better low-grav body control. Before Jax knew what was happening, he found himself in a headlock until being duct-taped to the ship’s jump seat.
“Guess I’ll just have to do this myself,” Robert said. “Looks like I timed it right, too. Their photon drill is offline for maintenance.”
“This isn’t right, Dad. Please don’t do this!”
“It’s the only way I know, son. A few Atmos employees’ lives here will be lost, and I’m sorry about that. But it has to be in order to set things right. Maybe someday, you’ll understand.”
And with that, Robert donned his spacesuit and left the ship with a device the size of a suitcase; capable of demolishing a football stadium.
Jax twisted his body, trying to loosen the strands of tape holding him down. Why would Dad do this? The company had always provided for him. Maybe that’s why. Most everyone depended on Atmos for nearly everything, but that’s not the way it was in years past. And after that same company let him down and didn’t provide the care that would’ve saved his wife, Dad was never the same.
The jump-seat was a flimsy affair, designed to stow up against the wall, unlike the heartier stand-alone pilot’s chairs. Jax extended his legs, causing the fold-out seat to bend downward. It took several attempts, but eventually, it gave way and broke off its hinges. He had no choice but to stop his father from doing something he would surely regret.
Once free, Jax donned his suit and left the ship as quickly as possible. Moving up a small worn path along a rock-strewn wall created by the ancient impact they were parked in, Jax finally made it to the top. Beyond that wound another path downward to a spot where he spied Robert disappearing beyond the other side of a deep crevasse. His suit thruster must have gently flown him across it.
“Dad! Dad! Are you there?” No reply on the suit commlink. When Jax reached the edge, he saw what he was contending with. The distance across the crevasse looked to be about one-hundred feet, but the depth was easily three-hundred or more. Unfortunately, the cheaper suit Jax wore did not have a thruster. But he did have an idea. He had no choice but to use the blaster to propel himself across the expanse. If the weapon failed for any reason, even with the lower gravity of the Moon, the fall would kill him.
Jax leaped off the edge and started a smooth arc upward. After a few feet, he started descending. Not wanting to dip anywhere below the precipice, he took his first shot by pointing the pistol down and behind. It worked; his trajectory still looked good. Another shot, then another, until he accidentally entered a slight spin halfway across. With a quick and decisive correction, he righted himself until reaching the other side.
A few feet beyond the crevasse lay a door set into solid rock. He opened it with ease since it wasn’t an airlock, and hurried down a tunnel of rough-hewn walls. Soon, it became a recognizable moonbase corridor. He continued as fast as he could, gaining a bounding-like stride as he moved. Not a straightforward thing to do in eighty-three percent less gravity than on the Earth.
Jax turned a corner just in time to see his father but a few feet away, cracking his own helmet against an obvious foe. The suited strangers gently glided to the floor as Robert darted away and down an adjacent corridor. Jax followed him yet again until entering a massive and circular chamber. Robert had stopped running to kneel near the edge of a twenty-foot wide hole in the center of the room. He unclipped the bomb from his chest.
Jax immediately glanced upward to notice a massive drilling machine looming in the shadows above. It was offline for maintenance and positioned directly above the gaping emptiness. This had to be the opening to the mining shaft at the lowest level of the operation.
Before Jax could reach his father, he saw a suited figure drop from the shadows of the drill-head above and descend upon Robert, quickly latching onto him. The two struggled and bounced across the floor as if in slow motion.
Jax froze, unsure of what to do next. He wanted to disarm the bomb, but he also had to stop the fight. The attacker pulled out a menacing silver hammer and smacked Robert on the head. He couldn’t see any visible release of air from the helmet, but his dad was clearly stunned. The attacker raised his hammer again for what would surely be the deathblow.
Jax never thought he’d have to shoot anyone with the weapon he took from Carl, but he aimed and fired to save his father. The stranger took a direct hit, releasing his grasp on the hammer as he spun away. But the recoil caused Jax to move in the opposite direction. The powerful device was not meant to be used in low gravity; rather it was destined to be employed against someone on Earth’s surface. He sailed backward across the room until grasping a pipe at the far wall.
In the time it took Jax to recover, Robert scooped up the bomb and pitched it toward the hole. It made a graceful arc until disappearing over the edge. Jax pushed away from the wall and sailed over to it. He looked down to witness the lighted keypad of the bomb being slowly swallowed by the black void below. There was no way of reaching it now.
“It won’t take long to reach the bottom. And when it does, boom,” Robert said.
“Guess your commlink works after all,” Jax replied.
“Hey, I’ve been busy.”
They scrambled out of the chamber and hurried until reaching the crevasse Jax had to negotiate earlier. The gray rock on the far side lay in stark contrast to the cold and impersonal space of the night sky above. It was time to cross again, but Jax was confident he could make it.
“Watch this,” he said to Robert. Jax pointed his blaster downward and squeezed off a brief pulse, allowing him to rise a meter or so against the weak lunar gravity.
“So that’s how you followed me? Nice. Here’s mine.” Robert curled his arm backward and pointed to the suit thruster on his back. “But you go first,” he said. In one surprising and swift motion, Robert picked up his son and hurled him over the edge.
Jax spun out of control for a moment, but after a few short bursts of the weapon, he regained stability. As he fired down and away, he watched the lighted face of his father grow smaller and smaller. After reaching the other side, he said, “Okay, Dad. Your turn.”
Robert shook his head. “Can’t. My suit thruster’s broken.” He rapped a gloved hand against his forearm controls. “Must be from the fight.”
“Don’t you have one of those blasters?”
“Sorry, no. Now get outta here.”
“But…”
“Go on now. And hurry! Just remember that Paul is stronger than you realize. Please listen to him.” The old man stood at the edge of the precipice and lifted a gloved hand in goodbye. Once again, he looked just as at-ease as he did waving goodbye from the driveway back home.
Jax estimated a mere minute or so before the explosion would surely take him out. With a speed he did not know he possessed, he reached the ship and hit the emergency lift-off. Waiting engines roared to life, causing spine-compressing force against Jax’s tired frame. He had made his escape. But Dad. Why? Switching over to the landing cameras, he witnessed the dome-encrusted mining operation inflate skyward like a balloon. Flying apart into a thousand glittering metal fragments.
#
The moon shrank as Jax’s eyes welled with tears. Dad died, and for what? Just to save me? No, it had to be more than that. He died for the freedom of others. Blowing up that base would definitely make things worse back on Earth, especially for those like his family living in the lower economic areas. Atmos would cut power there first before withholding any from the upper echelons of society. And even likely worse for Jax in particular, being labeled as the son of an alt-leaning murderous kook.
He slammed a fist onto the ship’s control panel. Dad wasn’t murderous, and he wasn’t a kook. He was just a man who wanted independence from a government that only handed you what it deemed you deserved, and nothing more. It was what Jax wanted as well. Like new legs for Paul. And water that wasn’t as costly as gold and brown as mud.
Of course, Jax wouldn’t have a job anymore. He laughed at the thought of doing what Dad had mentioned; becoming a drone that fixed drones. No way in hell. Besides, the authorities would soon hunt him down for questioning. He figured Paul was okay, though. Little brother was more independent than most kids his age. And Jax had a good idea of which secluded hideout he might wait in.
The Earth looked at peace from up so high. Ironic. Jax set the landing coordinates to a safe location and prepared for re-entry. Dad was right… to a degree. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, but the violence of blowing up an energy operation on the Moon wasn’t the way to go about it. Something had to be done. Something that would liberate people once again to fend for themselves, at least the ones who wanted to. To live in a place where the big-brother of the government could not cast its ever-watchful gaze and reach with clutching hands.
No choice but to help Carl now, even though he detested the man. He would aid in the resistance, but in other ways besides violence. Better ways. Was he kidding himself? Might it still come to revolution as the only way to effect change?
Jax vowed to find out.
No matter what.
E N D
