Chapter Twenty Three

Devon, Jacinda, and Merrell stood atop the cliff overlooking the pirate mining module. The sun had set nearly an hour ago, leaving the area illuminated by the eerie light cast by the lava in the valley. The children felt, more than saw, the creepers standing around them in the dense vegetation covering the edge of the cliff.

Devon and the others had decided that the only way to stop the miners was to climb down the cliff, sneak into the module and deactivate or destroy the controls. They all realized that it was not much of a plan, but it was better than nothing.

Preparation for the ‘assault’ had taken the rest of the afternoon. After nearly a half an hour of speaking slowly and gesturing, Devon had been able to make ClearSky understand what they would need for their plan. With a few hoots, the creepers had sprung into action, gathering strong vines and weaving them together to create ropes that would let the creepers lower Devon and his friends down the cliff near the mining module. The ground around the module looked fairly stable and free of splashing lava.

Whoever these miners were, they were likely to put their module on the most stable ground in the area, so Devon was not too concerned about the hardened lava collapsing under them, but one could never be too careful. The greater danger was from the odd splash of lava or the occasional release of toxic fumes from the crater.

Devon tied a vine rope around his waist and then walked over to the edge of the crater, peering down. It seemed much higher now that he prepared to go over the edge.

He took a deep breath, steeled his nerves and nodded to the gathered creepers. Several of the larger creepers took hold of the rope and began to lower Devon down the cliff.

The trip down the cliff was not as frightening as he had expected. The worst part was standing on the edge of nothing the moment before going over the edge. Once he got past that point he saw little but the cliff face right in front of him. Following what must be one of the oldest pieces of advice in the universe, he did not look down.

Devon said a silent prayer when he reached the bottom. The rock felt solid, but shuddered slightly from the activity beneath the crater. He looked up, watching Jacinda and Merrell descend. Jacinda looked down once or twice on the way down, but didn’t seem to be bothered. Merrell’s eyes were shut tight when he reached the ground and his completion was a bit on the green side.

“Not much for heights, huh?” Devon asked playfully.

One of Merrell’s eyes popped open and he eyed Devon with more than a little irritation. “No, I have never liked heights. Well, not the height so much, but the though of the splat at the bottom has been more of a concern.”

“Oh, just be quiet you two.” Jacinda said. “We are down now, so let’s just get on the move, before somebody in there sees us.” She pointed at the nearby module.

The three were so intent on their task none of them noticed one of the vines swaying back and forth as if someone were climbing down behind them. But, of course, no one was to be seen. That was the whole point.

Devon, Jacinda, and Merrell hurried toward the module, being careful on the uneven surface of cooled volcanic rock. They could see a hatch on the side they were approaching. It looked corroded and burnt, but the whole module looked that way.

Merrell crept forward and tried to turn the wheel that would open the hatch. It did not budge. Devon stepped up, adding his strength. The two tried again, but it still did not open.

“Shoot, it must be locked or something,” Jacinda said.

“Then how do we get in and surprise them?” Devon asked.

“Simple,” Devon said, “We get them to open the door.”

“You are joking, right?” Jacinda was skeptical.

“No, I’m not. Here is my plan.” Devon outlined his plan for Jacinda and Merrell. They all agreed that it was the only way to get in.

Devon and Merrell picked their way carefully around to the side of the module, making sure that they could not be seen if there were any windows or portholes. Jacinda worked her way to the back of the module where the lava intake was.

She took a few minutes to familiarize herself with the equipment. It was not much different than a lot of the heavy equipment that could be found on the mining colony where Jacinda lived. It was all pumps, power couplers and hydraulic actuators.

Slipping a compact toolkit from a storage pocket in her coveralls, she selected a spanner and began working on her part of the plan. She pried the cover off a control port and examined the inside, shaking her head. The wires were old and had obviously been patched several times, each time more sloppy than the last.

Jacinda gingerly prodded the mess of wires, trying to figure out what was connected to what.

“What a mess,” she muttered. “Haven’t these people ever heard of proper maintenance?”

After a few more moments of examining, she smiled widely. She pulled on a pair of thick gloves from one of the many pockets on her coveralls and selected a multitool from her kit.

After one final check of the wiring Jacinda clipped two of the wires. She closed and sealed the control port with a flourish.

“That should fix them.”

She hurried around the side of the module to where Devon and Merrell waited. The three huddled in the shadow of a huge conduit, waiting for their plan to unfold. A few moments passed with nothing happening. Merrell and Devon turned to her questioningly.

“Just another minute and you’ll see.” Jacinda said.

That seemed to satisfy the boys who went back to patiently waiting. A few more moments passed before a low rumbling began. The rumbling morphed into a loud grinding. The grinding grew slower and slower until it sounded like a giant burping. The burp ended abruptly followed by a high pitched pop that sounded like a bottle of fizzup opening. Then…silence.

The silence was a surprise because the mechanical sound of the module had been so overpowering. For the first time they could hear the sound of the bubbling lava nearby.

Merrell smiled and gave Jacinda a thumbs-up. She returned the smile beaming at his approval. Devon watched the exchange and smiled as well, but that had more to do with Merrell and Jacinda’s growing friendship than anything else.

They all heard a mechanical whir as the nearby hatch slid open. A grubby looking fellow emerged, a look of irritation on his face.

“Infernal piece of garbage! I done patched ya four times already.” He said no one in particular.

The man continued to berate the unseen target of his wrath. “If I have to fix you again I’ll recycle you into a toilet control valve.”

Devon had to stifle a laugh as the ragged man ambled and cursed his way to the control port Jacinda had sabotaged. He turned the corner, going out of sight of Devon and the others. This is when they planned on sneaking into the module.

Finally reaching the control port, the man fished in one of the pockets of his baggy jumpsuit. Not finding what he was looking for, he moved on to another pocket. He failed to locate the goal of his quest in that pocket as well.

“Where is that durn zeta-driver?” He growled. “I had it right here…somewhere.”

The man began to empty his pockets, tossing various tools, widget and gizmos onto the ground around him. ”Hold on, let me think. I was working on the enviro-evaporator. Then I fixed the core resonator. I didn’t need it to adjust the toaster…so I must have left it by the resonator.”

While the man searched, Devon and his friends snuck into the module, slipping in the open hatch and hiding behind a stack of battered equipment cases. Devon rummaged around for a moment and found a stained, canvas tarp. He draped the tarp over the stack and then attached it onto a hook on the wall, giving them a bit more cover. With the mess in the room, he did not think that something out of place, like the tarp, would be noticed.

All three froze when they heard a clatter from the other side of the room. Devon peeked out from underneath the tarp, checking to see if the man had returned. He noticed that a box had fallen from a table spilling a handful of electronic parts across the floor, but he did not see any sign of the man.

Just as Devon began to relax, he was startled by the mumbling curses of the man returning from repairing the sabotaged control port.

“Durn, stinkin’, broken-down, piece of garbage. Can’t hold together for more than a week without fritzin out.” He mumbled as he entered the room, thumbing the switch to close the hatch. “If Cappy wants me to keep this place going he is gonna have to pony up a bigger share.”

The man turned and stormed out of the room, kicking aside the spilled electronic parts as he did. He stomped through the hatch leading out of the room and slammed it behind him.

Jacinda pulled the tarp aside and ran to the hatch the man had just slammed shut. She punched several buttons on a control panel next to the hatch and then sighed.

“That should lock them out so we can do our work.” Jacinda said.

“We risked all that just to lock ourselves in this room?” Merrell asked, looking confused.

“Yup, because these modules are used in very dangerous places, every room, even the hallways, can be sealed and has an auxiliary control console. I may need to hack their control codes, but once I do that we can run the entire module from here. We only needed to get inside so we could access their systems.”

“Good job, Jacinda.” Devon said, obviously impressed. “How long do you think this will take?”

“I can’t be sure until I try to access the system…but if their security is as sloppy as the rest of their operation, it shouldn’t take too long. The first thing we have to do is find the control console.”

Devon, Jacinda, and Merrell began searching the walls, moving cases and generally rummaging around, trying to find anything that might be a control console. Several times Devon though he heard the scrabble of something unseen moving around in the debris around the room, but not seeing anything, he guessed it was probably just a mouse.

The search dragged on for quite a wile before it was interrupted by a curse from Jacinda.

“Oh, great. These pirates really don’t care about safety at all.” She said.

“Why, what did you find?” Devon asked.

“Well, I found out where the console is supposed to be. Unfortunately, these bozos have removed it, probably to use it as a replacement for one of the primary control consoles. Doing that is just dangerous. If someone was trapped in here during an emergency than they would be helpless.”

“So what do we do now?” Merrell asked.

“Well…I think I may be able to patch my datapad into the system using the interface wires that they did leave. But I will be limited in what I can do. But, it may be enough.”

Jacinda once again retrieved the toolkit from her pocket and set to work hooking up her datapad to the control wires. She worked intently, a bit of pick tongue peeking out from the side of her mouth showing her concentration.

She mumbled in frustration a few times before looking up at Devon and Merrell, her face beaming.

“I think I got it. Now I just have to hack their system.” She typed furiously with her thumbs on the tiny keyboard. “It looks like they haven’t even done any security upgrades for quite a while. So…yup, I got it. We are in.”

Devon eyed Jacinda suspiciously. “How do you know how to hack into a system? I knew you could work on hardware and stuff, but the hacking thing is unexpected.”

“What, I just know a little. You know, like enough to watch vids I’m not supposed to…or getting an extra helping of dessert from the food machines. I don’t make a habit of it.” Jacinda responded, a blush growing in her cheeks.

Merrell stifled a laugh. “Don’t worry Jacinda, Devon and I won’t turn you in. In fact, I like your dark side.”

“I don’t have a dark side.” Jacinda said. “Just because I am poor doesn’t mean that I’m a criminal.” Tears welled in her eyes.

Merrell was shocked by Jacinda’s heated response. “Jacinda, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I…I…I’m just so sorry.”

Jacinda wiped away the tears, her anger disappearing. “No, Merrell, you didn’t mean it bad. I can be sensitive about it. I shouldn’t take it out on you.”

Merrell shifted uncomfortably. “Still, I’m really sorry.”

Jacinda wiped away the last of the tears and cleared her throat.

“Well, that is enough of that. Now let’s get down to business. What should we do first?” Jacinda asked.

Devon thought for a moment. “Jacinda, you know better than us how to throw a wrench into their works. What do you think we should do?”

Her brows furrowed in though for a moment. She smiled suddenly, the light of mischief in her eyes. “How about we start by reversing their sewer pumps and work our way up from there.