Tumbler Page 16

  Base responded, "Roger, Tumbler. Drop her off at the hospital when you swing back around." Then another report broke in, about a family of three that had been found with one casualty.

  Libby pulled the woman over to her runabout, and tethered her own vehicle to the woman's. The runabout owned by the woman was high quality, a four-seater with good boost for cargo. Using the safety harness, Libby tied the woman into one of the passenger seats, then used the large runabout to tow hers as they continued in the direction of the comet.

  Even though she tried to avoid it, Libby did run into some of the smaller debris, constantly looking over at Ms. Von Tromp to make sure she was okay. There was still one large rock on her navigation readout that Libby wanted to check out before heading back to town.

  As they headed toward the rock, Libby thought there was something familiar about it. She could see neat furrows in the rock, and on one side, a huge hole where a collision had clearly wiped away half of the rock, and sent it tumbling through the perpetual night. The rock had clearly been pounded with debris, to the point where Libby had to put them in a fast orbit before she could get a good enough look at it to see where the residence was.

  A large ranch-style house was set out near one of the large dig sites, and Libby headed for it. As she neared it, she could tell that the house had been pummeled with rocks, knocking door-sized holes in several of the walls, and leaving the roof barely standing. As she looked for lights, the architecture of the house suddenly hit her and she realized why she recognized it. Her mouth hung open just as she heard a weak message coming in over the local station.

  ". . . within range of this signal, please call for help. This is Ira Davis. My family and I have been attacked by unknown assailants, and are currently taking refuge within the house. There are four members of my family, three male and two female. We are armed, but will not use weapons unless provoked. If you can hear this recording, we have taken refuge in the house. Repeating. To anyone within range of this signal -"

  It was the standard beacon for any family that had been attacked by pirates. Although there was very little in the way of crime on Blessed, the concern was always there. Most of the better homes had a series of emergency recordings prepared, in case of different types of danger. Libby frowned in concentration. Someone in there had the presence of mind to start the recording, even if they didn't have time to record a message for this specific incident. If they had enough time to start the recording, did they have enough time to get out?

  Libby landed next to the residence, and started to bounce around it carefully, looking for answers, her side still pulsing with pain. Her heart sank as she looked at two wrecked runabouts still tethered to the front door. Two runabouts meant that the whole family was here when the comet hit. She tried not to think of where they could have gone.

  Libby wasn't sure whether she should still check out the house, or take Ms. Von Tromp back to Blessed. She looked back at the runabout, and saw the woman still slumped against her restraints. Libby walked into the residence, stepping carefully through the wreckage of the house. The place was a shambles, with debris all over the floor. It felt odd and surreal to be walking through the house in an environmental suit, with half of the walls torn down, furniture toppled and laying on the ground. Standing on carpet, looking through a wall at deep space. Clothes, cookware, Libby even found cooked food in the oven. They didn't pack, they didn't shut anything down. They didn't have time for anything. Libby felt the tears welling up in her eyes. They must have been hit out of nowhere.

  Chapter 21

  Standing in the kitchen, looking around at the shambles of what had been her friend's life, Libby finally decided to head back to town. She took a step toward the runabouts when she felt something strange. It was like a minor earthquake. It only lasted a second, but a trained miner knows to fear that feeling. She stopped completely, unconsciously grabbing her stomach, praying not to feel it again. If the rock was starting to fall apart, she wanted to be a long way away when it happened.

  Then she felt it again and started to panic. It only lasted a moment, but she definitely felt the floor creak against her feet. She bounced over to the runabouts, moving as fast as she could. But just as she got to the runabouts, something made her stop. It felt wrong, not like a cave-in. It was too regular. Like machinery, maybe? Running underground?

  Libby walked back over to the kitchen very carefully, nervous about being wrong and causing a cave-in. She remembered what it was like inside that copper rock, where she'd found Dora. Then she felt it again, a single jolt through the ground. It felt wrong. Not machinery, and not a cave-in.

  Libby started walking closer to it, waiting for it. The pain in her stomach was making her limp slightly as she felt her way along the floor. The feeling was irregular, and seemed to be centered on one area in the back of the kitchen. Past the oven and refrigerator, she followed it. The door to the utility closet hung open on its hinges, and as Libby passed through, she saw something strange in the floor. One section of the carpet was pulled up to reveal a handle attached to the floor. Libby pulled up on it, expecting some kind of resistance, if not a lock. Instead, the section of the floor came up easily to reveal a staircase cut into the rock of the asteroid.

  Libby climbed downstairs into the darkness. Her headlamp was the only light illuminating her progress as she grabbed the railing built into the wall. At the bottom of the stairs, an iris stood resolute against the damage, humming from emergency power. Libby cycled into a wide room with shelves, all brimming with supplies. A small cot was placed against one wall, and a card table was positioned against the opposite wall. On the card table, Libby could see a radio transmitter attached to a generator.

  Standing there, Libby noticed that this basement reached out away from the house, in the direction of the dig, rather than underneath the house, as most homes are built. As she looked around, the brilliance of it hit her. The Davis family dug out a huge square hole as part of their claim. Then, after placing their home right next to the claim, they just put a roof over the hole, put in one new wall, and built the house next to it. That way, the house couldn't be destabilized by a problem in the basement, and the basement itself could be hidden from the world. She laughed hollowly in her helmet, despite the situation.

  Libby started limping into the room, still casting her headlamp around. As she approached the far wall, Libby could see a huge pile of rubble that extended all the way to the ceiling. The caved-in section reached from one wall to the other, as though a ceiling section cracked and fell inward.

  Libby could still hear the thump, coming from ahead of her now. She ran over to the cave-in and tried to find the thinnest part, the best place for excavating a hole. As she picked up one of the larger rocks from the area, Libby saw something that made her gasp and jump back.

  A single arm, sticking out of the hole she'd just created, slowly curled its fingers. Libby was hit with a wave of revulsion and stepped back, fighting a scream. The hand didn't stop moving. It looked like it was searching, trying to find purchase in the rocks around it. Libby was caught in a cheap monster movie horror moment, then she shook it off as she realized that the arm belonged to someon trapped under the cave-in. She started pulling at the rocks as fast as she could. She tore from the top of the ceiling first, hoping to avoid making it worse by pulling out key stones. Instead, she pulled out large stones from the top down, until she could get closer to the arm. Living in a low-gee environment made it easier to survive a cave-in, but that didn't guarantee anything.

  A sudden flash of pain caused her arms to recoil, making her double over for a moment. She took a moment to get her breath, and as she reeled, she felt a hand grip her shoulder.

  "Are you okay?" A low, cultured voice asked over the local channel.

  She looked up to see Alice Von Tromp standing next to her, still pale and tired. The woman looked at her and said, "You came for me, right? That is to say, you were the one who pulled me out?" Libby nodded dumbly through th
e pain. The woman slowly nodded and looked around. She spotted the arm on the floor and jumped a little. Then a calm dislike washed over her face, like a society woman who has decided not to say anything about the hair she spotted in her soup. She pursed her lips and seemed to come to some decision as she walked over to the rubble and started digging. Libby waited for her breath to come back, then joined the woman in digging.

  After a few minutes pulling rocks down, she finally got to the point where she felt confident removing the large, flat block that was covering the head and shoulders. As they pulled it away, Libby saw the slight frame of little Howard Davis resting underneath the rubble. He was still wrapped in his environment suit, but it looked like the suit had suffered a lot of damage. She shook his exposed arm lightly, and said on the local station, "Howie, can you hear me?"

  She could feel another powerful crack and she looked up at the cave-in wall, realizing that whatever was making that, was coming from the other side of the cave-in. Alice put one hand on the rubble, as though trying to make sure that was where it came from. When Libby looked back down, she saw Howie coughing and blinking into the visor. She said, "Howie, you okay?"

  Through the dust on his visor, Libby could see him grin back at her. He coughed, "Zowie."

  She smiled down at him, "Oh, honey, are you okay? Can you move?"

  He wriggled under the remaining rocks, "I think I'm okay. I can't feel my . . . I can't feel anything." His face darkened, "Am I dead?"

  Libby shook her head quickly, "Honey, that's probably shock or something. The rocks are covering your legs, so you can't move your legs yet. That's all." Libby nodded enthusiastically to add weight to her words, but she wasn't sure if she believed it either. She said, "Ms. Von Tromp. Grab an arm and help me pull."

  The woman smiled at her and said, "Call me Alice dear. And no, we're not pulling him out. There might actually be other injuries he can't feel, and I won't have us making them worse by pulling on him."

  Libby nodded and said to Howie, "Okay, just hold on there, and we'll get you out."

  Libby was reevaluating the rubble, trying to find the quickest route to get the rocks off of him without causing more damage, when she felt that jolt again. She could feel it in the rubble, "There it goes again. What is that?"

  Howie looked up at her, "I think Dad's trying to dig out."

  She frowned at him, "Dig out?" then her eyes widened as she thought about that.

  "Yeah, they were all on the other side when the roof fell in. I think they may be trying to dig their way out, but I don't think he's got any tools over there. Maybe one pick. We didn't have time to pack."

  Libby nodded slowly, then said, "We've got to get them out of there. Was everybody wearing their environment suits when you came downstairs?"

  "Yeah. Dad insisted. He said we'd live longer if we breathed that air first." His face darkened, "I don't know if they know I'm alive. When the roof crashed, they probably just saw it fall on me. They might not know I'm okay." He looked up at her, eyes wide, "You know what we forgot?"

  She kept surveying the rubble, "What's that honey?"

  "Zowie. Space Captain Smith. Whenever he gets knocked down, he says 'Zowie', then he gets back up and fights."

  She smiled at him, "We didn't forget. You said Zowie already.” She looked back up at the pile of rubble that completely blocked the rest of the room. She scowled, “And now it's time for us to get up and fight."

  Libby kept pulling at the rocks, digging and scrabbling, sometimes hitting the rocks with her fists. Occasionally, the rocks wouldn't give, and she had to move to another point. She kept feeling the jolt of the pick, and thumped her fist on the rocks to tell them that someone was still here.

  More than once, Libby thought about how much easier this would be if she had access to her work tools. Just one sonic jackhammer would cut through this like a hot knife through butter. But she didn't have time to go back to the work site. What's more, she didn't know if the worksite was still there.

  She had freed Howie enough for him to sit up and start digging at his own legs. Libby told him not to do it, fearing that he might destabilize the rubble, and he nodded and agreed. Still, every time she looked away, he started digging at it again.

  Eventually, she heard something. She could swear she HEARD it. Up near the ceiling, she saw one of the larger rocks splinter and fall apart. As soon as it fell, she could hear a rush of noise over the local station.

  A steady, measured voice called out, obviously nervous, but straining to keep it out of her voice. "We're coming for you, honey, don't worry. Papa's going to be right there. He's digging through it now, so you don't have to be frightened. There's nothing to worry about, honey, we're coming for you -"

  Libby could tell it was Minerva, though her voice was harsh and raspy. She guessed that Minerva had been saying this for a long time, to keep Howie's spirits up. Libby, Alice, and Howie all shouted at the same time, their voices mixing into a confused garble, "We're here. We're okay. It's all right -"

  Libby saw the large boulder get pulled back out of the way, as they reported on Howie's condition. Minerva needed to hear them say that he was okay several times, until they got to the point of repeating it in unison. Libby helped with pulling down the rocks on her side, while Ira moved with the fevered energy of a madman, hooking large rocks with his pick and pulling them aside quickly. As the tunnel through the rock opened up further, Libby could see him working at it. He was sweating wildly, and even through the suit, Libby could see powerful muscles quivering from the extended stress. His face was dark red, his eyes bloodshot. He was breathing hard through his mouth as he scrabbled at the rock wall. Behind him, Dora and Minerva were busily pulling away smaller rocks, dragging them to the distant end of the tunnel. Libby kept working to free Howie, even as his father dug frantically to get a tunnel through to them.

  Soon, Howie was able to move his legs, and Libby found that he was relatively unharmed. He was still coughing and wheezing, but seemed fine aside from that. His body moved weakly, and he didn't trust standing on his own. Ira got the hole large enough for Dora to get through. Once Dora was on the other side, the three women worked from one end while Ira and Minerva worked from the other.

  Minerva kept insisting the hole was big enough, and kept pushing her way in to prove she could make it through. She pushed Ira out of the way and tested it several times, insistent on seeing her baby boy. Ira kept pulling her back, insisting that she would rip her suit if she went through too small an opening. On the sixth try, she managed it, despite Ira's protests. Libby and Dora helped pull her through.

  Once she was on the other side, Minerva patted Libby on the shoulder distractedly, and ran over to Howie. He was sitting up, still dazed, and she cradled him in her arms, asking him about his breathing, did he see spots, could he feel his toes. She checked him for blue lips, dilated pupils, and a dozen other indicators. Libby and Dora kept working at the hole as Ira went back to cutting at it with his pick.

  Minerva looked up to see Ms. Von Tromp for the first time, and her face cleared to an impassive glare. She nodded a greeting, "Alice."

  Alice looked back at her with the same impassive face, "Pleasure, Mrs. Davis." Then got back to work.

  Soon the whole family was through. They switched off the recording, and slowly carried Howie back up to the surface. Libby was the first to get to the runabouts, and said, "Okay, this should be pretty easy. If Alice will continue letting us borrow her runabout, then she can take Ira, Howie, and Dora back to town, while I go with Minerva."

  They all started buckling in as Ira turned to her, "I haven't talked to anybody since our house got hit. Have you heard back from Woody? Last transmission from him, he said he was stuck at home, so he turned on the homing beacon for anybody who was heading out there."

  Libby's eyes widened, "Woody's one of the people I'm coming to get."

  Ira frowned, "That means nobody found him. So he didn't ever show up in town."

  Libby stared at t
he ground for a moment, then looked back up. "Okay, change of plans. Do you know where Woody's place is?"

  Ira shook his head, "I know it used to be out that way, about three clicks" he pointed out further from Blessed, "but who knows where it is now? The comet's knocked us all out of whack."

  Libby nodded and said, "Right. New plan. Ira, you take Howie and Minerva back to town on the runabout. Once you're there, come back for Alice and Dora. I'm going to go look for Woody."

  Ira said, "Well, Alice's runabout can carry four. I'll take Dora along."

  Alice looked up with wide eyes and started to say something, but Libby was ahead of her, "No. You take Howie, because he needs help, and you take Minerva, because she needs to be with Howie. But I've got to go get Woody, and I'm not leaving anyone here on a blasted, destroyed rock all alone."

  Libby didn't want to mention that she thought putting Alice and Minerva on the same flight might be a bad idea. Something about the way they looked at each other made Libby think it was better not to put them together.

  Instead, she said her goodbyes, and headed out in the direction Ira had pointed. As she traveled, she got further and further from the bright worklights that littered the surface of most working sites. It started to become more difficult to move at top speed, with the debris still roiling around, and darkness closing in. Her headlamp was good enough for close things, but traveling too quickly meant taking bigger risks. She navigated around what she could, trying to guess at how far off Woody's rock would be. She kept looking over her shoulder to get her bearings for navigation, but it was getting more and more difficult to tell which direction she was moving.

  Then she heard a tiny beep on the navigation sensor. It was faint and brief, but she moved forward faster, and heard another, stronger beep. She headed toward the beeping, listening intently for the which direction made it louder. Then she saw it ahead of her.