Chapter 2
1523 Words
2
Allie rubbed her ears. She couldn’t quite believe what the alien had said, and she was even more confused that she understood his language. Her hand brushed up against the transceiver Drifter had put on her aboard the ship, and one question was answered. The eerie inquest, however, was still unresolved and very confusing.
A thought struck her, and she sighed. “You did have to fly through a mass of something soft and spooky to get onto the planet…”
“There aren’t any ghosts,” Drifter informed the spooked gentleman.
Talka glared at him. “Mr. Drifter, I respect your word, but I know what I’m talking about. This place is haunted and has been since we reopened shaft three.”
Drifter arched an eyebrow. “Why was it closed?”
Talka shrugged. “No idea. The records were burned up when one of the machines caught fire about fifty years ago. We’ve been working on shafts one and two since then, but they’re getting low, so I made the decision to reopen the third shaft and WHAM! Hit with spooks faster than my mother at a buffet table full of desserts.”
“What sort of ‘spooks’ hit you?” Drifter asked him.
“Well, there’s” Talka did a double take at the large boulder and the color drained from his face. He stabbed a shaking finger at the rock. “There! That’s one of them there!”
Allie whipped her head around but saw no one. Drifter burst into laughter. “She has spirit, but not the kind you’re looking for. Allie?”
Allie sheepishly slipped out from her hiding place and joined them. Drifter kept his eyes on the trembling mole-man and gestured to her. “Mr. Talka, meet Allie Daniel. My… companion, shall we say.”
Allie inclined her head a little and gave him as bright a smile as she could muster considering the grim surroundings. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Talka pulled out a white handkerchief from his coveralls pocket and wiped his brow as he gave them an uneasy smile. “Likewise, and sorry about my yelling at you. Guess I jump at every shadow now.”
“You were telling us what sort of ghosts you have,” Drifter reminded him.
“Quite right,” Talka agreed as he tucked his handkerchief away. “You probably already saw one for yourself. That wall of spooks floating around in orbit over the planet. I can’t get any supply ships to come here anymore. They’ve all been attacked by it.”
Drifter arched an eyebrow. “Has anything actually happened to any of the ships?”
Talka snorted. “Happened? Just all their electrics fried and them drifting out into deep space. Fortunately, all of the company spaceships are required to have some primitive radio equipment aboard, or who knows how long they would have been drifting out there.”
“And the wall appeared after you opened the shaft?” Drifter questioned him.
Talka shook his head. “Not immediately, no. I had the shaft opened about three months ago, and that spook showed up a month ago.” He sighed and shook his head. “Supplies are just about ready to run out, so I suppose it’s a good thing the men left.”
Drifter lifted his eyes toward the mine shaft and pursed his lips. “You said you lost all your men, but you seem to have one man with you.”
Allie looked to where his gaze lay and glimpsed a younger mole-man in the same light brown coveralls. He had a few fine whiskers at the end of his nose and wore goggles. The newcomer was covered in the red sand of the mining pit and thick leather gloves covered his hands.
Talka scowled at the young mole-man who approached them. “I’d hardly call that one a man…”
The second mole-man had an equally displeased look on his face as he joined them. He removed his goggles to reveal his own beady eyes and glared at Talka. “What’s the hold up? Are we getting this done today or not?”
“Not,” Talka snapped as he pointed at Drifter and Allie. “You’re going to go show these two around, especially shaft three.”
The younger mole-man studied the pair with a wrinkle of his nose. “Who are these two?”
Drifter held out his hand to the newcomer. “Ghost hunters. We’ve come to exterminate your spectral problem.”
The mole man scoffed but shook Drifter’s hand. “The name’s Kalta, but you can call me Kal.”
“Less talking and more walking,” Talka growled as he stabbed a stubby finger at the mine shaft. “The faster they figure out how to deal with these spooks the faster we can get this place up and running again.”
Kalta glared at his boss but turned without a word and looked over his shoulder at the visitors. “Come on then.”
They followed behind their reluctant guide. His quick pace meant Allie had little time to study the machinery around them, but she recognized a small excavator with its long arm and bucket, and a bulldozer sat nearby. Both had open panels along their sides from which wires protruded. Many of the ends were frayed.
“Are these machines being repaired?” Drifter asked the young mole.
Kalta glanced at the machines and scoffed. “The opposite. The ghosts got into the wiring and ripped it out.”
Some color drained from Allie’s face as she wrapped a hand around her throat. “Have they tried to do that with a person?”
He shook his head. “No. A few of the guys were hurt because of them, but you’ll see what I mean when we go down into the mine.”
Kalta stopped them at the entrance where small hooks had been drilled into the stone. More coveralls and gloves hung on the dozen hooks. Another dozen hooks hung empty just past the first ones.
Kalta grabbed a pair of each and turned to the visitors. “Put these on if you want to save your clothes and hands. The goggles have to be put on, too, but they’re thermal and infrared, so you’ll still be able to see.”
Allie gasped and looked down at herself. She still wore the frumpy dated attire from the ship. “I forgot my clothes in Bina’s cabin!”
Drifter took both pairs from the mole and held one out to her with a teasing smile on his lips. “I’m sure she’ll hold on to them until we meet her again.”
Allie pursed her lips as she swiped the coveralls and gloves from him. “And when will that be? A hundred years from now?”
“Perhaps two centuries,” he teased as he sat down on a nearby rock and began to pull off his shoes.
Allie resigned herself to her lost clothing and slipped into her coveralls. They loosely fit about her small frame and the pant hems dragged along the ground.
Kalta held out a pair of tall boots to her. “These boots will help to keep you from tripping, and here are your goggles.” She took the offered clothing and Kalta turned to Drifter to whom he offered another pair of glasses. “These are sturdier than what you’re wearing.”
Drifter smiled as he tapped the front glasses. “I highly doubt that.”
Kalta shrugged and turned his back on them to rehang the goggles. “It’s your eyes.”
Allie’s gaze rose up to his face and those wide glasses. “Why do you bother to keep your eyes hidden? I mean, people recognize you wherever you go, anyway, so why hide your eyes?”
Drifter grinned. “For the aesthetic.”
Allie frowned. “You mean you’re trying to be mysterious and failing because everybody knows you.” She walked up to him and leaned closer to the tall man.
Drifter stiffened and arched an eyebrow. “What is it?”
She lowered her voice to a whisper. “You’re really weird, you know that?”
Drifter stared at her for a moment before a sly grin slipped onto his lips. “I have been told that on occasion.”
Kalta had moved a few yards into the mouth of the mine. “If you two are done jabbering, this mine isn’t going to explore itself.”
Their guide trudged deeper into the dark mine, and Drifter and Allie followed. Allie stopped beside the mine cart tracks some five yards inside the mouth and looked around. Two tracks of lights, one on either wall, lit up the otherwise black interior with small LED-style bulbs inside plastic tubes. The walls were roughly hewn as the shaft had been dug with large hoes and the tunnel itself was kept up by metal arches every ten yards.
Drifter stopped and half-turned to her. “Is something wrong?”
She wrinkled her nose. “This looks pretty primitive for the 23rd century.”
“Not all technology sees innovation,” he mused before he jerked his head at the disappearing back of their guide. “But we should hurry before Kalta decides we aren’t worth the trouble.” Drifter forged on ahead but noticed that Allie remained rooted where he left her. He paused and completely turned to his companion. “It’s safe, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“It’s not that.” Allie admitted as she wrapped her arms around herself and swept her eyes over the rough walls. “I might have an itsy-bitsy problem with confined spaces.”
Drifter studied her for a moment before he walked back to join her at her side. He offered her his arm. “Take my arm, take deep breaths, and look straight ahead.”
Allie smiled. “And imagine sunny open fields?”
He grinned. “If it helps.”
Allie sighed but looped her arm through his. “Alright. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
- Writer
