“And who are they?” Velda hadn’t been able to see a company logo. The machinery that was visible was a mix of makes and had a number of different company names on the side.
“Stolen?” Ethan wondered, when she pointed it out.
“Could be.” That was a thought. “Or they bought old equipment and kept under the radar.”
“They’re definitely operating illegally. This whole mountain range is a national park.” Ethan lay beside her on the overhang they had chosen to observe their surprising find.
There was an awkwardness to the process, to Velda’s eye. A lack of flow and organization that made her more sure thanever that the mine had recently expanded, and not in a well-considered way.
“Why would they ramp up production with so little planning?” she murmured.
“They’re in a hurry.” Ethan slid a little closer to the edge.
“And isn’t there another group who seems to be in a hurry right now?” Velda narrowed her eyes as she stared down at the chaos below. Could this be a Cores operation? Here on her planet?
She sensed Ethan move, and she turned to look at him, saw the same realization in his eyes as was in hers.
“Fuck,” he said.
“Exactly.” She wanted to get down there, find out what she could about who was involved, and what they were mining. “It’s enraging.”
“We need to steal a hover and get back to the city,” Ethan said. “We can’t stop what’s going on down there right now, not with just the two of us, but once we’re back in Demeter we can get a team together to investigate.”
Velda took a deep breath. “Yes.” She needed to get back. Badly. And Ethan was right, the two of them had no chance of stopping the operation below.
She began looking at the hovers, trying to find one that wasn’t being used so they could steal it.
“That one, maybe?” Ethan pointed to the left, to a small group of machines that were sitting to one side, with a tiny hover next to them. “Looks like loading equipment.”
Loading equipment.
Velda swallowed down her anger. Of course they’d need loading equipment. They’d have to get the ore they were mining out of the mountains somehow. They were transporting this stuff somewhere. To someone. And she was going to make finding out where and to whom a personal mission.
Her eyes felt gritty and they were burning with fatigue, and she closed them for a moment. The rock they were lying on was warming in the early morning sun, and they had only caught three hours sleep the night before.
“Velda.” Ethan whispered right in her ear, and she jerked, suddenly unsure how much time had passed.
“Sorry.” She glanced at him, but he was looking down again, and it looked almost exactly as it had when she’d closed her eyes.
“I don’t think they use that hover unless there’s a need to load the ore.” Ethan was still looking at the small collection of vehicles to the side.
“The trick will be to get to it and drive it away without them noticing.” Because she didn’t think it had much in the way of a top speed. There were plenty of vehicles below that would catch up to them in no time.
“Let’s get down there and take whatever opportunity presents itself,” Ethan said. He moved backward off the rock and Velda followed, sorry to lose the warmth of the stone beneath her.
Ethan was right. Things could change in a moment, and they didn’t even know how long it would take to get down to the mine itself.
At least they had a target to aim for, and they could play it by ear.
They had left their packs behind the trees growing right at the edge of the rocky outcrop, and they picked them up and began to move through the woods toward the furthest end of the ridge.
Ethan climbed down first and Velda scooted to the edge to see how much of a drop was involved.
It was about five times higher than Ethan, so she carefully dangled the packs, one by one, when he reached the bottom, then let them go. He caught them easily.
“Now you,” he called up softly.
She wasn’t going to drop down, but she was glad he would be there in case she lost her grip.
