Scott The Fakeland Bestseller

1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-3-7519-0464-3
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 377 Seiten

Fear spreads to the faces of the starship crew. The target, the asteroid JANUS, appears on all monitors. The dark secret of the Space Mining Company comes unstoppable and threatening. The young robotics specialist Rea and the resourceful planetologist Todd fought for the job of a lifetime month ago. They want to belong the pioneers who conquer foreign celestial bodies. Your mission becomes a life-and-death adventure.

The profession of a computer scientist allows the view appear from a different angle. Science Fiction leads the imagination to endless possibilities. What inspires thoughts today could become reality tomorrow.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Scott, David

Leseproben

Chapter 2

Music boomed from the headphones. The little mining crab shovelled the last rock samples on board. Suddenly an ugly screeching noise cut through the command module. A monotonous computer voice reported a malfunction ... malfunction ... Damn it! The thing did not want again. Ennie pulled the control lever for the gripper arm. I'm losing my patience now, you robot beast, she thought angry. A provocative red safety light flashed on the control panel. Ennie tried to move the control lever in vain. And again this annoying computer voice reported a malfunction ... malfunction ... malfunction. None of it had any purpose. The on-board computer checked the operating function of the control unit. The air in the cabin smelled stale.

That too, a fuse had blown. Ennie felt anger rising. Where had George hidden the fuses? He could never keep order. Hastily she rummaged through the glazed cabin of the mining crab. The space suit restricted the mobility. Angrily, Ennie took off a glove of the space suit, which hindered the search. Slowly her hand groped under the seat. Finally her fingers touched the repair box she was looking for. From the open repair box, the same chaos stared at her. Ennie rummaged between old chewing gum and tools. On the bottom was finally the fuse she was looking for. Lucky again. Relieved she installed the new fuse. Okay, don't panic. On the checklist was ... I see! ... and ... Press the reset button for the gripper. Her eyes stared spellbound at the system panel with the error message. After a moment of tension the monotonous computer voice came up. The reset was successfully completed. Relief spread. The display on the console changed from red to green.

Ennie was a Space Miner girl with heart and soul. In this wasteland nobody got on her nerves so fast. Well, apart from the radio contact with the base station. But Boris, her commander, didn't take it too seriously. From time to time he reminded her to keep to the schedule. A shrill signal frightened Ennie again from her thoughts. The robot protocol reported the successful completion of the mining process. The system mode showed stand-by. The mining crab had stowed the last material sample in the collecting container. That too. The base station JANUS reported on the display.

''This is Commander Boris. Come in, Ennie. Over.''

Ennie stopped her music disgruntled and looked at the work timer.

''Ennie to base station. I finish my shift in Patch 4A in five minutes. Over.''

''Is everything all right? You are late. Over.''

''The control lever was stuck again. Over.''

''Base station to Ennie. Do you need help? Over.''

''No! I'll be fine. Thank you! Ennie, over.''

No one could predict the unknown dangers that awaited the Space Miners during the extraction of raw materials. The asteroid JANUS was reminiscent of a large, shapeless lump of rock. On the desolate surface, countless impact craters of various sizes were spread out. At first glance, the asteroid seemed lifeless and yet it contained unimagined raw material treasures. The distant light of the sun illuminated some areas. Others disappeared in the darkness of the night. Ennie enthusiastically observed the changing shadow patterns that sometimes resembled demons.

The strenuous shift came to an end. An examining look fell on the display with the oxygen supply. Okay, everything in the green area. The next local gravitational anomaly was thirty meters from the mining crab. Ennie cursed the constant fluctuations of gravity. In Patch 4A there were several insidious areas. She regretted the exchange. How could she let herself be taken by George and his begging dog eyes? Stop! No feelings come up, she thought.

"Otherwise, I'll make a mistake and it may cost me dear."

She had to calm down. Now she was already talking to herself. My helmet is fogging up on the inside again. Ennie run the most absurd thoughts by the head. Why did George want to swap shifts? What was so important? This secrecy did not look like him. George knew that he couldn't hide anything from her.

Ennie routinely programmed the way home to the base station JANUS. The narrowness of her space suit impeded any movement. In an emergency, this thin shell separated the body from the deadly environment of the asteroid. An unpleasant feeling crept into her brain. No one would hear her screams in the silence of space. On Earth she could swim ashore. In space she had a maximum of twenty seconds before she died. Ennie quickly rejected these unpleasant thoughts. Inside, the mining crab had a protective atmosphere. The regulations required double security. Damn it! Some of her long blond hair always got caught in front of the face. Ennie opened the helmet to stroke the hair from her face. At that moment she felt something dark creeping up the back of her neck. An inexplicable fear captivated her mind.

FAKELAND's shadow entered the stage. Black as night and truly demonic, its appearance was reflected in Ennie's helmet. Against the black universe it was hardly to be recognized. FAKELAND rose silently on the horizon. In the transparent cabin Ennie suddenly noticed a flashing. Did the senses deceive their perception? Ennie closed the helmet and turned the mining crab towards FAKELAND. But the headlights did not reach the area she was looking for. And there! It flashed again. What could that be? Her eyes stared hypnotized on ... yes on what? There was nothing else, only darkness. George switched shifts out of fear?

FAKELAND, a forbidden zone, was not to be entered. And if it is, Ennie thought for a moment. She still had air for an hour. What flashed there? The distance from JANUS to FAKELAND was only a few meters. She would overcome the distance effortlessly in the jump. Where was the safety cable? Oh there! The thing had hidden under the cover. In the meantime the black object filled the entire angle of view in her helmet. Now or never, thought Ennie. I only need a few minutes. In an emergency, the mining crab acted self-sufficiently and could catch up with the rescue cable. I must know, curiosity urged her. The flashing intensified with every minute. Ennie stared hypnotized at the mysterious signal. Something attracted her magically. As if by herself, holding the cable drum in her hands, Ennie got out. I have to explore that. The cable must be enough, it hammered in her head. Ennie connected the cable to the mining crab. She pressed the start button of the cable drum. She'd manage it. No one would know about this little adventure. Ennie's mind was overwhelmed by an irrepressible curiosity.

With a strong takeoff she jumped towards FAKELAND. After the jump from JANUS there was an indescribable view of infinity with its countless stars between the two celestial bodies. In the flight over the abyss, between JANUS and FAKELAND, her mind recognized the gross carelessness. Suddenly the speed increased uncontrollably. The increasing gravity of FAKELAND seized the helplessly delivered body. The madness of an irrepressible curiosity took its toll. In the excitement, Ennie forgot to prepare for the impact. Her body fell uncontrollably, with full force, onto the unstable surface of FAKELAND. The violent impact enlarged an existing surface gap. Ennie could not react fast enough. The ground gave way and she slid meter deep into a dark abyss. The sharp edges of the rock fissure offered no support to hold on. Suddenly the cable, stretched to its limit, broke. The end of the cable turned into a whip, which hit the victim in slow motion. Macabre, no sound penetrated into Ennie's helmet microphone. Helplessly Ennie, trapped in her space suit, slid down the smooth walls in the rocky crevice. The walls slowly shifted against each other. Her helmet collided violently against a wall projection and got a crack. Her space suit immediately reported a loss of oxygen. Oxygen level critical, forty seconds to go ... thirty seconds to go.

In shock, Ennie noticed the increasing force of gravity, which mercilessly pulled her into the depths. All desperate attempts to free herself failed. Ennie now understood the full implications of her recklessness. The walkie-talkie could save her. But she got no connection. Ennie screamed desperately into the microphone.

"Base station, come in!"

But there was no answer. The relay in the mining crab had to receive the emergency call.

''Why does nobody hear me?''

Ennie roared desperately.

The rocky crevice tapered downward and jammed her left foot. The lower right sleeve of the space suit was slit open. The blood escaped through the opening into space. She was tormented by unbearable fear. She was alone in this deadly wasteland. The thoughts no longer made sense.

"Can't anybody hear me?" Ennie rattled into the microphone with her last ounce of strength. ''Answer me finally!''

Tears ran down her face. After six seconds, the pressure loss caused Ennie's blood to boil. She had no chance. In the depths, the embers of hell seemed to open. It was the blood that ran down her face and strangely blocked the view through the helmet lighting. The red blood floated out of the shattered helmet and sealed her end. The brain formed a last thought. I am in hell. What irony? Her last glance fell on the strange flashing before she lost consciousness after fifteen seconds. The unstable walls of the rocky crevice again moved against each other and the increasing pressure slowly crushed her body. No one heard Ennie's last cry of death.

Strange ... The mining crab stood in its place uninvolved. The spotlights lit up the last act of this bloody scene. The other...