the
access codes. Nothing gets deleted from these things permanently unless I do
it.”
He watched her scroll through lines of data until his own
device vibrated in his pocket. He could easily guess who’d sent the message
but, still, when he saw his father’s name on the screen, his stomach tightened
with anxiety. That was nothing compared to the stomach cramps brought on by the
message itself though. He’d asked his dad to do a little digging and see if he
could find out how much LMX-3 had donated to Loase’s election fund. Turned out
his father had really come through, even finding several shell companies the
energy giant had funneled money through. The number on the screen was stunning.
“Any reason a major energy company would be interested in your land?”
She glanced up from her reader to ask, “Why?”
“Because they’ve invested enough in Representative Loase’s
election fund to buy a small planet. Wondered if they were looking to cash in.”
She typed in a couple more commands before saying, “It looks
as if Mark noted several concentrations of something called inomoniam .”
She scrolled through a couple more pages. “A lot of concentrations of the
stuff, actually.” She turned her reader so he could see the screen. “Do you
know what it is?”
“Sorry, didn’t take many geology classes in college.” He
typed the name into his reader and then froze when the results came back.
“Shit. This is bad. Inomoniam , when refined, is the main component in
H8.” He didn’t need a background in geology to recognize that chemical.
“H8?” What little color she’d managed to regain drained
suddenly as she typed the new search into her reader. “It has to be Mark. He’s
working with the energy company so they can get their hands on my land.”
“Looks that way. He’s found enough pockets of the stuff to
destroy several small planets, or one large one.” Once the element had been
refined into H8 there would be no defending against it. Spray it over a
planet’s surface and every living thing would be dead in twenty-four hours.
“I’ll get the sheriff out here.”
She didn’t look up from her reader as he sent the message to
the sheriff. Instead she held the device tightly as she flipped through the
pages of information. “Why would he do this?” She spoke the words so softly
that they seemed more for her benefit than his. “According to this, mining inomoniam wouldn’t just destroy the ranch, it would poison the land for a hundred square
miles,” she said as she continued to scan articles. “The mining companies have
to break layers of bedrock open in order to harvest it. As safe as they say the
process is, there have been some serious leaks reported.”
“And maybe that’s why a representative and a major energy
company are interested in a little ranch on an unimportant colony planet,” he
said, remembering the question she posed to him that first night.
“Reckon there aren’t a lot of voices out here to raise a
fuss if something does go wrong.” She ran her fingers through her hair in
apparent frustration. “I just can’t believe this has been going on for months
and I didn’t notice it.” She stared at the reader in her hands. “How did I not
notice something was going on?”
“You were busy running your ranch. Sometimes we’re so busy
looking at the forest we don’t see the trees.”
She looked up at him and gasped sharply. “Oh god! Even if we
stop Mark, how are we going to stop Loase? He’s just going to have more people
file complaints and try to burn me out of house and home until he gets what he
wants.”
Jasper hadn’t let himself plan that far ahead. It was just
too overwhelming to think about. It brought back the vicious thought loop he’d
been trying to avoid since she’d woken up. “I write my report and, if my boss
isn’t in Loase’s pocket, you keep your ranch. End of problem.”
“And if he is in Loase’s pocket?”
“Then we resort to
access codes. Nothing gets deleted from these things permanently unless I do
it.”
He watched her scroll through lines of data until his own
device vibrated in his pocket. He could easily guess who’d sent the message
but, still, when he saw his father’s name on the screen, his stomach tightened
with anxiety. That was nothing compared to the stomach cramps brought on by the
message itself though. He’d asked his dad to do a little digging and see if he
could find out how much LMX-3 had donated to Loase’s election fund. Turned out
his father had really come through, even finding several shell companies the
energy giant had funneled money through. The number on the screen was stunning.
“Any reason a major energy company would be interested in your land?”
She glanced up from her reader to ask, “Why?”
“Because they’ve invested enough in Representative Loase’s
election fund to buy a small planet. Wondered if they were looking to cash in.”
She typed in a couple more commands before saying, “It looks
as if Mark noted several concentrations of something called inomoniam .”
She scrolled through a couple more pages. “A lot of concentrations of the
stuff, actually.” She turned her reader so he could see the screen. “Do you
know what it is?”
“Sorry, didn’t take many geology classes in college.” He
typed the name into his reader and then froze when the results came back.
“Shit. This is bad. Inomoniam , when refined, is the main component in
H8.” He didn’t need a background in geology to recognize that chemical.
“H8?” What little color she’d managed to regain drained
suddenly as she typed the new search into her reader. “It has to be Mark. He’s
working with the energy company so they can get their hands on my land.”
“Looks that way. He’s found enough pockets of the stuff to
destroy several small planets, or one large one.” Once the element had been
refined into H8 there would be no defending against it. Spray it over a
planet’s surface and every living thing would be dead in twenty-four hours.
“I’ll get the sheriff out here.”
She didn’t look up from her reader as he sent the message to
the sheriff. Instead she held the device tightly as she flipped through the
pages of information. “Why would he do this?” She spoke the words so softly
that they seemed more for her benefit than his. “According to this, mining inomoniam wouldn’t just destroy the ranch, it would poison the land for a hundred square
miles,” she said as she continued to scan articles. “The mining companies have
to break layers of bedrock open in order to harvest it. As safe as they say the
process is, there have been some serious leaks reported.”
“And maybe that’s why a representative and a major energy
company are interested in a little ranch on an unimportant colony planet,” he
said, remembering the question she posed to him that first night.
“Reckon there aren’t a lot of voices out here to raise a
fuss if something does go wrong.” She ran her fingers through her hair in
apparent frustration. “I just can’t believe this has been going on for months
and I didn’t notice it.” She stared at the reader in her hands. “How did I not
notice something was going on?”
“You were busy running your ranch. Sometimes we’re so busy
looking at the forest we don’t see the trees.”
She looked up at him and gasped sharply. “Oh god! Even if we
stop Mark, how are we going to stop Loase? He’s just going to have more people
file complaints and try to burn me out of house and home until he gets what he
wants.”
Jasper hadn’t let himself plan that far ahead. It was just
too overwhelming to think about. It brought back the vicious thought loop he’d
been trying to avoid since she’d woken up. “I write my report and, if my boss
isn’t in Loase’s pocket, you keep your ranch. End of problem.”
“And if he is in Loase’s pocket?”
“Then we resort to
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