Escape from 196 Askadar

He asked if I knew what happened to them.

"Well, Sir, again, I wasn't down there, but I'd imagine they're now just little bits of stuff floating in space. Getting sucked through a crack in the rock will do that."

A guy on the right of me asked about Barbara.

"There was a woman assigned to your mining party. What happened to her."

I hoped he'd believe what I was going to tell him.

"Well, first of all, I wouldn't call her a woman. A woman would have sense enough to stay in the habitat, and she'd understand what sex is all about. I don't know what idiot decided to make her, but a Lucy is far better. The last time I saw her, she was in the mine. God knows why, but she asked Mack to show her how he set up for a blast. I didn't see her come out before I got into the escape pod, so I figure she's a bloody fog floating in space too. Too bad in some ways. She wasn't much in bed and we dug out rock that was smarter, but she was pretty to look at."

I answered a few more questions including why the pod suddenly changed course. I frowned.

"Apparently, the seals on the control console aren't worth a shit. I was drinking some water and spilled it on the console. After that the pod changed directions and I couldn't reset the coordinates. It came down in the ass end of nowhere. I was hoping you guys were tracking me. I'd never have made it out of there by myself.

"I don't know why the damned thing caught fire right after I got out either. It did land pretty hard, so maybe something came loose. Maybe you should check out the engine safety systems too."

They got done with me after an hour. The guy at the head of the table thanked me and said 196 Askadar was going to be split and mined as two separate asteroids. Since I hadn't finished my year on site, they'd get me on the next shuttle to the moon. I shook my head.

"Sir, once was enough for me. I think I was damned lucky to get off that fucking rock alive, and I never thought it was a good idea to tempt fate. My contract says I can quit at any time. Just pay me what I'm due, and I'll be on my way. There has to be a job out there somewhere that's a whole lot safer."

}|{

Two days later, I stepped out of the used Jeep I'd bought and looked at the GPS unit in my hand, then started walking toward a big pine tree that marked the entrance to the ravine. Barbara was about a hundred feet from the tree, hunched over a fire and watching a fish roasting on a stick shoved in the ground. When she saw me, she jumped up and ran to meet me. She almost knocked me down when she put her arms around my neck.

"I was so worried they wouldn't let you go. Now I'm so happy you're here."

"They didn't let me go. I quit."

"You're not going back up there again?"

"Nope. I'm staying right here on Earth."

"What will we do?"

I chuckled.

"You said 'we'. Does that mean you're staying with me?"

"If you'll let me. I think I love you."

"When did you learn about love? I thought you couldn't do that."

"I've been finding out I can do a lot more things than your book said I could. I don't know why, but I can, and one of the things I can do is think I love you."

"Well, I don't know what I'm going to do. There's not much of a market for an asteroid mining engineer here on Earth. What would you want to do?"

"I'd like to stay right here. I remember having a lot of good times with my father in the woods."

"They aren't really your memories, Barbara. LMEC put them in your mind."

"I know, but they're the only memories I have."

Well, when I looked around at the scenery, it was a pretty great place. I'd gotten so used to gray rocks I'd forgotten how nice trees, water, and grass can be. It wouldn't be a bad place to live.

When I went back to town, I took Barbara with me because she needed some different clothes. I cut the LMEC patches off her coveralls so she wouldn't attract attention that way.

We stopped by the only shop in the small town that sold clothing. It was a farm supply store that seemed to have a little of everything, but all they had was jeans and cowboy shirts. Barbara picked out some she liked and also picked out a pair of hiking boots. When I paid the older guy at the register, he asked if I was new in town. I said yes. Then he asked me a question that ended up being the answer to my problems.

"You wouldn't be interested in stayin' in Badger Falls, would you?"

"Well, actually, I am. It looks like a great place to live. I just need a job and a place to live."

"Your wife there like it too?"

"She's the reason we're thinking about staying. She was raised near here."

"That so? Well, I'll ask you the question I've asked every other man in town then. I been running this store since I got it from my Daddy back in '95. I ain't getting' rich, but this here store's the only place in two hundred miles to buy anything 'cept groceries so I do all right. Had me a car charger and hydrogen plant put in last year, so I got that covered too. I'm lookin' to sell out and move me and my wife to Boise. Got us a son who lives there. He don't want the place and nobody in town does either. You be interested? I'll throw in my truck, 'cause I won't need it an' you will."

The price he named seemed low, but it would take everything I'd saved. I said I'd have to talk to Barbara.

Barbara was all for it even after I told her if we failed, we wouldn't have anything. She just grinned.

"I remember working in a store like this before we moved to the moon. I know what needs to be done. We won't fail."

I went back and offered the man a little less, just so I'd have some cushion left. I still had to find us a place to live. The old man frowned.

"Well, I can sell the store for that, so I guess I'll have to keep the house. Maybe I can rent it to somebody."

"There's a house that goes with the store?"

"Well, yeah. Once I move to Boise I sure as hell won't need a house here."

I signed the contract that day, and went to the local bank to arrange transfer of the money. Barbara and I spent the night in the only motel in town. After we ate dinner at the diner across from the store, we went back to our room. Once I'd locked the door, Barbara put her arms around my neck.

"I know most of my memories aren't really mine, but I have one that is."

"Oh, what's that one."

"The night in the ESE when you came to my room. I know that one is mine."

"I remember that night too. It's when I decided you weren't what they told me you were."

Barbara stroked my chest.

"Just so I don't forget that night, could we do it again? I didn't get to feel how it feels to have you undress me."

}|{

Well, I have to say that while sex in the reduced gravity of the asteroid was really great, sex with Barbara on Earth was even better. We had to go slower, but that just made the ending better. When she eased back down on the bed, she held me close for a while, then kissed my ear lobe and whispered, "now I know I love you."

I rolled over and put my arms around her.

"I love you too Barbara."

She smiled.

"Would it be too much to ask you to show me how much you love me?"

}|{

Nobody from LMEC has ever contacted me in the ten years since I quit, so I think Barbara's pretty safe. There was no way to prove she didn't get sucked out the crack in the asteroid, and even if LMEC suspected, everybody in Badger Falls knows Barbara now. If she suddenly disappeared, they'd start asking questions and the Badger Falls police and maybe even the Idaho State Police would get involved. LMEC wouldn't want to risk any kind of investigation.

I think the genetic engineering guys at LMEC underestimated the human brain by a bunch. They ignored the cases in the past where a person with a pretty severe brain injury eventually was able to function almost normally. The doctors didn't have anything to do with that. It was just the brain figuring out how to heal itself by re-wiring some connections. I suppose it's kind of like how artificially intelligent machines can learn to repair themselves, except there's nothing artificial about Barbara. She's every bit as human as I am.

The only thing LMEC did right with Barbara was that libido thing, and I'm still making up my mind about that. It's great, but I feel pretty tired some of the time. Barbara's been checking out books at the little library in town and says I just need some vitamins. She ordered some for the store, and brought a box home. I think they're doing some good. I just hope she doesn't start taking them too.