Tales From New Terra

From his observer's seat on the overhead mechanical arm called, for some reason Jix Oltion had never figured out, a tractor, he looked out through the huge, curved, plexan windows that lined the side of the Agridome. Below him, steel disks at the end of the arm, guided by automatic controls, cut a furrow in one of the long trays of black soil that ran the length of the building. The tractor hardly needed his attention as it glided along on its overhead track. His mind was elsewhere, on the pH balance in the hydroponics tanks, flow rates on the irrigators, on next cycle's seed stocks, and on the Scout that rumbled past the window every morning like clockwork.

The bulbous craft rounded the corner on fat tires, dodging a big Cargo Truck taking a load of wheat off to storage, and slid to a halt just outside the window. As was their tradition, Duncan waved from inside the vehicle's cockpit and Jix waved back.

“Your move, partner.” Duncan's voice came from the comm-link on Jix's collar.

Jix visualized the four-level dynachess board. “Crew to Boss-level-four. Checkmate.”

He could see Duncan slump in his seat. “Frag, you did it again.”

Jix laughed and turned his attention back to the plow. “You big-shot scientists think farmers aren't so smart. Thank the fates I am smart, Duncan. If it wasn't for us, you lab-jockeys would be eating rocks for breakfast instead of oatmeal.”

“Evac Transport away! The chairman's transport is away!” Karen ran across the “pit,” the circular nest of consoles that was the heart of the Command Center. Everywhere she looked, red tell-tales and warnings glowed.
Somewhere in the distance another explosion boomed, and in response, another screen of indicators went from yellow to red. She tapped the young technician facing the console on the shoulder, and gestured him toward the emergency lock.
Through a view port she could see another Evac Transport backing in to dock. She shooed two other techs toward the lock, and instructed one of the handful left to shut down all the Tubes leading into the Command Center. She blinked. There was really nothing left to do, nothing left to command, and the lava flows were closing in fast. A magma bomb crashed down just outside the port, narrowly missing the now-docked transport.

“That's it,” she shouted. “Everybody out! Good job people; now go join your families.”

She paused to shut down a few more systems, before admitting to herself that it was pointless. What could be done was already done. She hesitated at the lock for one last look at the deserted Command Center, sighed, and ducked through the door into the transport, quickly dogging the hatch behind her. She thumbed her comm-link. “Let's roll!”

The transport was crowded, but people ignored her. They had their own problems and traumas to deal with. She fell into a simple web-backed seat and sighed. The job wasn't done. Somewhere ahead of the convoy, a ConVec was carrying a kit to build a new CC, and the job would begin again. “It'll be over when it's over,” she said to nobody in particular, and she couldn't even guess how it would end.