Earth's Last Angel (29 page)

‘I am so sorry about Kenny and Bekky,' still squeezing Mondok's hand while expressing his sorrow. Antonio releases Mondok's hand, offering him a seat.

‘I still can't get my head around the fact that they are gone!' comments Mondok, shaking his head.

Antonio places a reassuring hand on Mondok's shoulder. ‘Would you like a Greetna? I'm having one.'

‘Yes why not, I'll have a double with ice, thanks.' replies Mondok.

‘How can I help, Mondok?' Antonio asks as he pours the drinks.

‘Well…as you know Denise and Sofia are out of action for a while, so I'm taking Denise's place on PV 005. Then I can keep a close eye on what's going on out there, and finally get out on the ground and do what I do best. Which brings me to why I'm here, I'm looking for someone to temporarily replace Sofia until she recovers I'll pay them the same as Sofia.'

‘Well it just so happens that I have someone in mind who would fill Sofia's role. What she may lack in experience She more than makes up for with sheer talent and enthusiasm,' he says, walking behind his desk and pressing the intercom button.

‘Julie, can you please send Sandy into my office.'

‘Yes dean, right away.'

Striding straight into the office is a young female with a squat, solid muscular build with a jet black neck frill, soft pretty face, flashing white teeth, and alert golden eyes.

‘Hi! I'm Sandra, my friends call me Sandy,' she smiles extending her hand to Mondok.

‘Err…yes I'm Mondok.' He responds, taken aback by Sandy's powerful approach. ‘She's built like a brick dunny!' thinks Mondok, smiling inside, and she's as tall as me. He likes this youngster already.

‘So Sandy, do you mind me calling you Sandy?

‘No, of course not, should I call you sir or Mondok?'

‘No! Just call me Mondok. Now let's get down to business, how long will you be available and what can you offer us as a trainee geologist?'

‘Well for a start I am in my final year of studies and have passed all of my exams with honors, I have a real passion for my chosen profession, my dream is to discover new minerals that can be developed into new metals. I have also completed my space environment training with low gravity, and passed again with honors. I am a good team player and get on well with other people, and I can also work alone. I really wish to thank you for considering me for this position. My only concern would be finishing my doctorate if my duties run out a little longer than expected.'

‘You have nothing to worry about, my dear, your theory is complete as far as I am concerned, and of course your experience in this position will count towards your final scores. So now consider yourself a fully qualified Geologist. You can join your classmates for the graduation when you return,' replies a proud fatherly Antonio.

Youthful exuberance seizes Sandy and she throws her arms around Antonio's neck, giving him a bear hug.

‘Thank you so much Dean, you've made my dreams come true!' she sobs through tears of joy.

‘Here take this.' insists Mondok, handing her his handkerchief. ‘I want it back when you are finished with it…clean!' he smiles

‘Of course Mondok, I'll look after it.'

‘How long will it take you to pack?'

‘A couple of hours, perhaps.'

‘Good, that will give me time to organize a transport for you and your gear. I'll get your paperwork organized. You will be working directly with me on my prospecting vessel, PV 005. I'm taking Denise's place until she is able to work again. By the way, where does your family come from?'

‘My mother is from the southern islands and my father is from the northern islands.'

‘An interesting mix of hot and cold.' smiles Mondok ‘Ok you go pack and I'll see you at the launch pad.'

‘Consider it done!' she answers over her shoulder as she disappears out the door.

‘She's a lively one, Antonio. She's like a bee in a bottle!'

‘She'll keep you busy, I guarantee it. She'll do the work of three guys and still come back for more,' laughs Antonio

‘Well, that's what we need right now, someone who's keen and eager to get the job done.'

Antonio refills their glasses and they drink a toast to the success of the survey mission.

‘I'd better get cracking or I'll have Sandy chasing me up.' laughs Mondok.

‘Don't be a stranger, Signor Mondok, you know you are always welcome in my home.'

‘OK I'll drop by when we get back. Ask Maria to bake us one of those rhubarb pies she's famous for.'

Antonio walks with Mondok out to reception. They say their goodbyes and Mondok heads for deck 24, the prospecting deck.

On arriving at PV 005, Mondok sees the crew busy loading new supplies for the trip. He calls them all to assemble at the bottom of the access ramp. As the last of the crew emerge from inside the prospecting vessel, Sandy arrives on the transport with her luggage.

‘Just park over here, mate' Mondok instructs the driver, then helps him with a few of the gathering crew to unload Sandy's gear.

‘OK guy's, you have two new crew members. This is Dr Sandra Mc Alistair she is our new geologist, so make her welcome.'

Sandy introduces herself to each of the crew, shaking their hands in turn, then she says: ‘I'd like you all to call me Sandy, I feel very privileged to be working with the famous PV 005 team.' She hardly gets the last bit out for the clapping and whistles from the team.

‘I guess you get called Sandy because of your wrist frills.' calls out one of the wags at the back.

‘Of course it is!' she replies, laughing at the cheeky banter.

‘So who's the second new dude? man.' asks Thirz.

‘I am…‘replies Mondok.

‘So who's in charge back here?' asks Frances

‘I promoted Ven to Acting Chief Prospecting Boss, he's a sharp lad and has the skills.'

‘That answers why he was buzzing around here like a blue arse fly organizing our supplies for us then.' smiles Dave.

Turning serious, he askes: ‘So…you're taking Denise's, place are you Mondok?'

‘Yes, that's correct gang. I'm now running survey operations from this vessel as Field Commander. I want to be out there on the rocks with you guys, it's time for me to let someone younger have the job back here.'

‘I didn't know he was Scotch!' sniggers DJ

His Brother AJ screws up his face as he looks at DJ. ‘What are you on about?'

‘Don't you get it? Mondok on the rocks!' and explodes in to uncontrolled laughter.

‘Slap him on the back the head, someone!' comments Frances, barely able to control her own laughter. ‘Sorry Mondok, they grow on you after a while,' nodding at the two lads.

‘It's all good, Frances, as long as they are pulling their weight I don't mind a little humor.'

‘Mondok, I've taken the liberty of packing Denise's things for her and taking them to her apartment. I left it all in the transport trunk to make it easier for her when she‘s able to return to us.'

‘You're a good friend, Frances, I'm sure Denise will be happy with that.'

‘OK crew, we leave in one hour,' Frances announces.

The launch goes without a hitch, 24 prospecting vessels all heading out to continue the survey they had started earlier. The captain had attended the launch and wished Mondok well on the continued survey.

‘Mondok, I'm going to miss having you around. But I think your move into the field of operations is a wise one. I'll keep an eye on Ven for you and help him out if he needs it. All we need is a verifiable, commercially viable amount of minerals and the Croc can lodge our claim to the entire asteroid belt.'

‘Yes…I know captain, we've all got a lot riding on this. We will get the data the Croc needs for the claim, and an ice asteroid big enough to build our new home. I'll make sure of it!'

As the Captain shakes Mondok's hand in farewell. a delicate blue butterfly lands on Mondok's nose then walks up onto his head, gently folding its wings back and forth as it walks.

‘Well I'll be damned!' smiles Val.

Mondok just smiles and walks carefully up the access ramp with the butterfly on his head, waving good bye to the captain. On the flight deck he gently puts his finger in front of the butterfly and it crawls onto his finger, he puts his finger close to Frances's shoulder and the butterfly happily settles on Frances's shoulder, with her grinning like a little girl.

‘OK. Everyone strapped in for liftoff?' Frances enquires.

‘Yep! But the butterfly will just have to wing it!' calls out DJ, to everyone's laughter.

Once clear of the Sobek Frances gives the all clear to move around. The flight deck clears pretty quickly, nearly everyone heading into the biosphere to sort their gear in their rooms. Sandy moves in to Sofia's room, Sofia's gear now stowed away in her apartment on the Sobek.

‘So…Mondok where did you pick up this pretty little girl?'

‘At the Uni for rock lickers, were else?'

‘Not Sandy, you clown! The butterfly!'

‘Oh,' a burst of pink flashing on his frill and cheeks, ‘she found me. She landed on the end of my nose and crawled up onto my head. The captain thought it was hilarious. She must have gotten lost from the agricultural deck and spotted me, thinking I was a shrub or something.'

‘She's gorgeous Mondok.' replies Frances, admiring her black tipped vibrant blue wings.

‘Do you know what sort of butterfly she is?'

‘No idea.'

‘She's a Dunk Island blue,' says Dave as he walks on to the flight deck.

‘We used to collect them as kids when I lived in Tully.'

‘Where the hell is that? asked Frances.

‘Not far south of the tip of the great southern land. Went there on holiday once, rained the whole blasted time I was there. They've got this huge gumboot in the main park it must be 10 meters tall! I reckon it must have been full of water from the damn rain. I've never been back since!' snorts Mondok.

‘Mmm…Wet season, got cheap off season rates did we mate?' sniggers Dave. ‘Go back in the dry, you'll love it. I've got some friends there who will take you out to Dunk Island in their boat, they'll take you diving on the reef, and I might even talk them in to taking you up the boot.'

‘What do you mean, “‘up the boot?'”

‘It's a viewing tower, Mondok. It's hollow with a stairwell inside.' ‘unlike some people's heads that are just hollow.' Dave mumbles under his breath.

‘Yeah, well maybe, I'd better go and get my stuff sorted.'

‘Isn't it supposed to be good luck if a butterfly lands on you?' asks Frances.

‘I don't know, I just think it's pretty cool she's chosen us to be with.'

‘Hell Yeh! I'll take her through to the biosphere and she can make friends with Denise's carp Tiger.'

‘I hope Tiger doesn't eat her!' laughs Dave.

Sadly, on the third day of the expedition, Denise passed away in her sleep. A blood clot had developed in her lung and broken free, entering her heart, blocking the blood flow and causing a massive fatal heart attack. Medical staff tried to revive her with no success. Mondok is heartbroken, now he will never get the chance to tell Denise how he really felt about her. After the dignified funeral, Denise's coffin is placed inside a hollowed out asteroid with an ID beacon marking the asteroid as the new cemetery.

Before arriving at the ‘0' point for PV 005, Mondok makes an all ships call to the fleet of prospecting vessels.

‘This is Field Commander Mondok. I will be running operations from the survey field. Ven has been promoted to the position of Acting Chief Prospector. I know we are all still recovering from the loss of PV 013 with all hands. With the new override technology, an incident like that will never happen again. However I feel I must remind you that we work in the most hostile environment known to Mazubans. We need to look out for each other, don't take any stupid risks. We have much to do, so let's get it done safely. What we are doing now is the start of a new history, our history!'

‘So let's give our descendants something to be proud of.' A collective cheer spills out from the entire fleet. Mondok's face splits into a broad grin. ‘Let's do this people, safely!' Now the survey is back underway in earnest.

He divides the prospecting vessels into four groups of five, and one of four. He calls them Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, his team of four prospecting vessels being team Echo. He then nominates a leader for each team to report to him regularly, which gives him plenty of time to supervise his own crew on PV 005.

With the first survey field now complete, Mondok moves the Prospecting fleet to the next survey field SF 0002. The survey process starts again with each prospecting vessel relocating their ID bench mark beacon to their new 500 square kilometer survey cube. They find their new ‘0' point, then relaunch their bench mark ID beacons to begin the process of mineral survey all over again.

After six months the mineral survey on the first 12,500 square kilometer cube section is complete. Now there is enough survey data to support the Croc's claim of the entire asteroid belt, which he does on behalf of the United Kingdom of Sobektar.

Back on Thera there has been long months of speculation regarding the massive ship named Sobek. Where exactly was it built? What are they doing out there in the darkness of space, just exploring? What on Thera is the Croc up to, calling a special sitting of the One World Order?

The meeting is organized to be held at their headquarters in Gera. Delegates from around the globe are in attendance for this historic meeting.

‘Thank you all for coming to this special session of governance, the main item of business is the claim of the asteroid belt by the United Kingdom of Sobektar. I hand over the floor to his Highness, the Croc,' announces the speaker.