Chapter 8
“Who’s there?” The man’s voice echoed in the hallway.
Opal immediately pushed everyone behind a door and drew his sword, striking the short man from behind as he ran past the stairwell.
The hilt of the blade hit the back of the man’s head and he fell to the floor with a heavy thud without even managing to catch a glimpse of the intruders.
“Search him,” Opal instructed. “Hurry!” With his sword gripped backwards, he rushed out to take care of the cameras.
The other three began frantically rummaging through the director’s clothing. Locke pulled out a card from his shirt pocket and Opal reached out to take it. “You guys wait here.”
Ugo and Locke guarded the director while Opal and Armann dashed across the hall and pushed open the door to the data room. After a brief survey, Opal found an optical computer[1] on top of a desk.
The devices in this room were far more outdated than the ones on Coccina, perhaps because Black Rock Mining wasn’t too willing to equip this destitute planet with better resources. The use of code cards as a security measure had become obsolete hundreds of years ago, but Opal had come across them in Lektor’s microchip.
He inserted the code card into a slot on the computer. A three-dimensional network of lights projected from the laser in the centre of the room and wove into a holographic screen.
“Search,” Opal commanded. “Survey of mining disaster deaths.”
A voice sounded from the optical computer. “Year 20099 AL.[2] Location of mining disaster on B-11. Coordinate located at C201—-”
Opal immediately stopped the search process. Armann’s voice was frantic as he spoke. “I know that place!”
Opal interjected, “No, no. Now’s not the time…. Let’s wait a bit. Search. Trade market exchange in 20103.”
“No matching keywords found.”
“Trade.”
“Harley Falkt. Identity: unknown. Spaceship docked. Deal reached—”
Opal froze. The contents of each transaction began populating densely on the projected screen. “Trade. Opal Ansto,” he requested.
“The following are private transaction records….”
Exchanges made with Energy Units in the last four years lit up on the screen. There were detailed transactions between Opal and merchants from the trade ships. Opal clicked to return to the list on the previous page—the transaction data of all 100,000 miners across six mining villages were all here.
“This is it!” Opal exclaimed. “We need to leave right now.”
He opened the optical computer’s core compartment and took out a small transparent strip as Armann gaped at him, evidently shocked. “You know how to work this thing?”
“I’ve got a rough idea…. Let’s go!” Opal said.
But the second he pulled out the microchip, the alarm sounded in every corner of the building.
“Warning. Warning.” A feminine voice spoke from the security system. “Intruders. Intruders.”
The lights around them glared red and the camera in the corner began shifting. “Armann! Follow me and run!” Opal called out.
The shrilling siren that echoed in the hallway was paired with sets of spinning red warning lights. Countless laserbeams, launched from the muzzles that extended from the cameras, fired rapidly at them, rechocheting against the alloy walls of the hallway.
“Don’t come out!” Opal covered for Armann as they bolted across the hallway. He held his sword with the hilt pointed up like a makeshift shield. The blade buzzed as beams of laser deflected from its surface and took down a surveillance camera in a spark of explosion.
Defense robots were ejected from the ceiling, buzzing as they began firing rounds along their travelled path. Opal shouted the moment they bolted into the stairwell, “Run!”
“What about him?” Locke asked.
“Where to?” Ugo asked.
“We’ll take him with us. Head towards the warehouse! I’ve got a plan!” Opal shut the door to the staircase and pushed a metal pipe against the door handle to keep it in place. He then dashed down the stairs and they dragged the still-unconscious director along. Second floor. First floor. Just as they arrived, the door leading to the main entrance began to open. Opal jumped down the stairs and immediately kicked it shut, securing another steel pipe under the door handle.
The underground level looked fairly empty when they made their way there. But the flying robots had already started to gather from every direction. Opal rushed them onto a mining truck and pushed. “Let’s go!”
Lasers flew at them from every direction. Despite being the size of a small box, these flying robots packed quite the punch. A grazing shot would have easily punctured their bodies if they weren’t careful. Opal yelled and pushed with all his might, finally managing to bring the mining cart all the way to the warehouse entrance. Then, he turned around with his sword raised and slipped between shots of oncoming lasers.
In the meantime, Armann swiped the director’s card and the door to the warehouse pulled open gradually.
Opal’s mind was void of thoughts in that moment. His attention was solely on the dense firing of criss-crossing laser beams. His body moved as though it had a mind of its own. He was tip-toeing the line between life and death with every jump and every swing. Every brandish of his sword would set five or six robots exploding in midair as they plunged to their destruction.
Opal avoided another round of laser attacks as he moved two steps forward and three steps back to make his retreat. “Shut the door!” He shouted.
The door began slowly shutting. Opal waited until the doors closed to a crack before slipping inside, turning his blade to face the door in a practiced motion as he did so. A single beam bounced from the metal and took down the robot that loomed just outside the crack.
The door closed with a loud bang.
Everyone relaxed.
“Find the meds, Ugo. The meds you were looking for,” Opal reminded.
Ugo snapped out of his daze and broke into a run to look for the antibiotic solution. Opal looked up, spotting a faint fluorescent light coming from the ceiling.
“Opal, you can’t be human! If you had even been shot once, the consequences would have been disastrous!”
Opal spent a few moments catching his breath. He was also at a loss as to where his sudden explosion of power came from. He took a minute to calm himself and tried to explain, “It was what my meister taught me…. It’s not like there’s any time to think in such a precarious situation.”
“How are we supposed to get out?” Locke asked.
Opal spoke after falling quiet for a moment. “We’ll think of a way. Check to see if there are any batteries around.”
Armann and Locke split up to look for things. Opal gave the unconscious director a kick while thinking to himself that they had really done it this time. The original plan was to leave once they managed to steal the microchip. He had no idea the plan would cause such a big ruckus.
His spaceship wasn’t fully fixed yet, so even though they had the evidence, it wasn’t like they could take off immediately. The Black Rock Mining’s headquarters on Coccina would find out what happened sooner or later. It was only a matter of time.
Things had definitely taken a troubling turn. Opal silently stood and thought about his options. Would he be able to go back and ask for Lektor’s help? No. Lektor would just tell him to think it through himself. In fact, the man rarely stepped in to lend a hand in most situations.
Opal’s thoughts were a jumbled mess. How long would it take for Black Rock Mining headquarters to take action after finding out about what happened here? And was that time period going to be long enough for him to repair his ship, take off to Coccina with the evidence, and get them help?
Leaving this building wasn’t going to be a problem though. Opal had already mapped out the escape route on the way in when he examined the blueprints of this building.
“Found it!” Ugo announced excitedly. “There’s medicine! Lots of it! Shit, the foremen never sold these meds to us!”
“What about batteries and engines?” Opal asked.
“Got some here.” Armann asked, “You know how to repair spaceships?”
“Pack them all up. I’ve gotta try. Once the spaceship is repaired, we’ll be able to get off this planet.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. You haven’t even fixed your spaceship yet?!”
Opal pinched his brows. “I didn’t have anything to work with until now! How was I supposed to fix anything?”
Armann took a deep breath. “You’re gonna get us all killed.”
Opal pushed Armann against the wall. His voice was low with warning when he spoke, “Listen Armann. Everyone has to take responsibility for their own choices. I promised that I’ll protect your little sister and I plan on following through with it. I hope you’ll meet your end of the bargain.”
Armann dropped the subject and asked a different question instead, “How do we get out now?”
“Ugo. The tunnel you were digging. Which way is it?” Opal asked.
Ugo stood by one of the walls and tapped his hand on it. The wall was a thick layer of stone. “Should be in this direction.”
Opal stepped towards it with his palms out and pressed around the wall with his hands. It felt unshakably tough.
“Look around and see if there are any stone cutters,” Opal instructed. “If that doesn’t work then we’ll blast it with melt sticks.”[3]
“It’s too dangerous!” Armann spoke nearly at the same time as him. “We’re gonna get blown up on the spot!”
Opal looked around. “What about this then?”
With a swing of his greatsword, the lock on a nearby metal case cracked open. The case was filled with rhodovena crystals when he opened it.
“It’s full of crystals,” Ugo said. “Crystals the foremen pilfered from us are all stored here.”
“Heavens, what’s this?” Locke’s voice sounded this time.
Opal glanced over to see that Locke had opened another case filled with alcohol.
“You’ll definitely get a chance to drink that later,” Opal said. “We need to get outta here first.”
He swung his sword at the wall with all his might. After a few tries, a thin crack formed on its surface. He then crushed the rhodovena crystals into fine bits and pressed them inside. “Take cover. Go and hide behind the door.”
Thousands of flying robots were still patrolling on the outside. Opal opened the door a sliver and a round of shots came flying in immediately. He waited near the door switch. Once a shot made it into the crevice with the crushed rhodovena crystals and set it exploding, he immediately shut the door again.
The crack had opened up a bit, enough for them to jam inside a melt stick used for blasting operations in mines. “Find a place and take cover!” Opal said.
With an enormous boom, the stone wall was blasted open. The melt stick had carved a giant, dark hole inside the warehouse. The high temperature it emitted had reduced the hard stone wall into molten lava.
“Go, go, go! Quick!” Opal shouted.
“And the hole opening?” Ugo asked.
Opal spoke after a short pause, “Don’t worry about it. We need to get out of here first!”
They left the building, dragging the hostage and supplies with them. After walking along the tunnel for two hours, they got to the basement cellar under Ugo’s hut and, pushing open a wooden panel, crawled out with ash-streaked faces.
“They’ll find this place eventually,” Ugo put the wooden board back in its place and went up the stairs to treat his wife.
The director was all tied up in a corner of the cellar. The short man had woken up when they blasted open the wall inside the warehouse, his eyes darted between them as they busied themselves. “You’re all going to be dead meat sooner or later! Untie me!”
Ugo sent a harsh kick his way without a word and the director fell unconscious again.
“Is she better?” Opal asked.
Ugo had given his wife a dose of antibiotics. She had stopped shivering and was resting with her eyes closed.
Everyone cast their eyes on Opal. He pondered for a moment before speaking. “I need to get back immediately to fix my ship first. Then I’ll take the microchip to Coccina and file a lawsuit.”
“And you’re absolutely certain that someone would be willing to help us?” Ugo asked.
“The Ignitis system[4] is a member of the Republic. The Interstellar Charter of Rights is still in effect,” Opal responded.
“And what if it isn’t,“ Armann questioned.
This was also Opal’s biggest concern from the start.
“Meister was the one to tell me about the Charter and I believe him. If no one’s willing to help us,” Opal said, “then I’ll fix my ship and take you guys in batches. Once my mom’s ship is fixed, it can hold up to a hundred people. One hundred thousand people means we’ll have to make a thousand rounds as long as there’s fuel. And we’ve got all the rhodovena crystals here, so there’s bound to be enough.”
“We could just leave directly,” Ugo suggested.
“No, we can’t. Smuggling is our last resort. None of us have travel passes. If we don’t follow the plan, then the only alternative is to start from scratch on a planet without civilization and that simply won’t work. I’m going to try my best and make sure everyone gets to leave.”
“You’d better get back,” Locke said.
“Is there a mining truck around? Let me borrow one.”
Ugo showed Opal where the mining trucks were. The foremen had only taken the batteries out of the mine trucks before they left for the winter. Opal had looted twenty batteries from the warehouse, worth 500,000 Energy Units in total. It should be more than enough for Lektor and his own spaceship. He connected one of the batteries to the truck and handed Ugo another. “Once your wife’s condition improves, take her with you and come to the rift valley by Crimson Sills. You can’t stay here much longer. You’ll be in danger if they manage to find and follow the tunnel.”
All of their fates were bound together from this point forth.
“What about Anya?” Armann asked.
“Let’s split up. Go back to the village and bring her over. I’ll wait for you inside the valley.” After instructing them, Opal maneuvered the truck and set it dashing on the snowy field. “E7!” He called out.
E7 beeped on top of the alloy building and a red bulb lit up on its body. It spun around in counter-clockwise circles to release the rope from around the pole and trekked down the alloy wall, dragging the rope along as he trekked towards Opal.
Opal picked up his mini robot, put the rope away, and drove towards Crimson Sills.
Translator’s Notes:
Ivory Crescent 
Opal is getting better in controlling his will.
Thanks for the chapter!
thanks for the chapter!
Me está encantando la historia! Espero pronto encontrar la última respuesta para mandar el formulario jeje, muchas gracias por traducir 🤗