“Lights In The Sky” by J.F.R. Coates (part 1 of 2)

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You’re listening to The Voice of Dog. I’m Khaki, your faithful fireside companion,

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and Today’s story is the first of two parts of

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“Lights In The Sky”

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by J.F.R. Coates, the author of dragons and magic with his

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Destiny of Dragons series,

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and of starats and space popes

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in the Reborn series.

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You can follow him on Twitter

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at @jfrcoates for occasional writing nonsense.

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“Lights In The Sky”

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by J.F.R. Coates, Part 1 of 2

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The Asteroid Belt was a cold, dark place.

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But more than that, it was isolated.

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Each small chunk of rock

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slowly orbited Sol on its own.

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Only very rarely was a rock close enough to another

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that they were visible from each other.

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Usually there was nothing but an endless black sky

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filled with thousands of stars.

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Even the closest star,

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Sol, did little but burn the eyes of those who looked towards it without their visors down. 2557RA3 was no different to most asteroids.

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It was small, only a few kilometres across,

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and shaped roughly like a peanut.

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The asteroid spun quickly as it orbited Sol,

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about halfway between Mars and Jupiter,

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thousands of miles from

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anything else of note in the belt.

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It also had a landing craft on its surface.

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A sleek, bright ship was precariously perched on the tiny rock.

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Big red letters were emblazoned on the side of the craft. ‘Masterson

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Minerals’.

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A large silo had been constructed

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on one of the few smooth regions of the asteroid.

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To its side was a small hut

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that would be the shelter for the miners

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that would be taking residence on their lonely rock.

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Both structures gleamed

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in the bright, pure light from Sol.

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Once the structures were complete,

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the ship departed from the asteroid.

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It wasn’t long before it was just a tiny

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pinprick of light

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amongst a field of thousands of over

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small, white lights.

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The three starats left behind on the surface of the asteroid

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knew it would be the last contact they’d have for a very long time.

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They stared up into the dark sky

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until they had lost sight of the ship entirely.

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The starat on the right of the trio turned to face his companions.

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Their thick, clumsy spacesuits

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made it hard to tell each other apart,

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and Leandro couldn’t tell which of the two was Christie

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and which was Ellen.

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“Well, we are here for three months.

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Shall we see what toys they have given us,”

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Leandro said. He had to hold his hand to the side of his helmet to talk.

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There was a button

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which activated the speakers to communicate with the other two headsets,

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or else any sound they made would be lost to the vacuum that surrounded them.

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“Bet you one meal that it’s rusted crap that barely works,”

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the starat in the middle said.

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Leandro recognised Christie’s voice.

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No one took up Christie’s bet,

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though Leandro doubted they would have been given anything of particular quality.

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The humans wouldn’t give starats the best materials.

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Leandro muttered a few choice words

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in the silence of his helmet

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as he carefully made his way across the surface of the asteroid.

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The three walked hand in hand;

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a promise they had made to each other to do until they had

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hammered in the tether lines that would keep them more secure to the small rock.

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The silo had looked huge when it had been installed,

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but as the three starats approached it

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they truly got a sense of its sheer scale.

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It was gigantic, taller than some skyscrapers on Terra.

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“We’re going to have to hollow out this rock if we want to fill that,”

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Ellen said. She slapped her hand against the side of the gigantic structure.

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Leandro could feel the vibrations through their interlinked arms,

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but it was eerie that he couldn’t actually hear the impact.

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“We have three months for it,”

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Leandro replied. They lingered for a few moments longer,

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their necks craned as they looked up towards the distant top of the silo,

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before they slowly moved around to their accommodation.

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It looked tiny in comparison.

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The small hut was tall enough a human could have stood up in it,

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so for a starat it was certainly comfortable.

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Solar panels coated the roof,

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providing them with the power they’d need to run the few systems they had available to them.

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Leandro pulled open the door,

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only to find a second, sturdier door within.

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“Holy shit, they actually gave us an airlock,”

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Ellen crowed in delight.

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She slapped Leandro’s shoulder,

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and the starat felt his feet lift off the ground in response.

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He quickly braced his hands against the door,

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gripping onto it with as much force as he could muster through the space suit.

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Ellen gently tugged him back down.

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“Sorry.” Leandro slowly let out the breath he had been holding.

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He could feel the hammering of his heart.

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One misstep before they got the tethers down could be fatal.

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His hand shook as he fumbled for the button on the side of his helmet.

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“We should get inside.”

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They could only go through the airlock one at a time,

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as it wouldn’t fit any more than that.

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The doors were slow,

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but when Leandro stepped inside the small room his helmet pinged a notification that he was in a safe breathing environment.

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He fumbled around the back of his neck to find the clasps that kept his helmet in place,

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before gratefully removing it.

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The grey-furred starat shook his head

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to loosen up his fur.

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He was a weasel-like creature,

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covered in a thick layer of fur that was almost pinched and compressed inside suits designed for short humans.

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His lone remaining ear had been

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constantly crushed down against the top of his skull

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inside the ill-fitting helmet,

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and he was not looking forward to dealing with that for so long.

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Leandro brushed a gloved hand over the grey and black fur of his muzzle

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as he looked around the small room.

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Three beds lined one wall.

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Stacks of dehydrated meals lined the opposite wall.

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Other supplies were bundled together at the far end of the room.

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Beneath his feet was the bare rock of the asteroid.

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An airtight seal was maintained at the base of the structure by a thick layer of a flexible

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rubbery material that

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Leandro didn’t dare touch,

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just in case it compromised its integrity.

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Ellen was next to come in.

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Seeing Leandro with his helmet off,

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she immediately removed hers.

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Like Leandro, she rubbed her ears as she held her helmet under her arm.

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“Ow, they did not make these suits for starats, did they?”

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“My tail is awfully cramped,” Leandro

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replied. He gently placed his helmet down on the closest of the beds.

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As much as he hated the thing,

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he didn’t want to toss it aside as it was the only thing that would keep him alive outside of the tiny room.

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“I am not wearing it for three months solid, I can tell you that right now.”

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“Typical male. Around two lovely ladies by yourself for three months, and you’re already talking about getting naked,”

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Ellen said. She laughed and stuck her tongue out at Leandro’s flustered attempts at responding. “Nah,

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I get you. These things are awful.

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Keeps riding up into places I do not want it to go.”

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Leandro wrinkled up his muzzle and turned to search through some of the provided supplies.

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He found the tethers and ropes,

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and he could only hope that there was enough to create safe paths across the asteroid.

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There was nothing to actually drill for the minerals,

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but he assumed that they would be kept within the silo.

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The starat held out a couple of packets of dehydrated food.

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Within the wrappers, the food looked just like a bar of indistinct brown mush,

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but Leandro had survived off similar before.

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He had often found it didn’t usually taste terrible.

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So long as you forced yourself to forget what food tasted like.

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“I shall ration these out properly later,

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but why not have a celebratory meal now?

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We are here, conditions are... decent.

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And then we can get to work later.”

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“Sounds delightful,”

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Christie replied.

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The other starat had removed her helmet as well,

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holding it securely beneath her arm.

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She twitched her muzzle and stuck her tongue out,

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but she still caught the bar as it slowly floated through the air.

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Together, the three starats unwrapped their first meal and tentatively bit into the bar at the same time. “Oh that’s brilliant,”

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Ellen said, her ears perking up.

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She looked around her small group of companions with a grimace across her muzzle.

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“I can really taste the cardboard.”

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“It is all we have, I fear.

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I think they might be all the same flavour too,”

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Leandro replied with a laugh.

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He ran his gloved hand over the stacks of bars that were piled up along one wall.

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Every single one looked identical.

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“They have a flavour?”

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Christie asked. She sniffed at the bar and shrugged her shoulders.

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“Could be worse. They don’t taste bad,

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I suppose. But I sure as shit wouldn’t say they have a flavour.”

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“At least they remembered to give us food.

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I heard there was one mining station set up, and the crew starved after just a couple of days,”

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Ellen said. She shuddered as she tried to throw herself down onto the bed.

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Instead, she just drifted down slowly and bounced slightly off the mattress.

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Leandro placed his hands on his hips

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as he looked at the two other starats.

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His ears flicked.

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“Well, we will not starve.

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There is food and water here. We have oxygen for the full three months,

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and even a generous couple of days extra.

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It may not be comfortable,

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but we have all we need right here.”

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A genuine smile broke across his muzzle.

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“And best yet, we have no humans breathing over our necks.”

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“Think they’ll extend my contract here if I ask nicely?”

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Ellen asked. She swallowed down another mouthful of her flavourless bar of indeterminate food.

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She held the rest of the bar up above her face.

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“You know, I think this is really starting to grow on me.” ***

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Once they had finished their meals,

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the three starats started to prepare their work area for the next three months.

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The most important task was to lay down the tethers that would keep them secured to the rock’s surface.

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The thick ropes were secured to the silo and housing hut first,

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before they were hammered down into the rocky surface of the asteroid.

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It was stressful work,

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as every time Leandro hammered the pegs down into the rock,

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he could feel the momentum threatening to push him up off the surface.

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If it wasn’t for Christie and Ellen holding him down,

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themselves tethered to the previous section,

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then he probably would have drifted away.

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Over a few hours,

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paths were laid out between the silo, housing, and the first area that had been designated for drilling.

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The entire asteroid had been surveyed months earlier,

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and all the likely regions for the rich minerals had all been highlighted on the maps provided.

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It wasn’t until they drilled into the rock

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before they’d know if those surveys had been correct or not. Once the tethers were

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laid out, the three starats could walk across the surface

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without constantly feeling like they were one trip away from floating into empty space.

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Instead they just needed to be careful the hooks were securely fastened to their suits

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and to the guiding ropes.

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As Leandro had expected,

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the mining equipment was all in the silo.

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It was all designed to be carried by hand,

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with a large wagon that could be pushed to and from the mining sites around the asteroid.

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Everything looked

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rudimentary, and Leandro knew there was better technology available,

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but he had always known that wouldn’t be spared for a simple starat crew.

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After several hours of preparation, Leandro was finally confident that everything was ready for use.

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The pathways were tethered,

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the equipment was installed.

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All that was left to do was to begin,

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but before they did so, Leandro had them all sit down in the massive silo that would soon,

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hopefully, be filled with rich ores and other precious materials.

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“I want no one working out there by themselves,” he said.

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He remained standing as he slowly paced around the cavernous space.

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No matter how far away he walked from them,

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or in what direction he was facing,

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he knew they would hear him clearly through their helmet speakers.

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“But nor do I want all of us out there at the same time.

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We’ve been set some pretty optimistic targets in how much minerals we’re to extract,

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so we’ll need to be working pretty much constantly.

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We shall have five hour shifts,

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as our suits can hold six hours of oxygen at a time.

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Two shifts on, one shift off.

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We can rotate so there’s always one starat at base,

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and two mining. Does that sound fair?”

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Ellen shrugged her shoulders.

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“I can’t think of anything better.

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Who gets first rest?”

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“You can have first rest,” Leandro replied.

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“Then you can, Christie.

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I rested on the ship, so I will be fine to work for a while.”

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“Sounds fair to me,” Christie said.

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She carefully rose to her feet.

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Even tethered inside the silo,

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none of the starats particularly wanted to feel themselves float off the surface too much.

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It was uncomfortable at the best of times.

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“Shall we get going then?”

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Leandro was the closest to the doors,

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so he pushed them open.

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The dim light that had been illuminating the silo switched off behind them.

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The darkness was never quite total on the asteroid,

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as the gleam of the starlight constantly shone down around them.

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Even when Sol was hidden,

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there was always a small glow around the close horizons.

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The glow was particularly strong to one side.

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Leandro put out his arms to stop the other two starats from walking past him.

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They stopped behind him, and he pressed in the speaker on his helmet.

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“Visors on full tint.”

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“It’s still dark,” Ellen said.

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“Full tint. Trust me,

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you’ll want to see this,”

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Leandro replied. He pointed towards the brightest point on the horizon

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as he darkened his visor.

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Everything went almost pitch black,

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but for the pinprick of light

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as Sol slowly started to emerge from beyond the horizon.

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Rays of light pierced through the craters and blemishes on the surface of the crater.

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Even through the fully tinted visor,

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the light was bright and powerful,

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forcing Leandro to avert his eyes as they started to water.

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For a brief moment,

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the entire asteroid appeared to glow

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as the sunlight reflected off the fine layer of dust coating the rock.

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All was still and silent.

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“It’s beautiful,” Christie whispered.

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Leandro smiled. He spoke into his helmet,

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his voice heard only by his own cramped ear.

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“It really is. The most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

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We can be like the explorers of old,

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seeing wonders that are innocent and pure.”

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He looked up to the distant stars.

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“Oh, to have that life.”

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This was the the first of two parts of

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“Lights In The Sky”

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by J.F.R. Coates, read for you by Khaki,

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your faithful fireside companion.

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Tune in next time to find out how the beauty of space

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can soon turn to mortal danger.

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As always, you can find more stories on the web at thevoice.dog,

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or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.

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Thank you for listening

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to The Voice of Dog.