Subsurface Fracture

Even when close to an asteroid, it can feel like staring into nothing.

The screen is almost black with small variations where the floodlights catch a texture change or patch of color. Most of the time, though, it’s gray on black while the targeting display shows the shape of the rock and highlights the aim point.

A rising hum marks the approach of a seam where two asteroids have nuzzled together rather than a heavy impact where the pieces fused. Gravity holds them together, but a stray tug from outside would cause them to drift apart again. Wes thought of it as the difference between holding hands and getting married.

“That’s it,” Ben called from behind.

Wes activated the laser. The charging coils far in the rear of the ship came on, and the ship shuddered. The visual showed nothing while the thermal display showed the rock heating and beginning to ablate.

“Iron, Nickel. Hey, a little Platinum,” Ben said as the laser chromatograph read out the material being blown off the asteroid’s surface.

Wes hoped it was more than a little. They were only twenty percent full, and he needed sixty before he broke even with the bank.

Glancing to the black-gray visual, a cloud of dust had begun to form. Leaning towards the screen, Wes thought he saw a few discrete hunks break loose and prepared to activate the retriever arms.

A series of small pings played along the hull as some of the debris brushed against the front armor of the ship.

One of the retriever arms had unfolded and reached towards an egg-shaped chunk. It grasped and pulled it towards the ship, releasing the chunk just as it passed under the display. A grinding vibration followed as the ore processor broke the chunk down into ingots.

The second arm had grasped another piece when a blue-white streak erupted from the center of the cloud. Wes flinched as the streak lunged past the screen.

The gentle pings were replaced by a heavy punch and a metallic grinding.

“You see that, Captain?” Ben asked.

They both waited. The force of the impact had caused a yaw in the ship’s movement.

Wes tapped a maneuvering thruster and zeroed it out.

Another moment passed, and Wes reached for the button to reactivate the retrieval arm.

“Nope,” Ben said, just before the red warning light flashed on Wes’ panel.

Wes sighed and shut the laser off. The pinging against the hull continued. Hunks of rock continued to drift off the asteroid’s surface.

Flipping a switch, Wes turned the retrieval arm’s camera on and oriented it back towards the ship. A beam of white light lanced through the dust and cast a circle on the front hull of the ship.

Pitted and worn to bare metal, the plates remained intact. After a minute’s searching, the searchlight found a dark void. He stopped the scan and zoomed towards it.

The plates were overlapped like a lobster’s tail, and the impact had dug itself underneath one, prying it up and digging a rounded tunnel before stopping.

Wes frowned as an intermittent pulse of white mist erupted from the hole.

“Nice shot,” Ben said.

Perfect shot, Wes thought as he used the thrusters to back away from the asteroid and the cloud. They were venting fuel.

“Wake Priya up,” Wes said. “We’ll have to go out.”

A half hour later, Wes and Priya faced each other in the airlock. Still waking up, she yawned as she turned her back. Wes went over her suit before tapping her on the shoulder and turning his back to her. Her fingers went over his suit, then she tapped his shoulder.

They gave each other a thumbs up.

“Ok Ben,” Wes said into the suit’s microphone. “Open it up.”

“Roger,” Ben replied.

Priya didn’t speak and rolled her shoulders inside the suit. A brief klaxon sounded with a flash of red light, then the outer door opened. Priya stepped out first, then gave her suit a burst of thruster and rose out of sight. Wes followed.

More adept than Wes, Priya skimmed along the hull of the ship, her movements punctuated by tiny bursts of thruster. Wes flew out further and made a sweeping arc towards the front.

When he arrived, Priya had already found the damaged plate, and as Wes approached, she’d reached inside the gap.

“I can feel it,” she said and grunted.

She continued to work at it when a burp of fuel mist blew out. She jerked her hand away and cursed before reaching for a pair of heavy pliers at her belt. Reaching in again, she wrenched the handle of the pliers, and on the third try, they broke free.

The tiny chunk of asteroid came loose and floated towards Wes before thumping against the front of his suit. He grabbed it and held it up before his helmet lights.

It was a dark ore with pinkish crystals marked by yellowish streaks. He held it out for Priya. She put her pliers back on her belt and took it.

“Pretty,” she said. “You seeing this, Ben?”

“Erythrite, Realgar, maybe,” Ben said in their headphones. “It’s mine.”

“I’m losing sleep over this,” Priya said. “I get to keep it.”

“Wes will violate your contract,” Ben said.

“Sleep is a basic right. He’ll hear from my lawyer.”

“Guys, I’m right here,” Wes said.

Priya winked as she plucked the rock from Wes’s gloved hand and slid it into a zippered pocket.

“Go ahead and open the plates,” Priya said.

A moment later, the two plates swung out, creating a gap between them. Priya grabbed the edge of one when the gap was wide enough to enter. She called for Ben to stop, and the plates stopped moving. Wes and Priya guided themselves in between the plates until they reached the spherical shapes of the fuel tanks beneath.

Another burst of fuel breathed out past them. Priya ran her hand along the smooth tank surface and stopped.

“Got lucky,” Priya said. “Just nicked a coupler.”

Wes came close. The metal joining one of the hoses to the tank had cracked, and the bursts were coming with the subtle movements of the ship. One direction opened the crack, the other sealed it.

Priya plugged a controller into the side of the tank and sealed it shut. She’d replaced the coupler within a few minutes, then opened the valves. Wes put a hand on the coupler. It vibrated as fuel flowed. There were no leaks.

“You can go back in if you want,” Priya said. “It’ll just take a minute to get the plate back right.”

Wes shook his head. “Don’t want you calling your lawyer while I’m away.”

She smiled from behind the clear glass of the helmet. “Such a gentleman.”

Helping meant mostly staying out of the way as Priya reshaped the bent plate. She heated the metal with a torch, then bent it by hand. Wes offered a few finishing hammer blows as the metal cooled, and Priya gave a thumbs up.

“Close it up, Ben,” Wes called.

The plates moved back together, and if he hadn’t known it was there, Wes doubted he could have spotted the repair. When he looked up, Priya had already headed to the airlock, skimming inches from the surface of the ship.

She waited in the airlock when Wes drifted in, and they had it sealed up and repressurized a moment later.

Inside the ship, Wes and Priya stripped out of their suits.

“Buy you breakfast?” Wes asked.

Priya yawned. “Going back to bed.”

“You sure?”

She lifted the glittering piece of ore and let it sparkle as light played over the pinkish-yellow surface. “I think I can resist another bowl of mush.”

“Dream something good for me.”

“Yes, sir,” Priya said and slipped into the passageway towards their cabins.

Wes went the opposite direction, heading for the bridge. Ben looked up from his station.

“What was it?”

“A coupler got cracked,” Ben said and slid into the pilot’s seat. “All good now.”

“No, the ore?”

Wes shrugged. “What you said. Pinkish with yellow streaks, I guess.”

“She didn’t throw it away, did she?”

“No, she kept it.”

“I’m supposed to examine that kind of thing, you know.”

Wes shook his head as he reactivated the thrusters and began maneuvering back to the asteroid.

“I’m sure you can trade her for it.”

“Still, it might tell us what’s in the asteroid we’re cutting into, stuff the scans don’t show.”

“If you want to risk waking her up, you’re free to try now.”

Wes looked over his shoulder. Ben shrank into his chair, and Wes turned away. Smiling to himself, Wes kind of wanted to see the confrontation. Wes imagined Priya might break Ben apart in three places.

It took an hour to get back into position before the asteroid, and they resumed mining a few minutes after that. Wes watched the clouds erupt from the asteroid surface and gathering arms bring the chunks into the ship like a gluttonous robot. The laser coils vibrated, and best of all, the ore processor worked beneath his feet.

They might be able to go home in a month if they had any luck.

Ellie woke up a couple hours before her shift and slipped into the navigator’s station. It snapped Wes out of a reverie and reminded him he needed to pay attention.

“Good day so far?” Ellie asked.

“Captain tried to blow up the fuel tanks, and Priya stole a mineral from me,” Ben said.

“Don’t sit still for that. You beat her up and take it from her,” Ellie said.

Wes chuckled and looked over his shoulder. Ellie’s smile was devilish.

“Beat who up?” Priya’s voice called from the passageway.

“Ben says you stole his rock, and he’s been bragging how he’s going to get it back,” Ellie said.

“Is that so?” Priya said.

Wes split his attention between the mining display and watching as Priya approached Ben’s station and stood behind him.

Built somewhere between middle linebacker and burlesque dancer, Priya tousled Ben’s hair.

“Quit it,” Ben said.

“It’s your first trip out, young man. You should be more respectful,” Priya said.

Ben smoothed his hair. “I just wanted to see it.”

He pointed at Wes and Ellie. “They’re the ones talking about fighting.”

Priya looked at Ellie. Ellie looked away to her station, her broad smile remaining.

Returning to Ben, Priya put a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “You have an open invitation to my cabin, young man. I’d be happy to take it out in trade.”

Ben blushed crimson. Priya petted his cheek before looking to Wes.

“Repairs hold up?”

“Might have made a little money today even,” Wes said. The hold was two percent fuller.

“We’ll be out here another two months, at least,” Ellie grumbled.

Priya returned to Ben. “Come on. Young man like you needs to eat. I want you good and strong.”

Ben looked to Wes. Wes checked the time and nodded. The others rose while Wes backed the ship away from the asteroid and shut the arms and laser down, satisfied that the ore processor continued to work. He set the proximity alarm, rose, and went to the galley.

The others had already pulled their meals from the microwaves and settled into their places. Same place every time. They’d not discussed it, but once the places had been set, they never changed. Wes pulled a meal and set the microwave timer before sitting down opposite Priya, Ben to his left, and Ellie to his right.

Priya had finished half her food when she set down her spoon and pushed her bowl away.

“You all ever get one of those cravings?”

Wes shrugged.

“I think about French fries,” Ben said.

Shaking her head, Priya looked into the distance. “Dosa, when the edges are crispy, the potatoes are nice and spicy. I woke up tasting it.”

“I have a little chocolate stashed away,” Ellie offered.

Priya stood and dumped her bowl into the recycler. “Not the same.”

She passed out of the galley towards the bridge.

Wes looked at the bowl of protein composite that, if he tried hard, might look like oatmeal. He thought of bread, just a plain piece of French bread with soft butter melting into it.

The ship shuddered as the engines came on. Wes ate the rest of his bowl and went to the bridge.

Priya sat at the controls. The navigational display showed the next asteroid a couple hundred kilometers away. The laser rangefinder updated the distance every few seconds.

“The fuel pressure never moved after the fix,” Wes said.

She glanced. “Yeah, we got lucky.”

“You’re ok?”

“Yeah, just woke up with a craving. One of those glitches you get after a couple weeks out here. I fretted over my keys half the trip last time,” Priya said.

“Get me for anything. I’ll be in my bunk.”

She nodded. Ellie appeared and took her station. Wes checked the clock. His next shift started in ten hours.

Ben had retreated to his cabin, leaving the galley and passage empty. As Wes passed by his cabin door, the faint sound of some pop song filtered through.

Slipping to the rear of the ship, he found his cabin and undressed before sliding into his bunk. The ore processor continued to run. It reminded him of Noodles, his cat from when he was ten. She would curl into a circle between his shoulder blades when he lay on his stomach. Her purring vibrated through his chest and would put him to sleep.

When Wes opened his eyes, the processor continued to run, and the faint sense of an electric charge touched his skin. The mining lasers were operating. He’d slept for six hours. Deciding it was enough, he got up, washed, and got dressed.

The pop music continued to filter through Ben’s door. The galley was empty. He heard Priya’s and Ellie’s voices echo down the passageway.

“I didn’t feed the wrong coordinates. You messed up the course,” Ellie said.

“You want to switch? That’s the second time tonight,” Priya snapped back.

Wes stopped at the threshold of the bridge doorway. Ellie’s thumb tapped on the surface of her station. Beyond her, Priya’s hand lashed out and flipped a switch.

“Damnit, no. It’s just silicate,” Ellie said.

Priya’s hand moved again, and the lasers spun down. She spun in her seat and rose. Ellie flinched, and for an instant, Wes thought Priya might throw a punch. Then, she saw Wes and stopped.

Ellie followed Priya’s eyes, and the subtle pulse of the rangefinder indicator punctuated the silence.

“Seriously, what the hell?” Wes asked.

“We’ve been chasing silicate all night because she can’t read a spectrometer,” Priya barked.

Ellie looked at Wes, and he thought he saw tears welling. She just shook her head.

Wes stepped to Ellie’s station and bent over the display. It showed the asteroid just off the bow had traces of calcium but was otherwise a chunk of stone. Wes looked at Priya.

“Priya, it’s stone.”

“Then tell her how to give better directions. I drove us to where she said.”

Wes glanced at Ellie. She shook her head without speaking.

“All right,” Wes said. “Priya, just knock off early. I’ll get this straightened out.”

“And take that one back to navigator’s school,” Priya said and marched out of the bridge.

In the galley, a dish crashed and rattled against the floor. Beyond, the door to one of the cabins opened. Wes waited, then looked down at Ellie.

She wiped her eyes and sniffed. “I told her. I swear I did.”

In three trips, Priya and Ellie had never raised their voices. Competent and easy to get along with. It was why Wes hired them after getting his own ship.

“What’s going on?” Wes asked.

She made a helpless gesture. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen her like that.”

Wes looked up the companionway and turned to the pilot’s seat. Sliding into it, he saw the ore processor had been left running even though nothing had been loaded in the last hour. They’d only picked up a couple tons while he slept. Sighing, he turned it off and backed away from the worthless chunk of rock.

“Give me the last one you had, Ellie,” Wes said.

A course appeared on his display, and he eased the ship onto it. A half hour later, they eased within range. He started the lasers, and the gathering arms began to feed the processor: Iron, Cadmium, Gold. Wes’s shoulders unclenched.

“I told her,” Ellie grumbled behind him.

Wes dropped into the tedium of the routine, balancing the lasers’ cutting against how fast the arms could feed the processor. His stomach growled. Behind him, Ellie yawned.

He checked the time. Her shift had ended a half hour before.

“Ellie, you should head to bed.”

“Waiting on Ben,” she replied.

Wes turned. Ben wasn’t at his station. Flicking the intercom button, Wes spoke into the panel.

“Ben, you’re late.”

There wasn’t a response. Wes flicked the intercom again.

“Ben.”

No response.

Frowning, Wes got out of the pilot’s seat.

“Ellie, can you keep an eye on it for a minute?”

She slid past and sat in the pilot’s seat.

As Wes passed through the galley, several bowls had been tossed onto the floor. He found Ben’s cabin. The pop music continued to play. Rhythmic breathing too? Wes rapped on the door.

The breathing stopped.

“Ben?” Wes asked.

No answer. The music stopped. Wes pushed the override, and the door slid open.

Ben lay on his back. Priya straddled him. Neither wore clothes. Around them, shelves overflowed with every exotic ore they’d found since they left Ceres.

When Ben opened his mouth, no sound came out, and he made a kind of croak. Priya looked embarrassed, then smiled and patted Ben’s chest.

“Showing him that mineral, captain,” she said.

Ben turned crimson and made a dumb gesture to the shelf next to the bed. The pink and yellow crystal lay on it.

Wes sighed. “Shift started a half hour ago, Ben.”

Wes looked to Priya, “Get that frustration knocked out?”

She stroked Ben’s chest and smiled, “Getting there, sir.”

“Ellie’s waiting, ok?”

“Yes, sir,” they replied in unison.

Wes closed the door. Laughing came from behind it. Wes returned to the bridge. Ellie sat with her knees drawn up to her chest, watching the ore flow into the processor. Wes touched her shoulder.

“He’ll be along in a minute,” Wes said. “You can go to bed.”

She continued to stare. “That wasn’t Priya. She’s not like that.”

“I think she’ll be ok now.”

“You sure?”

“Pretty sure she’ll be in a great mood next time you see her.”

Ellie looked up, puzzled. “How do you know that?”

Ben stepped onto the bridge, trying to brush his hair straight. Ellie looked at him, then back at Wes. The question was written on her face.

“Priya will be fine,” Wes said.

Ellie pursed her lips and got up. She shot Ben a knowing look as she departed.

“Brain working again?” Wes said.

Ben coughed and sat down. “Ready.”

Wes settled into the chair and adjusted the ship’s orientation. They’d hit a Lithium deposit. He smiled, calculated the mass, and what the brokers at Ceres would pay.

He’d drifted into the easy quiet of letting the ship do the work, imagining it was like riding a horse that knew the path. The asteroid had split into two hunks an hour before. Ben had called out the denser one, which indicated a better metallic percentage, and they’d moved with it.

“Captain,” Ben said.

“Yes.”

“Mind if I grab something from the galley? I didn’t have time to eat.”

“Maybe Priya will get something for you?” Wes asked and smiled at the screen.

“Umm, yeah. I apologize about that. She was showing me-“

“Go,” Wes said, cutting Ben off. “I saw what she was showing you.”

Ben returned, and the subtle scrape of plastic against a bowl came from his station.

“Priya talking about Dosa got me thinking,” Ben said. “Those French fries.”

“Mhmmm.”

“You have to fry them twice to get the texture. Even better if you let the potatoes dry for a week or so first. The first fry cooks the inside, and the second crisps the outside. It’s almost like they shatter when you bite, then the inside is nice and creamy.”

“I’ve had French fries, Ben.”

“The bar on Ceres, you know the one with the big screen that shows all the sports.”

“Specific Impulse.”

“Right, Specific Impulse. On the long haul from Mars, the potatoes dry out. I don’t think they meant for it to work like that, but it’s the perfect thing. Maybe it’s the low gravity. The fries are better than Earth.”

Wes touched a thruster and fixed the ship’s attitude. They shipped potatoes out because Mars had plenty, and it gave the transports something to ship outbound instead of the cargo all going from the asteroid belt to Earth and Mars. If you liked potatoes, being an asteroid miner was the life. Ceres had enough to last decades.

“Could really go for some right now,” Ben said as he scraped his bowl. “Some vinegary ketchup to go with.”

Wes shook his head. “You have the next one? Think this rock is pretty well used up.”

Ben set his bowl down. “Yes, sir. Three hundred kilometers. Nice and crispy.”

“What?”

“Three hundred kilometers.”

“You said nice and crispy.”

“Oh, sorry. I meant nice and dense.”

Wes turned in his seat. “You sure Priya didn’t rattle anything loose?”

He swallowed. “I’m good. Just thinking about those fries.”

Ben typed on his keyboard, and a course appeared on Wes’ screen. Wes leaned forward.

“That the course, Ben?”

“Yes, sir.”

“The course sends us to Ceres.”

“Oh, shit. Sorry,” Ben said and began to type again. A new course appeared, directed to a spot about three hundred kilometers away.

The trip took an hour, and Wes cringed when the ore processor stopped about halfway along. Silent processor meant no money.

Once in position, Wes started the laser. The gathering arms began pulling rocks in a few minutes later. Wes stretched his shoulders and let the machine work.

Six hours later, the asteroid had turned to bits of rock and dust. Ben fed another course, and they headed on to the next one. Steps echoed on the bridge.

“We still alive?” Priya asked.

“For the time being,” Wes said.

A silence fell that was too quiet to Wes’ ears, and he turned. Priya and Ben looked at each other, a kind of blankness with a small smile.

They sensed he was watching and turned to him together.

“I do apologize for keeping young Ben earlier,” Priya said. “He just wanted to see that rock.”

“Mineral,” Ben corrected.

She walked over and petted his hair. Ben let her.

“What you guys do isn’t my concern, but show each other rocks when you’re not on duty?” Wes asked.

“Won’t happen again,” Priya said.

Ben nodded, then his face brightened. “Priya, can you take over for a second?”

Priya settled into Ben’s seat as he disappeared up the passageway.

“What was up with Ellie?” Wes asked.

“I am sorry,” Priya said, “Just was frustrated, I guess. Was thinking about that Dosa, then, I don’t know, just felt constricted, you know.”

“Apologize to Ellie. She’s the one who needs it.”

“I will,” Priya said.

Ben darted up the hallway and came to the pilot’s chair. He held out his hand, like a ten-year-old boy who had captured a frog. The crystal lay in his palm.

He’d cleaned it, and the pink-yellow had found a depth that hadn’t been there when Wes held it outside the ship. Ben shook it, meaning for Wes to take it. Wes accepted it and turned it over.

The crystals on top gave way to a gnarled green-gray texture that reminded Wes of lichen that grew on trees back on Earth.

“Think it’s olivine,” Ben said. “I’ll check it when we get back.”

Wes felt a dampness on his palm and wiped it on his tunic. Some of the lichen came with it.

“Sorry, didn’t get it all the way dry.”

“You sure it’s olivine? It’s flaking.”

“Yeah, low cleavage. Pumice will do that too.”

Wes held out the rock. Ben took it.

Wes looked from Priya to Ben. “You two enjoy your rock, ok?”

Ben retreated to his cabin and returned a few moments later, replacing Priya at his station.

“I can take it, Wes,” Priya said as she rose.

Wes shook his head. “You have a couple hours. I’ve got it.”

“Please? I want to make up for earlier.”

Wes rubbed the grit from the rock off his hands. The asteroid was billowing dust, and the arms moved in a steady rhythm.

“Ok. Sure,” Wes said and rose.

Priya stood just behind the pilot’s chair, and as Wes turned sideways to slip past, she seemed to stumble. Catching herself on his shoulder, the left side of her body pressed against him. The swell of her breast pushed into him as did the curve of her hip. She didn’t move away but looked at him with the same blank examination she’d shared with Ben.

“Sorry, captain,” she said, her voice low.

Wes touched her shoulder. She leaned against it, pressing her weight with greater urgency.

Wes furrowed his brow and slipped away.

“Careful with the temps on the #2 laser,” he said.

“Of course, captain,” Priya said.

Ben watched, his eyes going to Priya as Wes passed.

Reaching the galley, he found Ellie sitting at the table, scrolling through a tablet. The scattered bowls had been put back into their place. Wes fixed a meal and sat down. Ellie glanced up once and continued to scroll.

“I talked to Priya,” Wes said. “She said she’s sorry.”

“Didn’t tell me that,” Ellie replied.

“She will.”

She nodded and turned the screen around for Wes to see. He chewed the mush and looked at the graph.

“Particulates in air filtration,” Ellie said.

“We’re mining, and we had an EVA.”

“It’s not rock dust,” Ellie said and turned the screen back to herself.

“Blooms, algae. First ship I was on had slime coming out of the vents when we got back.”

“It’s getting worse, like something is multiplying.”

Wes set down his spoon, reached across, and touched Ellie’s hand. “She feels awful, Ellie, and if it happens again, I’ll kick her butt, then we’ll swap shifts so you and I work together.”

She swallowed and looked down. “I thought we were friends.”

“You are. Give her a chance to make it right.”

She set the data pad down and took a deep breath. “Ok.”

“I’ll cook you dinner,” Wes said and rose. He dumped a packet of the protein mix into a bowl and added water. He winked as he shoved it into the microwave.

“Better than Mom used to make.”

She shook her head.

They ate in easy silence, but Ellie didn’t go to the bridge. Her shift didn’t start for another hour, and she retreated to her cabin.

Wes checked in on the bridge, and the only sound was the machines working. Priya and Ben watched the screens.

Wes returned to his cabin and lay in his bunk. He retrieved his own data pad and went over what they’d mined. The hold was just over thirty percent full. Break-even was at sixty, and at the current pace, it was a month away, two months for a full load.

He’d borrowed the money for his own ship, and the first trip had been good enough. It kept him current with the payments, but it hadn’t put him ahead. He couldn’t afford to miss. Once he got behind, he wouldn’t catch up unless he found an asteroid of solid uranium or won the lottery.

Exhaling, he flipped to the download list that had arrived from Ceres in the last day: baseball, movie, newscast, old television reruns. He turned on his side and braced the screen against the wall before starting the newscast.

The newscaster’s voice started, and he closed his eyes, relaxing at the sound of a voice that wasn’t Ben, Priya, or Ellie.

He’d drifted near sleep when he opened his eyes. A commercial had started for an Italian restaurant, and he smiled and told the screen that he wouldn’t be stopping by. Three hundred million miles was a bit much for a good bowl of pasta.

But, as the commercial continued, he felt his mouth water. An actor had torn open a loaf of bread and swished it onto a plate of olive oil and salt. Steam had lifted from the bread, and Wes smelled it. Brown and warm, it would still be soft, and the oil would be that kind of peppery that caught the back of your throat.

He sighed and closed his eyes.

They could have brought some. Even frozen, the microwaves could heat it up. Why hadn’t they done that? The weight was nothing. Or, maybe a little clay oven. The lasers at low power could heat it up, and they could have the real thing, fresh and yeasty.

The commercial ended, and the newscaster returned.

He swallowed and remembered Ellie said she had chocolate. Chocolate. No, who cared about that? It didn’t steam and come apart in your hands. It didn’t have that chew either. Ellie should have known better.

Stop it, Wes told himself. A dozen or more trips, and he could own his own bakery. He took a breath. He’d eat bread every meal one day. Fresh baked, never leftover.

The cast continued as he drifted off to sleep.

When he woke, the cast had rolled over into a baseball game. He blinked and noticed the time. He’d slept for almost ten hours. His stomach growled, and he thought of bread.

Turning off the screen, he rose and washed before changing his tunic and pants. He padded towards the galley. Ellie sat with her back to him.

“Ellie,” Wes said.

“They show you this?”  Ellie asked.

She lifted the crystal.

“Yeah, I saw it.”

She turned it over to the green-gray side. “And this?”

“Ben said it might be olivine.”

Ellie set the crystal down and wiped her hands. “It’s not olivine.”

She lifted her data pad and presented it. It showed the particulate count from the air filtration. The count had doubled in the last ten hours.

“It’s coming from that.”

She flipped a page and showed a microscopic view of two samples.

“First is from the filtration system. Second, I scraped off of that,” Ellie said.

On the table beside her, a half-eaten bar of chocolate lay. She snapped off a square and put it into her mouth.

“We need to lock it up, freeze it, or better, shoot it off into nothing.”

She chewed and swallowed. Then, she closed her eyes and sighed, her expression like Priya when she showed Ben the rock.

Wes nodded towards the bridge. “You tell them?”

She broke off another square and began to chew, then she shook her head.

“I tried. They’re not talking to me.”

“Not talking?”

Ellie shook her head, lifted the mineral, and slid it into a plastic bag. She sealed and folded the end over itself.

“Ellie, you’re on duty.”

She shook her head and broke off a piece of chocolate. Wes left her and went to the bridge.

“All good, Captain,” Priya called from the pilot’s seat.

Ben smiled up from his station. His eyes didn’t blink.

Wes went to the pilot’s station and looked at the display. The screen beyond was black, and the stars were clear. No asteroid dust or rock blocked the view.

The ore processor was silent, as were the field coils for the lasers. The navigation panel showed their course. They were headed for Ceres.

“Get up,” Wes snapped.

Priya drifted to her feet and leaned against Wes, the swell of her breasts against his chest. She looked into his eyes.

“Of course, Captain.”

Ben had stood, looking to Priya.

Wes sat and reviewed the logs. They’d changed the course three hours earlier. He’d been sleeping. Why had he been sleeping?

Priya put a hand on his shoulder. “We need to get back.”

“We do, captain,” Ben said.

Swallowing rage, Wes took a deep breath.

“Both of you, go to your cabins and wait.”

Priya’s hand squeezed Wes’ shoulder and slipped away. She looked back as she did, her eyes an invitation.

Wes pushed past her and sat in the pilot’s seat: twenty-four percent full, and his crew had lost their minds.

He pushed the intercom for the galley.

“Ellie, can you come up?”

“On my way.”

She appeared beside him a moment later.

“Did you know they did this?” Wes asked, pointing at the display.

She finished chewing and swallowed. She shook her head.

“Ben said they wanted to make up for Priya being mean.”

Wes looked at the display. Twelve million miles to Ceres. He had the sudden thought that they had bread. Fresh and warm.

“Ellie, I’m doubling your share,” Wes said.

“Doubling?”

“Yes. I think it’s going to be you and me.”

“You’re not going to…?” She asked and looked back towards where Priya and Ben had gone.

Wes shook his head. “Of course not. The spores. Maybe did something?”

Ellie nodded. “I saw them. They walked right past me.”

“We can give them food. Maybe they’ll get better.”

“Right. Should wear oxygen masks until the filtration system clears everything,” Ellie said.

Wes nodded. “Ok. I’ll blast that rock off into wherever and lock them in.”

“I’ll get the masks.”

Wes rolled his neck. The tendons crackled.

Ellie touched his shoulder. “We’ll be ok, captain.”

He rose, and she preceded him, then broke off towards the air lock. The mineral wasn’t on the galley table.

“Ellie?”

Her voice echoed down the passageway. “Yes?”

“You take the mineral?”

“No, thought you did.”

Wes proceeded up the hall to the crew quarters. The sound of heavy breathing came from Ben’s cabin.

“Priya? Ben?”

The rhythm of the breathing didn’t change. Wes retrieved a keycard from a pocket and slid it into the console. Entering a code, he locked the room from the outside. He backed away into the galley.

Ellie emerged from the side alley with two masks.

“There’s about three days of oxygen, and I can purify the used filters after that.”

She held out the mask, and Wes slipped it over his face. Ellie checked the filter and turned it on. Wes took several deep breaths, and the air flowed. He gave Ellie a thumbs up. She returned the gesture and slid on her own mask.

He returned to the bridge and stood by the pilot’s seat. A wave of despair washed over him, and he couldn’t decide what to do.

“Nothing for it, captain. Might as well start,” Ellie’s voice said over the intercom.

She was right, he decided and sat down in the pilot’s seat.

“Couple good prospects about four hundred kilometers away,” she said.

He looked at the course heading straight for Ceres and thought of bread.

“You have any more of that chocolate?”

“All gone,” Ellie chuckled. “Got a kind of craving right after you went to bed.”

“Ok,” Wes said. “Give me that course.”

The course appeared, and he started the thrusters, swinging them towards it. The ship made its quiet sighs and shudders as it changed directions. At least something was normal.

They found the asteroid an hour later, and his hands moved on their own: lasers, gathering claws, processor. This would take forever, but Ellie would help. Maybe Priya and Ben would get better.

He settled into the chair, and the dust pinged off the front-facing armor.

Blinking, Wes opened his eyes. The mask was off. Had he fallen asleep?

Ellie was on his lap, her face close. She pulled away after placing the kiss.

“Captain,” Ellie whispered.

She leaned close, her lips parted. He leaned towards her and met the offered kiss.

“Always wanted to do that,” she said.

Her pupils were large and black, staring through him.

“I’m sorry I drugged the mask,” she whispered. “I just needed to find out what it’d be like.”

Wes’ thoughts felt like they swam in mud. He couldn’t see the screen, and somewhere far away, he heard the pinging of dust on the armor plates. He moved to lift Ellie away, then she kissed him again.

“No, let me stay. Please.”

“The asteroid.”

She touched his cheek. “You’re so much better than the chocolate.”

She took his hand and guided it along her thigh and to her hip. The pinging continued against the ship. She leaned against him.

“Kiss me back,” she said.

She was right. This was so much better than bread. This was better than anything.

He kissed her, and her body melted.

Her lips pressed against his neck and climbed to his ear. “I think we should all go home. Everyone would love this.”

“Ceres?” Wes asked.

She kissed his ear, breath gentle as she spoke. “First, then Earth. It will be so nice.”