Chapter 24
The explosion was carefully controlled and expertly executed. Debbie Warner waited for the red dust to settle and went over to the crater she'd created. Behind her, the mini-dozer rumbled closer.
'Any good?' Giavani asked.
'Come and see.'
Giavani jumped down and joined her. She was holding a dull silver lump in her hand, the size of a grape.
'It doesn't look like much,' said Giavani.
'This little bit of Marilium is worth a weeks salary.'
Giavani shook his head. 'Four times the value of gold.'
'You're out of date, Pete. It's five times the value of gold, now.'
'In that case, we'd better get moving and make some real money for a change.'
'Okay. Scoop up the loose stuff and spread it on the ground, as thin as you can get it. I'll collect the Marilium.'
Giavani jumped back in the dozer. One hundred yards away, Mitchum, Redcliff and Hancock were working the driller. The second bore hole was going well in the softer patch of rock. The crane was manoeuvring another tube in place. Giavani drove forward, scooping up the blasted dirt and rock into the front loader, then he reversed and drove over to Warner and spread the load in front of her in a thin layer. Even from where he sat he could see the Marilium chunks in the red dirt. A rough mental calculation put the value at a million credits. He whistled happily as he scooped and layered another ten loads, each richer in Marilium than the load before. He jumped down and helped Warner with the harvesting. After an hour, they had collected over one hundred pounds of the precious ore.
'I could actually kiss you, Debbie.'
'I'm sure your wife would have something to say about that.'
'When she sees our bank account, she'll want to kiss you, too.'
'You can both save your affection for later. Take the containers back to the ship and I'll set another charge.'
Giavini placed the containers in the front loader and set off for the Moonstruck. He drove up the ramp at the back of the ship and up to the end of the storage bay. He picked up the precious cargo and stacked the containers together, strapping them securely to the shell. Then he placed another two empty containers in the front loader and drove back to where Warner was again waiting for the red dust to settle.