We've been working for months on this blasted rock. Every other week we get a few days off to get food and relax. But this isn't what I signed up for. I'm not a miner; no one joined the crew to be miners.

So why are we still digging on this stupid asteroid.

I mean really I can understand that Erindror and Fizzouk being used to digging and all. But I'm almost twice as tall as them and maybe even three times bigger than them.

I mean they don't have to worry about their turn radius all the time when in cramped places, like caves deep within an asteroid for example. They also don't have to dig as much because they are smaller in size.

“Haaaa…”

“Captain O, Boomer speaking”

“I hear you whatcha need?”

“Hey Orsu, has anyone found what that meck lover wanted yet?”

“No, no one has found it yet Tarux. And like I said last time you asked everyone will get informed about it when someone does. So please I beg of you don't ask me again.”

“But how come this is taking so long, it isn't like this asteroid is that much bigger than a moon. So how come we can't seem to find it?”

“There is a good reason for that though. We are in the fringe in un-colonized space so that we can mine without having to worry about a whole lot of corporate legal garbage. And because of that there are no accurate scans of this asteroid only probe readings Fizzouk gathered with our ship. That I might add isn't designed for mining scans and probing. This means we only know that it’s here, somewhere on or in this asteroid. But we have no really solid point telling us exactly where it is. We're luck Fizzouk narrowed down our search to an eighth of the asteroids upper crust.”

“Yeah I know but couldn't we just blow the rock apart and picked through the wreckage?”

“What and risk destroying the thing. Even if it didn't break we would still have to pick through the wreckage. It just wasn't worth it. I know this bores the crap out of you but this is the quickest option.”

“Yeah boss, I know. But that doesn't change the fact that it feels like we're getting nowhere. And who knows when a corporation will strike their claim on this belt and then all our work will be for nothing.”

“Tarux, I’m going to be frank with you. I don’t like this either”

“I knew I wasn’t the only one sick of doing this dumb job. I knew”

“TARUX!”

“YES CAPTAIN…”

“Listen to me and let me finish. Like I was saying I don’t like this either, But and it’s a big but, we need to do this for the sake of our future of the crew as well as our career as adventurers. Fizzouk has explained it to me multiple times and I believe he is right in that we need this to upgrade our ship. This in turn will give us more opportunities for work in the future. So suck it up and just keep working.”

“But I’m sooooooo bored. I can’t take it I’m going insane. If I have to keep drilling for the rest of the day without doing anything else I’ll go bonkers.”

“You know what fine. If you can detect the right mana signature as well as a pocket of space from the same direction as the mana signature I’ll remove your explosives use bane to break down that wall. Agreed?”

“Oh Boss, I’m going to find this thing so fast now. I can’t wait to set off another boom down here. Hehehe…”

“I’m going to regret this aren't I?”

“Don’t worry I won’t go overboard with the explosives this time I promise.”

“Haaaaaa…”

“Just don’t kill yourself down there Tarux. Captain Orsu out.”

Aww yeah I got permission to use my explosives again.

I still think I should have had that right taken from me. I mean I just blew up one section of wall and everyone gets up in arms about it. No one got hurt or anything. Just an old passage collapsed. How was I supposed to know that Fizzouk wanted to go down that passage in particular? Even now he’s still digging away the rubble in that old passageway. Talk about hard headed. But I got permission from Captain so Fizzouk can suck it.

Now I just need to find that mana signature…

This means I’ll have to keep digging doesn’t it…

“Huuuuuu, back to the grind.”

I've been digging for a while now. I'll send out a mana pulse again and see what readings I get back.

But first, let's go through Fizz’s check list this time, I don't want nor do I need another one of his lectures on the proper use and care for his baby's.

First, stop all activity and stand still, check. Second, place pulse dome on flat surface, check. Third, configure range of search, check. Fourth, tune search to desired mana frequency, check. Fifth through ninth, Erindror said are diagnostic tests that I don't need to do because I wouldn't understand what the results that come back would mean in the first place, check. And finally, start it up and wait for results.

As the little dome thing comes to life it pushes itself away from the wall ever so slightly. Then pulls itself back into it again as it loses some of its glow. And then we wait to see if anything pops up on my helmets HUD.

Nothing probably will but who knows.

“Dooo”

“Dooo”

“Dooo”

Wait what!

I got a reading. No one has gotten a proper reading since I collapsed that.... No one's gotten a proper reading in ages.

This is insane!!!

Did I break something?

I did skip a lot of steps. And I can't call Fizz for that or I'll get chewed out again.

“Hummmm”

Got it I'll ask Erindror.

“Erin, Boomer speaking.”

“Hey Tarux what’s up? You’re calling an hour earlier than I was expecting you.”

“Yeah I have a question. And what do you mean you were expecting me? I don't call you that often.”

“Nothing buddy, don't worry about it. So what can I do for ya?”

“Well I got a reading on the pulse sensor. And I wanted to report in about it. But I skipped all those steps you told me about so I don't know if it was a fluke or not.”

“Wait you got a reading!”

“Yeah it's crazy.”

“I mean no offence but no one expected to find this thing so soon, let alone you.”

“Neither did I, and I'm choosing to not take offense to that for now. And I thought that either you or Fizz would find it. But that's why I'm asking about those steps you told me to skip. I need to make sure I do this right so I don't report the wrong thing.”

“Ok I'll help you through this.”

“Thanks for that”

“So run through the steps up to step five. Tell me when you've done that.”

“Yeah ok.”

So I just need to configure the search range and tune the mana frequency.

“Ok I've done the steps I know. What's next?”

“Next input and run the program [email protected]”

“Ok it’s started up. Now what.”

“Let it run. If you get the scenario SAD297.Fux than you are clear and nothing’s wrong. If you get anything else we’ll work through it.”

“Copy that I’m starting the program now.”

Once the program was input the pulse scanner started up. It did a wide range of pulses from small ones with little impacts to larger ones that slam it against the wall. It doesn't seem to be recording any data for our use, but that's probably for the best with how randomly mana moves in space. As the test finished up I got a read out of the scanner with scenario code SAD297.Fux on it.

Yup, that's the code Erin told me worked.

“Got it. The scenario codes are identical to each other. What's the next step?”

“Well now we need to tune it to dormant mana signatures and let it run through it like a normal scan.”

“Understood. That’s default frequency Fz08 right?”

“Yeah, but for the test you need to tune the scanner manually to that frequency so that we have a constant to go back to and adjust from.”

“Ughhh fine.”

“I know it’s a pain but it is the best way to get reliable results.”

“Yeah I know it’s just a pain sometimes.”

“It is, but such is the life of a miner.”

“Yeah. That would be a valid argument if we were miners. But we're not so I don’t have to put up with it. And most asteroid mines are maned by drones with a few supervisors.”

“Whatever man just do the test so we can find out whether that scan was accurate or not.”

“Fine, fine…”

To do this test I had to physically connect to the scanner and tune it slowly as it run’s a long pulse. It’s a long test but it does recalibrate the frequencies so that there properly measured as well as matched correctly to the desired frequencies. The test itself requires specific hand signs that tell the scanner to move up or down a level. The hand signs allow for large changes as well as extremely minute ones. To find the correct frequency I have a sample frequency record to compare it to. It’s all tedious but they are the rules we have with our old second hand equipment.

“Hey Erin, do you think I got lucky enough to find this thing?”

“I don’t know but I hope so. I’m sick of digging and want to shoot some big bad beasties. And I’m not saying I don’t like being surrounded by stone again but I’m a part of a spacer crew for a reason. I need a good fight every once and awhile and I know I’m not going to find that down here.”

“Yeah I get that. I’ve been itching to make something explode, but ever since Fizzouk got Boss to give me a no go on booms I’ve had to go without. But there is a bright side to this, and that’s if this scan is right. Boss got so sick of my whining that he made me a deal that if I found this thing then I got to blow its wall down. I’m looking forward to it so much!”

“I’m sure you are. By the way what sector of the asteroid are you in?”

“I’m in sector 73.68.49. Why?”

“Just want to be aware of the sector we’ll need to search when you cause another cave in.”

“Shut up. I’m not that dumb, if I was then I would be missing a few limbs by now.”

“Fair point I guess.”

“DoDo”

“YES!”

“What, what happened?”

“I got it tuned. So what's the next step?”

“Oh good. Well now you need to remove it and place it in a different place. Then you need to run program [email protected] again”

“UGhhhh, fine. Do I need to move it far?”

“No just a meter away from the last test site.”

“Ok, done. Running the test now.”

“Good once you're done put the scanner back and set the frequency back to that things frequency and set the scan distance again. Then you can run scanner and it will be as good as it can get.”

“Wait, that was all that the other steps had in them. Diagnostic and calibration tests! I can understand what those would do and why I should do them. Why did you tell me to skip them?”

“Well I didn’t think you were going to find it so I didn't think it would matter and I didn’t want to waste time if you broke the scanner ever.”

“You lazy aghhh. You know what next time I see you you're going to owe me, either in a “spar” or some booze, got it!”

“Yeah, yeah whatever.”

“Fine you’ll find out when I see you next.”

“I’d like to see you try. Haha.”

“You better believe it. Boomer out”

“Hey let me hear th…”

“Ahhhh, nice and quiet.”

I’m so going to give him the beat down he deserves the next time I see him.

“Dooo”

“Dooo”

“Dooo”

Yes I’ve got the thing. Yeeeees!

“Captain O, Boomer speaking”

“Hey what's up Tarux?”

“Just reporting in that I’ve found that thing. I’m just informing you that I’m going to prepare the charges.”

“Piss. Tarux hold on. Don’t blow anything up yet. Please just hold off for a second.”

“Fine. Go call Fizzouk. I’ll start digging closer to it while I wait for your response.”

“Thanks Tarox I owe you one. Captain Orsu out.”

Well according to the reading I got I have to dig 1.27 Kilometers till I get within range of the target. Time to get digging.

“Tarux, Captain Orsu speaking.”

“Copy that Boss. So what did Fizzouk have to say?”

“Well he said I’m an idiot for giving you permission to set something off and that he’s on his way to your position as we speak.”

“Awww man. He’s not stopping me.”

“Yeah he understands that. So he asked me to tell you to use concentrated seismic charges. But I’m sure that you’ll use what you think will work the best for the situation.”

“Seismic charges would work but if the things embedded in a wall or something then I could damage it. I’ll think about it when I get on site.”

“You know what you do what you want. Just don’t compromise the target or we have to dig a new one out.”

“Yes sir. If there is one thing I’m going to try my hardest to do it’s not break that thing, for a whole lot of reasons.”

“Yeah well let me know when you are ten till boom ok.”

“Sure thing Boss not a problem.”

“Good, Captain Orsu out.”

Hehe I’m so excited just 60 meters left to go.

Then it’s boom time.

“Captain O, Boomer speaking”

“Boom in ten.”

“Copy that Tarux. Thanks for the update. Captain Orsu out.”

Ok long coms off. Time to check my list again.

The breach charges are placed in pentagon pattern placement with another charge in the center. The wall thickness is 1.7 meters. Breach charge range is 1.5 meters. Momentum will push the remaining sliver of stone out of the way. Weapon systems up and running. Mining gear stowed and secured. Cave systems structural integrity secured with no risk of explored areas collapsing. Blast zone clear of untargeted obstructions.

T minus eight till boom.

I can’t wait.