Interzone 251 by edited by Andy Cox

Enclosed now in the tiny cabin, the suffocating rock out of view, she felt nervous; she didn’t trust rock she couldn’t see.
    The needle said orange two. Mer didn’t need to know that.
    “Fifteen,” she said. “Phase two. Request arming protocol.”
    “Six three six,” Mer said. “Zero nine six nine.”
    She keyed it in, the sickly LEDs of the rig’s board casting a harsh green light across her vision. “Deploying at ten,” she said. “Bombs away.” Her thumbs pushed on the yoke’s triggers and she felt the double-thump of the injectors as they fired.
    “Projectiles down, setting filler,” she said. One more press, and the injectors saturated the tube with microweb. “Detonate in three, two, one…”
    The explosion was more physical blow than noise, her ears rejecting it – and all else – for several seconds as her body was pressed fast and hard against the seat back. All the lights on the rig went dark, and then the pressure let up. As soon as she could move again, Fari tore off her safety harness and helmet and crawled under the rig board.
    Ripping open the service panel, cursing herself for forgetting the sharp lip, she reached into the darkness and groped for the relay she knew was there.
Nineteen, eighteen, seventeen
, she counted under her breath.
    Found it!
She yanked, pulling the relay free, and dropped it into one coverall pocket before pulling an identical, burned-out relay from the other. She plugged it into place.
Seven, six.
Slamming the panel shut, she backed out and threw herself into her seat, just clicking in the last safety harness catch when the rig’s lights flickered, rebooting.
    “And we’re back,” Mer’s voice said. “How’s it look down there?”
    She lifted the blast shield to look. Her ears still rang from the detonation, but she could hear the crack and pop of rock fragmenting in place. Depth readings showed the cracks went straight to the core of Rock 44. “It’s good,” she said. “Tell Huj I’ll collect that five when I’m in, and he better have it or I’m taking his protein rations for the tenday.”
    She disengaged the injectors and slowly backed the rig away. It coughed, the engines shuddering. “Oh, and let Borrn know there’s something off with the rig electrics again.”
    She could hear Mer’s sigh over the link. “Will do,” he said at last. “He’s going to have to have a word with the shop, that’s the third rig with problems just this month. Get cleaned up as best you can – check-in at Station in two hours.”

    ***

    Borrn was outside the conference room door, waiting. He put out a hand and caught Fari’s shoulder, holding her back until Mer and Huj had passed. “This Rep’s new, and core-val,” he said. “You need to be on your best behavior in there, or things could get really bad.” At the look on her face he let go of her shoulder, passed the hand over his forehead. “Please, Fari.”
    Whatever sharp answer had been waiting on the tip of her tongue sublimated away. It wasn’t like Borrn to say
please
. “I’ll do my best,” she said instead, pulling her scarf up and over her head, and hurried after Mer and Huj.
    The Rep, with his sharp face and pale, washed-out skin, had set himself up at the head of the room with the semi-circle of tables all facing him. Leor’s team was already there.
    Mer and Huj were sitting at one of the tables. She moved to join them, then caught the Rep’s scowl.
Core-val
, Borrn had said, so she knelt on the floor behind them with her head bowed. Her face burned. She hated not being able to see the Rep’s face, not being able to look him in the eye.
    She heard Borrn walk in behind her, followed the sound of his footsteps across the room to sit beside and behind the Rep.
    “Let’s get started,” the Rep spoke, his voice loud and strong in the silent room. His accent was thick, untainted home-world Basellan Colonial, and she had to suppress the urge to flinch. “Team Blue, you are working Rock