Free Family Law 3: Secrets in the Stars by Mackey Chandler Page A

biologicals and chemical processing. But Ernie isn't sure if they'll be where we can get to them and extract them. It should be easier to build a space dwelling civilization here than around a brown dwarf. Maybe easier than most systems that have living planets.
    "Since some of the heavier elements tend to be toxic it is likely to be an easier environment to live in than on satellites around a brown dwarf. You aren't going to have to worry as much about nasty things leaching from tunnel walls or dust brought in on your suit."
    "But less money to be made in mining," Thor predicted.
    "Yes, but a better place to actually live as a self-sustaining community. The other systems are so rich in metals nobody is going to look to a system like this as a mining center. Not for centuries. There'll be local finds of high grade ore that are cheaper to exploit because they are local. Maybe even better than the Earth system or Derfhome. They won't have transport costs of bringing metals from a brown dwarf, even if they are closer to here than our home worlds. But we'd have been thrilled to find this system if we hadn't already found the brown dwarfs," Brownie pointed out.
    "Yeah, just like Amber," Thor allowed, naming a planet they'd visited in the war. "You can have all the sulfur you want to load up with a front loader. Big plains of it pretty pure and hundreds of meters deep in spots, but there are still too many cheaper sources of it, even on Earth. On Derfhome they used to go into volcano craters and scrape it off the rocks. Now they cap the vents and get it from the gas. Well it's always good to have a plan 'B'. We'll still file a claim on it, won't we?" he asked Gordon.
    "Absolutely," Gordon agreed. "It costs comparatively little to file and somebody may want to use the system for something within our lifetimes. A fueling station or just a small station to redistribute freight. There are a few here and there where routes between settled worlds cross."
    "Well this is interesting," Brownie said, "Captain Ochocinco sent a text message directly instead of on the common channel. He says the Caterpillar ship skimmed through the atmosphere of the gas giant. Apparently they refuel directly like that instead of sending a scoop drone."
    "Captain Ochocinco is very practical," Thor said. "Why send a voice transmission when he's so far away? We're not going to reply to it quickly with the lag we have now. I see no reason to reply to this at all. We haven't had a lot of chatting back and forth at a distance, but something that unusual I can see he'd want us to know, just in case he runs into something and doesn't make it back. It gets it on record and doesn't interrupt us if we're chatting on the channel locally."
    "Send a memo to everybody, Brownie," Gordon decided. "All ships operating separately should send in text instead of voice when they are more than a light minute out."
    "Aye, sir," Brownie agreed.
    They collected a lot of data. One of the airless satellites the High Hopes investigated had a odd surface feature they could see from orbit. When they sent a shuttle down to it they found a bizarre forest of crystals and needles of tellurium minerals. When Thor asked about mining it they were horrified.
    "That would be a crime ," the shuttle pilot told them. "Look at the pix. It should be a park with severe penalties for disturbing any of it." The copilot just nodded agreement, looking upset.
     

Chapter 7
    When the Dart returned, their alien companions the Caterpillars followed along and came to relative rest nearby. They beat The Champion William back although they'd traveled further. The Dart was much faster. After some consultation between commanders one of the shuttles from Retribution picked up Jon and his display. Lord Byron the XO was picked to fly the shuttle. He was overqualified, but they wanted some serious command experience dealing so intimately with the Caterpillars. Nobody was sure the Caterpillars would welcome them back