CHAPTER 16
They
had been traveling for three days. As they broke camp on the fourth day and
began loading the mules Tibbs’ animal started bucking. All of Tibbs’ gear flew off and the animal took
off across the valley, with Tibbs running after it. “Come back here, you
stupid, son-of-a-bitch,” he screamed angrily.
October and Jake laughed as Tibbs
stumbled, got up and threw a rock at the frightened animal.
“That will convince him to come
back,” October joked.
“I’ll teach him to run off,” Tibbs
shouted as he ran across rough ground. Suddenly he dropped out of sight. Jake
and October exchanged a curious look and waited a few seconds to see if Tibbs would
reappear.
“Gas hole,” Tibbs called weakly.
“He sure has a mouth on him, with
all the cussing,” October said.
“I think he said ‘gas hole.’” Jake
said.
“Uh-oh.”
They took off running across the
rough terrain to the spot where Tibbs had disappeared from sight. At the rim of
a small crater Tibbs’ mule stood looking down into it. If a mule could smile, it was. It looked up
at October and Jake, then back down at Tibbs.
The crater was filled with a blue
haze and Tibbs was sprawled on his face at the bottom. He had tried to climb out but was unconscious
still clinging to the side of the crater.
October and Jake ripped open their
emergency packs and slipped on their breathing devices as they scrambled down the
side of the crater.
“Got to get him out of there or he’s
a dead man,” October said, breathing hard.
They slid down through rocks and
reached Tibbs. Jake took Tibbs’ breather out of his backpack and slipped it
over his nose and mouth. Then they grabbed
him under the arms and dragged him up and out of the crater.
October put his ear to Tibbs’ face.
“He isn’t breathing,” he said.
Jake adjusted the breathers’ output
and started giving Tibbs artificial respiration. They exchanged a concerned look when Tibbs didn’t
immediately respond. October took a small white pill out of his emergency kit
and slipped it under Tibbs’ tongue.
“See if we can kick-start him with
a little jolt,” he said.
A few seconds later, Tibbs’ body
jerked and Jake stopped pushing on his chest. The clear plastic over his nose
and mouth fogged up as he started to breathe.
His eyes opened slowly, blinking rapidly. He tried to sit up, but Jake held him down.
“Take it easy. You had a close call, but you’re okay now,”
Jake said.
Tibbs whispered, “What happened?”
“The terraforming plant on this
rock doesn’t quite fill all the nooks and crannies with air,” October said as
he pointed toward the stars. “You fall
into the wrong hole and you might as well be out there, ‘cause there ain’t nothing
to breath.”
Tibbs sat up slowly, glared at
October without a hint of gratitude. “You could’ve said something about that before we left town.”
“I figured someone as well traveled
as yourself would know about such things.”
“You did, did you? You know what I think. I think you just might be thinking a two-way
split is better than three,” Tibbs accused.
“What the hell are you talking
about?” Jake demanded.
“Kinda getting ahead of yourself,
aren’t you, Tibbs,” October said calmly.
“We haven’t even found anything yet.
Is this how it’s going to be, you thinking everyone’s trying to cheat
you?”
Tibbs seemed to realize he had gone
too far. “No. No, I didn’t mean
nothing. Sorry, it must have been the
fall, talking crazy like that.”
“We’re partners, Tibbs,” Jake
reminded him.
“Sure we are,” Tibbs said.
“Remember that. We need each other to get the ore...and to
get out of here alive.”
“I know that. I said I’m sorry. What else do you want me to say?”
“Nothing,” Jake said flatly and
grabbed the halter to Tibbs’ mule. “Let’s just get going.”
October pointed to a distant
mountain range. “Good idea,” he said leading the way. “It’s still another day or two.”
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