Occasionally, at construction sites within the boundaries of Hansa territory, some of the still-functional Klikiss robots volunteered to perform hazardous space construction. They worked hard, asked no questions and took no payment, but operated on their own schedules. Most Roamers, though, didn’t trust the mysterious ancient machines and preferred to do their own labor.

Since this was Berndt Okiah’s pet project, a skymine that he would own and manage, he had been here from the beginning, more than a year. He had lived in austere encampments of underground chambers drilled into the small moons and then coated with polymer walls. As the resources were chewed up, shipyards had grown like a forest. Tall girders, support derricks, and tether cables held the skeleton of the Erphano skymine as Roamers added the metal flesh.

Though Berndt had confidence in his workers, he was still blustery and intrusive, watching over their shoulders as they assembled the ekti reactors. His grandmother’s pet engineer, Eldon Clarin, had recently arrived with new plans and bold suggestions to improve the systems. At first, Berndt had been put out by the sudden change in plans, until he realized the modifications would require no more than a week and, if successful, make his new skymine more productive and therefore more profitable.

Berndt had promised himself and the Roamer clans that he would make a success of this operation. His grandmother had given him an exceptional opportunity—though some claimed he did not deserve yet another chance—and he would not waste it. Berndt had many things to prove to himself and to his people.

As he sat in the observation blister watching the final preparations, Engineer Clarin entered through the access tube. “I’ve checked all the systems, Chief. The skymine is nearly ready for launch.”

The burly man nodded, scratching his square chin. “Still operating at ninety-seven percent of projected norms?” The engineer looked surprised. “How did you know?”

“Because I checked them myself an hour ago. It’s my business to understand things aboard my new skymine.” Berndt’s physical size and his reputation as a gruff bully clearly intimidated Eldon Clarin, but the engineer’s ease with mathematics and science, his sheer intelligence, intimidated Berndt in turn. “Once the facility enters the Erphano cloud decks, we’ll have plenty of time to do our shakedown. You will be staying here to verify all systems. Please?”

Clarin drew his brows together as if surprised at the big man’s demeanor. “Speaker Okiah requested that I stay for at least two months.”