The mobile platform carried them up past the curved storage chambers and the broad, gaping mouth of the gaseous intake chute. Clarin peered through his faceplate, amazed at the immensity of the vessel up close. Once the Erphano skymine dropped into the clouds, few people would ever see its lower hull again.

He hovered beside the front ekti storage tank and, smiling, grasped the neck of the pseudo-champagne bottle. Weightless, he knew that when the bottle struck the metal wall, he would recoil in the opposite direction, so Berndt gripped the support railing.

He had carefully considered his words. “With great pride, I launch this skymine: pride not in myself but in the capabilities of the Roamer construction teams that have built this marvel. And pride in my dedicated crew who will run the operations and bring about a profitable status. Most of all, though, I launch this skymine with pride for what it symbolizes to the Roamers and our ability to prosper where no one else would dare to venture. Let the Guiding Star take us to our destiny.”

He swung the champagne bottle. As it struck the hull, the glass shattered, and the pseudo-champagne exploded into the vacuum of space. Thin glass fragments and boiling, fizzing, freezing clouds of carbonated liquid foamed outward, volatilizing like a comet’s tail.

As applause and cheers echoed through the comm systems, Berndt Okiah took the mobile platform up to the command deck. He and the engineer cycled through the airlocks and stripped out of their suits as the bridge crew hurried to congratulate them.

“Disengage tethers,” Berndt said, his first command issued aboard his new factory. The skymine lurched as the metal cables detached from their anchor points. “Increase thrust to engines.”

The skymine eased away from the rubble, moving toward the clouds of Erphano. Berndt glanced back at the scarred construction facility behind them, then turned forward, looking at the eye of the gas giant. The resource-rich clouds beckoned him, and he decided that he would not look back ever again, only forward.

28: RLINDA KETT

28RLINDA KETT

Rlinda Kett awoke satisfied from a comfortable night’s sleep beneath the whispering worldtrees. After devouring an extravagant breakfast of fruits and nuts accompanied by clee—a steamy, potent beverage made from ground worldtree seeds—she felt ready to tackle any decision.

“If I stay here on Theroc much longer, I’ll gain a dozen kilos,” Rlinda said to Sarein. “That would both endanger my health and decrease the mass cargo I can carry on the Voracious Curiosity.”

Sarein had added metal combs to her hair and wore a traditional Theron gown, looped with court finery, beautiful scarves and shawls made from ephemeral cocoon fibers. Rlinda wanted her own wardrobe of the cloth—to demonstrate its beauty to new customers, but also so she could preen in front of the mirror. Although she had no intention of attracting yet another husband, she saw no harm in looking pretty.