Raul shook his head, expression downcast. “If they were off, it was in the wrong direction. We found some ore, but I doubt it’s going to prove out to anything worth filing a claim. We’ll use the mining robots to extract the ore, and send it back home with a beacon attached. Unless we were to find something else in the area…”

Ivan pressed his lips together, but said nothing. He repeated his wife’s statistics like a mantra. Too soon to give up; as many as three tours on average; too soon to give up…

* * *

A week later, they’d finished prospecting all the rocks in the area, and the news was in. Aiello didn’t have a good poker face at the best of times, and announcements weren’t the best of times.

He took a long, slow look around the common room. “Sorry, guys. We’ve checked them all, and there’s no shine. We’ll be moving to another spot as soon as astrogation has found a good clump of rocks worth visiting.”

Aiello stood there for a moment longer, then shrugged and left.

Ivan balled his fists on the table and put his forehead down on them. Logically, they weren’t even halfway into their tour. It was far too early to give way to despair. As usual, logic didn’t help. And anyway, to do three tours, they’d have to at least find enough to pay for this tour.

His dinner sitting like a lump of coal in his stomach, Ivan said to Seth, “I’m going to turn in. Write a letter to the family…”

Seth nodded, and Ivan headed for his room. The gravity seemed to have been turned up to Jupiter standard, sucking his feet into the carpet with every step.

Hi, love,

Well, we haven’t struck it rich, yet. But it’s very early in the tour, and no one seems concerned. I’d like to hit the earlier of your projections, rather than the later, though. I’m looking forward to retiring to the French Riviera—or what’s left of it.

How are Josh and Suzie? Do they ask about their dad? Tell them I’ve learned to fly. I can fly from one end of the ship to the other, down the middle. It’s great fun.

Ivan leaned back from the keyboard. He couldn’t bear to send an honest email, but had trouble thinking up the words for something upbeat. He stared at the note for several minutes, then reached over and saved the draft. He had until tomorrow morning, anyway. To keep costs down, the Mad Astra only connected to SolNet once a day, to send and receive updates.

With a sigh, he put everything away and prepared for bed.

6.Trying Another Location

6.Trying Another Location