Space Zombies Part two

We had gone in one direction for over an hour. A long cloud of dust was behind us being kicked up by Linus' track. There was nothing out here for miles, just long patches of flat ground followed by more flat ground. The communicator in my helmet would buzz on occasionally and Linus would give me any information he was picking up with his limited sensors.

" There seems to be some rocks up ahead, do you want to check them out?"

Sometimes smaller rocks hit a place like this and they are filled with rare materials that you can't pick up on scan. It's not usually worth it to check it out, but I was feeling adventurous today. After giving the go ahead Linus changed his path slightly and announced we would be there shortly.

As we approached I could see rows of stones all perfectly aligned with each other. It reminded me of man made forests the way the tree's would be placed in a pattern as apposed to how an old fashion natural forest would look. When we arrived I Jumped down and started rubbing my hand over the smooth rocks that has been worn down over time.

"These aren't from a meteor shower Linus" I said while getting a scope of this place

" I count 250 stones, should I start scanning?" Linus asked inquisitively

Rubbing one of the stones with my glove, I thought it over.

" Yeah, scan the area"

A few minutes passed

"The stones are all worthless, but in the ground I found Trace elements of gold, silver and some other materials"

" How far down? is it worth our time?" I said remembering how much I love gold.

" No, barely enough to fill your hand and its about 6 feet down. Recommend we keep going"

Nodding, I climbed back onto Linus and we started off to our original destination. Our new path took us directly through the center of the stones. I hoped this wasn't some warning that someone or something else had put here to scare off people like me. Every once in a while there would be a round hole about two feet across in front of a stone, then it was more frequent. eventually every stone was preceded by a hole in the ground.

" Scan those holes as we go by, maybe someone hid something in one of them"

" I'm picking up strong radiation ahead. I don't show it as lethal, but we shouldn't stick around" Linus Replied

I took Linus' words with a little skepticism, Sometime he would say things like that and it would turn out to be a glitch in his systems. Once we had almost missed out on a large haul of clax because he picked up on a attack ship making a drive straight at us. It wasn't until we hid and a large flock of birds flew by I realized the mistake.

"Can you locate a source?" I said in a patient tone

Linus pointed an arm out.

"Drive straight to it" I commanded

"but.."

I made a forced smile and said "Let's take a quick look"

Linus kept his hand pointed where we were going the entire way. As we approached the edge of the graveyard I could see a pillar about nine feet high with symbols all over it. At the very top was a green rock about the size of a tennis ball. I studied the symbols and couldn't get a clue as to what they meant, Linus had the same issue. The rock on top was interesting and after some maneuvering I was able to climb on Linus' shoulders and pry the rock free with little effort. I could of turned down the settings on my shoes and jumped, but sometimes those things don't occur to you until your already done.

" Is this radioactive?" I said holding the rock to Linus' face

" It is giving off something, But I wouldn't call it radiation" The robot replied

"So, its not going to kill me we can bring it back with us?"

Shrugging " It's strange, but I'm not showing it as dangerous"

Brushing it off and holding it I could feel some sort of sensation I couldn't quite place, maybe a sense of peace?, I checked my oxygen to make sure it wasn't malfunctioning. I placed the rock in one of the compartments in the track where i keep my flashlight and lunch. We continued on our way.

Back on flat ground it took about another five minutes before the horizon had produced some small hills.

Linus chimed in on the communicator " Those are supposed to be the clax deposits up ahead"

I watched the plume of dust behind us get thrown further into the sky as Linus sped up to reach the hills. Soon we were close enough I could make out that these weren't just small hills, these were caves. Linus stopped at the mouth of the first one we got to and I jumped down. Reaching down into a compartment of his tools Linus fit a flashlight on one arm and a drill attachment on the other. I grabbed my light and followed behind.

It was only a few feet into the cave before we were only navigating by the flashlights. The ground felt more like mud and less like sand the further we went in. Sharp formations of stalactite hung from the ceiling in bunches, like a barrage of spears frozen in time. We reached a wall on the far end and Linus started drilling.

" My scanner shows a large deposit starts right here"

The wall was hard and as the drill made its way in I kept an eye on some near by stalactite that were a little close for comfort. A large section of the rock fell away and revealed the familiar Twinkies yellow color of the clax that was so valuable.

" Alright!, lets start packing this in and we can get out of here, this is definitely two trips" I said as I punched the wall in excitement.

A rock came loose as I punched the wall and it fell only a few feet from me almost hitting Linus. Luckily the gravity here was very little and it only hit the ground lightly., it probably wouldn't of even left a bruise if it had hit me. What I didn't notice immediately was the small spray of water that was being plugged by that rock.

"Linus move!"

He looked up just in time to get a spray of water right in the face. We both stood there for a moment. Water was real bad, newer robots had seals and water proofing and at one point Linus had the same features. Years without maintenance however he had developed some holes in his armor and some weak points water could get in.

" I think I'm fine, the water didn't get in" Linus said reassuringly

"Let's get this back to the ship then"

Opening some other compartments built into the tank treads I began taking handfuls and stuffing them in. This score could set us up for life, this was life changing money. I had already filled one compartment and was onto the next in a matter of minutes.

My communicator chimed on "grzzzzip zzipzzzzzzrrrr"

Linus turned to face me and his eye was flashing on and off blinking in a way that made my heart sink.

"ZZZZZRFFFF ZZZZZZ POP!"

The light went out in his eye and I stood there in fear. I was now on an asteroid stranded miles from my ship and my only transport was broken. I Kicked his treads a few times and banged against his head with an open hand. I kept saying his name thinking it would make him respond.

"crap.."