I was with the ROC on Arial to mine Hadanite. It was hot, too hot, deadly hot.
After I got the tip that there was a high concentration of Hadanite on the moon Arial, I went to the heat hell of the Stanton system. Hadanite, the most valuable mineral, promised a high profit. So I could not resist and intensify my recent Hadanite mining successes.
And indeed, I found only Hadanite on Arial. I did not have to search long to find the first deposits. I landed my Cutlass, drove my mining vehicle out of the cargo hold and started mining.
It was sweaty. Even on the night side it was sometimes over 300 degrees Celsius. My space suit was not designed for this heat. After I had mined a rock, I came back to my spaceship completely dehydrated. Fortunately I had brought a lot of water with me.
And then I found this cluster with 8 stones. A lucky strike. I increased the power of the mining laser and started to crack the first stone. The laser roared, the whole vehicle vibrated and the stone started to glow. I carefully adjusted the power of the laser to avoid overheating the stone. It was difficult, the green area was quite small.
When the stone was finally disassembled and the Hadanite was collected with the traktor beam, I looked surprised at the display of my suit. It had taken me over a minute to get the stone. My suit told me that I could only survive 8 minutes in the heat. Would I manage to get all 8 stones in that time? My ambition was aroused.
I immediately set out for the next stones. It was a race against time and against the blazing heat. The survival indicator of my suit ticked mercilessly backwards. My body temperature began to rise. At first I thought what the hell, 1-2 degrees more body temperature, it couldn’t be that bad, could it?
Time was running out. Three more stones, three more minutes. I did not want to stop. My vision became blurred. I wiped the visor of my helmet with my hand. My vision did not improve. It was my vision that became blurred. I began to see colors, rainbows and the world around me began to blur. Despite the threatening heat collapse I did not want to give up. There was still this one stone, I had to take it down.
My body temperature shot up unstoppably. I began to moan and had problems to concentrate. My hands could not hold the sticks properly. The overheating of my body was fatal. I looked over my right shoulder to the Cutlass, my only chance of survival. It was standing very close and yet seemed so far away. Was she too far away?
I tried to drive the ROC back to the Cutlass. The heat in my helmet was unbearable. I could hardly see anything. I steered more dead than alive towards the loading ramp and accelerated. It cracked, the sound of metal hitting metal screeching through the air. I was thrown back and forth in my seat. Then everything was dark.
When I regained consciousness I was sitting on the floor of the Cutlass’s hold. The ROC was in front of me and the entrance was open. My helmet was next to me. I had miraculously managed to drive into the rescuing spaceship and fall out of the vehicle with my last ounce of strength.
After I had pulled myself together, I rammed a Medipen into my arm and flew to the next space station. I bought a heat suit and returned to Arial. There was still a lot of Hadanite waiting for me.