Frog’s rescue became high drama. Blake’s crews
reached him only after he had idled down and gone on intravenous
and drugs in an extended, deep sleep free of the distress and pain
of radiation sickness. He had emptied his oxygen tanks.
His rescuers had to tunnel under his crawler to reach his belly
hatch. They found it fouled with splash scale. They stung a heated
hose through his tractor skin into his oxy main. A couple of Blake
hogs chipped the scale off his hatch. Others sprayed the tunnel
walls with a quick-setting epoxy. They scabbed a pumper trunk over
the tunnel mouth and flooded it with breathables.
They had to do it the hard way. Near the end, too pained to
think straight, Frog had shed his hotsuit again. His stupidity came
near costing him his life.
The expenses of the rescue came out of Blake’s PR budget.
The holonetnews snoops were on the scene, their cameras purring.
The head office saw itself picking up a lot of cheap advertising.
The name Blake Mining and Metals would get exposure all over
Confederation.
Old Frog had gotten more than he had bargained for. He had not
impressed just a little girl and the people of his home town. He
was a seven-day news wonder Confederation-wide. His adventure was
being broadcast live from Edgeward. Taping crews braved the
Shadowline to get his rescue recorded for later broadcast.
He would have been amused and disgusted had he known about it.
It was not quite the notoriety he had been seeking.
Frog’s rescue became high drama. Blake’s crews
reached him only after he had idled down and gone on intravenous
and drugs in an extended, deep sleep free of the distress and pain
of radiation sickness. He had emptied his oxygen tanks.
His rescuers had to tunnel under his crawler to reach his belly
hatch. They found it fouled with splash scale. They stung a heated
hose through his tractor skin into his oxy main. A couple of Blake
hogs chipped the scale off his hatch. Others sprayed the tunnel
walls with a quick-setting epoxy. They scabbed a pumper trunk over
the tunnel mouth and flooded it with breathables.
They had to do it the hard way. Near the end, too pained to
think straight, Frog had shed his hotsuit again. His stupidity came
near costing him his life.
The expenses of the rescue came out of Blake’s PR budget.
The holonetnews snoops were on the scene, their cameras purring.
The head office saw itself picking up a lot of cheap advertising.
The name Blake Mining and Metals would get exposure all over
Confederation.
Old Frog had gotten more than he had bargained for. He had not
impressed just a little girl and the people of his home town. He
was a seven-day news wonder Confederation-wide. His adventure was
being broadcast live from Edgeward. Taping crews braved the
Shadowline to get his rescue recorded for later broadcast.
He would have been amused and disgusted had he known about it.
It was not quite the notoriety he had been seeking.