Our Electric Sky

The sunrise was always beautiful. A hue of rainbows reaching out across the sky. It was going to be a good day. This world wasn’t much different than the distant earth. The time between day and night is what made it so spectacular. Dawn and dusk were not mere moments in time, they could last for hours and hours. Our days and nights were much longer, lasting forty six hours in total. Mining was the main industry on this planet. Being underground didn’t make much difference in the winter. It was dark when you started and dark when you finished, but summer was what made it worthwhile. Earth had it's rainbows and auroras. But here with all the extra minerals atomized into the atmosphere, it was spectacular. Summer Solstice was the longest day and sunrise could last up to five hours.

It took a couple years to get my work schedule right, so I could spend Solstice morning laying on the highest peak. The translucent atmosphere would slowly charge from the rising sun. From horizon to horizon the sky would start to glow, like turning on a giant neon sign. Subtle hues at first, then brilliant streaks would shoot across the sky as the charge built. Imagine watching a lightning storm with no clouds. Every lightning streak is a different colour. Then the streaks collide, cascading into a rainbow, like fireworks. The sky behind changes in hues during the fireworks. So much charge that you can hear singing in sky.

There is no need of power plants or any form energy generation here. We tap the extreme atmosphere and it supplies us with all the possible energy we could ever need. Most of our devices pull the charge out of the air, no need to plug in. The lighting in our buildings and mines all run off of the atmosphere. There are some drawbacks to a charged atmosphere. We still have to run wires, not for power but for communication. Cell phones don’t work here, nor radios, shortwave or anything that transmits by air. So we have the old fashioned wall phones, all this fancy technology and hand cranked wall phones. We even have a switch board with an operator. Her name is Alice. She knows everyone here by name and number. We offered to set her up with a computer but she refused, keeps her mind ticking is how she put it.

We aren’t a big community out here but we are tight knit. Earth is far away and we only have ourselves to rely on. They come here to collect what we mine, that is their only reason to visit this place. They never come to the surface, except for extreme circumstances.

We have a vast network of sky rails. They deliver the resources into the stratosphere far above our electric sky. Space silos and shipping ports ring our planet. We have everything from basic ores to more precious commodities like black diamonds. The rarest of all, our dicrillium crystals. They only come from our deepest mines. We are the only planet, that we know of, that has them. They come in a few “flavours“ as they put it. Red, green and blue. Each with its own unique properties. They power anything from a wristwatch to a interstellar shipping supertanker.

Last night, I was on a deep mine shift. I run and maintain a lot of the coring and drilling machines. I am one of the top techs on the planet. After ten years there isn’t much I haven’t seen. I was in the middle of a drill when Mac jumped up and pounded on the window of my cab. Scared the crap out of me. “What are you doing?” I yelled at him. He signaled to cut the engine. I shut down my machine and got out of my cab. “This had better be important, its going to take me an hour to reset and get back to drilling speed!” I said sternly as I crossed my arms and stared up at him. Mac looked concerned, “The coring machine is jammed.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head, “Is that all? How many times do I have to show you? You should know how to do this by now Mac. Come on, I even added the procedure to your tablet.” Mac knew better than to rile me up for something like this. I took a breath and gave him a chance to explain himself. “What is it Mac? What’s really wrong?” Mac fiddled with his hands and looked at his feet. I dropped my tone a bit and asked again “Mac, look at me. We are wasting time. Out with it.” Mac looked me straight in the eyes, “I can’t explain it Jody. I, uh, have to show you. Follow me.” Mac turned and headed back to the main shaft and I followed close behind. He was being really weird about this. He was always a little off but this was way out there. From the main shaft we headed down to the lowest sample tunnel in the mine. No one has ever gone this deep before. As we approached the end of the tunnel our headlamps began to flicker. I paused but Mac continued. Everything went black and the only light was from the main shaft behind us. “Mac? What’s going on?” From the dark, Mac answered, “Give it a minute. Like I said, I can’t explain it.” I could hear him in the dark fiddling with the machine. I heard a click, then a low hum, the walls began to glow. They got brighter until I could see Mac like we were outside in the daylight. “See! I told you. Weird, huh? I don’t get it? And it is really stuck. Won’t budge.” Mac said looking concerned. “This is a brand new bit on the end, one of them “experimental" ones. Worth more than I make in a year. You have to fix it. Please, Jody.” He sounded desperate. I looked at him and smiled. “Fine. Go grab my bag and I will fix it.”

He went to grab me for one of his bear hugs but I stopped him. “Thank me when I fix it. Now go get my bag, you big oaf.” His face lit up and he ran off. I went up to the machine, put on the brake and disconnected the coring bit. I hauled the machine up and out of the way to take a closer look at the bit. I gave it a few swift kicks with my boot and it didn’t budge. Hmmm, I thought to myself, I wonder if... I turned off the machine and the light started to fade. When it was black, I felt my way back to the bit. I could wiggle it now. I stood up and gave it a few solid kicks. I grabbed with both hands and lifted it out of the hole. I turned the machine on and the walls began to glow again. At the end of the bit was a piece of dicrillium, but a new ”flavour.” This one was clear. I pulled a sampling pouch from my pocket, dropped it in, and sealed it. The walls stopped glowing and my head lamp came back on.

I could hear Mac rushing down the tunnel behind me with my bag jangling with tools. I turned as he dropped my bag and got hit with a bear hug. He lifted me off the ground. “Thank you Jody, thank you, thank you!” I gasped and wheezed “Your welcome. Please put me down.” He promptly put me down and stepped back. He started fiddling with his hands and looking at his feet as he replied “Sorry Jody and thank you very much. You saved my neck.” I smiled at him, “Again, you mean.” He looked at me and smiled. I gave him a hug back. “I don’t know what I am going to do with you Mac. You big oaf.” I reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Mac and I closed off that tunnel and marked it with hazard tags. No one was going down there until the engineers came back which would take at least a year. Earth's red tape took forever.

As I lay on that peak watching the electric sky, I pulled the sampling pouch out of my pocket and opened it. The crystal began to glow. I held it up and watched rainbows dance inside. "What am I going to do with you? For now, you are my little secret." I said out loud. I smiled as I pondered at what the future would bring.