The Prophecy of Agnes

I was lost, but not forgotten....

The last thing Agnes needed was a claim jumper.
That could get violent quick.
Her video cameras were smashed in the rear and front.
But, this truck had motion detection devices
under its titanium plate hull.
There was something on the hull.

She tried spraying sand over the hull.
It did not stop movement over the hull.
Agnes called for tech support.
She was put on hold...
"I am not going out there." she said
with a shutter as the computer reported an
attempt to breach the integrity of the hull.

"Satellite!" of course the Moon had communication
satellites and most were equipped with cameras.
Agnes locked on to a nearby orbiting satellite ..
"I've got ants?" she sighed in relief ..
Bugs were pests not enemies.
The hull was electrified and the ants fell off.

Agnes gasped in excitement, "Trillium!"
Trillium was a highly valued ore and the ants were
made of it.
Agnes quickly typed the processing command and
ground up the Moon ants.
"Oh, I'm a millionaire! I can buy a house on Earth."
Her eyes swelled with tears of joy.

Agnes took the tube elevator to the processing machinery.
The trillium was being pumped into clear cylinders.
Agnes screamed at the sight of a tiny ant head that looked
human.
She pulled the reprocess lever for a finer grinding.

Her mind raced over accidental death liability.
"Our first encounter with alien life and I ground them up."
She felt cold and desperate.
The computer alert alarm rang with a flashing red light.
That meant big trouble..
Agnes ran to the nearest video screen and punched up
the satellite view.
The crater was filling with ants from the cavern she had
drilled.

"That's enough for me." Agnes said firmly.
She took the tube lift to navigation and jumped started
the thrusters..
The truck lifted off into space..
Then, she dropped a dozen fracking bombs into the crater.
Thousands of dead Moon ant people lay below.
"Now I rake in the trillium claim of the century." Agnes said
with trepidation as flying ants rose up at the truck.

She thrusted further into space and the ants retreated to the crater.
"Okay." Agnes landed at her base camp.
She immediately called her corporate funders.
"That much trillium in Moon ants?" her general manger was elated.
Agnes warning about the swarm did not discourage him.
He had his own private military ...
Agnes could not sway him with the possibility the Moon ants were people.
The mining would continue.

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