Scree was monitoring the progress of Navi in his Mobile Salvage Processing Centre ship. Patter had sent her the details in a return Drop Pod shortly after his call with Hortense. The MSPC was a slow but very effective recycling system in an ugly vessel. It was in essence an engine attached to an automated recycling centre. Broken or unused bits and pieces were caught in the opening at the front and then processed by a clever automated system. The components were broken down into their essential elements and automatically directed to various holding areas that grew in size depending on the type of raw material. Once the holding area was full, the MSPC eventually returned to base and sold all the salvaged materials and important elements for a good return on investment.

  The enhanced image of the actual MSPC approaching Dirt and the image on the FedNet information page were a little different. Obviously all that trawling through floating scrap fields had made various impacts on the outside of the vessel. Scree pondered the design and suspected that the builders had kept costs down so it was little more than the engine, Recycling Unit and a control room poking out the top.

  The MSPC travelled alone and slowly approached the orbit of dirt. Hortense did not send any accompanying ship, knowing that Dirt was NC and had no way of interfering with his operations. The delay last time in completing his mission of clearing away the Dirtling ship was caused by that annoying Harrick, but Scree and Hortense were not talking about him.

  Hunts were continuing on schedule, but the undercurrent of “boring hunts” were growing. HTI Public Relations teams were doing their best with “anonymous” posting on FedNet chat areas extolling the exciting encounters, but pressure was building to solve the problem.

  Scree kept watch on the Hunter Safety Team and their schedule hadn’t changed. The HST had one of the leaders watch the hunting party before departure and also present at each of the return calls from the MTS. Rescue missions were less common now, but Harrick made sure his team was on the alert. It looked to her as if news of the MSPC clean up operation hadn’t reached Harrick. It shouldn’t matter, but Harrick was an unknown factor in her business operations equation.

  ****

  Navi was enjoying the solitude of the long and uneventful journey to Dirt. It was a simple mission and he was a simple fellow. Go to Dirt. Clean up the orbiting mess. Go home. Get paid. Easy.

  He had a little excitement when he noticed that random bit of equipment flying nearby. Navi had moved to intercept and just as he was approaching it to commence recycling, it moved and banged into the side of his ship. It was too small to bother turning around. He marked it on his charts and would suck it up when he returned.

  One thing did bother him a little. Why had that thing changed direction and speed as he was approaching? His tracking showed no change in direction, velocity or acceleration for the days since he had first noticed it. Then a few hours after he changed course, it had sped up and changed course. Weird. His closer examination showed it was an automatic device, basically something like a primitive drop pod. One of those wouldn’t have changed direction. He looked around as if he was being watched and then went back to his controls. That was stupid. Who would be watching him or that bit of space junk?

  His brother told him Dirt was NC. That meant the Dirtlings had no rights. He patted the red coloured part of his control panel covered by a clear panel. If anyone tried anything, he had defences.

  ****

  Kent and Rudy sat with Johnny Cartwright, going over the progress for the J Rocket defence plan.

  “What are the other nations doing about the oncoming Brick?” asked Kent.

  “They are all adopting a ‘wait and see’ plan,” said Johnny, “No one knows if this is an attack, or just a passenger ship, or it could even be peaceful.”

  Rudy snorted in surprise, “Really?”

  “Well, we have had no communication from the Federation or any aliens,” said Johnny, “We are just assuming that Earth is a new hunting preserve. It could be some rogue aliens and not part of official Federation policy. Maybe we just need to appeal to their government?”

  “Maybe some of our politicians need a hunt in their own homes,” Rudy said, “It’s easy to make these decisions if you don’t suffer the consequences.”

  Johnny nodded sombrely.

  Kent spoke up, “Sir, have you spoken with your contacts at ARRG?”

  Johnny looked at Kent, “Not lately. Why?”

  Kent looked around and said quietly, “Unofficially, ARRG captured two aliens and know a lot more about this situation. You should give them a call.”

  “Hmmm,” pondered Johnny.

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  “Be that as it may - I’ll call them straight after this review - is the J Rocket ready?”

  Rudy brought up a schematic of the redesigned J Rocket. The cabin had been removed and replaced with an array of six solid metal spikes.

  “We have converted the J Rocket into a giant spear thrower. As you asked, you wanted to convert the J rocket into some form of attack,” Rudy explained, “We can fly the J Rocket up towards the Brick and fling rocket assisted spikes at it. Some of the spikes have a tip which will open and send a spray of smaller spikes at it. Our biggest challenge is that we don’t know how thick the side panels are or if the Brick even has any defences. It’s all a bit of a mystery - an information gathering exercise.”

  Johnny shrugged, “The Brick is due to arrive in forty eight hours. Can we launch the J Rocket now? Then have it stay in orbit amongst our satellites and space junk. After all, if they can do it, why can’t we?”

  “Sure,” said Rudy, “The modifications are done. So long as CartNet is operating we can control J Rocket from anywhere. Otherwise it will need to be in contact by direct line of sight to here.”

  “Well, that will do for now,” said Johnny, “operating on limited information means we will make guesses and mistakes, but if we don’t make mistakes…”

  “We don’t gain experience,” Rudy and Kent completed the company motto.

  ****

  “Mr Cartwright!” said General Gant, leader of the US ARRG forces, when Johnny Cartwright’s call was passed through to him. The US ARRG forces had been very active but had limited contact with hunting parties. The first few hunting parties in the US had not fared well. With so many armed citizens, hunts rarely lasted ninety minutes and casualties quickly rose if the hunt extended.

  “General Gant,” said Johnny, “I was told to give you a call so we could co-ordinate our actions, or at least keep each other informed.”

  “Excellent idea, Sir,” said the General, “You boys did an excellent job rescuing the astronauts on the ISS. What are you planning now?”

  “Thank you General. A large part of our success was due to the interference of the alien shuttle. I don’t know if that was an accident or deliberate, but the delay meant the astronauts could escape just in time,” said Johnny.

  “We suspect it may have been deliberate, but we don’t know why,” added the General.

  “I gather you know about the approach of The Brick?” asked Johnny.

  “Yes, we do,” said the General, “It’s not far away now. No one knows what it is or what it is for.”

  “One of my assistants tells me I should speak with you to get some more background information on the Federation of Planets and these hunts. He tells me you had captured some of the aliens and may be able to get me up to speed,” said Johnny cheerfully.

  “Indeed,” sighed the General, “Sometimes it is hard to keep some information under wraps. But you are correct. Our Aussie ARRG team captured two of the aliens. One of their troopers also died while capturing one of the alien communicators. Combined, these two sources have given us a good idea of where we stand.”

  “So, is this a rogue alien thing, co-ordinated or official Federation policy?” asked Johnny.

  “Yes, Yes, Yes but No,” answered the General unhelpfully.

  “According to official Federation policy we, that is Earth, is classified as ‘Non Compatible’. That means Earth is Not Compatible with joining the Federation of Planets and never will be,” the General said.

  “Is that a problem?” asked Johnny, “We could just advance and join later, right?”

  “That would be the classification ‘Off Limits’. That’s when they watch and wait until we’re ready. ‘Non Compatible’ means we will never be ready and so have been sold off to the highest bidder. In this case our new owners are the infamous ‘Hunting Tours Incorporated’.”

  “Based on their name, I gather they are the ones organising the hunts?” said Johnny, “That doesn’t sound very civilised.”

  “It’s crazy, I know. But the logic is that if they provide an outlet for aggression, violence will be reduced and everyone will be happy and peaceful.”

  “Does it work?” said Johnny, surprised.

  “According to official news sources, it does. Five hundred years and no wars,” replied the General.

  Realising the implications, Johnny deduced, “So they destroyed the ISS to remove the evidence?”

  “It appears so,” said the General.

  “And The Brick is coming,” Johnny said, looking upwards as if he could see through his ceiling at his lovely satellite network floating above him.

  “I’m not sitting back and letting them destroy my network,” stated Johnny.

  “We didn’t think you would,” replied the General, “Anyway, we are a land based force. We tried sending fighter jets at hunting parties but they were just juicy targets. The Air Force boys will be watching with great interest! Please let’s continue sharing our intelligence. We can all work better that way.”

  “Agreed, General,” said Johnny firmly, “I have to go and make additional plans.”

  Johnny disconnected the call and looked at Kent and Rudy who had been listening to the call. He nodded at Kent and said, “Good tip, Kent. The Brick is on clean up duty. I don’t think J Rocket will be enough. Get the team together. We need some tricks up our sleeves.”

  ****

  Navi saw the image of Dirt growing in his view through the front screens. What a load of junk in orbit! This would be a profitable job for sure.

  He directed the MSPC for an initial sweep of the upper-most orbit which contained a lighter volume of junk. The maw at the front approached the first piece of floating junk as Navi made some fine tuning adjustments of the guidance systems. The first Dirt object was a smaller piece and it was collected into the maw easily. Watching his recycling screen, he saw the junk getting disassembled quickly and efficiently, with the components siphoned off to different storage areas. Then another was sucked in and another. Navi smiled. The recycling process was working and storage areas began to fill beautifully.

  Ahead of him was a collection of junk that had collected into a larger mass. Frowning, Navi zoomed in and examined the mass closer. He grunted in satisfaction when the data analyser matched some of the debris to the remains of the Dirtling ship Hortense had destroyed.

  Navi lifted the clear cover over the red portion of his control panel and pressed a few buttons. A laser bolt sped from the MSPC and broke apart the obstacle into many smaller parts, spreading in all directions.

  Navi sighed in satisfaction. That laser had been his brother’s idea. Hortense wanted it for defence, but Navi had found it very useful for reducing oversized obstacles. Like today. Debris spreading outwards wasn’t a problem. He had plenty of time and would make many sweeps covering the entire orbit of Dirt over the next few weeks.

  Soon, Dirt would have a clear sky and his clean up operation would be complete. Easy.