My Other Car is a Spaceship by Mark Terence Chapman

asked me to leave and I was just about to comply.” He made his way through the crowd to the door where Kalen and the cop waited. The Chan’Yi stayed behind a moment, to give the humans a chance to leave in peace.
    “Thank goodness you showed up just then,” Hal said. “I was afraid I was going to have to teach them all the error of their ways.”
    Kalen snorted. “ R-i-i-ght . Let’s just hope we don’t have too many more educational opportunities after this. I don’t know how many times the headmaster will be around to intervene.”
     

     
    Tarl Penrod nodded with approval. “Excellent.”
    The main corridor extended for more than a hundred meters before curving out of sight. It was wide enough, and the ceiling high enough, for an industrial earth mover to pass through with plenty of room to spare. In fact, large mining equipment had traversed this and other corridors for more than two decades.
    “ This will do nicely for our new base of operations.” Penrod ran his EVA-suited right hand, minus the pinky finger—the result of welching on a bet in his younger days—along the smooth plasma-fused stone walls of the corridor. “It looks like we can house at least a couple hundred people here, along with supplies, munitions, and ‘visitors.’”
    His second-in-command, V.P. of Operations Jern Ishtawahl nodded his shiny, nearly fluorescent yellow-green head with enthusiasm.
    “That is right. Even better, this base extends more than two kilometers into the asteroid. The Unity, should they ever find us, has nothing capable of reaching us down here. They could pound away at the surface for weeks with their heaviest weapons and all we would feel is some minor tremors—and that assumes no shielding. The rock is extremely dense. That is the reason the mining company finally abandoned operations here. It was too much work for too little reward at the end.”
    Penrod nodded. “You’ve done well, Jern. So what will it take to make this place operational?”
    The taller Alberian frowned. “Quite a bit, but the hardest part was done for us by the miners. Hundreds of passageways and chambers are already excavated. It would have taken us years to blast through all this rock—just as it took the miners. On the other hand, they removed all the useful equipment—life support, gravity generators, shield generators, etc., when they left. We will have to replace all that, plus we will need to carve out weapons emplacements on the surface, as well as ship hangars. After all, we would not want anyone passing by to notice ships docked outside a presumably abandoned mining site. Plus, there is much additional infrastructure to install: internal wiring, external sensors, computer gear, a water treatment plant, plumbing, air recycling equipment, environmental systems for slaves that require special atmospheric conditions—not to mention making the entire facility airtight—and so on.”
    “Of course. So what’s the bottom line? When can you have this fortress operational? ”
    “It depends on a lot of factors, Tarl . This asteroid is nearly seven kilometers in diameter. That’s a lot of surface area on which to place sensors and proximity mines. And I know you want to convert some of the nearby asteroids into perimeter guard-posts and remote launch points—”
    Penrod responded with steel in his voice. “I understand , Jern. I’m confident you’ll handle them with your usual deftness. I just want a ballpark estimate. When? ”
    Ishtawahl cleared his throat before answering. He knew how much his boss di sliked bad news. He was taking a calculated risk with his lie. “Approximately twelve to fifteen months.”
    “ Twelve—! Too long, Jern. I need this place up and running as soon as possible. You’ve got nine months.”
    “But sir! ”
    “Nine months, Jern. And this place had better be spectacular.”
    “Yes sir!” Ishtawahl said with conviction. “Don’t worry, it will be. We will work double shifts if