The Full Circle Six by Edward T. Anthony

speed at which Bruvold moved, he had had more than one coffee.
    Two minutes later, Drake found what he was looking for. It resembled a large egg made of ice, but was small enough to hold with one hand. He studied it a moment then stood and held it up. Bruvold ceased his slashing when Drake stood up and stared at the captain. He knew what Drake was holding and did not approve.
    â€œIs no good,” he scolded Drake. “Is for smashing.” He took the capsule from his commander’s hand and threw it. Three seconds later, they heard a tremendous disturbance from the direction in which Bruvold had thrown the ice egg. Moving closer to where he thought the noise occurred, Drake’s light revealed the only good news that could have come from this forsaken tundra. It was the ice formation that was created when Ced Oblize had fired his special weapon. Drake could not believe his luck. He could have two special weapons, but more importantly, he had discovered the secret location of Ced’s famous ice capsules!
    Well, Ced would no longer need the artillery, Drake thought to himself. He would order Kraus and Bruvold to manufacture an ice-cannon to fire the capsules. He couldn’t wait to try it out, hopefully on the older Oblize. This would gain him an element of surprise after the battle had begun, which is rare. Boxton’s younger brother was the only racer to ever have weapons such as this. The unsuspecting Oblize would be infuriated and if he still didn’t know of his brother’s fate, he would at that moment.
    Bruvold had crossed his arms and stood staring at Drake’s outline. He did not understand why they had stopped working. There was plenty left to do, and whatever was over there was a waste of time that could be spent digging out the racecraft. He dropped to his knees once again and resumed cutting out chunks of ice around the base of the ship. He refused to be sidetracked. The Full Circle Six was for Bruvold, as it was for the rest of the crew, the biggest opportunity he had ever had, and he did not intend to lose any more time than was unavoidable.
    Drake came back to Bruvold and used his hammer with such intensity and fury, that Bruvold stopped to watch. Drake was stockpiling up a store of these capsules. He seemed to find one with every other blow of the hammer. Bruvold promptly stood and commenced smashing the pile that Drake had built up into sparking bits.
    â€œWhat is the meaning of this?” Drake jumped up to within an inch of the security officer’s nose and shouted with rage. “How do you explain this treason?”
    â€œI tell you is no good. Is for smashing. Is leetle balls of death.” Bruvold appeared nervous for the first time since Drake had met him.
    â€œFool! These little orbs will make us more powerful than even Boxton Olize!” Drake took a few deep breaths and continued in voice lower in volume but just as rich in anger. “All we need is for you and Kraus to build an ice-cannon to fire them with like Ced had,” he ended while looking at Bruvold threateningly.
    â€œIs no fire in ice. Is melting, no good.” Bruvold peered back at Drake as if he were trying to explain this to a curious child. “Fire is melting ice. Always is melting … is no good to fire ice.”
    â€œI don’t mean set fire to the ice. I mean we need to fire the capsules from an ice cannon, just like artillery from a regular cannon,” Drake said.
    â€œNo, No … is no good for cannons. Is breaking and killing, and we are dying. Please, Bruvold is telling you,” Bruvold appealed.
    â€œCome on, let’s go inside and tell Kraus the good news,” Drake was completely ignoring Bruvold’s ‘babbling’ and putting a few capsules in his pocket to show the weapons operator.
    â€œOk,” Bruvold said, throwing up his hands in exasperation. “He just tell you like Bruvold. Is no good. Ice is no for cannon.”
    The two