[SF] Family is Eternal

Sypnosis: Two asteroid miners set out for short routine job, but something about their relationship just doesn't seem right.

Wordcount: 2,840

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"Wow. This one really is small, isn't it?" Jack said in wonder.

"Yeah. Briefing mentioned our mine time should be around 4 hours." Replied Rowan.

"Nice. Sooner the better. I'm starting to miss gravity. The station doesn't do it as well as home, but still"

"What? You mean you don't like flying out to random rocks in space, handling dangerous mining equipment all while wearing heavy restrictive space suits? You're crazy."

Jack gave Rowan a funny look.

"Whatever asshole. Hey, have you tried the new coffee machine in the break room?"

"Yeah! it's absolutely rank. We're in 2091 and spend 10 hours a day mining the most expensive minerals in the fucking universe - and the cheap bastards can't even get us a decent coffee machine. "

"Yeah, bullshit. Have you seen they're cutting hours too? It's about saving with these greedy pricks."

"No?!"

"Yeah, they sent an email around this morning. 5 hours a week for most of us."

"Christ's sake. I'll have to check my rota" Rowan blurted out.

" Anway, what're we even collecting today?" Asked Jack.

" I don't know, I can't remember. Briefing feels like it was yesterday. Mostly gold I think."

" I'll check the chart"

"Yeah have a look. I'm going to start programming AP (Auto-Pilot) process. Reckon we'll be landing soon."

The B class mining ship was the standard vessel for asteroid miners - across the galaxy. It usually required two pilots, but someone experienced enough could fly it by themselves. The cockpit consisted of 2 chairs situated next to each other, surrounded with an array of buttons, screens, computers, switches and of course a flight-stick. The ship was also equipped with a state of the art AI to assist with a number of operations. This included an advanced autopilot system to help calculate landings on fast-moving asteroids and also plotting long haul transports. An asteroid moves with an average speed of 25 kilometers per second, so landing on one was a ridiculously intricately task and had to be calculated with a 99.998% accuracy.

In the back, were 8 more seats. 4 on each side, similar to the inside of military aircraft or vehicle. There were holding spaces for extra suits, spare equipment, first aid kids and repair modules for the ship.

Historically, being a miner was looked down upon. It was seen as a dirty, low paying job. However, over time, the profession expanded and developed - along with the qualifications needed to do the job correctly.

Currently, in the year 2091, an AM (Asteroid Miner) was rated as the 4th most difficult profession to get into. Firstly, you had live and breathe minerals/elements. Your knowledge had to be almost encyclopedic. In addition to this, you were required to be a qualified mechanical engineer with a minimum of 2 years' experience. This was incase your vessel broke down either in transport or while on the job. A call for help could take a while and miners should be qualified to carry out basic repairs themselves generally to help save with the cost of an unnecessary rescue. Finally, you had to be extremely fit. Jumping around in near 0 gravity and handling huge drilling equipment, all while in heavy spacesuits was very difficult. Not to mention the job was mentally challenging too. The history of asteroid mining has had a few controversial hiccups over the years where workers developed mental conditions due to the strenuous workloads. As a matter of fact, several studies proved this, stating that the profession was just as mentally taxing, as it was physical.

Rowan was flipping the series of switches, turning dials and hitting buttons, necessary to begin the autopilot process. Jack reached into his bag and pulled out a thick folder. He opened it and began searching.

"Hmmm. Let's see here....Let's see.... Ah! Found us! So, Delta team. Rowan Jessop/ Jack Gates - morning shift - comet C43H Criterion Cluster - Gold and Graphite. Not bad"

"Ah, gold nice. It should be a nice commission from this if we can process enough.... Wait... Gold?" Rowan asked.

"Yeah? What of it? Jack was glaring at him.

Rowan paused for a moment and stared blankly out of the cockpit window for a short while.

"Didn’t you piss yourself on your last gold job and everyone started calling you golden boy?" Rowan had a cheeky smirk on his face.

"No! You know that's not what happened. My urinary sack ruptured in the suit."

Rowan could see right away Jack was flustered.

“Ha-ha yeah, sure thing. The only thing that ruptured was your ability to hold piss in”

Jack gave him a stern look. Before he could respond, the ship's auto-pilot spoke.

​

“Autopilot is now engaged. Land-zone has been identified and the required velocity has been calculated. Contact in twenty-three minutes. Please begin disembarkment preparations”

9 minutes later, with a large THUD and a brief moment of turbulence, they had landed. The ship powered down. Jack and rowan fitted their helmets and synced their radios.

"Alright, let's get at it. you scout, I'll get the scanners ready?"

"Sounds good" Jack replied.

Jack got up and walked towards the ship's exit. he punched in the door release code on the keypad, while Rowan headed towards the back to collect the equipment. Again, the ships AI spoke.

"Bay doors have been unlocked. Please press and hold the star key to finalize release"

"FFS. Everything's a procedure with this damn ship."

Frustrated, he put his finger on the button and held it down.

​

" ALERT! BAY DOORS OPENING. ALERT! BAY DOORS OPENING. ALERT! BAY DOORS OPENING."

The ship's doors slowly slid open, dramatically revealing the sprawling, rocky open landscape of the asteroid.

"Never gets old" jack whispered to himself.

Jack hopped out and softly landed on the rocky terrain. Jack stood there for a moment in awe. Shortly after rowan hopped out, landing right next to him.

"Here" Rowan handed him the mineral scanner.

"I have my own, thanks though."

"Alright. I'll take east you take west? Suggested Rowan.

"Yeah that sounds good"

​

The two men hopped off in opposite directions pointing their scanners towards the ground

"After a few minutes, Jack's voice chimed in through Rowan's headphone.

"What you getting? He asked.

"Not much. 12%- 20%"

Same here.

The men walked around the barren terrain for about 20 minutes.

In a rather frustrated tone Jack said "Right, I'm getting a 34% between coordinates 722 and 800. I say we set up here. It's the most concentrated deposit area I've seen so far"

"Yeah, that's far more than I've gotten. You stay in the area - see if you can find anymore richer deposits. I'll head back and sort the drill." Rowan clipped his scanner to his belt and made his way to the ship.

​

The B Class mining ships were usually used to mine smaller asteroids. The "Drill" was essentially a small buggy with 8 wheels that had a powerful drill bit built directly into the middle of the chassis. It was a truly great piece of equipment. It could drive to many different areas in a day and had a run time of almost 15 hours. The drill itself extended down to a depth of 50 meters.

It was located in the "basement" of the ship. When activated, a panel at the bottom of the ship would open up and then lower the small vehicle to the ground- Similar to how landing gear from a traditional aircraft is retracted/deployed.

After about 10 minutes of little hops, Rowan finally made it back to the ship. He was slightly out of breath. He walked up the bottom left of the vessel and flipped open a panel. There was a screen with a series of buttons. He inputted the correct combination of codes and sequences necessary to lower the machine.

"Jesus, anytime today would be great" Jack chimed in

"Sorry, do you need the bathroom?" Rowan snapped back

There was silence.

Rowan looked that the little screen.

​

Confirm release of B-223 Portable Drill-bit?

Confirm / Cancel Procedure

​

Rowan tapped "Confirm" and closed the lid. He watched the strange mechanical birth take place before him.

"Right, I'm sending you the little man now"

"Finally" Jack replied sarcastically.

Rowan inputted jacks coordinates into the drills onboard computer. a few seconds later, the little buggy took off ever so nonchalantly. Rowan, took a last look at the ship to make sure everything was in order. He was about to turn around and head back until something strange caught his eye. He looked up into space and tried to focus his vision. He saw what looked like an extremely bright star. However, Rowan knew there were no stars nearby as he always researches the area before he heads out to spot poetical hazards. Furthermore, it surely wasn't another ship or sort of space station as his vessel would have alerted him. The light looked close. Very close. As a matter of fact, the more Rowan stared at it, the more it seemed to appear that it was moving closer towards him. Rowan stood there, puzzled. Dazed by this angel-like presence of this mysterious star. Without breaking his gaze, he spoke into his microphone.

"Jack, there's no large stars or stations near us - right?"

There was no response. Rowan waited for a minute.

"Hello?"

...

"Golden boy?"

Rowan's internal headphones still remained silent. He grew concerned. He broke his gaze and turned around. He squinted into the far distance to see if he could make Jack or the buggy, but he saw nothing but a barren alien landscape. As he turned back around to have a last look at the strange light in the sky, a flash as bright as the sun itself went off before him. The blind was so severe it caused him to completely fall back, hitting his head/helmet on a rock and knocking him unconscious.

10 minutes later, Rowan was awakened by the crackling of his earpiece. He could hear a voice, but it was cutting in and out frequently.

"Ro..wa..n Jes...so.p" Rowan, ple- re-nd" Rowan Jessop, come in!"

"H..Hello..?" Rowan was still a little stunned from the fall and his head was still spinning.

The line stabilized.

"Rowan! This Commander Earnest Lacombe. You need to get in your ship this instant and stay there. We have people coming to get you right now. Please get back into your ship and wait for pickup. They'll be there very very soon"

The voice was booming with rage, desperation and a touch of sympathy. It was Commander Scott Lancombe, head of operations and the CEO of the MineCorp. Why was he contacting him? He'd met him quite a few times and the two got on rather well but Rowan had no clue why he was speaking to him.

"I.. don't understand... we need to start mining..?" He said.

"Rowan. Listen to me! Please get back into the ship. Please! Please do this for me. Just let us get there, and we can help you with the mining process, but for now please just go back to your vessel and don't move"

The tone of voice was now more desperate than anything.

"Right...Well, I'm at the ship now already. Have you informed Jack? He's setting up the drill. I need to go get him.."

"We... we spoke to Jack. He's fine. He's just finishing up. Just please, Please just go inside the ship and wait for us. Don't touch anything. We'll be there very soon."

Rowan got up and dusted himself off, and then the heard another voice.

"Rowan? It's me. It's everything okay?" A wave of relieve passed through him as soon as he heard Jack's voice through his headphones.

"Jack? What happened to you? You weren't responding just now."

"Not sure, comms must have dropped. What's going on? We getting this work done today or..? The buggy has just arrived to me."

"I think we'll have to stop for a while. I got an order from head to go back into the ship and wait. It came directly from Scott himself. I think they're sending an evac."

"Okay Rowan, go do that," Jack replied sympathetically

"Are you coming? They sounded quite serious, Jack." Rowan waited for his reply.

"Sure thing Rowan. I'll see you real soon pal. Just head inside and wait for me"

Rowan stepped into the ship.

​

Several hundred thousand miles away, at the mining central reception space station. The entirely of management were in a frenzy. Commander Lacombe put the transponder down. A whole office of 20 staff members, hanging on his every word.

"Well? What did he say?" Asked a member of staff.

"He was already at the ship, he said he's going in and will wait."

"Thank fuck! but What if he moves off? Then what?"

"I don't know. The ship's tracker is just about in range, we can see where he is..for now. Some random site in Criterion, not too far out. Have the first aid responders left yet?" Lacombe asked.

"Yes. They departed about 12 minutes ago."

"Good. Good. This is going to cost a fuck ton. Shareholders won't be happy at all. Who authorized him back to work? Don't they know the procedure? 3 months MINUMUM recoup time and a FULL physical/mental exam - with daily counseling sessions. God, we are going to have the whole of health & safety on our ass. We only just got out of the last shit show. This might even shut us down. We're also going to be all over the damn press if this ever gets out. How did he even get to a ship?" There was a sense of panic in commander Lacombe's voice.

"I think he punched in as another worker - R. Beaty I think. From what we can see he's deployed the drill too."

"Fuck. This is bad. If that drill gets damaged it's gonna cost us through the ass to get it replaced. First the accident, now this? It's going to bury us. Keep in contact with recon. I'll get some people and we'll get his locker open, see what we can find. "

Lacombe took a handful of staff and briskly made their way to the lower tier locker rooms. They walked through the space station's narrow, winding corridors and various briefing rooms.

"Out of the way"

Lacombe pushed past a few workers while rushing down a staircase.

"Hey, what the fuck?" The disgruntled worker whispered under his breath.

"Damn, it looks like he's on his way to get bollocked at a health and safety meeting or something." answered a colleague who was saw the minor confrontation.

"Ah shit yeah, you're right! I almost forgot about that. I can't believe someone died on the job. They're not disclosing any details, but I heard it was bad. The guy was working a gold job when the drill-bit spun out of control and went right through him. Ruptured most of his organs. I Hope the commander gets it good. Someone has to be responsible for this"

​

The 4 men finally reached the lower floor locker room.

"Right, Which one" Lacombe demanded.

"72a, sir"

Lacombe walked past the series of lockers, quietly counting them under his breath.

" 67a...67b....68..70...70b....72... 72a! Here. Open it, quick"

One of the staff members hastily moved the key towards the lock but dropped it out of nervousness.

"For fuck sake!" Lacombe shouted.

"Sorry Sir" The worker said apologetically.

Lacombe shoved the employee out the way and picked up the key from the ground. He stuck the key into the lock and turned. When he pulled the locker open, what the four men saw broke their hearts.

"Ah, Christ."

It was extremely messy. Trash, old food containers, etc. There were a large amount of prescriptions bottles, mostly unopened/unused. Some alcohol (mostly whiskey) and an unloaded nail-gun. Hanging up in the back a freshly washed and pressed MineCore uniform. A small fragment of gold placed in the pocket. A little splatter of blood still on the collar.

"You know who's kit that is right." One of the workers said.

"Yep," The other replied.

The 4 men stood and stared into the locker as if they were staring directly into the mind of a troubled soul.

"I'm sorry, but no one should have to watch a family member die, especially like that" One of the men said.

"Yeah, it's messed up" another replied.

On the inner locker door were a few pictures lightly glued on. One of them was of 2 little boys no older than 4 or 5 wrestling over a toy car while sitting on presumably their mothers' lap.

"Damn, brothers since the very beginning. You know what? I see it now. They actually do look alike."

"Yea, they do. What an awful thing to experience. Who knows what was going through that poor bastard's mind when he saw his own brother die like that. What a fucking way to go."

Lacombe peeled the image off the door to get a closer look. The 4 men stared at the photograph in silence for what seemed like an eternity. He flipped it and scribbled on the back was;

​

Jack and Rowan, Circa 2030

Toys well eventually break

But Family is eternal.

​

Love mom,

Submitted October 08, 2019 at 03:42PM by Conformityeverywhere https://ift.tt/30UFvIv