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Chapter 1

Supplies were low on the moon and Matt was on his way to his guard station, as he was overcome by a big yawn. He didn't get his coffee that morning, which was much needed, because days on the moon were quite different. It was about 14 earth days of darkness followed by the same amount of light days and even though he had been working as a guard there for almost a year now, he still had a hard time getting sleep sometimes. Usually, this could be helped with the right amount of coffee, but the two stores that were in range didn't have any left, and he was out.

He liked to take quite big leaps on his way to work and always felt like it sped up the way, even though he was pretty sure it didn't. When he got to the building of his employer though, he walked normally, because he didn't want to leave a bad impression. After all, he wanted to get further out than the moon at some point, and rather sooner than later. It was a modern looking office building, and if he were new to this place, he probably would have had trouble finding the entrance to the airlock, because it looked just like a regular door.

He could already see the guard station in the distance, and after a few hundred more meters, he got to the vehicle entrance of the compound. There was a big sign in front of it: "Nexus Antimatter Production Facility" and below it a smaller warning sign: "Authorized personal only". The guard in the building next to the gate waved at him, already expecting him.

"Hey, you're early! That's rare." - The guard said.

"Hey Tom. Yeah, I ran out of coffee, so I saved some time on that." - Matt answered in a sleepy voice.

"Alright, here's the keycard. Boss said there's going to be some sort of delivery for the reactor today, make sure to check their details." - Tom said as he handed him the keycard. They shook hands before Tom left and Matt was alone guarding the entrance gate of the facility.

It was rare that anyone other than the workers came through, so he was glad that at least he didn't have to sit around the whole day. He would have to check the documents of the delivery that was due today. Maybe he could even take a look at what they were transporting if he said he had to make sure it's secured correctly, he thought. Several workers trickled in and out of the facility. He checked their access cards through the window, then opened the small gate by swiping his keycard through the slit of the computer and let them through. Usually, things like this were automated, but this facility was very high security, and in those cases, humans were still more effective, since there were some ways to trick computers and robots.

Some of the workers knew him by sight, but most of them just walked past with a nod or a muttered "Thanks". He always wanted to ask someone what it's like in there, but he didn't think they were allowed to talk about it, so he didn't. Even he had to sign an NDA when he started on this job, and he was just a guard at the front gate.

After the shift change for the workers was over, he had a couple of hours left until the delivery would come and after that it would be pretty close to the end of his shift, so he took a picture of himself in front of the big sign and sent it to his mother on earth, with the message: "Got a big delivery today!". After about 10 minutes he got a message back:

"I'm glad it's not too boring up there for you. I hope you have enough money soon to look for a more interesting job, maybe in the Jupiter system, like your friend. Love, mom." 

She was right, he didn't even have a quarter of what he would need for a trip to the Jupiter station, and that wasn't even where he would want to stop. He wanted to see the universe, what's out there, not just this tiny confined system on the edge of the galaxy. He had tried to apply for a guard job there before, through his current employer, but they always said they needed him here. Surely he had enough experience. Maybe he would try again after his shift today, he thought. It was worth trying because, if he got accepted, they would pay for the travel.