Dawn to Dawn

Chapter 1

”Good morning! Today is Tuesday, May 27th, 2927. The time is now 5:25 and the space weather is easy today with only a few asteroids blocking the sun.”

“If you would like to see the sun in all its beauty, please reserve a trip to Earth. We at the Earth Tour Travel Agency are here to help you to enjoy the Earth!”

I woke up annoyed at the syrupy voice of the wake-up service commercials and hit the clock to tell it I was awake.

“Thank you for awaking,” said the stupid clock. Courtesy of the company indeed. “We have a fully furnished apartment for you,” the company recruiters said when I joined the company. “You can enjoy living, not furnishing, when employed by us,” they said, but they forgot to mention that commercials were part of the deal.

Feeling tired, I stood up and went to have a quick shower. I then ate a company-sponsored breakfast of bacon and eggs out of the company-sponsored fridge and watched the SolGov-sponsored news.

“Solar system stock markets continue to build up small but steady gains. The Earth Index was up for the thirteenth day in the row and rose 0.3% yesterday. The Mars Index was also up and has gained total of 3.4% in the last ten days,” a lady from the Primary News Service—or PriNS—was reading the news in monotonous voice.

“The mining company Kuiper Cap announced yesterday that it is further expanding into the Kuiper Belt in the hope of finding new mining fields to replace some of the older fields where mining is no longer practical,” the woman continued.

Kuiper Cap is my employer and the news reminded me that I should go to work. My shift started in twenty minutes and the night shift didn’t like to be kept waiting. I got dressed, put on my uniform and stepped out of my apartment.

Right outside my apartment, the passageways of mining station KCap16 were already full of people going to work or coming from work. Here in the middle-levels, all employees wore identical uniforms and sometimes I recognized friends only from the nametags. But I saw no friends this time as I walked towards the office.

“The MilFor announced yesterday that the two-year explorer mission to Oort Cloud is scheduled to return tomorrow morning, Earth time. Preliminary analysis indicates that the comets in the Oort Cloud could be a good prospect for mining. The explorer galleon docks to the MilFor base in Titan, and we will be there to report the welcoming ceremony live. Please join us in welcoming the crew home!” the woman in PriNS said as I listened via the radio in my uniform.

“The SolGov has already had talks with major mining companies about possible permits to expand to the Oort Cloud,” the news lady continued as I approached the office. I turned the radio off as I got to the door and entered.

“Good morning, Nick,” said my colleague, Jenny, who’d been on the night shift.

“Congratulations for coming on time,” she continued. “I’m going straight to bed to be fresh for the evening. Are you coming?” she asked, referring to McMack’s Pub and Bar complex, where most of the station personnel spent their evenings. And any other free time we had.

“Of course, where else?” I asked.

“You could do some overtime in the mining field. To improve our quota. You know that the end of the quarter is in one month, and we’re a little behind our target,” Jenny said in almost a serious tone.

“Yeah, right!” I commented. “How was your night?” I asked.

“Pretty good, I found one asteroid that has a good amount of minerals. You can continue there, coordinates are already set.”