The Light of Polaris

Ch 2- Dreams

I wake up in a pool of my own sweat with Tiny standing at the end of my bed.

    "You ok Ze?" Just shy of nine years old, my younger brother looks no more than six. Body far behind children of his age, face full of baby fat he has yet to shed.

    "Just a dream Tiny. Why are you awake?" I sit on the side of the bed and take off my drenched shirt. After a slight stretch, I click my reading lamp on.

    Tiny takes a step forward, "I had a dream too." It's only then I realize the sweat marks on my baby brothers shirt. I glance at the clock, still early hours of the morning earth standard. The day has yet to begin but by the looks of things, neither one of us will be getting back to sleep tonight.

    "Alright bud, hop in the shower. Eggs or toast?"

    "Both?" He looks up at me knowing we don't have the ability to eat such a generous breakfast, but I can't say no to him this morning. Plus, eggs and toast sound pretty good.

    "When you get out of the shower, wake pops. Eggs and toast it is."

    We take our time eating the relatively large breakfast. Tiny does most of the talking, going on about something his friend did at school the day before. My grandfather does a good job at holding the conversation with him, knowing I'm not in the mood to converse. The man can understand what goes through my mind the minute we make eye contact. With a single shared look, he knew what I went through the night before. He glances to the laundry tumbler and back at me, a look of hopeless anguish in his eyes. He knows the dreams are getting more frequent. He longs for me to find another job, but nothing pays as well as my current profession.

    My grandfather finishes cleaning the dishware as I carry Tiny back to his bed after he fell asleep at the table. I walk back into the kitchen to find my grandfather sitting at the table with two hot cups of coffee.

    "Where the hell did you get coffee beans?" Coffee is a bit of a deliciously we don't often have the ability to enjoy, but my grandfather is not in the mood to discuss anything other than my profession.

    "You have to stop Ze."

    "And do what Pop? Mine? I'd work triple the hours and get paid three quarters of what I make now. And that's if I could get a job somewhere with zero experience"

    "You think the physical ability your father gave you is your greatest asset. You forget all that your mother gave you. All that she taught you. All that I continue to teach you. You are a smart kid Ze, use your brain. Try to get into an academy or a school somewhere. Or what about Mr. Mekenie's shop, can't you take on more responsibility there? It's what your mother would have wanted"

    Before living with my grandfather, Tiny and I had a normal mining family. My father was a typical astroidium miner, and my mother was a nurse in a mining infirmary. My father, a large man with broad shoulders and undaunting work ethic had always been my role model. I grew up wanting to be a miner just like him. On my twelfth birthday, I begged my mother to enroll me in the early miners program. General schools in the belt rarely have programs for children over the age of twelve. A child at the age of thirteen has the ability to begin their trade. For young miners, that means learning how to operate equipment and begin safety training. My father was all for it. My mother, on the other hand, had other plans for me. The educated woman had always given me extra lessons and material outside of our local school. After my schools program ended, she increased the workload, effectively homeschooling me for the following year.

    Four years ago there was an accident. An overload of artificial gravity caved in an astroidium mine. Both my mother and my father immediately went to help. During the rescue effort, the gravity reactor detonated. My father was killed instantly, my mother exposed to a tremendous amount of radiation. For nearly three months after the explosion, I watched as my mother slowly withered away. Body emaciated, teeth falling out, the skin that covered her atrophied muscles turning to slough. Before she died, she made me promise that I would be more than a miner. That I would continue on the path she prepared me for. After her death, my brother and I moved to a smaller sector with my grandfather. My grandfather, being well educated himself, continued tutoring both my brother and myself.