The (last) perfect day. (Patreon)

(Image is just for fun and is not meant to show any actual designs or concept art for Infinite Stars)

It was the perfect day.

Ricardo was already imagining how he was going to spend his share of the Crypto-Credits. VR Sluts and booze. Real booze imported from Earth. Not the usual synth alku’ahf the outer fringe had. But first, he had to figure out how to break apart these metallic asteroids shaped like perfect spheres.

Ricardo could barely believe his luck when the newscast had reported that several asteroids would be entering the solar system near the NOL-M9 remote salvage base at Pluto. What excited him, and others like him was that the scans indicated that the asteroids consisted mostly of what seemed to be an unknown metal.

Three days later, he and his brother-in-law had their rusted asteroid mining barges latched onto one of the spheres.

“Yo Lucci, I’m having some trouble with this asteroid. The drills aren’t making a scratch.”

“Same here man. I’ve never saw a metal like this. It’s so dense.”

“Man, we’re going to be so rich when we sell this to the inners.”

“We need to start mining it first, else it’s all going to the TPA anyway. Once it passes the Neptune L1 point, it’s legally theirs unless we can prove we are already actively mining it.”

“Why do you think I’m in such a hurry? I’m going to try the laser, see if I can shave off a piece.”

“Just be careful, you don’t want to– Alku’ahf man! Are you trying to get me killed?!”

“–Sorry! It’s them angle. It’s reflecting the laser straight off!”

“Turn it off! Turn it off!”

“OK, relax, I’m turning it off. It’s not even heating the metal.”

“You burnt straight through my barge’s front-facing thrusters.”

“Alku’ahf. I’m sorry.”

“C’mon man! I told you to be careful. Now you’ll have to tow me away once we’re done.”

“No problem. The salvage will pay for the repairs. I’ll pay for it from my cut.”

“If we get a cut. We still haven’t even made a dent to prove we’re actively salvaging it. We don’t have much time left neither.”

“It’s this damn metal. I’ve never saw them asteroids as smooth as these.”

“I wonder how it got this way.”

“Who knows, but hang on, I’m going to fire my thrusters while drilling to give me some extra downward thrust.”

“Good idea. I’m not sure if it will make any difference though. You might have to–”

“Wait! Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“The metal, it looks like it’s cracking!”

“Finally! And just in time. A few more hours and we would’ve had to abandon this get rich venture of yours.”

“–Woah. Are we slowing down?!”

“Don’t be slow. At this velocity it’s impos– Alku’ahf, you’re right!”

“Umh, Rick, what are the cracks doing? The metal seems to be dissolving?”

“I don’t know, I’ve lost my barge’s anchor grip to the asteroid.”

“There– There is something inside the asteroid?”

“Let’s get out of here. Something isn’t right.”

“You don’t need to convince me– Rick? I’m stuck. My forward thrusters, I can’t pull away!”

“Lucci, we need to go. Something is moving inside of it!”

“Rick! I can’t! Aren’t you listening? My fore thrusters! You need to–”

“–”

“Leahmein El’ihl…”

Ricardo watched as metallic tentacles slithered from the sphere, instantly crushing Lucci’s barge while moving forwards as if he had never been there.

“Leahmein…” He whispered again.

Ricardo’s barge was speeding away as fast as the ancient pile of rust could go. He made sure to hit the record and transmit button on his command console. It would send an unencrypted, traceable video feed to anyone listening on the frequency. As luck would have it, a Terran Protectorate listening post anchored near Uranus was the first to pick it up and forward the images and video to the rest of the inner colonies. It would be many years before humanity would have another worry-free day.

You can read some more about the Cephilusk over here, particularly on how they learned to speak Mushkaraq (The lingua franca creole language that formed over the centuries and adopted by almost all of humanity.)

Alternatively, you can get the first episode of Infinite Stars free on Itch right now. Episode 2 is available to patrons only for the time being, but once enough time has passed, everyone will have free access to it.

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