[CHAPTER 2] — MERCURY At the mining settlement on Mercury, deep in a crater on the dark side of the planet, Lieutenant Commander and Chief of Security Constance Glass had again woken with a headache. It would be her third day in a row and as she brushed her teeth, looking out her window onto an - ThreadSky

spontaneousbook.bsky.social • 3 days ago

[CHAPTER 2] — MERCURY

At the mining settlement on Mercury, deep in a crater on the dark side of the planet, Lieutenant Commander and Chief of Security Constance Glass had again woken with a headache. It would be her third day in a row and as she brushed her teeth, looking out her window onto an

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spontaneousbook.bsky.social•3 days ago

enormous intake fan, she saw no reason it would subside today. Since arriving on the planet days ago, Constance had found the artificial air foul and rank with hot sulfur. Her staff, however, thought it wasn’t so bad, saying it reminded them of the sweet “berry-wine” smell at the mines of Ganymede,

spontaneousbook.bsky.social•3 days ago

and nothing was as offensive as the “ass-crack mines at Titania.” Still, as bad Fartania was, this was different and difficult for Constance to ignore. It seeped into her sinuses, made her eyes water and her temples throb. Even the water smelled she thought, splashing her face in the sink and

spontaneousbook.bsky.social•3 days ago

forgoing a shower before pulling on her uniform. She ran her wet fingers through her short hair and put on her matching blue cap. Taking an elevator from her quarters to the security offices on the observation deck relieved some of the odor, but it was still there. Exiting the lift minutes later,

spontaneousbook.bsky.social•3 days ago

Constance flipped the gravity on at an open gangway. Lights glowed on the path and Glass could hear the electric hum of the gravity manipulator vibrate through the grated walkway. Below her, hundreds of feet below, the mines were aglow as excavators tore through the crater and giant fans whirred

spontaneousbook.bsky.social•3 days ago

all around them, while above ice was starting to form around the glass domes that revealed only the darkness of space.

Her boots stupidly clanked and banged as Constance traversed the twenty meters to the security doors, muttering her aggravations at the absurdity of this set-up, and trying not to

spontaneousbook.bsky.social•3 days ago

look down. Passing her keycard over the lock, she waited for a small red light to turn green, taking a deep awful breath of air before entering the security offices. Sixty-eight days to go on this rock from hell, she thought.

“Good morning, all,” Constance greeted her crew as she came through the

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