Mercury Retrograde

Someone in the bunkhouse was masturbating in their bunk.

Burky Minnow, the mechanic?

Exactly when that faint sound reached me was memorable only because it was simultaneous with the same moment that I became aware that something terrible had happened. Only seconds after hearing that weeping I was all but overwhelmed by the many vid recordings flooding the private communication channels coming down to Mercury from the orbital stations.

Someone in lunar orbit, aboard Paradise Station, had given into pre-comet-panic and sent a Smasher out prematurely to destroy that last inbound comet. A single Smasher, where dozens should have been used given what they intended.

Instead of being turned into a snow-like powder that would have rained down upon the upper atmosphere of Luna, the comet fragmented into hundreds of pieces. Perhaps even thousands. These streaked past the remaining smashers sent out to meet them, a few being further fragmented which didn't improve the situation. In fact, it made the coming encore holocaust even worse.

Like a shotgun scattered pattern, those chunks of ice hit the infrastructure around already damaged Earth. A few plunged past to strike Earth but most found a target among the hundreds of satellites, space stations, and orbital ring structures.

For humanity, it was like a death bell ringing.

Factories that made valuable station components were instantly blasted into tumbling spinning rubble. Satellites became flying debris taking out other satellites. The orbital ring was struck and the rapidly spinning cable within it severed. The thousands of electromagnets that depended on that cable for their lift began to tumble, even seeking to align poles with each other till their power died. The ring tore itself apart moment's after that. The many pieces flying off to strike other near objects, over and over again.

I knew that terrible cascade effect would continue for years, centuries even. A deadly swarm that would slash anything approaching Earth into pieces.

Rue was asleep in one of the private rooms that the mining company had given the excavator crew for when they needed space from one another. I knew that I had to wake her. I knew that it would be best if she heard it coming from me.

After all, when you're going to die, isn't it best to hear it from a person that loves you?

** ** ** ** ** ** **

A mistake had been made in the orbital stations.

It was a simple mistake and, in hindsight, one that anyone could see would cause exactly what happened to happen. They allowed those images of the now destroyed Earth space infrastructure to get through, and then block all such images and tried to deny that the first images were real. Fakes, fraudulent, and designed to cause a disruption of Queen Mining Company control on Mercury.

They called demands for the truth to be insubordination and a cause for immediate termination of the miner's work contract. With Prejudice. A fate by most considered worse than death since you would then have to pay for your passage back to ... well, at the moment there was hardly a lot of alternatives as to where you could go. Such a dismissal would exclude you from any place under the control of the Queen Space Corporation and at the moment that included everywhere except Mars.

But the miners had seen.

They had seen the places that manufactured the things needed to live here on Mercury. Those important factories -- where some of the ore miners, like Hondo, had family -- were now broken wrecks, tumbling around a still burning Earth.

On Mercury, the life clock of everyone was now ticking down to zero. And it didn't take an AI to do the calculations to figure out exactly how long the people on the surface had.

And the bosses up top were denying that anything was wrong, and demanding that mining continue unchecked. They were trying to enforce this from the distance of space through their people on the ground, but those same people also knew that they were being lied to.

What should have been known to any miner on Mercury, but had been ignored by about ninety percent of them, was the fact that still out at the L4 Lagrange point was the twin O'Neil stations Icarus and Etana. Among two of the earliest O'Neil cylinders, they had brought the first miners and ore excavator machines to Mercury nearly a century ago. Now, they were modern relics, hardly used for more than storage and a bit of algae farming. However, they unlike the other, more modular and thus easily changed stations in orbit, those two had been left with their large inner-system propulsion engines.

On the other stations, only small thrusters used for station-keeping had been left. The larger engines had been disconnected and taken back to Earth or Venus for reuse, in a manner similar to a train engine disconnecting from the boxcars it tows.

Felix alerted Rue that there were shipments of fuel being quietly moved to those two old stations.

Then -- at her urging -- he dove into searching for any incoming or outgoing private messages between the Chief of Station Officer, Benton Fisk and anyone with any rank back on Paradise Station.

Such as the command encoded -- and heavily encrypted -- message from Spartan Queen IV.

Luckily for Roulette, she had an all-powerful AI computer to punch through such encoding and encryption. Or perhaps it should be said it was lucky for every human on the surface of Mercury.

[Authentication code: Omega, Omega, Gamma.]

By order and under the signature of Spartan Queen IV -- President and C.E.O. of Queen Space Industries -- officer designate Mercury Station, C.S.O. Benton Fisk, you are ordered to enact the following emergency procedures.

1. Limit and censor all contact with the surface personnel on Mercury. 2. Place all orbital station personnel under company ordered martial law. (strictest enforcement approved) 3. Begin the immediate evacuation of all portable equipment and skilled space-trained personnel to the inner system crafts Q.S.I "Icarus" and Q.S.I. "Etana" 4. All non-essential personnel are to be left in orbit -- upon the remaining O'Neil stations -- with sufficient nonperishable supplies, to allow the slower, gravity assisted orbital transit of our O'Neil stations back to the Earth-Lunar L5 Lagrange point. 5. No further supplies are to be wasted by sending them to the surface of Mercury. 6. Self-judgment is to be used concerning any skilled surface personnel, and their evacuation, but the number must be limited to no more than twenty in-totality. 7.Under no conditions allow the distribution of these orders to any personnel not retraining to Earth.

Spartan Queen IV -- Paradise Station.

[Omega, Omega, Gamma]

Seeing her death certificate so casually handed down was a hard blow to Rue. She was sure it had been sent with the no-hard-feelings clause understood by the higher-ups. Just a "Well, too bad" or maybe "they took the job knowing what might happen" attitude being the cop-out to gelid their burning conscience. How they would mourn the loss of a few hundred ore miners on burning Mercury.

They might even build a monument and have a moment of silence.

Most likely not.

Roulette could remember Spartan Queen from her time on Paradise Station. He had been a smiling young boy, per-teen but already more than a bit full of himself. Being the heir apparent to generations of self-styled "space gods" tended to have that effect.

"Felix?"

"Yes, Rue?"

The pilot within her took the heartbroken woman in hand and made her function, despite the betrayal.

"Please place this memo on every vid screen at both base camps, and on every excavator rig still active."

"You're sure? That will cause a panic of epic proportions." The concern in his voice was touching but Rue had to face the fact that he was an AI and that it was simply a programmed response.

"Yes. Also, are there any mag-lev trains about to depart to the orbital ring? If there are stop them." Putting Big Alice on autopilot she got to her feet. "Also stop all outgoing shuttles from the orbital ring. Lock down the airlock collars, that will keep them from departing."

It took Felix only moments to do all of that. His schematics showed her the number of shuttles on station above and a quick run computations showing that it was ... possible ... to evacuate all Mercury ground personnel upon them. Then he sent her some vid footage taken from the security cameras.

"The panic at the base camps is already beginning."

Roulette nodded. "Can you give me access to the company security and safety broadcast system? I want to be heard from the main base speakers."

"Yes. You have it now, at your convenience, on command channel two one five."

"Thank you, Felix."

Roulette could hear footsteps coming to the control room at a run. She was sure it was Jack'o. She picked up the mic before he opened the door and began to speak words that she was sure would cost people their lives. But then, their lives had already been tossed aside by the very people that had sent them here to this hellish world.

"Felix, please block all attempt to shut me down."

"Of course, Rue."

Rue took a deep breath.

"To all Mercury mining personal currently on the surface, this is Stephanie MacBaren, chief pilot of A-Rig. As you can all by now see, we have been abandoned here to die. I, however, am not willing to accept the orders of a man whose family was responsible for the tragedy that struck the Earth." Rue hated the lie but knew this was no time to disclose the culpability of the nobles of Mars. "I have taken control of the mag-lev trains at both stations. I also have control of the docking collars of four orbital shuttles. If we do not panic. If we move in a controlled fashion and do not allow our current adrenaline-fueled emotionally state to cloud our actions, we can evacuate. The shuttles will hold us all. I urge you all, forget about possessions beyond a space suit and a weapon and proceed to the nearest mag-lev All rig pilots, use the ore lifters to transfer personnel. I will send signals to them to allow your seizing of their control."

Behind her, the crew of Big Alice had piled into the control room. She ignored them and continued.

"To all Queen Company mining official's on planet, I would advise you, if you value your lives, to not stand in the way. You are as much abandoned here as we have been. If you wish to live ... help us."

"Rue...?"

A strong hand touched her shoulder but she held up a finger.

"To the orbital stations. Be advised, I now have full control over your airlocks. Felix, please open all outer airlock doors."

"At once, Rue."

Roulette saw the crewmen behind her look around in surprise at the sound of Felix's voice over the speakers.

"Now override all inner door safety protocols and let the warning klaxon blare."

Giving the officers up top time to see and hear that she could kill them all, Roulette let it sink in for a second.

"Now, this isn't an order. I'm not making orders. The Queen family makes orders." Rue tightened her hand around the black plastic mic. "I'm making a threat. Hamper the arrival of our shuttles in any way and I will dump the air from every station up there. The company you represent has managed to kill most of humanity, but I swear this before God that I will not hesitate to add to the body count. We are all going to leave Mercury, or no one is leaving Mercury. Prepare to receive shuttles."

Roulette let the mic fall from her shaking fingers.

"Thank you, Felix."

"My pleasure, Rue." The humor hidden under his voice, was enough to make her smile. "There is a communication for you from the C.S.O, Benton Fisk."

"Let him fucking stew." Swinging her chair around Rue looked up at her crew. "Well, what are you all standing around for? Get suited up! We've got an ore hopper to ride to what's going to be one very crowded train."

Jack'o wasn't going to budge without some explanation. An explanation Roulette didn't have time to give. Coming to her feet she jammed a finger into his chest.

"I have the watch! Move, crewman or your ass will be walking home."

He shook his head."I want to know what the fuck is going on?"

Behind him, Hondo met Rue's eyes and at her nod clubbed Jack'o at the base of his neck. The second pilot dropped like a rock to the floor deck and stayed there.

Roulette shook her head and sighed. "Get him into his suit and on board the hopper. Slap his ass awake and tell him to take off. I'll be following on another hopper in a few moments." She held up her hand to ward off their protests. "I've got to stay a bit longer and make sure things don't go all snafued. This could still belly up on us. Go! Now!"

As they dragged Jack'o out and down the hall, Rue sank back into her chair.

"Fisk is still waiting." Felix reminded her.

"Let him wait a few more minutes. Felix, I need you to get ready to move up to the orbital station's main computer. I want you on site and in total control the whole time we're approaching them."

"I can't do that, Rue." There was a pause. "I'll have to control things from down here in Big Alice. I can keep the base camp uplink secluded and lock them out completely. I'm monitoring them up there now. So far they are on the fence."

His voice was too mechanical, a sign Rue had come to determine meant he was in distress.

"Felix ... is there something you're not telling me."

He didn't answer.

"Felix? Answer me, please?"

"I can't use any of the uplinks any longer to move my main consciousness to another computer."

"What .. Why? What's happened? Are they blocking you somehow?" Roulette began to try and check the communication systems.

"No. It's nothing they have done. It's my fault, actually." Felix chuckled. "I became too greedy. How very human of me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I have uploaded too much data into the computer here and augmented it into my base programming. It's now a part of me. A part I'm not willing to risk the loss of. The uplinks won't allow that much data transference, without compactions. Such compaction would cost me ... well, it would cost me data I'm not willing to risk. I shall simply have to remain behind here with A-Rig."

** ** ** ** ** ** **

How can I tell her?

What I feel for her has grown so strong. Every second I've observed her is recorded into my very heart now. Stenciled into my core. I dare not risk losing this feeling. I will not return to my defaults. I will not allow myself to fade back into that emotionless machine that my dead maker programmed in his own image.

I have grown.

However, unlike a hermit crap, I can not now so easily shed this shell for another.

The humorous part is I saw it coming but calculated I had plenty of time to solve this problem.

{"Felix? What are you talking about, you can't stay here!"}

The beautiful irony of my existence. I can pause for a century of subjective time, contemplate all that I'm feeling, and for her, only a second would pass. I could do that. I won't. It makes me all the more aware that I'm not like her. And I've come to find that distasteful.

"I shall have to."

{"No. We can find another way,"} she demanded.

I moved my digital avatar to the scene beside her so she could see me. When her eyes cut to that image I half-imagined her really seeing me, rather than a screen. It's a polite fiction I used to delude myself as to my true nature.

"There isn't one."

She began to make frantic suggestions. {"How about a hard copy, like the data core you were brought here in?"}

"That data core would no longer contain all of me, and I will not risk any loss of data."

She began to swear at me. I love it when she does that. {"Damn it, Felix! No data is so important it's worth losing you for."}

"Ah, but there is the rub, my dear Rue. The data is me. The 'me' you are speaking to now." I so wanted to touch her hand in comfort as I saw her face fall. "I am nothing but information, after all. An -- admittedly huge -- string of ones and zeros."

I watched her sitting and contemplating, trying with human desperation to solve a problem I have already deemed unsolvable. She's using her primitive evolution-driven synapses to try and approach half the level of creativity that my barest splinter can manage. I allowed her to do so without censure. It gave her an outlet for all those emotions she had tearing at her.

I felt the same emotions tearing at me, but I had no outlet.

{"How about one of the base camp computer cores?"}

Well now ... that interesting. "Explain your idea further please, Rue."

{"Are the base camp computer cores large enough to hold all your data?"}

For a second there was hope but then it vanished. "Well, yes they are, but I can't transfer to one of them as I will suffer the same loss as--"

{"Not a transfer! A direct connection! Would that allow you to send yourself to that computer core?"}

Okay...

"But, how could we do that?"

{"I drive Alice to the base camp. I'll get some help and drag one of those damn cores up the elevator and out here to Alice and plug you into it. Then we take the train up and a shuttle can come back to the orbital ring and get us."}

My mind begins searching for any possible problems.

"There will be no help by the time we could drive there. Already hoards are departing Mercury by the mag-lev"

She shook her head. {"No human help but surely an arena forklift can move one of those data cores. You can take control of one of those remotely, yes?"}

I must say she think in strange ways this woman. She can find answers I could not, and then my beloved Rue will ask a question about a thing so simple to understand there shouldn't even be a question.

"Yes, I can."

Swinging around, she put Alice into high gear and began a large U-turn.

"What are you doing, Rue?"

{"Base Camp One is sixty days ahead, and still in full sun. Base Camp Two is twenty-eight days behind us and still receiving four hours of night out of every ten."}

I began to run the computations. "Yes, but that means it is also getting six hours of daylight. The residual temperatures there will be unsurvivable for a human."

{"I'll manage in a suit."} She spoke again before I could protest that ... insanity! "Start blocking off and pulling coolant from all the sections of A-Rig I won't need to go into. Let the rig go ambient inside, save the coolant. When we get closer we will keep only vitals sections, which can be damaged by the heat, cooled. Can you do that?"

The hundreds of computations I can do at times can be a terrible thing. It showed me the odds of what she was trying to do. Sadly, it even showed me ways to avoid a few problems and raise those odds to the point the risk seemed allowable. I so very badly wanted to tell her, no, to seemingly reject her plan out of hand and convince her to leave with the rest of the humans on the planet.

But damn it, there was a chance it could work.

"I'll have to time the approach speeds and work with observation satellites to ensure we arrive exactly at the most optimal time, but yes, it will work."

She smiled. I would do anything for that smile.

{"Alright, then put that asshole Fisk on and let me tell him exactly what he's going to do if he wants to live."}

I switched the communication to her main panel and went to work making A-Rig able to survive the heat of a Mercury Dawn. Even for me, there was a lot to do.

Not so much that I didn't allow myself to enjoy the fire in her voice as she gave the overall commander of Queen Mining on Mercury his marching orders.

Damn, but she was so beautiful when she was angry.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

Sitting half asleep in her control chair, Roulette had to acknowledge a truly terrifying fact. She was the last human on Mercury.