Short Stories From Fading Worlds

A Bar at Kuiper: The Miner

"Beer, cold and cheap."

The bartender nodded at the man as he walked into the room.
"Anything else?"

"Not for the moment, thanks. Here, how's it that this place is so empty? I thought this bar used to be popular with the outer-system types."

The bartender shrugged as he pulled the man's pint.
"Not many people left in the outer system anymore I'm afraid. Never was to begin with, of course, but most of the folks that lived here have moved on out to the colonies."

The man sighed heavily.
"That bad here as well, huh?"

For a little while there was silence, broken only by the sound of a full glass being slid over to its recipient.
"I'm afraid so. Whereabouts are you from, the Main Belt?"

"Yep. Let me guess, accent gave me away?"

"Hey, it's more than a little distinctive. I've known enough people from the Main Belt to be able to recognise it when I hear it. I take it you worked there as well?"

The man nodded a little and held up a finger as he took a few gulps from the top of his pint.
"Sorry about that, it was thirsty work getting out here. And to answer your question yes, yes I did. I was a miner up in the Main, as most of us from around there were. Of course things are different nowadays. The change started when the government started getting buddy-buddy with the corporations, started caring for the profits of their friends over the lives of their people. We probably could have done something about it, you know, voted the politicians out of office, but everyone was just so apathetic about the whole situation nothing was ever done to challenge them. Then two years ago, as you might remember if you kept your eye on the news about the rest of the system, the corpos rolled out their fancy new 'autonomous mining drones'. The work of ten men could be done by one piloting a robot, so we were all laid off. Hopefully the colonies are in a better state than home."

The bartender nodded sadly at the man in understanding. He'd seen the news back then, had heard more than one story from miners passing through here since the layoffs had begun. Still, the time for action had passed them all by and, as the man in front of him had said, no-one had though action to be necessary at the time. Combining the apathy of the public and the friendship of the government, the corporations had provided the miners with a fait-accompli.

"The colonies are always looking for more workers," the bartender responded, "especially those with experience in the primary industries such as yourself. Farmers, miners, technicians; you'll never run out of work in the colonies. I hear the Reaches are actually trying to kick-start their orbital mining industries at the moment, so if I were you that'd be my first stop. Well, assuming you're leaving Sol for good, after all."

The miner huffed out a laugh.
"You get that many people leaving that you know all the best spots, is it?"

"Something like that, yeah. A few of them try and keep up contact with me in case I decide to leave as well, so I'm normally able to keep up to date on happenings outside the system. But yes, you are also correct. Very few people come this close to the edge of the Solar System these days, but those that do come to this place are always doing the same thing."

"And what would that be?"

The bartender smiled knowingly at the man, who was just about finished with his pint.
"Well, they're here to contemplate things, mostly. They want a quiet place, a sedate conversation, and to put off their leaving for just a little while longer."

The man breathed what seemed to be a sigh of relief.
"Huh. I was worried that it was only me who felt... I don't really know how I feel about leaving. Sad? Annoyed? Proud? Probably all three and then some, I would wager."