a Tale Among the Stars

Chpt. 1: The beginning of the end

William winced as his machine, an old BB-224 compactor unit, made an odd crunching sound. For a moment, the machine seemed to take it in stride, just another noise that it made in its old age. Unfortunately, that didn't last very long. A pin flew out from the side and ricocheted off the cave walls, nearly striking William in the face. Diving for cover, he quickly slammed his hand onto the emergency stop button. The BB-224 unit shuddered and slowly came to a stop before any more parts could fly off of it, finally resting for the first time in seventy years.

"Well shit." He muttered, slowly getting up off the floor. This was just going to make the day of his engineer, Lily. She had a mean streak, and with the older models, she was very protective. They were her babies, and if anyone hurt them they were guaranteed a good dressing down.

"Why today, BB?"

Sighing, William took the keys out of the ancient machine. Its days were done, he was sure. However, until he got a replacement, he couldn't fill his quota for Cryllian crystals. So, he began the long walk back through the tunnels. The dim lights, meant to light the way but long since having begun to die, illuminate his path back.

"You know," he said to no one in particular, "Sometimes, I wonder why I'm here."

Even as he asked this question, he knew the answer. He needed credits. Desperately. What he currently called home was an abandoned warehouse at the edge of the city. He had no bed, no running water, and hardly any food. What he did have in abundance was metal, old tools, and some left over electronic parts. Surprisingly, the electricity still worked in the building, so he at least didn't have to worry about that.

"Man, this sucks. I should never have left Earth," he muttered, kicking one of the leftover pieces of rubble in the tunnel.

William knew that he wasn't the only one lured in by the promise of quick credits on Io. Hundreds of people had flocked to these mines with the promise of a new and bright future, enamored with the thought of a better life than the one given to them on Earth, considerdering its destroyed ecosystem. Though as William thought, it occured to him that it was all humanity's fault.

Sighing, he boarded the mine elevator and flipped the switch. It sparked and for a moment, didn't move. Alarmed, he kicked the electric box, hoping to make something work again. With a sputter, it began to rise.

"You'd think," he growled angrily as the elevator rose, "that with all our technology, we'd upgrade the mineshafts."

Indeed, with the recent advancement into cryogenics and lightspeed travel, it should have been relatively simple to upgrade the mineshafts gathering the essential energy source that powered their research. However, William knew that no matter how long the human race survived, companies would always cut costs. And corners, for that matter.

As the elevator ground to a halt and he stepped off, he pulled out a tiny peice of a Crylian crystal. Even this small shard, hardly the length of his finger and as thin as a pencil, could power one if the long-distance starships for weeks. They were truly a miracle of nature and physics. In fact, they are such a valuable resource that even taking this small peice is illegal.

"Hey, Hal?"

William spoke into the microphone beside the automatic gates, waiting for the fence gate to open. Soon, a click told him that the gates have unlocked.

"Thanks Hal."

He continued past the checkpoint as he waved at the small AI, embedded in the wall. It looked so much like Hal 9000 from the movie Space Oddessy that he had begun to call him by the same name. However, unlike his movie counterpart, Hal was not a true AI. Indeed, the technology used for Artificial Intelligence had not changed for seventy years, leaving them to only execute their code. Still, it was nice to wave as he left.

Quickly turning to the left, William began to walk down the yellow path towards the engineering bay to inform Lily about the BB-224 unit. He didn't want to, but it was nessecary--if she wasn't told, he couldn't get a new unit. So, as he walked down the cramped halls filled with pipes, loose wires, and scrap metal, he tried to come up with an argument that would ease her anger.

"So, " he said nervously to her, her foot tapping impatiently. "The BB-224 unit broke and I need a new one..."

Lily seemed to stand there, almost as if she was contemplating murder. However, what she said next suprised him.

"Okay. I'll put an order in for a new unit. Maybe well get lucky and get one of those new models, the S12 types."

Dumbfounded, William's mouth dropped open.

"That's it? You're not going to chew me out? No shouting, no screaming, just 'okay'?"

"Well, no," she answered, her face a mask of confusion. "It wasn't your fault that your unit broke. It was over seventy years old."

William opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again. Lily, somehow, was okay with him having broken one of her precious machines. Glad to be off the hook, he smiled and turned to leave.

"Oh yes speaking of machines- your order came in." Lily picked up a small box, and William spun around and beamed.

"You're a life saver!" He took the box from her and grinned as he skipped away, humming. He couldn't see her face but he was pretty sure Lily was smiling.

As he turned on his makeshift land cruiser (which was built from junk in the scrapyard--he was rather proud of it, as there wasn't any other quite like it on Io) The customary logo slowly bled onto the screen where the heart of the beast was. It shimmered, then stretched and bounced all over the screen. With a sigh, William hit the side of his land cruiser and the logo formed back together and faded away to reveal a speedometer, how much energy was in the Crylian receptor, and who was riding it.

"Let's go home." He murmured, and pressed on the accelerator. The land cruiser shot forward, its front anti-gravity disk lifting into the air. There was a small pop, and the front dipped dangerously low, but it corrected itself, saving him from crashing. And with that, he rode off towards his home, grinning.