The Spires of Ganymede

[Selena_Benitez]

In much the same way a man can be driven to drink,a man can be driven to mining.The walls of your life close in around you and you will do anything to escape.What before seemed distasteful suddenly seems to have taken on a whole new appeal,and before you know it you are reaching for another bottle - or in my case,responding to advertisements for miners.

My mother named me 'Emyr',which means 'king' in a long dead language.She had high hopes for me,even if I have yet to live up to them.She was a pilot in the Liberty Navy and my father was an LPI officer stationed on Houston.My attempts to rise above my humble beginnings have so far been unsuccessful - Lady Liberty does not take kindly to the poor that do not know their place in society.

Until the money ran out,I was training to be a doctor.Now I am just a half-doctor without a single credit to my name.This makes things difficult,but not impossible.People will always be getting sick or injured whether they can afford it or not,and luckily for me many cannot afford it.I spent many months performing back-alley surgeries for the terminally desperate,and for a while that was enough for my ambitions.

A man will never become rich working for the poor,so before long I had to set my sights on something more financially rewarding.

I served on a few IMG vessels as as medic first.As long as I could tend to the miscellaneous injuries that came with mining,they didn't care who I was.Compared with my last employment,I was earning a lot of money for very little work.

But never enough!

Which is how I came to be medic for the mining vessel Spires of Ganymede.Or as they call it in the trade,a 'high-risk high-profit operation'.I have served aboard her for four voyages now,which I believe is somewhat of a record for anybody but the captain.I earn a years pay in a month,and for as long as I can stand the radiation I will stay with this ship.The Spire will make me rich,all I must do is continue to be strong.When was there ever such a fair trade off - credits for strength and bravery?

The first time I met Captain Mercer I was a mere twenty-three standard years of age.My body has not aged much since then,but for my mind it has been a lifetime.He had invited me aboard the Spire for an interview of sorts,even mining ships have standards,and to work beside a fool that you could have easily left behind is one of the worst kind of hells.I spent a good half-hour wandering the ship's labyrinthine interior in an attempt to find the captain,and it was only by luck that I stumbled across him hunched over a table in what appeared to be some kind of mess hall.

I coughed politely to announce my presence.

Captain Mercer almost leapt out of his seat at the sound and his head snapped round to face me.The face that had previously been contorted in anger suddenly broke into a very relaxed,very happy smile.He stood up and grasped my hand in a firm handshake,smiling from ear to ear.

"Ahhh,Emyr isn't it?My new medic,you sounded quite keen in our communiques...very good,very good.It's always hard getting medics to ship out on old Ganymede..."

"Er,yes...I'm sorry for being late,but I got a little lost."

Mercer laughed heartily and patted me on the shoulder."Oh,so do I from time to time!It's a pretty big ship,you know?"

It was at this point I noticed the distinctive pale orange powder stuck around the base of his nostrils and I felt that sinking feeling.I didn't mind a dangerous mining voyage.What I did mind was a cardamine-crazed captain getting me killed through some error of judgment.Captain Mercer had a reputation for being 'extremely jolly' amongst miners,and now I knew why.

He must have noticed me staring at his top lip,because all of a sudden he was shaking his head and guiding me to a seat.Closer to the table now,I could see there seemed be a small fortune in cardamine strewn across it's surface.

"Emyr,Emyr,Emyr...you must not be squeamish about these things.If you are to work for me,you must learn to let go of your prejudices." He dabbed a finger into a small mound of the powder on the table and held it up for me to see. "This?" He licked his finger. "It's powder.Nothing more,nothing less.Anything else you attribute to it is just a reflection of your own - and might I add too-sober-for-my-liking - mind!" He paused for a moment and,still smiling,frowned slightly. "If you're worried about me accidentally crashing this ship into the side of the LNS Mississippi because I couldn't see straight,then you've obviously never tried cardamine.If you're worried about me getting arrested and throwing this whole mining operation into disarray...don't worry.They might not pay me my dues in credits,but my shareholders very generously give me access to their extremely good lawyers.I've been mining O-11 for nigh on four years now,and not once has cardamine got in the way of things."

I nodded,unconvinced.This man was clearly insane.

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