Mining for Meaning

[Kevin Belly]

Introduction





"... Now that you've got enough money to buy your own ship, there's no reason left for you to stay here any longer, kid," the voice of a rich, burly guy says with disgust at the brown-haired man in front of him.



"But uncle---"



"Uncle? Don't call me by that word, kid. I always hated my brother Jeremy for being such a prick to me when we still lived with your deceased grandmother, and you look so like him it's disgusting! The only reason why I let you stay with me for the time was 'cause I figured I could get some extra cash out of investing for your startup.

"And good riddance you're financed enough to buy your own ship and fend for yourself because I'm getting really, really sick of looking at your disgusting-looking face. My patience is running thin, and if you don't get out of this estate right now I'm calling security and let them do their job, for once!"



"But how could you jus---"



"I said GET OUT! NOW!" He angrily barks at the young man, who just sighs in reply and quickly leaves the premises.



-----



Kevin Belly sits wistfully on a chair in a small sushi-kiosk, his eyes staring blankly outwards. The 5'10" man, with plain brown hair and amber eyes, was falling into another fit of depression, having been rudely kicked out of his uncle's estate as fast as he was taken in. He was never told of the bad-blood between his uncle, Casper Belly, and his now-dead father, Jeremy Belly, and it did give him quite a shock (and maybe make him feel a bit stupid) to only realize this today. He thought his uncle was simply grumpy by nature and was fine with living with that, but now that he knew the real reason Kevin knew right away he was not at all welcome in reality. All Kevin was to Casper was an option on how he could dispose off his raggedly-old Rhino-vessel, and maybe get some money off the side than simply selling it to the Junkers.

But unknowingly, as Kevin continued in his thoughts his empty-gaze was actually turned towards the shopkeeper-woman, who was well-aware of his apparent act and was getting mildly irritated by the 'groping', but at first she just went on with her business. But after several minutes have passed and that it didn't seem his gaze was going to turn away from her [she was standing on the same spot the whole time], she frowns and goes directly to him and chides, "Hey, *******."



Kevin quickly pops out of his thinking-bubble and properly-looks at the shopkeeper, "Huh?"



"Are you going to order something or are you just going to stare at my ass?"



"What the--- I wasn't staring at your..." His confusion is quickly replaced with a fearful look when he saw the shopkeeper's face, implying that he was lying, and quickly looks at the order-board, "Uh... I-I'll have a... an order #2."

The woman growls slightly at Kevin as he hands over the credit chits, and then walks away to make his order. The man sighs at yet another close call, and a slight headache pulses on his forehead. Rubbing the pain with his fingers, he goes back to contemplating his situation.

It was looking bad for him... The 19-year-old hasn't even been able to finish his studies in Astro-Mining before his family died in an accident while he was in school [which even happened only a month ago], and the only closest relatives he knew still staying in Planet Denver was his uncle, who just so happened to actually hate Kevin's guts. Thankfully, the Rhino that the uncle <strike>gave</strike> threw away to him was spaceworthy enough to use, and he was able to be self-taught through the use of the NeuralNet. Though mining the Helium Field in Pennsylvania [which was the simplest and most abundant mining field], then giving the goods to his uncle, letting him do the selling, he was able to garner 2.2M credits for himself [he actually made 3.3M, but the rest was given back to his uncle]. Just enough to buy a large freighter.

His options were bleak. All he knew for career-assets were basic-piloting a ship, and basic mining. He wasn't very knowledgeable about how business really worked, and the few friends/contacts he made in his life [he wasn't much of the social type, but he was a good kid] were now off-world and busy with their own lives. Along with that, it was very evident that his Rhino-class vessel was quickly degrading. Pretty soon, it won't be spaceworthy anymore, and that he'll need to find a new ship.

He could try contacting them on the NeuralNet, but without knowing where exactly their addresses were he didn't know where to send the communication channel towards. He could try to look for a corporation, or a job for that matter... but it's unlikely, with his current skillset and current state of depressing psyche, that any company was going to hire him, let alone provide for all of his essentials. Nobody wants to hire a broken-down miner with little experience in the business world.

(... Or maybe I can simply become a freelance miner.) Kevin thought to himself, (I'll buy myself a new ship, go around all of Sirius and offer my services to anyone that wishes to hire me. If not, then I can just mine the odd asteroid field, then sell the ores and whatever goods I find to anyone that asks for them.

(But... what if nobody wants what I mine? What'll I do if I can't find a way to earn some money?) Kevin sighs again. His thoughts momentarily stop when the shopkeeper-woman comes with his order of sashimi with soy sauce, then looks at the plate with a sad look on his face.



(What'll I do...? Where will I go...? What'll happen to me...?) Kevin wonders in dismay as he began to eat the raw fish with some disposable wooden chopsticks. Bitter tears start streaming down his eyes as the memories of his dear parents, brother and sister came to his mind.

---

&lt;insert cheap/expensive signature here&gt;