I had been travelling for days in the planet system of Hursten to scan the four moons Arial, Aberdeen, Ita and Magda. There was no way I was going to end up in that shithole Loreville. So I focused on scanning, mined only very high grade ores and slept in space in my Prospector.

After only a few hours of sleep, I barely opened my eyes. Slowly I crawled out of my bunk. The shiny metal floor felt cold under my bare feet. The walls of the small room shimmered slightly in the dim light of the emergency lighting. The on-board computer had switched off the systems during sleep time. I was shivering slightly. In the bathroom I noticed a musty smell coming from the cold but functional interior. I wondered if metal smelled or if it was me.

After I washed the sleep off my face, I took a bottle of water and went into the cockpit. The sun of Stanton just came out behind one of the moons. I felt the heat on my skin. Through the panorama window of the cockpit I had a fantastic view. The moment was magical. This is how the explorers must have felt when they saw unknown worlds for the first time.

In my fantasy I was in far away solar systems, scanning planets and moons that had been undiscovered so far. I tore myself away from my thoughts. Here there were real moons to scan and ore deposits to discover. I went back to work and scanned the surface of the next moon.

After several hours I could chop off another moon. I flew back into orbit, switched off the engines and made myself as comfortable as possible on the bed. The editorial office “OFF THE RECORD”, which I saw on ArcCorp, came to my mind. I opened up the editorial page. “Extra paper for Invictus Launch Week” shone in big letters at me.

The food vendor at ArcCorp told me that this editorial office would publish the little man’s stories. And what did I read here. Another adulation of the military. Another leaf bought by the UEE. The UEE and the corporations controlled everything. Opinions, people, events. The free peoples were oppressed, the oppressors celebrated. Nobody cared about how people in the outer systems fared. There were no stories to read about the fate of my people. I lay on the bed, angry, and tried to sleep.

I tossed and turned in the bed. My thoughts circled. The UEE, the corporations, the hack on the activist network and my account. I didn’t know who was behind it or if I was still in danger. I had to stay alert. Maybe I would find another lead. But now I wanted to fill my ore bags on the last moon of Hurston and sell the ore on Port Olisar to the free peoples.