kirabug's idea files

Day 300:

So here are a few things I know:

• If they knew I was missing and they had any intention of coming for me, they’d be here by now.
• If they knew I was missing and tried to cover it up, they’d almost definitely fail. Missing persons reports are taking very very seriously by the Alliance of Miners, and they send out their own crews to investigate anything that even smells remotely like a missing person. There was too much of that nonsense when Sol mining first opened up and the protocols are too strict. You might get away with mining a rock you weren’t supposed to be on, but if you left a miner on that rock, your ship, your career, and even your family in some sectors are all forfeit.
• So either they don’t know I’m missing (unlikely, as it’s been 300 days) or the ship was destroyed.

The ship was destroyed.

I don’t know if it was here on the surface or up in the sky. I don’t know if I got here through a whim of fortune or the protection of a crewmate or the direct orders of an officer.

I do know I’m here, and it’s been 300 days, and they’re not here, so they must be dead.

This has hit me kind of hard… there were a lot of people on that ship that I  – well, loved is the wrong word, but that I respected.

Until now I’ve been approaching the problem as one where people might be missing me as much as I’m missing them, but now I’m realizing that I might be the only one who remembers them at all.

That takes some thinking about.

Day 299:

For as much as some songs are fully stuck in my head and I feel like I’m going to die when they go on repeat in my brain, other songs won’t come to me at all.

Grandpaps used to sing me an oldie called “Livin’ on a prayer” from way back before the space colonies.

Richie Proust on the ship used to sing a bunch of mining songs, old stuff. His family was mining for eight generations back I think, and he knew all the best songs for swinging a pickaxe to.

Maddie Carlison was old mining blood too and she knew all the risqué songs that Richie wouldn’t sing because he was afraid he’d get in trouble with the boss. Stuff like “That’s not a handle” and “Shoot that laser low”.

But I miss my mom’s lullabies the most. I wish I could remember them.

Day 298:

Some people say a miner is made outta’ mud
A spare port miner’s muscle and blood
Muscle and blood, skin and bones
A mind that’s a-weak and a suit that’s strong

You load sixteen tons and what do ya get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to The Company’s store

I was born one mornin’ where there’s no sun to shine
I picked up a laser and flew to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of andesite stone
And the mine boss said, “Well, a-bless my soul”

You load sixteen tons and what do ya get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to The Company’s store

Day 297:

I’m closer to the surface than before, which is good, because going down too deep in the caves hurts my head right now. I suspect it’s something having to do with air pressure but my head hurts too much to think about it.

Anyway, found a nice vein of granite, which lead to a nice vein of andesite, which lead to a nice vein of diorite, so if I were on ship right now I’d be collecting a handy bonus. Since I’m marooned on a hostile rock instead, I’m storing it. And occasionally using it to build with. Still.

When I first hurt my head a few days ago I kept thinking I was hearing really loud music out of my left ear a lot. That’s not so bad now – it comes and goes – but I could use with a break. I wish I could change the station at least.

Going to bed before the skeletons come out.

Day 296:

The only thing more annoying than floors are ceilings, although there’s a lot less of a chance of plunging to your death when you’re hanging a ceiling and standing on a stable floor.

Then again, with a concussion, moving my head hurts in general,  and pointing my nose at the roof for hours on end while I try to put ceiling panels into place hurts like all the things.

So I’m still only working about half days and sleeping the other half.

Didn’t I used to complain about not sleeping? I feel like I did. Well, it hasn’t been a problem lately.