The Forever Life by Craig Robertson

Author:Craig Robertson [Robertson, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BluA
Publisher: Imagine-It Publishing
Published: 2016-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

“Taylor,” his boss shouted in his earpiece, “you keep movin' that slow and I'll see's you're on the next rust bucket back to Dead Rock.”

“Charlie,” he tried to defuse him, yet again, “I'm working as fast as I can. If I crack the shell open, the asteroid is no good to anyone.”

Taylor was unimpressed or, more likely, didn't give a shit for the excuses. All he wanted was the numbers. Workers got paid in credits. Bosses not only earned a salary-credits, they also received bonus credits if they beat production numbers. More credits for the boss, the more of his family were guaranteed to get off Earth. If he rode the men like rented mules, maybe he could bring his mother-in-law's hairdresser along just for the hell of it. No way Taylor was screwing up on his account and getting his ass mailed back downstairs. He was not going to lose his kid's ride so his freaking boss could be Mr. Big Shot, the sorry son of a bitch. Plus, who knew, this one might be the very Ark Taylor's family shipped out in. It has to last a long, long time in a very hostile environment.

“I got my eye on ya, ya lazy slacker. Gimme a reason, one good reason, and you're flippin' burgers downside. Ten thousand men'd give their left nut to take your sorry place.”

“You got it, chief.” Best not to engage the idiot.

“You know something? I don't think he likes you.” His buddy Cal had a gift for understatement.

“You're shitting me? I thought we were destined to be wed,” snarked Taylor.

“I hope,” Cal teased, “you haven't mailed out any invites yet.”

“Come on. We need to core out this section of iron-nickel without sending a fracture plane vertically to the surface. And we'll do it by the book, fuck you very much, Charlie.”

Rhett Taylor was a miner on an asteroid in orbit between the earth and the moon. It was about as far as he could imagine from being either the professional ball player he wanted to be or the stock broker he ended up being. But that was before the world went nuts. World time was measured now by only two epochs: the BWWF and AWWF. The Before We Were Fucked and the After We Were Fucked periods. In the good old BWWF, you could do whatever you wanted. PWWF, you could do the too, but the difference was, if you did, you would die when Earth went down the shitter. So, Rhett grabbed the best production job he could and worked his ass off. Twenty hours on, ten hours off, seven days a week for almost eight years. If he asked for a vacation, even a day off to sleep, they grant it with a smile. And a one-way ticket to Dead City.

“No prob,” said Cal, “This time I'll work the laser and you man the seismics.” As they worked, Cal asked a question that had been bothering him. “You been here longer than anyone else by a long shot.

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