“United federation of earth, sector theta, formerly known as -- north America, June 4, 2247”

  In a rundown apartment in downtown Manhattan, A ,man is banging on a stained door on the 3rd floor,

  “I know you’re in there, you bitch! Come out here, Vance!”

  A fat man with a dragon tattoo on his forearm yelled in the hallway. Despite his yelling, no one answered.

  The man scoffed “tch, don’t worry, I’ll fucking kill you the moment I see you, you little fucking bitch” before kicking the door with so much force it left a dent.

  In this small apartment, only the hum of appliances and the quiet sound of the air conditioner is heard, the floor is littered with trash, old food, used clothes and used dishes.

  The dirty kitchen table houses bills that are overdue, paint peeling from the walls, and amongst this all a man was on his bed sleeping.

  Vance was woken up from the sound of banging on his door

  “Probably from that loan shark again, when will that fat ass give up”

  Vance said to himself tiredly, as he got up from bed and checked the date on his holo-watch.

  He looked at his broken holo-watch to check for any notifications

  Its the 135th anniversary of the creation of the united federation of earth or “the day of unity” as the federation called it, normally this would be a worldwide holiday for everyone, but unfortunately for vance, but unfortunately he also saw a notification in his email that reeled him out of his thoughts.

  “God damn it, the Corp didn’t put anyone on paid vacation, when will that bullshit war end so they can stop making these sorry excuses to not have a week off”

  Vance stared at his ceiling for some time before slowly getting up from his bed, and walking over too the bathroom to wash up.

  Vance entered the bathroom and looked at the mirror. He washed his short and messy black hair in the sink with a detachable nozzle.

  I finished washing my hair with the cold water from the sink, and then went through my wardrobe to get in some new clothes, a black t shirt and black pants; “I should get some different colored clothes, barely have fuck all else in this wardrobe”. I said before going to my bed counter to grab some stuff.

  I got my wallet and some other accessories and walked out the door. I looked at the dent that person made on my door, and I really haven’t got time to learn that tub of lards name, but now I really don’t care what that piece of shit is called now.

  As vance walked through the dirty and unkept apartment complex he called home, he walked and looked at his surroundings, seeing the usual smokers in their corner of the railings, they’ve smoked there so much the ceiling above them is brown.

  “Genuinely, I have not heard one of those dudes speak a letter” vance though to himself before quickly dismissing them and rushing down the stairs to get out this building of weirdos.

  As vance walks out onto the street, he sees a car speeding and wildly avoiding obstacles to his left, as vance watched closer he realizes an enforcer ship is chasing them from above, as vance thought about recording this scene, the car suddenly got on the sidewalk and went on a crash-course to vance.

  Vance exclaimed “Oh shit!”, before quickly making his way back inside of the building just as the car zoomed past to where he was standing on the sidewalk.

  As vance watched the chase resume to a different road, vance thinks to himself “crazy bastards, hope they crash.” Before resuming on his way to the transport station.

  As vance walked through the all too familiar roads of his district, passing by the diner where he almost killed someone when he slammed them down on their neck, the burgers there are a bit greasy for vance’s liking. A few minutes of walking later he passed by the jewelry store where he got caught stealing when he was 16 --- and then ended up serving a total of 6 months for multiple accounts of burglary and battery.

  After 7 minutes of walking I arrived at the transport station, “Just gotta get in line, get a ticket for the two transportation ride to the moon base, and slave away” vance thought to himself unenthusiastically.

  “Good morning, how may I help you today” the receptionist said blankly, “A two way ticket to the moon base please” vance states as he hands the money along with his employee id to get access to the flight. The receptionist then takes his id to punch in his credentials before being approved. “Here’s your ticket, terminal 4b” the receptionist said before saying next.

  As vance travels to his terminal, he looks around the usually noisy station, now a lot quieter, “Probably because of the anniversary, lucky bastards, wish I could just quit this shitty job and sell some drugs or something to get by, making them can’t be that hard right” vance thinks to himself as he arrives at terminal 4b.

  “Ticket please” The man at the terminal counter asks, “Here” vance answers and hands over his ticket, the man takes the ticket and scans it on his terminal screen, “Alright everything is in order, have a safe trip”, “thanks” vance responds to the man before going into the transport ship.

  Vance sits down on the cold blue chair lining the side of the ship before opening his holo-watch to watch some videos. “Time of arrival to interplanetary station 004: 5 minutes” the robotic voice said on the speakers as the transport ship began moving.

  Vance slumped into his seat before checking the cart to see how many people were there. “Not surprising only 23 more people in the ship” Vance thought to himself before switching his attention to his holo-watch, but just as he switches his attention to a video, he hears some of the news from the holographic display on the train.

  “Enforcer chase turns deadly as the suspects crashed their car into a construction site, as the suspects were being chased by enforcer squad 12 through downtown Manhattan, their car jammed and crashed into a bulldozer killing all three suspects, the three were identified to be debt collectors and part of a minor gang called “Dragunov”, the three suspects have a record of going in and out of jail, the most frequent one being named “Darrel M. Harriot”” as vance watched and the news showed this mans face, he saw that it was the fat debt collector that damaged his door.

  “Holy shit,….Looks like it’s my lucky day” vance says quietly while putting a small smile on his face, the news continued “The captain of enforcer squad 12, Vince Beau has an announcement”, “To all the citizens of Manhattan, us of the Manhattan district enforcer patrol dedicate our lives to protect and serve you all, the recklessness of this gang could have endangered countless lives, and so we will use our full force to drive these criminals out of our homes and to keep our lives peaceful”.

  “Drive them out my ass, the gang I’ll just lay low for the mean time until the enforcers forgot about them just like always” vance says to himself knowing the enforcers rarely actively pursue things if it doesn’t show up repeatedly.

  “Well, at least that fat ass is dead, that’s a plus, no more banging on my door for some time” vance says

  As vance rested and looked out the window for the rest of the ride, he saw the train driving over open water and up ahead the major connection hub, A massive spiral building towering over the sea it was built on, it was made out of gold-plated aluminum and had a sleek minimalist design.

  “That building never stops to make the city look like it was made out of shit and some bricks” vance thought to himself as the ship arrived at the spiral. “We have arrived at the major connection hub”. The conductor’s voice blared from the speakers.

  Vance gets up and stretches his arms for the work ahead of him before stepping out into the major connection hub, the hub was large and filled with locations such as parlors, restaurants, shopping areas etc. it was the perfect place to stop and rest before continuing on your trip, despite the holiday it was still fairly packed with people buzzing going in and out of stores and chatting, some even have anniversary merchandise ranging from shirts that say “I *heart* earth”, and ballons with 135th on them.

  “Wow isn’t this lovely; I wonder how much they sp- 110$ FOR A SHIRT?!” Vance thought to himself while looking in disbelief at the price of a day of unity shirt. “Fucking hell these people would buy a trash bag if it was sold as designer, gullible as hell, I can make the same shirt for less than 10” vance said before leaving in disapproval

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  Vance went to the spaceship terminal but just before he could enter he was stopped by a guard “Stop! State your business”, vance looked at him curiously “I got a ticket to the moon base for job purposes, did something went wrong with the ship or something?”, The guard checked a list on his data pad “Oh your one of the workers on the moon? The trip has been delayed for 30 minutes due to hazardous flight conditions” the guard said, “And what do you mean by hazardous flight conditions?” Vance questioned the guard hoping to find some answers, “A rogue comet shower, been hitting some of the asteroids in the belt and it’s in the way of the spaceships route so were waiting until it’s over, check back later” the guard responded before walking away.

  “Well just my luck, hopefully the comets end up destroying the mining base” vance said before going to a nearby bench to cool off and continue watching videos.

  “I should get some food, I’m starving” I said before heading to a nearby eatery, it was operated by a family, and they served hot meals, the price was cheap and has more value compared to literally everything else here, not to mention more nutritious since they use real meat here and not that mystery meat from god knows what.

  I got BBQ ribs, fried chicken, fried salmon, and two eggs, “the portions are pretty small for me to be honest, but it can fill me up, wish I could get some type of carbs like rice or bread with this to fill me up more, but it’s alright” I said before eating the dishes I got.

  As I finished and slouched back in the eatery, I noticed it was already 30 minutes, the ship was probably back up, I went up and headed over there and saw multiple people in line for the ship. I rushed to get in the long line of what seems to be workers same as me handing in their ids for verification.

  “Damn, they all look like their souls been drained out of them” Vance thought to himself looking at the tired miners just like him, “Look alive brothers, our mission is integral to the functioning of the war we want no part in.” vance said in his mind while waiting for his turn to verify his id.

  As I reached the front and gave my id to the guard before passing through and seeing the ship again, “Oh hey it got improved, it isn’t the shit-box 300 from over 50 years ago” I said to myself as I admire the new dirt box 400 prime. It features a cutting-edge propulsion system if it was made with stones and some leftover gum being able to go at speeds slightly faster than a piece of space junk, a hull made with the toughest scrap metal, and maybe a working bathroom.

  “Shit, I hope the sink is working now in this ship” I said to a nearby worker looking at the ship as well, “Bah! You’re asking for too much from those trillion dollar companies, bring your own water to wash up with!” the worker responded to me in a raspy voice, others chimed in on the jokes as well, “Maybe we got an extra foot of leg room”, “Hopefully we got paper bags so henry doesn’t puke again during flights”, a young worker joined in “Oh come on guys it isn’t that bad, the hornet p5 is sub-par by todays standards but it was ahead of the game when it was first released beating others in it’s price range in value and effic-“

  As vance and the other workers boarded the ship, vance looked at the ships white interior, the seats in rows with two walkways to get through them, minimal baggage space at the top but enough to store a small bag or a pizza box. Vance sat on a seat right by the window, the seat was cold and felt like a comfortable plastic chair, not comfortable to sleep on but not uncomfortable enough to get back pain, the speakers at the ceiling flickered to life as the captain of the vessel spoke “We will be departing in 20 seconds, be sure to stay in your suit and strap on your belts, as the ride will experience some turbulence due to the leftover asteroids, we hope you have a nice experience”

  As I felt the ship start it’s propulsion systems and fly up, I got ready for the long and tiring week ahead of me, I let out a sigh “I hope this ship is destroyed by an asteroid”

  The entire ride was uneventful with almost no asteroids being encountered, unfortunately. I watched as we approached the docking station on the moon base, the gates opened up from the ground and the ship was guided by multiple workers, the structure had numerous floors created in a cylindrical formation around the landing pad, the gates closed above us as we landed shaking slightly, the captain said through the intercom “We have arrived at the moon base of the united federation of earth, you will be guided by the guards to get your protective suits before going out on the surface”

  As we got off the ship, I saw a few guards waiting to escort us, the guards wore black armored suits with the logo of the united federation on their right chest, all armed with a state of the art plasma rifle with tracing rays and a plasma pistol that explodes on impact, “I would love to get my hands on those” I thought to myself while observing the rigid guards.

  We were quickly escorted to the 1st floor of the facility, where we were handed our space suits, a skintight black suit with yellow stripes on the sides and a breathing mask so we could of course breathe on the moon.

  The suit clung onto my body like a compression shirt, It was especially tight around my arms, then I put on my breathing mask, tested it before walking out of the changing room, as we walked out on to the surface of the moon, the familiar landscape stretched before us --- a vast white landscape dotted with numerous buildings such as research bases, storage facilities, and logistics hubs. Large vehicles for transporting asteroid material to be processed.

  The airless moon was bitterly cold from us being on the dark side but our suits were designed to shield us from these extreme temperatures.

  I cracked my neck and arms to prepare for the long time ahead of me, “10 hours of mining asteroids, lucky me” I said dejectedly. I began my walk to the mining base before stopping to look at an asteroid flying overhead, I watched it crash into a nearby asteroid breaking it in half sending dust and debris to cover the area of the incident. “well, isn’t that reassuring, maybe I won’t even get to the 10 hour mark!” I said to myself before heading to the mining base

  After arriving at the mining base vance got his mining suit, a bulky grey suit with a large bowl over the head, it has a built in oxygen system in its back to regulate co2 and oxygen level. Vance then got his mining drill, a large handheld drill capable of cutting through even diamond.

  As vance checked his equipment, “Oxygen level:100%, c02 levels: Low” an ai voice said before fading, then his drill, vance gripped his drill and revved it hearing it’s heavy hum shaking in his arms.

  “Looks like everything’s good” vance then hears a short sound go off, he looks to the clock where the sound came from, it was 12 pm, “Time to go to work” vance said tired before walking to the asteroid belt

  I drilled away in the inside of a large asteroid, dust covering my view ,my body is full of sweat, my arms are almost giving up, my breathing labored and heavy, I sat on the floor to get my breath “Alright, ill take some rest, This doesn’t get any easier, no matter how much I do it” I said in between labored breaths.

  “Oxygen levels: 70% co2 levels: Normal” the ai voice said before fading away, “Already used 30% in under 2 hours, damn I’m using more than normal” I said to myself surprised, “I need to conserve m-“ before I could finish my sentence, the entire asteroid I was mining in shook violently.

  I was knocked off my feet falling on my back, I tried to get up and run, but I noticed the entrance I went in had collapsed, I couldn't get out, As I tried to regain my bearings, my head spinning.

  I then felt the asteroid tilt back as I stumbled onto the wall on my back, and then I saw the debris from the cave in slowly go toward me, before stabilizing after it got stuck.

  I was disoriented, my mind racing from the adrenaline, “holy shit, what the hell happened” I thought to myself while thinking of what could have happened, “Did an asteroid hit?” I said trying to piece together what had happened, as I was thinking the ai voice came up again, “Oxygen level at 60% c02 levels: normal”, “Shit is the suit damaged” as I tried to monitor the suits condition, I felt the breathing mask of the space suit flopping around, it had broken off.

  “My breathing mask is off, shit.” I cursed knowing if the mining suits oxygen tanks empty out, I’m dead “I need to send out an emergency signal”

  I fumbled for the interface on my wrist, but when I tried to activate it,

  I realized the damn thing was broken. I stared at it in disbelief “Fuck.”

  “I need to conserve my oxygen as much as possible” I said to myself knowing I only have roughly about 2 hours if my suspicion about the suit being damaged is real, its probably leaking some oxygen.

  As I sat there breathing as little as possible, I thought back to how much of a shitty of a life I had, a bad upbringing, bad life decisions, a bad job, I thought to myself if only I had the courage to just say “fuck it” and quit this job, I wonder where I would have been now, a better job?, a better apartment?, maybe homeless?, “Shit anyone of those things are better than where I am now” I said to myself my gut twisting from regret, my breathing becoming unsteady.

  “No, focus, you have to hold on for as long as possible”

  I reminded myself of the little amount of oxygen I had left and then I started counting the minutes.

  1,2,3. As the minutes passed my brain started wandering and lightheadedness started happening, my heart rate increasing, each minute my mind becoming hazier and hazier.

  Around 20 minutes, I had subtly lost track of the time, my mind wandering too much from the deprivation, but my suit would beep around every 30 seconds as a safety measure, every time I think I heard a beep I would sketch on the ground a line, “12 lines so around 6 minutes” I thought to myself pushing through the lightheadedness.

  After some more time, I could barely notice the beeps, the life drained out of me, unconsciousness creeping in slowly, I could barely even sit up properly anymore, my back was slouched from the weakness,

  Oxygen at 10%, critical level

  I heard hazily from the ai voice, each letter getting farther and farther than the last

  As vance laid there weak and almost unresponsive aside from the occasional wiggle of his body, vance thinks it is the end for him with less than 5% oxygen left, he would die before anyone could get to him even if there was right now, they would not have enough time to reach him, vance had already accepted his fate of death after 18 years of life, this is where he dies, in a cold, sealed cave on an asteroid.

  But as he closed his eyes to finally rest, he felt something rip open slightly in front of him, suddenly he felt his fatigue lift a bit, his body no longer shaking, his lungs became light, his entire body felt like a great weight had been lifted of off him, vance opened his eyes to scan his surroundings, and in front of him he saw a rip in space, a portal, it had a golden glow, it wasn’t stable, instead it moved erratically with it’s edges as if it would collapse on itself in any moment, the portal was pure black, you couldn’t see the other side of it.

  I looked at this portal unsure of what to make of it, when it appeared it had removed some of my fatigue, this shouldn’t be possible, a portal could only open if it had a stabilizing anchor, you can’t just make a portal out in the open without it imploding, but as I looked at this portal that went beyond my understanding, I felt a pull, I didn’t know if it was the oxygen deprivation making my brain think this or my very soul, I felt like I could have a new life if I walk through it, for better or for worse.

  I stretched out my hand shaking, I didn’t know if I should step through it or not, I took one long breath, each second of hesitation making my heart beat faster, my breathing becoming shaky with each thought of what could be on the other side from a paradise world to a death world. I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth, and summoning every last ounce of courage I could muster,

  I jumped.