Family, what a beautiful mess
20 Jul 2020Don Samen
Well, I had been alone for some time after me and Christina split up. I'm not sure how Marie and Chris, my kids took it. I was not much around to ask how they were doing. It was a messy time, with some very lone times sitting in that chair, staring at those rocks. It was not better in the wars, all conflict zones with my brothers in arms. Lee and Alez, my two buddies is still out there fighting. I couldn't follow them along that path anymore. My mind moved to a dark place, very dark... I had to try finding myself again. I have sacrificed so much in this life, including my family. They were the ones suffering the most, when I crawled back to the cockpit of my ship. I can't blame her for not wanting to be that wife, always sitting there waiting to see if I came back from the war. Not hearing from me in weeks when I was out there blowing up rocks to hopefully find the glory-spot where every rock is filled with those precious gems and metals. I moved out, and into my ships. I took every mission available, I fought in every war possible. It is so much easier to always have that rush provided by an ugly war pushing every thought away. But it had to stop, I hit rock bottom. I just sat there in my quarters in my ship that was currently my home. I ended up moving the little I had to my Cutter. That is a beautiful ship, but I could not see that. To me it was just a lot of wasted space, that big ship. I didn't need anything else than what I had in my quarters. A bed, a chair, insta-food made in seconds, and not much else. I can't say how long I lived like that, if it was days, weeks or months. My family tried to keep in touch with me, but I had parked the Cutter in a remote system. I did not respond to many of the calls or messages sent to me. They didn't want me there, it was their choice, not mine. I just kept digging that hole in my mind, getting me deeper and deeper into the darkness. I never have felt so alone just sitting there. I did not feel like being alive, that would require living. I was just excisting.
I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point I found myself in the cockpit, in that chair. I sort of hated that chair, it had taken everything from me. But I sat there finding myself adjusting the power priority on the modules and realized that I was in my mining Cutter. That is the first clear thought I must have had in a long time. Then everything is like kind of a movie, it's like it wasn't me that was there. It was someone else filling the cargo bays with limpets, the fuel tank to max, running the pre-flight check and starting the engines.
The roar from the thrusters when boosting away from the station... That sound... That is when I woke up and took control of the ship. I accessed the NAV-panel and plotted a course into the void, the big black emptiness. Just heading in straight line away from my misery. I felt a strong draw to uncharted systems, a place where I could find myself. I fell into routine very quickly, jump to a new system, circle the sun to scope up fuel, quick scan the system, check potential, plot course for next system, jump, repeat.
Then I found it, a pristine system with 8 planets. The quick scan showed that the system had been scanned, but not mapped. It had four planets with rings, one was a gas giant with metal-rich ring. The second was a gas giant with dual rings, one metallic and one ice ring. The two were rocky planets, both with ice rings. I decided to map the entire system, scan and map every planet and every ring. The feeling when you fire that probe and it starts scanning the rings, it's hard to explain. Seeing the probe working the ring, and then... Will there be some beautiful yellow spots shining on me? It's a miners dream to hit that glory spot, the one that just keeps giving no matter what direction you fire those prospectors in.
The first ring had some beautiful yellow dots, with a promise of those minerals ending with -dite. The second planet... I scanned the metallic ring first, and there it was Platinum, Gold, Painite, several of each. Even a twin overlapping Painite hotspot. I felt a rush that I had not felt in years when I fired the probe at the ice ring. 4 yellow spots popped up, all was of that -dite-type. It's high value, but not the jackpot. So I moved to the third planet and scanned the ring there. My expectations had fell back to normal, I'm a miner and now this is my reality. So I fired the probe at the ice ring and it was like the entire ring went yellow. I'm pretty sure that if there was someone else in that system, they could have heard my heart beat. I had to take a deep breath before I went to the NAV-panel to see the result. There it was, three Void Opal hotspots and four LTD hotspots, and probably several -dite hotspots, but I had a hard time trying to focus there and then. I targeted one VO hotspot, and it was a twin. A dual, overlapping Void Opal hotspot. I had to get up from the chair to catch my breath, I had to count to 10. I ended up with sitting on the floor trying to make those uuuuummmmm-sounds you make when you meditate. Nothing helped, my heart kept racing like... Well, it's hard to describe. But I sat back in the chair and targeted one of the LTD-hotspots. When I found it and stared at that yellow circle of glory I did not stare at one, but three overlapping circles. They were all LTD-hotspots, three overlapping LTD hotspots.
The feeling I had there, I just kept walking around in the cockpit smiling. That's when I realized it, the only time I had felt this good was when my kids were born. The feeling when you are out there waiting for them to come out to tell if it's a boy or a girl. Me and Christina are old fashion that way, we did not want to know. I did not have the guts to be there watching the second birth, all the screaming and pain. I was there when Chris was born, but at some point i passed out, so the doctors had to take care of me. That was not something Christina, trying to push out a little human appreciated. So I sat there, outside, walking around and waiting. That feeling, when you realize that what's coming now will change your life in so many great ways.
So I found myself sitting there smiling and staring at those yellow spots shining an whispering that there are better times ahead. I had to take a break then, went to get me some dinner. I did not want to dive into that not being 100 % percent focused. I jumped out of supercruise and fired the pulse wave analyzer. I was so eager that I didn't realize I was too far from the rocks to get any readings. I had the finger on the burst button, I could not wait to get close enough to those rocks. Then I came to my senses, this is a cutter. It turns like a whale, the nose might change direction but this ship keeps going straight ahead. So to make sure that I would not do anything stupid I moved all pips from engines and sat course for the rocks in a more gentle speed. Then when I was close enough I fired the analyzer again, and there they were. Two rocks glowed almost white, not far from each other. I fired prospectors at both, and they both came out with that beautiful line "Core detected: Low Temperature Diamonds". That was just the beginning. There were lots of those, and there were asteroids with 30 % and higher of high content LTDs. I had to dump a lot of limpets just to make room for the diamonds. This was the glory spot, the precious, beautiful glory spot. I marked the system in the NAV-computer and headed back to the bubble to sell the cargo, a Cutter with 520 T of LTDs, even the refinery was packed to the brim. I made over 900 million on the first round. I repeated the trip, came back with Void Opals, Painite, those -dite things. The ship was packed every time.
Eventually I had to come back to reality, and go back to my home, to say hi to my family. My dad had probably heard rumors that I was back in the system, because he was there waiting. After my mom passed away he has been there a lot. I really appreciate it, that someone looks after them. But Christina don't need that, but I guess she enjoys the company. They were all there when I came home, sitting in the living room waiting for me. The lights in the room were dimmed down, I looked at Christina and tried to smile, but it was hard. I could not tell if she was angry, sad or happy to see me. Marie jumped up and gave me a big hug and whispered "I love you, dad". That's when I broke down, I just feel down to my knees crying. She sat down with me, holding her arms around me. I really can't understand how i managed to be part in making such a beautiful person. Christina came over, sat down next to me. I looked at her, and all I could say was "I did it".
Christina pushed me away to an arms length still holding my shoulders and stared at me with a question all over her face.
- "I did it", i almost whispered it this time.
- "Did what?" She was still sitting there, not touching me now. It was almost like she was afraid of me.
- "I have found the mother of all glory spots!"
I looked at her, at my father and at my kids. They were all quiet, just staring at me with that strange look on their faces.
- "Can you explain to me what you have found?"
Christinas face had changed a bit, it was not that scary now. I could relate to that expression. It's the anticipation you have when you fire that probe to scan the ring. It can be gold, or it can be rubble, you just don't know what to expect.
- "I have found my glory spot, it has payed out 11 billion. I don't have to work, ever again."
The scream from Marie woke everyone from the silence after my words. Dad just sat there staring at me, with a very strange expression. Marie was not sitting anymore, she was jumping around trying to drag Chris with her on the jumping. Christina just sat there staring at me with her hand covering her mouth. And then my dad, that old fart decided to join Marie and her jumping.
- "Can you forgive me for just forgetting what is important?" I looked Christina deep into those beautiful eyes.
- "What are you saying?" She looked at me trying to figure out what I actually was saying.
- "I don't have to fly anymore, I can stay home with my family."
Well, it was a lot of talking and tears that evening. My dad stayed over and we sat there talking most of the night. He really wanted to hear the whole story. Christina sat there listening all the time not saying anything. When we finally went to bed she looked at me and had to confess that she had never understood my job. How I could be out there, alone while she was home talking care of the family. I've always provided a steady income, but just enough to make all the household running. But with the kids growing up it was not that much of a job anymore. That was when she came with the game changing question.
- "Can I come with you next time?" I just sat there staring at her. I was pretty sure that I just had announced that I could retire now, but that beautiful wife had some other ideas.
We went back to the system, to the glory spots and did a run to fill up the ship. The look on her face when she saw the amount of CR we could claim after selling the cargo, that was worth so much more then all the LTDs in the galaxy. So we went home and had a family meeting. That ended up with us selling both our and my dads house, buying a fleet carrier and moving in there. Even my brother joined us, he's a pure miner, not like me that can take on a war every now and then. Lee and Alez are still out there fighting for the greater good, so I join them from time to time.
So now we have established the family business, our own mining corporation. Chris joins me in combat from time to time. He even takes the helm in some battles. We even hired a jar head, an old navy pilot to take the chair. My SLF crew is still on board claiming the pay check. But now I don't worry about that, I can afford it. Even my dad has been with me in a war or two. Both Marie and Christina has taken the pilots license. I was very scared first time Marie sat down in the chair and maneuvered the Corvette out of a station. But now I just like to sit there in the third chair watching all three fly the Cutter, the T9, Corvette, Anaconda. It's not a ship they can't fly. But the Courier, that fast little bug, that is only mine.
So now we are planning on taking our fleet carrier "FRC Valhall" out there where no commanders have been, to new uncharted territories. But this time, my family is with me, all the way. How long will we be gone? We are all together now, we are never gone. Wherever we park the carrier, that is home.