Chapter 2

After a difficult morning of mining iron deep under the planet’s surface, the buzzer sounded for lunch. Ampella found her usual spot in an out of service mining cart near her working station. It was here that she and her two friends gathered every day to eat. In the cart between trusted friends they could discuss any topic with safety. Sometimes it was light-hearted stories about messages from back home, but today Ampella knew that the topic would be a little more serious, for there had been announcements that morning notifying the workers that their contracts were to end in two months. This was certainly on Ampella's mind, and she was sure it would be on the others’ minds as well.

As soon as Bosh arrived he immediately started complaining about the announcements.

• Hey Amp. Have you heard our contract is almost up? What am I supposed to do? I mean, don't get me wrong: I hate this little pile of rock we're currently calling home. All I want to know is, why is it that every time I start getting comfortable, start making good friends and having an actual life outside of this hole in the ground, do they have to uproot everyone again?
  
  
• Well you know, Ampella started, it's not actually everyone who gets to leave this place, just the workers from the northern plates.
  
  
• Yeah, lucky us. All I want to know is: are we going to dig up some rocks in an existing facility where everything is all set up and all we have to do is take a few days training and follow the established guidelines. OR are we going to be in charge of opening up some new planet and risk blowing ourselves up like some mad scientists.
  
  
• You know they do lots of tests before sending people down to new planets. Going to a new project is almost as safe as going to an older one.
  
  
• Hey guys.
  

Turnor arrived out of breath, eager to get eating, but even more eager to get talking. With the comrade's trio in completion Ampella updated Turnor:

• We were just discussing the end of our contract coming up in a couple of months, and where we'd possibly go next.

This appeared to be the opening that Turnor was hoping for. Without a moments' hesitation he pounced on the opportunity to inform his friends about some news he had been given.

• Well, I’ve heard, from a very reliable source… Marshall Gef that we will most likely be going to a new planet, if all works out that is.

Bosh was skeptical:

• What are the odds that we would actually be sent to a new rock? Isn't it really hard for the cultivators to set up shop on a new planet? I always thought it was a huge hassle.

Ampella reminded him:

• Well of course it's always a big investment when they decide to harvest a new planet. First they have to determine the state of non sentient living beings on the planet, accessibility of the resources, the methods of cultivation, the housing and survival of the workers... The list goes on and on. Some planets are tremendously rich in metals, oils and organic matter, but we cannot survive on them, even with habitation pods set up. It's all a matter of temperature, gravity, winds, electrical and magnetic storms... you know how it works. Even Though we have managed to survive on otherwise uninhabitable planets, there are some out there that really are completely uninhabitable by organic bipedal beings like ourselves. Anyway, I’ll bet that they have plenty of research to do before deciding where to send us next.

Here Turnor piped in:

• Well, I've heard that the scouting expeditions have brought back some very bizarre findings.
  
  
• Like what?
  

• Well apparently the planet they have found isn't as uninhabitable as you would expect. What I mean is, thus plant is actually capable of sustaining life.
  
  
• Wait a minute, sustaining life? Without the use of artificial habitats? That's not possible. Any planet with the right atmospheric conditions to accommodate people like us have already developed complex organisms. And on the off chance that the beings on this planet simply haven't reached the right milestone to be considered sentient, conscious or whatever you want to call it, well I'm sure that the alliance will discover that the life on this planet is well on its way to being what they would call untouchable by their own ethics committees.
  

• Well, that's not what I heard, and remember who this is coming from: the Marshall himself. I know it sounds weird, but there are no higher level occupants of this planet at all. Preliminary tests have discovered no large animal species of any kind. There are insects galore, which we'd have to watch out for if we get stationed there, but there are no anime that would give the ethics committee’s reason to think twice.
  
  
• Well that's just strange

Turnor joined the conversation once more to add his opinion:

• From my perspective this all sounds great. We get a planet to loot where we don't have to worry about dying if any of our equipment malfunctions. Frankly I'm getting tired of digging for metals underground, breathing in all this black stuff. If we could actually go outside during breaks, get some real sunlight, feel some natural heat for once, I’d say sign me up even if there are some primitive creatures on this thing.
  
  
• Wait, wait, listen up, I haven't even told you the best part of what the Marshall told me. He said, and this is just between you and me... He could get in real trouble for sharing this kind of information you know. Well anyway, he told me that there aren't any higher level people on this planet right now... But there definitely used to be.

• How can they tell?
  
  
• Did they find relics or something?
  
  
• Relics! You have no idea.

Turnor looked over his shoulder, making sure nobody else was in earshot. His two companions leaned in closely to listen for what was coming next; wanting to hear every word of what Turnor had to say.

• Listen, what they have found is huge. Not just relics or mementos but buildings, huge structures, road systems... This was a real world, with cities and houses and modes of transportation. And there weren't just a few of these people, but the current estimates are in the billions. It's crazy. But they can't find the people. At first they thought that maybe they had some sort of a pandemic, but even in extreme cases there are always survivors... It's a big mystery for now.

Bosh and Ampella were just as curious as Turnor was hoping they’d be.

• That is so strange.
  
  
• I wonder where all the people went.

The lunch buzzer sounded. The foreman came around calling out, threatening those who took too long getting their food put away.

• Well whatever the case keep us up to date. What are they calling this planet?
  
  
• Xenoth 3. And don't worry; I'll let you know as soon as I know more.

The little group quickly split up before the foreman made it to their cart.