He jumped out of his chair, knocking it to the floor with a bang. He was still coming at me, but his eyes weren’t seeing me. They didn’t look focused.

“Hey! Wake up!” I yelled as I continued to block his hits. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I wasn’t about to let him hurt me either.

After a few seconds, his movements slowed, and then stopped altogether. I kept up my guard as I watched him hunch over, catching his breath. It took him a moment, but eventually he stood upright and nodded at me.

“Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to fall asleep.” He rubbed his fists roughly into his eyes as if he could wipe away whatever he was seeing. “PTSD can be a real bitch.”

I’d heard about it but had never seen it in action. I wondered what had happened to make him wake up like that, but it wasn’t any of my business. “Not a problem.” He rubbed his forehead as he stared at the ground, and I felt like I should change the subject.

I spread my arms wide. “So, what is this?”

He put his hands on his hips and surveyed the room as if reminding himself where he was and what he was supposed to be doing.

“We’re in one of the officers’ meeting rooms,” he said after a minute. “I like to prepare people as much as possible, and the screen helps.” He motioned to one of the desks. “Sit. Then we can go over what you need to know to survive mining on Abaddon’s moon, Apollyon.”

I moved around the desk and sat down, more curious than anything. This was going to be the first time I flew a ship anywhere, and even if it was dangerous, I was excited to learn something new.

“Do you know the history of the lucole mine?”

I shook my head. “No. Not really.”

He tapped a few fingers in a sequence in the air, and the vidscreen behind him came to life. “This is the mine.” He jerked his thumb toward the giant hole in the surface of the moon.

“Huh.” It wasn’t at all what I expected.

“What?”

“I pictured a cave.” But it wasn’t a cave. It looked like terraces cut into the surface of the moon. The hole spiraled, each terrace a little smaller circle than the one above it until it got to some watery looking stuff at the bottom.