Mandelbaum’s eyes tracked back and forth for a few moments, then she lowered the tablet with a bemused expression. She handed it to Moore. “I’ve been granted Level 3 Conflict Decision authority. I guess SSC doesn’t want us phoning home either, if things lose their shine.”

Captain Harding stood. “I think I’m going to have the crew run a few drills. Just in case.” Without waiting for a response, he headed for the bridge.

74.Reconfiguration

74.Reconfiguration

Ian Jonquers ran down the hallway, dodging pedestrians, his little brother yelling at him to wait. Ian got to the observation window first. Caleb finally reached the window, too out of breath to berate him.

The brothers gazed out at the harsh landscape of Mercury while they waited for their mother to catch up. The terrain, stretching to the close horizon, resembled what one would see on Luna. Jagged, black rock, sharp shadows from the almost complete lack of atmosphere, and crater walls rising in the distance to encircle the station presented a picture that would be forbidding to an adult but was business as usual to the two boys.

The installation, a combination science station and experimental mining facility, was nominally the Mercury North Polar Station, but was commonly known as Vulcan’s Forge. The large semi-permanent population consisted of an equal mix of scientists, industrial mining personnel, and infrastructure staff. And their families as well.

Emilia Jonquers caught up with her two boys, who would, if history was any judge, have to be peeled away from the window with the promise of ice cream at the mall. The trips to the shopping center had become a standard routine, and everyone knew their part. Even the boys’ complaints would be perfunctory, lasting just long enough to extract the required promise.

Emilia nodded a greeting to a few familiar faces. The comforting routine of the daily walk was a high point of her day.

“That’s new. What’s that?” Caleb said, pointing.

Emilia smiled at Caleb’s vivid imagination. Nothing ever changed out there. All the station work was done underground, out of range of the sun’s heat.

“I don’t think anything’s new, Caleb. What are you looking at?”

He pointed again. “The shiny thing.”

Emilia looked, then did a double take. Something was indeed out there. Like a post, or column. Literally shiny, in the dictionary meaning of the word. And it seemed to be…growing?

She watched, her hands pressed up against the window. The column was getting larger. And now, a second one began to force its way out of the ground.

Emilia backed away from the window and reached for her phone. Before she could even decide who to call, let alone actually dial, the building shook. The boys yelled in surprise, and Caleb sat down abruptly.