“The philosophical thinking is that it’s the continuity that is telling. If you can trace a continuous path through four-dimensional space-time from your birth to you right now, then you are, in a very real way, still you.”

Ivan smiled. “Cool. I’m not sure if it makes me feel better or not, yet. But I’ll think about it.”

Kemp nodded. “We’ve contacted ICDC about this whole thing. We’ll be quarantined, and they’ll probably take the ship apart bolt by bolt. Eventually, probably they’ll let us go. I don’t know what’ll happen with you. This is kind of a first for all of us.”

“I understand,” Ivan said. “But the claim? The money? Is that still safe?”

“Absolutely. Everything to do with that is proceeding well. The winning bidder, Consolidated Industrials, has already launched their own ship to assay the rock. In two weeks, they’ll confirm the deal, and we will all be—and I say this without any trace of exaggeration—billionaires. The strike is all over the news on Earth. They’re calling it the biggest find in fifty years.”

“I can put up with almost anything as long as my family will be okay. I accepted the possibility of dying up here. I even, at one point, did a calculation of whether my family would be better off if I could have an accident. The insurance is pretty good.”

“You’d probably have run afoul of the exclusions.”

“Yep. Fail. Anyway, the idea of a big strike was a lot more attractive, even if a long shot. And, meanwhile, the pay was good.”

Kemp looked closely at Ivan. He seemed a lot calmer than he had been at any point leading up to this moment. Was that fatalism? Relief that it was over? Relief that it wasn’t worse? Or was there a fundamental difference in his personality?

“What made you decide on asteroid mining, Ivan?”

“Life. Life on Earth. It’s stacked against you, you know? If you aren’t born to a well-off family, so you have a head start, you’re screwed. If you’re born in the wrong place, one of the areas that’s going under water soon, you’re screwed. If you can’t get a good education, then a good job with one of the multinationals, you’re screwed. Meanwhile, the habitable area of Earth shrinks and shrinks, driving the population into a smaller space, and driving the price of a home up every year, even if all you can do is rent.”

Kemp nodded. “Even being in the medical profession doesn’t guarantee a better life, these days. We’ll all be living in domes soon, whether you’re on Earth, the moon, Mars, or floating in the atmosphere of Venus.”