CLANG

CLANG

CLANG

There was a young man pounding a power tool against the hard jagged ground, uncaring for the state of his bleeding harms or the sweat pouring down his dirt covered face.

The powered drill had run out of batteries hours ago but he couldn't just leave, he hadn't gathered enough minerals to sell today. If he didn't get more he wouldn't be able to afford the battery replacements on top of his other living expenses.

"Anderson take a break your going to pass out if you keep banging that useless thing against the ground" Sam was concerned for his companions well being and finances too but its not like he could help monetarily, he was dirt poor too Afterall!

Anderson breathed heavily, taking a few seconds to reply "You know i can't stop Sam, if i can't get enough I'm going to have to go into debt again after taking 3 years to pay off my previous loans!"

Sam shook his head and said "And what's so bad about that anyways huh? You know your never going to get off this damn planet even if you work for the next 50 fucking years."

Anderson didn't even deign to respond to his friend as he kept slamming the ground cracking it bit by bit and clearing away the debris with his hands. He hated how hopeless everyone was, he couldn't live with himself if he didn't even try to get out of this place.

He had his own ambitions and goals he wanted to pursue in life, he wasn't just going to be a miner even if he didn't know what else he could be. 

Anderson wasn't originally from this world in the first place, he used to be an average college student that had unfortunately broken his neck after a simple fall down the stairs, dead on impact.

He thought that being reborn would have been a second chance but sometimes he just wished he could have just stayed dead.

He used to have 2 parents and they were even high level managers of the mining industry on the planet, its largest industry, practically setting him up for a comfortable life. Until both of them died while inspecting a new motherload that had suddenly release a pulse of hyper dense radiation causing near immediate brain death in over 200 people while Anderson was only 3.

He didn't even particularly care about them much seeing as even back then he could tell they weren't the best of people but what he was devastated by was having his inheritance stolen by another manager and being kicked out into the miners camps after being in the custody of the planetary administration for only a year.

Needless to say he wanted to murder the guy who stole from him, but unfortunately he died after getting a power drill to the brain from a disgruntled worker who he had abused. Anderson only heard about it a few days later at that point.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

So with no meaningful revenge to be taken and no way out what else could he do besides try and save up enough money to change his situation somehow? 

That was harder than he ever imagined though, subtracting out all his expenses he barely made 5 credits a day in surplus at the best of times. Not to even mention unfortunate accidents like tool failure, or the monthly cost of battery replacements, or the fact that people could just simply rob him!

Cops didn't even to bother around the mining camps unless someone was objectively murdered with conclusive evidence in broad daylight, so some simple crimes were easy to get away with. Anderson was only 16 and it had only been recently due to malnourishment that his growth spurt kicked in allowing him to protect his belongings effectively. 

With Anderson ignoring him and continuing his digging futilely Sam simply went back home, it was already getting dark out and the cold night temperatures would make quite a lot of people sick.

But Anderson kept digging, minute by minute until near the middle of the night where he finally found something golden shining out of the rocks of the deep hole he had dug.

If he wasn't frantic and delirious from exhaustion he might have been more cautious of the fact that he had never seen anything like it before in his entire life. But instead he quickly dug out the sides around it in order to pull the object out, noticing how hard it was by the fact that it didn't dent at all even when struck slightly with his power drill.

Pulling it out of the hole was actually quite easy, for its size that was similar to a volley ball it was extremely light maybe only weighing a few kilos. Being able to observe it closer without it being covered in dust he could now tell that it is a slightly glowing golden ball covered in indented curved lines in all sorts of strange patterns.

This discovery shocked him out of his exhaustion induced haze 'Is this some sort of alien artifact or something?!' He couldn't imagine something human made would be sitting nearly 6 feet deep into solid rock on a planet that had only been colonized 2 centuries ago. 

If this was really an alien artifact he could really get enough money to leave the planet! Maybe even start up a new life and get an education in one of the more wealthy worlds of the the stardust federation if he sold it.

Just as he was smiling in reverie his thoughts were interrupted by a strange neutral emotionless voice in his mine

[Sentient life form detected]

[scanning] 

[system reintegration viable]

[play message Y/N]

with much shock and even greater curiosity he thought of the word yes and listened intently to what he was about to hear.

[Hello there unspecified life form, i created this capsule with the intent to reopen the sealed portions of the universe that have been cut off from the system that contain sentient life. As the first person to find one of my capsules ill given you a small bit of benefit and some advice, firstly you will be integrated into the system 1 month early in comparison to everyone else in your section of the universe, secondly make sure to choose your path wisely, and stick to it until the very end. That is all, congratulations and i hope for your success.]

Once the message concluded Anderson immediately spasmed and fell unconscious

[welcome to the system.]