Samuel Martin had lived his entire life on Earth, nestled safely within humanity's tender love and care. Most of that life was spent as a less-than-exceptional mechanical engineer. With his wife, the two scraped together an idyllic life in the midwest United States. He would jump from one odd job and soul-sucking contract to another. All in the constant pursuit of the almighty dollar and the ever-present expectations society had set upon him to be a “Real man.”

Samuel had assumed that was all his life would ever be. That was until the Galactic Union(GU) arrived and uplifted Humanity to an interstellar species.

After they took over, humans had food, water, and basic needs met. Yet many Humans found themselves out of work and living aimlessly. The GU would only allow a few Humans to travel to the stars with them. The exceptions were made for soldiers or those the GU deemed capable enough.

The rest of humanity had no challenge, strife, or tribulations. For some, their lives were still a daily grind, with little on earth meaningfully changing unless you were one of those rare few.

Samuel's wife was among the former. For her, the challenge was not because of some job or life passion. No, Sarah had been diagnosed with brain cancer several years before the GU arrived.

Sarah tried to keep her head high for so long and find a reason to wake up each day. But her decay was slow, painful, and wrought with spats of forgetfulness. As her end drew near, she could not even recognize Samuel anymore.

Even with all of the GU power, medical technology, and ability to change the world, brain cancer was still lethal. No matter how much he begged, pleaded, and sought aid from the aliens, they never gave any.

Samuel spent years upon years of his life hating the GU, despising them for failing to save his wife, his one true love. During those years, Samuel became cold and distant from those he once knew. They were hardly his friends, hardly his allies, just those he knew in the barest context. None truly understood his loss and life without his dear wife, Sarah.

Not even his children came around to see him anymore. They all had decided helping their dear old dad cope was not as important as being among some of the first humans to travel to the stars.

Throughout it all, he held his head high. Putting up a facade to show the world. In reality, he was little more than a broken, hollow, and hateful man—someone with nothing to live for, with no actual goals.

Then, one day, the group he hated the most had the audacity to approach him, the GU. They sought Engineers and those with technical backgrounds to spread out into the farthest reaches of their influence. They wanted people to man locations in the far reaches of space—someone who could manage outposts alone. Likely someone who would not be missed by many.

Samuel initially denied the offer, telling the representatives to shove it where the sun does not shine. Yet, after months upon months of them asking repeatedly, Samuel gave in. He surrendered to the fact that nothing was left for him on earth.

Traveling amidst the stars would at least give him a fresh start away from Humans and aliens. He would have little to do other than keep some arrays active. At least that's all the job had described.

—---

Baritin was, for the most part, a cold ball of ice. A small moon off in the furthest reaches of the GU, half the Milky Way away from Earth.

There were sentient creatures on it, the Varintol. However, they were reclusive and did not like interacting with the GU. Much like Samuel himself.

All he knew from the briefings was that the Varintol were a sentient humanoid species who lived in a tribalistic culture. Beyond that, they were unknown even though the GU had been on this moon for hundreds of Earth years. He had wondered why that was but never gave it more than a passing thought.

This arrangement was perfect for Samuel; their existence would not prevent him from keeping the satellite array functioning or the outpost in ship shape. The more significant issue for him was the indescribable cold of the moon; while Wisconsin reached low temperatures, the tundra was truly frigid. At its highest, the temperature reached zero degrees Celsius and was always under heavy snow and wind. There were some warmer climates near the moon's equator, but that's not where he was going. No, Samuel was going to a barren tundra on the largest continent.

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Samuel braced slightly while the shuttle shook and shuddered as it reached the moon's surface. He sighed, glad the several-week-long journey from Earth was almost over. The GU rushed him out the door so quickly he never even had the chance to sell his house. It was ridiculous. That was neither here nor there; the house would crumble and be forgotten like he would.

He thought about how much his life had changed; when he got married thirty earth years ago, he would have never imagined himself being anywhere but lounging on his porch, beer in hand with his wife at his side—now all of that was gone, nothing but a fading memory.

Samuel was not a young buck, being well past fifty. He had a rather large belly but was muscular for a man his age. Chopping wood and working actively on job sites kept his body from becoming frail, which, coupled with beer, had endowed him with a build akin to a powerlifter.

Running his hand through his thick salt and pepper beard, Samuel glanced out the window at the endless ocean of tall pine-like trees coated in blistering snow, fully anticipating this moon to be his lonely grave.

The shuttle lurched to a stop, and the back hatch dropped, offering him exit. The horrendous winds of the moon's surface bid him welcome as icy fingers ran down his collar and instantly chilled him to the bone.

“Sir, please reach out if you need aid,” the pilot said via the intercom.

“Yeah, I will,” Samuel shrugged before hefting his backpack and stepping off the shuttle's ramp into the knee-deep snow.

Samuel looked back at the shuttle as it took off and quickly vanished into the heavy snow. He thought about them leaving and realized he could, at long last, have what he wanted, to be forgotten. All it took was him coming to this horrible ice ball to make it happen. He had been forgotten by everyone else on Earth anyway. Here, at least, his reality matched his mentality.

Samuel paused, looking at the outpost. It was a small grouping of gray buildings covered in heavy snowpack. A small array of satellites and solar panels were on the roof. They were all covered in thick layers of ice. The outpost had not been manned in years; apparently, most species would rather not be left out here where your nearest help was weeks if not months away.

The main satellite dish on the mountain nearby was not visible through the near white-out conditions, but he knew it was there. He would see it soon while assessing the station after years of neglect.

The wind whistled like wailing banshees between the buildings, defying Samuel's dream of being alone. But if that's all that disrupted those plans, who was he to complain?

“Home sweet home,” Samuel muttered, trudging through the heavy powder.

Reaching the main building was a herculean task. He got it done by mustering up all the old man strength and stubbornness he could. Samuel pressed the button to open the door, But nothing happened. After a quick inspection of the frame, Samuel realized what was wrong.

The building was frozen solid, sealing the doors shut like a weld. It took several minutes of driving his shoulder into the door to crack the seal and have the door open. Once inside, Samuel was exhausted and covered in sweat, having not had to do any form of physical exertion like that in a while.

His last job that required him to do anything strenuous was years ago, and that was just a simple construction gig. There, he helped move bags of concrete and other supplies the young bucks felt they weren’t strong enough to do–those lazy bastards.

Why he had to do the physical labor was not beyond him. Samuel was not a young Human Marine; he was an old Engineer. Samuel could keep a mechanical or electrical system working like no other, but fighting, working hard, and lifting heavy objects were tasks he would rather not be saddled with at this point in life.

Samuel quickly took to settling in. First, he set the temperature to a comfortable level and ensured the satellites were in good order, at least what he could do from the terminals. He was pleasantly surprised that despite the arrays being out of care for years, they were fully functional. After reviewing the rest of the technical manuals for the satellite dishes, Samuel smiled; if there were no issues, the systems would run themselves. He was only the backup; at least the GU was truthful about that.

So long as nothing kept the systems and staples of his life from working, all he would have to do for the next few standard years was clean solar panels in the mornings and do regular maintenance. All of that was perfect for him.

He could be forgotten and go with the flow until he kicked the bucket and ended up as a man popsicle when the arrays and power eventually gave out.

Samuel sat down in the main room of the outpost and pulled out one of the MREs from storage. Glancing around, he could see a few rooms: Barracks, entertainment, an exercise wing, a workshop, storage rooms, bathrooms, and his workstation. But he hardly cared right now; letting his tired muscles relax was all he needed and wanted for the night. Samuel did not even inventory the weapons the GU gave him. He could do that later. Instead, he focused on the location's solitude, enjoying his newfound peace and the deep snow surrounding his new home.

The rest of the day was uneventful, giving Samuel ample time to settle in and learn the relays. Even with the storm outside, his new life was starting on the right foot. Simple, straightforward, and with no one to bother him.