“Beep, Beep, Beep,” I hear in my ear. Slowly I crack open one eye. Morning already?

I take a deep breath. “Alright, guess I got to get up.” With a bit of effort, I crack open the other eye. I glance around before finding my alarm clock on my desk. I almost opted for a fancy state-of-the-art alarm clock that monitors your vitals and automatically turns off when it senses your awake. But in the end, I decided to go with the classic scream at me until I pressed the button alarm clock. I liked the feeling of touching the button. It reminded me of my youth.

I stop the alarm, and with a groan, I lean my legs over the side of my bed. The floor unfolds below me and rises up my body before stopping at my waist. Within seconds, the floor retreats leaving my lower half completely clothed in formfitting pants and boots. Now that was a good investment. Never did like having to pull on clothes, and it only got worse as the years passed.

With my lower body fully clothed, I slowly stand up. Another groan escapes my mouth as I reach my hands up in a stretch. “Brian, could you get the tea ready?”

“Green?” Brian, the AI that runs this rig, asks. Hmm, green sounds fine. “Ya,” I confirm.

With the tea being made, I shuffle over to my closet. There I find a pod just big enough for me to stand in. I make my way inside before raising my arms into a T-pose. The pod door closes before the inside comes alive with robotic clicks as metal arms wrap me in more formfitting clothes. By the end of it, my body is covered neck to toe in synthetic black clothing. “Still rides up my butt a little,” I mutter while stretching the synthetics.

Thankfully I get to choose the rest of the outfit I get to wear. The pod opens again, and I’m greeted with various wearables ranging from hats to jackets. I step out of the pod and head to the jackets. Once there, I pick up an old leather jacket and a nice brown bowler hat. On returning to the pod, I notice my cane resting on the wall. I debated with myself on whether or not I would need a cane, but in the end, I decided to take it with me.

Stepping back into the pod, the door closes, and I feel a slight shift before the door opens once more, and I see my room. I walk in and immediately turn to the door heading out of my room. The mess is past the hallway outside, where I’ll be able to grab my tea.

As if on cue, Brian announces that my tea is done. And I walk into the hallway and turn towards the mess. The hallway is completely bare with nothing but smooth steel edges.“Tap, Tap,” my cane makes a taping noise in the silent hallway, alerting me to the quietness of my home. “Brian, would you turn on some music?” Or at least something, it's too quiet in the early mornings. Brian acknowledges my request, and a calm tune starts playing. “Much better.”

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The hallway ends, and I find myself in the mess. It’s a big room, meant to feed a much larger crew than just me. Multiple tables are lined up and clean, each ready to be used. Unfortunately, it is only me. But I don’t mind, that’s how I like it.

I find my tea still steaming on one of the tables. Taking it in hand, I take a nice long sip. That's the stuff. I take a seat, tea still within my grasp, and just take a second to rest and prepare for the day. Eventually, I realized that I was hungry and that I should eat.

I press the red button that protrudes from the center of the table. A panel pops up from the table and displays a list of breakfast Items. A little button in the corner also says lunch/dinner. But I just want some breakfast. My breakfast choices are predominantly plant-based, with one or two choices having the option of eggs.

This is mainly because my home is self-sufficient and doesn't need any outside interference to function and provide for me. Plants are easy enough to grow over and over again. The eggs, however, are a different story. They have to be made in an artificial ovary that is fed proteins and other necessities for the egg, and then it has to grow before I can eat it. The fact it's on the menu means the eggs have reached a stage where I can eat them again before they have to regrow.

I decided that I wanted the veggie salad with a side of eggs. I press the window showing the veggie and eggs, and the panel slides back into the table. It takes a moment, but eventually, vegetables start dropping from a tube extending down from the sealing. The vegetables all land in a bowl positioned under the pipe, and the veggies are all already cut and mixed. The bowl is rolled over to me by inbuilt wheels that the bowl has already in its base. From my left side, a plate flips up, and on the plate are two over-easy eggs. I smile at the sight and dig in.

The eggs are slightly off, probably because of their artificial nature, but otherwise, I am satisfied with my breakfast and devour it quickly. Once I’m done, I lean back and pat my belly. “Good stuff”

I take a second to let everything rest before standing. “I guess It’s time for me to earn my pay,” I chuckle a little but am soon on my way to the observation deck. The observation deck is at the top of the base and overlooks the entire place.

Taking the elevator up, I find myself in a round clear-globed room I can see for miles in each direction. Well, I mean, I could see that far if I wasn’t currently living on an asteroid the size of a small town deep into the asteroid belt just past Mars.

Looking down, I find my small base and just pass that thousands of drones busy mining resources from other asteroids that were pulled over to the Rig. Mostly because My home is artificially compressed in order to make a stable foundation, as most interstellar bodies are pretty brittle if they don't have the gravity to compress themselves.

I look up to the front of the globe and check the status of my drones as there is a projector just above me projecting their current situation. Usually, I can just relax and watch my busy bees work, but this time one of the transport drones looks to have had an issue and is offline. This is shown to me by the status being red instead of the standard blue.

Normally, Brian would have no problem fixing the issue on his own. However, it seems he's met his match and can’t figure out the problem. Hmm, well, I guess that’s why I’m here.