Tom let out a sigh as he shot out another strand of the magnetic strip from his harvesting gun. It looked like an old-world crossbow, much too cool, thought Tom for a glorified trash collector.

The long silver strand lassoed around a bit of space trash with a snap. Though there wasn’t a sound, more just what he imagined. With a lazy twinge of his finger, he hit the second trigger. The piece of trash, left behind by the last ship, made its way back to him. He unstrapped the band and shoved the trash out into space away from the runway.

He had been excited when he had gotten the job offer and even changed his name to fit in with the frontier. Unfortunately, he quickly learned that he had been misinformed, and people in the frontier didn't go by the old-time names anymore.

So now he just looked like some weirdo with a frontier fetish.

Only old Tick Tock, the other wrangler paid any attention to him. Though Tom figured that was because he too, wasn’t very popular, and that he was being paid to train him.

“Break.” Tick Tock’s voice came in with a roll of static over the radio.

“Ok. I’m going to head back to the dock. You coming with?” said Tome.

He waved in Tick Tock’s direction, across the expanse of the runway on the other side of the break pillars.

“Naw, I’m just going to strap to a pillar and watch some vids,” he said, with a wave back.

Tom watched Tick Tock move behind a pillar before he made his way back to the dock.

The pillars, the essential braking system of the dock, crackled as he passed them by. Even dormant they put off enough electricity to interfere with the radio in his spacesuit. When they were on, they could stop a ship. But for now, they lay dormant, the next ship not scheduled for another few hours.

Though his, and Tick Tock’s suits had a special shielding, making them less affected by the electrical surges.

“Hay new guy!”

Tom recognized the voice, it was Chakabell. She was with no doubt in Tom’s mind the most beautiful woman at the Dock. He wondered what she wanted.

“Hay… Hi! Chakabell what’s up!” He was nearly back to the dock.

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“Yeah, so I see you’re heading back. My friends and I were wondering if you wanted to do some jumps with us.”

Jumps! Tom’s heart stopped at the word. He had never been a thrill seeker back home. Sure, he had traveled lightyears for this job, but that was well planned and paid for by the company.

Jumps were strictly prohibited according to the galactic safety commission, and the closest thing to excitement at the Dock. It would also be the worst way to die if you happened to get caught between the pillars when a ship came in.

“Yeah! sure I'll be right there.” He adjusted his navigation and made his way to the Dock’s port, where the jump was held.

As he came to a slow stop, he noticed that more people were there than just her normal group of friends. In fact, he was sure there had to be at least a third of the dock waiting there.

He suddenly felt very unsure of himself as they all turned to watch him. Their silent conversations within their helmets muted to him, even though he could see their lips moving.

“Hey, Tom! You ready for some excitement?” He stopped in front of Chakabell. “I’m so happy you came.” She grabbed his gloved hands, a smile visible on her face from behind her suit visor. “We have all done it… well except for Tick Tock, but he’s old and… well it’s a sort of initiation. We wanted to do it earlier, but the Dock has been slammed with ships lately.”

She led him over to the pusher as she explained the rules of the jump. They were simple, get launched by the pusher, and try to make it as far as you can down the runway before the natural magnetism of the pillars stops you.

He knew he should be scared, terrified even, but the feel of her hand in his quickly soothed his nerves.

He took his place in front of the pusher and looked out into the nothingness of space beyond the pillars and the runway. His radio crackled to life as the people who were watching him began to countdown.

‘3… 2… 1…” he was launched into space.

The pillars zoomed past him in a blur. It was exhilarating, a feeling he had never felt before in his life. Blood pumped in his ears, and he whooped excitedly as he flew through space. Pillar after pillar passed him by as he flew away from the Dock.

The exhilaration he felt quickly turned to cold dread as the pillars began to activate. Electricity leaped from them as if seeking him out, and with a searing jolt of pain, everything went dark.

He awoke shortly, as warning bells blared on his radio. His body was still humming with the electricity that had been forced through him.

“Impending ship entry all employees please vacate the receiving area and make their way to a secured location,” said the robotic voice of the Dock.

Panic filled him as he realized his specially shielded suit had saved him but left him dead in the water and in the path of an inbound ship. It shouldn’t have been there; the next ship wasn’t scheduled for hours.

“HELP!” he yelled into his radio but was only greeted by static.

The light of the pillars grew to signal his impending doom. He knew that if he could see behind him, he'd see the wormhole beginning to form, preparing to spit out whatever ship had decided to break the schedule. He thought, at least it would be quick.

Something flashed in front of him, long and silver, and with a snap, it wrapped around his waist.

“What the hell kid?” It was Tick Tock. “Don't you know better than to be doing stupid shit for other people's entertainment!”

The silver trash band tugged at him, and he safely drifted over to Tick Tock.