Each footstep annihilated Violet’s will to live as she walked down the hall. The light pods in the ceiling mimicked natural sunlight, which didn’t help either. She could feel her pulse throbbing inside of her head with every beat of her heart.
I better not be having a stroke, or a heart attack, or some shit from these pills.
She really did need to start making some better friends. Maybe some that weren’t fellow mining brats. What she wouldn’t give to go to university off-station somewhere—anywhere. Hell, she’d even consider one of the other mining stations at this point, just for a change of scenery. There’s only so many times a girl can stare at the same asteroid field before she starts to question her place in the galaxy.
The Forget Me’s were just supposed to be a little bit of fun. A harmless way to pass the time and blow off some steam. But her macerated lips and pounding migraine made her reconsider her life’s trajectory. Maybe it was time to put the party down and get her act together.
Up ahead, a sanitary unit finished buffing a spot on the floor and then headed straight towards Violet. To call it a robot would be insulting to the latest bots that were rolling off the assembly line, but technically it was true. The sani-bots were glorified vacuum cleaners about the size of a medium dog. Their automatic programming steered them up and down the halls in pre-determined patterns, cleaning up any mess that they found. They had several telescoping arms that would extend to clean the walls and ceilings. Generally, they performed well and kept the station in a shiny, tip-top shape.
Violet knew that the sanitary units were programmed to yield the right of way to humans, but she always stopped and waited for them to change course. Never knew when one of the spacer kids was going to reprogram one to go on a bumper car spree.
She watched it carefully as it neared. The sani-bot got within three feet of Violet before changing course abruptly. If it had been a game of chicken she would have barely won.
She shook her head and exhaled. Never trust a bot or its programmer. Her first instinct was always to get out of the way. She wasn’t a fan of bruised shins and buckled knees.
As the sanitary unit passed, Violet heard what sounded like a circular saw start up farther down the hall, back from the way she’d come.
Did she miss a construction notice? She couldn’t recall any projects that were ongoing in this section of the station.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
She lived in Sector Six on level 22. It was one of the add-on sections of the station. Originally, just a mining hub for the asteroid belt, Tryptek Station quickly outgrew its capacity after striking a rich vein of ore in asteroid 2112 QJ 234. More and more workers were needed, and it was more efficient to move their families out to the station to live with them than it was to go on a long haul and work for months at a time and then take a month off. Not to mention the travel-time both ways. Miners would be lucky to get two full weeks to spend with their families back then. It was more expensive to build the station out for civilian life, but once it was completed the Tryptek Corporation essentially owned its own city in space. It wasn’t the first station of its kind, but it was one of the largest.
Two more sanitary units came whizzing around the corner and sped past Violet. Their electric motors hummed a soothing lullaby, designed to emit a pleasing frequency to human ears.
As they passed, Violet swore she heard a second saw start up further down the hall. Must have been a hell of a party.
Speaking of parties, she was beginning to question if she would ever party again when she reached the little insta-mart that was going to turn her whole day around.
The insta-mart was twice the size of her 200 square foot apartment. Two turnstiles guarded the doors as the only way in or out. The shelves held a variety of prefabricated goods. Some of the larger stores had fabrication printers in them where you could order various things on demand and watch them being made, but the everyday items were in demand enough that they could be printed ahead of time.
She walked in, surprised that no one else was there but happy that she wouldn’t have to rub up against anyone to get what she needed.
She picked the largest caffeinated drink they had and the strongest pain meds she could find. She held the diffuser up to her neck and pressed to trigger it.
Violet never heard a sound so sweet as the noise the diffuser made. The pain medication shot directly into her blood stream. Her headache started to fade instantly. “Now, that’s the good stuff,” she moaned.
She left through the turnstiles, heard the chime that indicated her account had been charged for her items, and threw the empty diffuser into the slot of the first recycling bin that she came across.
She scanned the halls again, thinking she heard something, but they were still devoid of any signs of life. Her day was beginning to feel like the start of a Halloween movie.
She opened her drink and chugged it right where she stood, not wanting to carry the drink with her the whole way to Becky’s. She let out a loud belch and tossed it into the cycler.
Now that her head was on straight, it was time to find Becky. And she’d better have some Nots still lying around.
Violet shuttered to think of what she would have to do if Becky didn’t. There was nothing worse than having to flirt your way to some drugs.
Well, maybe a few things.