Venus

2153 A.D. Earth is no longer economically viable so the planet has been evacuated. The real money is now in the orbital mega cities, advertising and most of all basic resource acquisition. Every two-bit company in the galaxy is running a Lander operation, setting down on a new planet, killing off anything endangering the prots, sucking up every resource the planet has to offer and then moving on. The galaxy is split into two, those who have credit and those who don’t. Those with credit live in the luxurious orbital mega cities and are known as Spacers. Those who don’t have credit are often tempted to carry out these dangerous resource acquisition operations and are affectionately called Landers. The acquisition teams are usually made up from the dregs of society, drifters, loners and stargazers. Many of them have little to live for so chance their luck in an attempt to get rich quick. The loss of life is high. This story follows Venus Jones, a 23-year-old veteran of three outings. She needs one more successful trip and then she is out of there, retired, set up for life, in credit. She is praying for a nice easy six-month mining assignment, what she’s going to get is a completely different story…

"Hey, I'm Venus! This is my fourth tour of duty. And if this one goes OK, I'm going home." "Hum, one time... my brother got so mad at my mom, that he..." chuckles "...threw a heater out through the window. And she said: 'Go and bring that back in!' So he went outside and he threw it in through another window." Her voice trails off as she makes herself laugh with her story. "Oh, you had a puppy? That sounds weird, but I used to have a pet python named 'Bernice' when I was a kid. She got huge! And all my friends would come over to watch her eat... You don't really want to hear about this, do you?" chuckles "When we were little, uhm, my sister and I were sitting in the kitchen and all of a sudden the dog—she was holding the dog in her lap—and..." giggles "It was so gross! She had puppies all over her lap. We didn't know she was pregnant. She was just having puppies." "One time, I-I had this band I loved, and uhm, I hid out in their bus. And they didn't find me for like 25 miles into the trip." laughs "They had to turn around. They weren't too happy." "One time my grandmother parked the car. And she didn't put the brake on at all and it rolled by the window and she said: 'Oh look, dear! There goes a car just like ours.'" chuckles "It went into the neighbour's living room." "No one can make me stay here. They can not make me! I'm getting out of this place! I don't care if I have to hitchhike! I'll-I'll walk home. I don't even care. Just get me out of here!" "Yeah, my brother—He started flying when he was fourteen, wanted to be a pilot. And uhm, unfortunately he's colorblind." chuckles "Yeah, we have all the luck." "I used to love to go fishing! I had like no problem putting that worm on the hook." laughs "Everybody else used to ask me to do it for 'em." "I was such a tomboy," chuckles "when I was younger. You wouldn't believe it! I used to catch these frogs, I'd just freak people out with them." "Oh man, my town was so so small. And we used to have to drive so far for any action. You couldn't believe it!" "I remember the days before this dump. Back home I used to love surfing." "I think I saw Stig's wash cloth crying for use. It was so lonely." "Why is it, that girl mosquitos are the ones that bite you? What do the guy mosquitos eat?" "Oh, I had this friend. She was so so funny." sighs "Miss her a lot." "Let's take bets: You think Stig has an innie or an outie? Actually I-I don't wanna picture this." "First boyfriend I ever had was Japanese. And his name was Stan McCarthy." "I had a dream last night, that I looked like Stig, and I talked like Tami. Ugh!" shudders "Not today, not tomorrow, and not in your lifetime!" "See what happens with a little elbow grease? This place looks great!" "They're not too interested in how healthy it is down here. I don't think they really give a damn about us!" "Can you believe I saw Stig wearing Tami's bra the other day? It didn't look half bad." "I had a dream last night that I was your mother and you were all waiting for me to feed you." "Hey, did you guys hear? You're all getting pay cuts.—I'm kidding!" "This is Venus. Are you reading me? I need help down here! Bugs? Fine. Storms? Isolation? No problem! Long hours? Horrible food? I can deal with that. That last crew you sent down? OH MY GOD!!" Proudly referring to the way the team dealt with alien lifeforms: "I think we've done quite a bit of damage to the ecosystem for one day!" Confronting someone she's annoyed with: "Come on, pull your weight!" Talking to herself: "Come on, Venus, this is no time to be getting sick!" Talking to herself: "Come on, Venus, go work out!"