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Maybe next year.","writing":"Two months had passed since the incident with the Defiant, we had continued on despite our losses and were now in orbit over our prize, 2 Pallas. It hung below us, a cratered orb so like the one our group had fled so recently, two in my own and Denal's case. But lacking the sprawling surface factories and spaceports that covered the surfaces of Ceres and Vesta, the only detectable signs of inhabitation here were the skeletal remains of abandoned mining camps. The survey probes indicated that the planetoid's carbonaceous resources were largely untouched, but the life-giving ice had largely been mined out. We ended up picking a spot far from most of the mining sites, low in metals but we could send ships to gather them. The plans for the settlement were drawn up, landing sequences were organized, and then they just stood there.\n\tI looked around the bridge from my chair in the center of the room. Everyone was staring at me. Maximus Griggs, standing next to me, leaned over and whispered in my ear. \"They're waiting hon.\"\n\tI waved him away and stared directly at the center of the main viewscreen. \"Go ahead.\" I told the fleet. \"You all know the plan, you can begin landing.\"\n\tThe mining ships, those that could actually land on the surface of an asteroid without a docking cradle, began firing retro-rockets to bring their habitat modules down to Pallas. There they would detach and drill anchors into the surface. Then once the craft lifted off again people in the habitats would start stringing up crawl tubes between the modules. As more modules were brought down to the surface the settlement would be laid down in a spiral pattern with each hab connected to its immediate neighbors in the same \"arm\" and in the adjacent arms. A bit of a hassle to move from one end of the colony to another, but it would do until we'd excavated a cave underground.\n\t\"Finally, it's all over.\" I said as I slumped down in my chair, feeling relieved. \"Just asteroid mining from now on, I can handle that.\"\n\t\"I wouldn't be too sure about that.\" The cat by my side told me. \"There's so much that needs to be done, we are after all building a whole civilization out here.\"\n\t\"And you and Olga seem to have a better idea of how civilizations should be run than I do.\" I told Maximus in response.\n\t\"And you expect them to follow us?\" Max replied. \"I'm the clone of their worst enemy and she's the progeny of one of his cronies. You on the other hand they seem to adore as their savior.\"\n\t\"Do you think I want to be worshipped?\" I inquired of him. \"I'd much rather go back to shining light at powdered rocks.\"\n\tHe drew himself towards me, sprawling over my lap and looking up at me with those pleading wide eyes. \"There's nearly four thousand people out there. What's stopping another demagogue like my father from taking over? They're used to anarchic feudalism, what if another tragedy like that one just a few weeks ago occurs? So many deaths that you could help us prevent.\"\n\t\"All right, all right!\" I told him, shoving him off and getting up. \"Fine, I'll be your king or queen or messiah or whatever.\" I said, pointing at him with most of the fingers on my right hand, I was still having difficulty selectively extending them. \"Just promise me that the instant you no longer need me, I can go back to the rock crushing.\"\n\tMaximus Griggs struggled to right himself in the virtually nil gravity. Once he was done he stood up as straight as possible and spoke to me. \"I promise.\"\n\tI never did get back to that spectrophotometer you know.\n","writing_bbcode_parsed":"Two months had passed since the incident with the Defiant, we had continued on despite our losses and were now in orbit over our prize, 2 Pallas. It hung below us, a cratered orb so like the one our group had fled so recently, two in my own and Denal's case. But lacking the sprawling surface factories and spaceports that covered the surfaces of Ceres and Vesta, the only detectable signs of inhabitation here were the skeletal remains of abandoned mining camps. The survey probes indicated that the planetoid's carbonaceous resources were largely untouched, but the life-giving ice had largely been mined out. We ended up picking a spot far from most of the mining sites, low in metals but we could send ships to gather them. The plans for the settlement were drawn up, landing sequences were organized, and then they just stood there.
\tI looked around the bridge from my chair in the center of the room. Everyone was staring at me. Maximus Griggs, standing next to me, leaned over and whispered in my ear. "They're waiting hon."
\tI waved him away and stared directly at the center of the main viewscreen. "Go ahead." I told the fleet. "You all know the plan, you can begin landing."
\tThe mining ships, those that could actually land on the surface of an asteroid without a docking cradle, began firing retro-rockets to bring their habitat modules down to Pallas. There they would detach and drill anchors into the surface. Then once the craft lifted off again people in the habitats would start stringing up crawl tubes between the modules. As more modules were brought down to the surface the settlement would be laid down in a spiral pattern with each hab connected to its immediate neighbors in the same "arm" and in the adjacent arms. A bit of a hassle to move from one end of the colony to another, but it would do until we'd excavated a cave underground.
\t"Finally, it's all over." I said as I slumped down in my chair, feeling relieved. "Just asteroid mining from now on, I can handle that."
\t"I wouldn't be too sure about that." The cat by my side told me. "There's so much that needs to be done, we are after all building a whole civilization out here."
\t"And you and Olga seem to have a better idea of how civilizations should be run than I do." I told Maximus in response.
\t"And you expect them to follow us?" Max replied. "I'm the clone of their worst enemy and she's the progeny of one of his cronies. You on the other hand they seem to adore as their savior."
\t"Do you think I want to be worshipped?" I inquired of him. "I'd much rather go back to shining light at powdered rocks."
\tHe drew himself towards me, sprawling over my lap and looking up at me with those pleading wide eyes. "There's nearly four thousand people out there. What's stopping another demagogue like my father from taking over? They're used to anarchic feudalism, what if another tragedy like that one just a few weeks ago occurs? So many deaths that you could help us prevent."
\t"All right, all right!" I told him, shoving him off and getting up. "Fine, I'll be your king or queen or messiah or whatever." I said, pointing at him with most of the fingers on my right hand, I was still having difficulty selectively extending them. "Just promise me that the instant you no longer need me, I can go back to the rock crushing."
\tMaximus Griggs struggled to right himself in the virtually nil gravity. Once he was done he stood up as straight as possible and spoke to me. "I promise."
\tI never did get back to that spectrophotometer you know.
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