"Grampa!"

"It's good to see you again! My, you must have gotten taller since the last time ... yes, I think you have ..."

"I have Grampa! I've gotten taller, and I started a new year of school, and I'm learning a whole bunch of different things! In science they say we're going to cut open a Terran Frog to see what's inside, and in History we're going to learn about that story some people wrote on that planet in Kap!"

"Not on a planet, on a moon. Circling the gas-giant Death. I was there you know."

"You were not; Dad said you made energy!"

"He's telling the truth. I worked in an energy mine in the Kap Star back in the 2220s. Look I have a holophoto, I can show you. And I think I still have my mining suit too. If I find it I'll show it to ya."

"Wow, that's you?"

"Yep. I was a handsome fella, don't you think?"

"You look like Dad."

"That's where he gets his curly red hair from. You too."

"Did you get red hair from your father?"

"No, I got it from my mother. Heh heh!"

"Hahaha!"

"You're grampa's funny, isn't he?"

"Yes, you are! ... Who are those other men in the holophoto with you?"

"That's the rest of the mining crew! In those days it took 200 men to operate an energy mining station."

"Were you friends with any of them?"

"Of course, ya had to be. Once we signed on we were there for 15 years, and we could only send civi-signals home. So we were all stuck together for that time, and we had to learn to get along together."

"Yikes. All 200 of you in that small station?"

"I got used to it after a while. And there was everything we needed to survive in there; hydroponics for food, billiards and cards for sports, bunk beds, showers ..."

"Any meat?"

"Not fresh meat, no. Cattle eat a lot of produce, so it was easier just to preserve it and send it with us beforehand. We had to make it last, so we'd only eat meat on Wednesdays."

"Why Wednesdays?"

"It was an old Mining Station Tradition. If you can only eat something once a week, you pick the day your ship took off. Of course other crews had different days. Heh heh heh, whoever finished last would have to sing the naughtiest song he knew. Of course some people took forever to eat when they learned this!"

"Haha! That sounds like a lot of fun!"

"It was. We needed things like that to break up the monotony when we went to work. We'd have to work long hours to get the energy out of the star. Do you know who the Kap star is named after?"

"It was a smart guy?"

"Close. It was the scientist couple Japra and Monak Kap. They were the smartest people in their generation."

"Even smarter than Vikal Pok?"

"Oh yeah. Dr. Pok was smart - he was a brave explorer - but the Kaps were the brains of the Solar Commerce Alliance!"

"Even smarter than you?"

"Oh don't be so sure. Heh heh, no they were smarter than me too. That's why you need to pay attention in school; then you'll be smart like them."

"When I grow up I want to go to space like you did."

"Well I'm sure one day you will."

" ... Grampa, can you tell me more about your time in the Kap System?"

"What would you like to hear?"

"Well ... what about those people in the holophoto, your crew friends."

"Okey ... see this man here?"

"Yes?"

"He was the Overseer. He was in charge of the whole Mining Station. His name was Vargas Stantin. He was a strict ba- ahm, I mean a strict man, but he always had the crew's best interest at heart. He'd tell us all to work harder no matter how hard we were working, but he'd insist we rest up if we got hurt on the job. And oh boy, when the Manager back on Earth tried cutting our wages Ol' Stantin shouted at him for so long that the Manager ended up giving us a bonus!"

"What about him?"

"That's Freddy Gaz. He was a real jokester; he could tell a joke so funny you'd pee your pants laughing."

"And him?"

"That's Werr Ma. He was really soft. Whenever we'd get in fights and brawls he'd try to calm us all down. A few times he broke up a fight before Overseer Stantin could even find out about it!"

"What about that woman?"

"Everyone just called her Cobalt. She didn't like talking to others, and she could be real mean most of the time. She liked being around Werr though; she'd only smile when she was around him."

"And what about her? That woman you're holding in your arms?"

"That's ... that's your Uncle Peter's mother. Trissra. I met here a decade before I met your grandma, and we were in love. In fact before I met your grandma I wasn't sure I'd ever love again."

"What happened to her?"

"She ... a few years after we returned home her mind got sick and she died."

"Why didn't she go to a doctor?"

"She didn't know a doctor could help."

"Oh."

"Ya know, I've been through a lot with these men and women."

"Like what?"

"Well, in 2223, our Mining Station was attacked by the Black Guild."

"Wow! Really?"

"Yes, cross my heart and swear to God."

"What happened?"

"Well, we were at our stations as usual, and then four of the Pirate Ships entered our system. They started firing at our mining station."

"Did they try boarding?"

"No, they didn't want any prisoners. They wanted to blow the station up so they could collect the scraps. Even if it meant we all got blown up with it."

"Did you fire back with your guns?"

"We didn't have guns. We were just a mining station. All we could do was take cover. Stantin sounded the alarm so we all left our stations and went to the safe room in the middle of the station. We started cooking a bunch of our meat and drinking a bunch of our liquor, because we didn't think we'd have to use it later. I tell ya, I prayed harder than I've ever prayed in my life! I was squeezing my rosary so hard my hands hurt, and begging God just to let us survive. I was afraid I'd die there, and my parents would lose their only child."

"Well I know you survived, because you're here. How'd you do it?"

"Admiral Perak Vis came to rescue us."

"Really!? Admiral Vis?"

"Yeah. He chased these Black Guild thugs across four systems! Just when our Station Hull only had 18% strength left, the firing on our station ceased. We waited for a few days, and then we got a signal. It was from the good Admiral himself. He told us that he defeated the Pirates, and that he would not let them murder us."

"Did he have three Ghost ships?"

"They aren't ghost ships. They're R-44 Class Raiders. Precursor ships. But most of the fleet was Corvettes back then. I tell ya, it's a good thing Perak Vis came for us or else I'd never have returned home."

"I'm glad you did."

"Thanks."