nmyworld

Raleigh touched the button that appeared on the dim red screen in front of him and watched the massive chunk of space rock being pulled toward him; or perhaps he was being pulled toward it? He never could tell. Either way, the rock was certain to pay off nicely down at the Coop.

He sat back in his chair, lit up his brown long-stemmed pipe with a few puffs and basked in the resulting apple flavored aroma.

Damn. Christian throws a mean hook, he thought, rubbing his jaw. He replayed the match in his head and thought of all the wrong moves he made that cost him a few bruises. His pastime often left him wondering why he still did it—at least the pain made him feel alive during the boring routine. Mining was one of the dullest jobs in the galaxy these days with the luxurious K-series miners doing everything for you. Ral decided to stick with his J-19. It may not have heated floors or swede chairs, but it did it’s job well and wasn’t too expensive.

He puffed on his pipe, occasionally closing his eyes and drifting in and out of a dreamy haze where time passed as slowly as a feather on the wind. His job may have been boring, but at least it was easy.

Ral, eyes closed, reached over to his left and picked up a jet black six string leaning against his chair as he’d done a thousand times before. He began to strum random chords to get a feel for the instrument and occasionally turned one of the tuners. When all felt right, he stopped playing, took a puff from his pipe to fill the air with the soothing warm aroma and began playing one of the many old tunes his father and grandfather had taught him. It was instrumental like all of the songs he played—he never had much of singing voice.

When his eyes began to grow heavy and his playing slowed and swayed, he stopped. He stood up, stretched, let out a mighty muscle-busting yawn, and began toward the back of the cabin. The warm, unmade bed looked very inviting to Ral, especially against the cold blue floor and panelled walls of his ship. He took off his shirt, stretched again, dropped his pipe on the stand next to his bed and dove head-first into the soft red comforter bunched up in the middle.