Page 1 of Mutant Mine

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Rory

THE HADES. That’s what they named this god-forsaken ship. They didn’t pull any punches there. It’s the biggest, bleakest starship in the fleet… and it really is taking us to hell.

Well, to Chronus. Same difference. The notorious prison planet sits way out on the furthest edge of explored space. Interstellar transport is so expensive that the government will only pay for a one-way ticket for every prisoner. Humanity’s worst, most vicious criminals are sent there, to labor in the luminum mines — and they never come home.

The thought makes me shiver. Personally, I won’t be spending a second longer than necessary on Chronus. As soon as the prisoners are unloaded, I’ll be jumping on a shuttle to the nearest space station. Cosmic cocktails all round, a fat paycheck in my pocket, and the whole galaxy at my feet. I cannotwait.

For now, though… I’m awake early enough to see the overhead lights flick on in our cramped four-man cabin. The glow is faint at first, but grows steadily brighter, to mimic an Earth sunrise. It’s accompanied by a recording of birdsong, which also starts out soft, before growing louder and louder, piped in through the speakers above our heads.

Bodies begin to stir. It’s morning (or what passes for morning when you’re far beyond the solar system), and time to get up.

“GOOD MORNING, WORKERS!” says the ship’s omnipresent computer, in its usual friendly tone. “YOUR DAILY TASKS HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED.”

“Ugh,” groans Ellis from the opposite bunk. “Why is it always sohappy?What has a computer got to be happy about?”

“I think it’s nice,” I say. The computer can hear us, and I don’t want to hurt its feelings. Which is dumb, because it doesn’t have feelings. I know that. But still.

My back twinges as I sit up in my bunk. Ellis catches the discomfort on my face.

“Aww, is lunch duty really taking it out of you?” he asks. “Imagine how you’d feel after a real day’s work.”

“It’s harder than you think, slopping out that nutrient goo hour after hour,” I tease. “The ladle is so heavy.”

But really, my back is killing me — not because the first few months on the Hades have been hard work, but because of my breast binder.

The Hades only takes male crew. Which is totally unfair, because there’s no gig like it: simple work, a free ride so far out into space, and a huge payout because the job is so undesirable. Most people don’t want to leave their families for a year, and get landed at a planet full of violent lunatics, with a nauseating, unpaid journey ahead of them if they ever want to get home again.

But that’s no problem for me. I want to get as far away from Earth as possible.

Tommy, the skinny young guy in the bunk below mine, reaches up a hand to help me climb down the ladder.

“Did you sleep badly?” he asks, peering up at me.

“Nah, I’m alright,” I smile at him as my feet settle on the floor. “Just… still not quite used to the whole space thing, you know?”

He nods sagely. This is Tommy’s first trip aboard the Hades, but he used to live in a lunar colony, so he’s used to space travel. As for me? It’s my very first time off Earth. Artificial gravity, recycled air, no natural light, and the constant hum of the engines beneath our feet… It all takes some getting used to.

So, it’s not exactly a lie to say that’s what’s bothering me. I stretch, cracking my back and subtly adjusting my binder.

I’ve always been tall for a girl. Years of hunger and hard work have made me lean and wiry (Ellis might not believe it, but I really do know what it means to put your back into it). My voice is on the low side, too. I’m twenty-three, but figured I could pass for a slim nineteen-year-old boy.

It means cutting my blond hair as short as a pin and binding my chest down. I’m hardly voluptuous, but they’re there, titting around, obviously being tits. Sharing a cabin with three men, I even have to sleep with a binder on. I hate it, but it’s only for a few more months. Then I’ll be free, in more ways than one.

I’m hoping to get a job on the nearest space station. They’re always desperate for staff, apparently. Maybe someday I’ll meet a space pirate with his own ship, who’ll fly me out into the New Frontier and find a place to call our home.

… Yeah, right. I know by now that no one comes to rescue girls like me. We have to rescue ourselves. So that’s exactly what I’m doing.

“Rory, have you seen this?”

Ellis is looking at the rota which has just appeared on the cabin’s screen. I pause on my way into the hygiene pod. I’m carrying a clean black uniform, ready to pull it on behind the safety of the locked door.

“What is it?”

“You’re on maximum security today.”

“What?”

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