Zeo Genesis Travelogues
Greetings, star-nomads! You can call me Trev. (You can also call me Trevallion Franklin-Ridgeway III, but I’d rather you didn’t). I’ve left behind my shallow executive existence to explore the Hundred Suns, to re-connect with insignificant voiders just like you. These are my travels. You’re welcome.
“*Cough-cough* Apologies! Be glad there’s no olfactory packet with this transmission. This apparently forgotten storage chamber of Maybrick’s ship has spotty arti-grav, leading to some impromptu technicolor yodelling. Accused of crimes I didn’t commit, I’m being smuggled off-world. Still, I’d rather endure this partitioned vomit-comet than more of Maybrick’s conspiracy-laden ‘memories’."
"Through this tiny porthole are distant but distinct signs of asteroid mining. Dangerous work; my auncle told me in detail. It was years ago but I’d listen to Avery’s descriptions with rapt attention."
"Accounts conflict of what misdeeds Avery committed to fall from our family’s favor and fortune. Knowing my auncle only too well, it was likely some combination of all of them that got Avery disowned. Regardless, they found themself press-ganged into the notorious Nikola Corp’s Voorhees Belt Mine. They quarried methite, a highly explosive rarity that, in a cruel geological joke, occurs close to pockets of flambus gas. More flambus means more methite, but should they contact each other..."
"Avery developed a layabout’s reputation with the wardens. Even fellow miners called them lazy and hated finding Avery mining easier, surface patches close to their own, even if no one else was working these. If they were having a hard time, Avery should too."
"Wardens scoffed at Avery’s repeated protests that their new assignment was too dangerous to work; to management, complaints about masses of volatile flambus just meant masses of valuable methite. My auncle told me the wardens swore that Avery’s mineshaft was perfectly safe. Emergency blast doors were present and Avery piloted the standard-issue mining zeo—powerful twin, multi-tool arms, grinding, filtering and piping methite into their back-mounted vat and armor that’s visibly thick yet as strong as Maybrick’s grip on reality."
"Eventually, management ordered the wardens to send someone else down. He managed a whole day before rupturing a flambus pocket, starting a chain-reaction threatening to rip that ‘roid and its celestial sisters to smithereens."
"Tolbert, I think his name was, scram-boosted out and activated the emergency doors. True to reputation, they jammed. Nearby, Avery scrammed down and used their zeo to manually force the doors closed. They’d left their audio broadcaster running the whole time. I heard it days later. Thanks to their actions, almost everyone survived. Almost."
"They were a brave person, my auncle. The bravest. I hope a part of that lives on in me."
"Stay zippy, star-nomads…"
- Nikola Corp. Parsusal Index class 400 megacorporation (multi-heliosphere).
- Estimated 17 million employees, 2.3 million undocumented employees.
- Primary business divisions by scale: Personal planet-bound transport vehicle manufacturing, luxury space exploration hardware, software and services, cutting-edge Kanai-Edelman Bridge development and manufacturing, rare minerals mining, social influence and conditioning programs, automated intellect decision-maker development, subterranean infrastructure.
- Notable controversies by media coverage: Tax avoidance, widespread use and exploitation of undocumented workers, unlawful hiring and firing practices, serial governmental election interference, toxic work cultures, monopolization, illegally unsafe working environments.
These journals were recorded via Tymphony Aural Augmetics… TAA: Listen Up!
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