main belt; two year job beween Mars and Jupiter part 4/draft 1

main belt; two year job beween Mars and Jupiter part 4/ draft 1

fiction
edward w pritchard

I won't start in the middle in my story about my love affair with Priscilla. It's not an epic; it's just a sad little romance that ended badly for me. Why do we ever start these things?

The end of my story with Priscilla is here at Space Central just past Mars, the largest city outside of home planet, Earth. Twenty five hundred permanent inhabitants and at any point in time another thousand explorers headed to Jupiter and beyond. A few temporary inhabitants are headed back to earth and one of them is my girl Priscilla. She is going without me, by choice and I am searching for her across the four immense decks of Space Central. She turned off her transmission device and her homing device to avoid me.

Deck three is a middle eastern type Souk. The trading center for space employees headed out into space. It's like a tacky mall on earth. To simulate the effect of a souk it is dark and crowded and there are many narrow halls and alleyways. I have been walking everywhere to find Priscilla; I need to tell her about the dream I had last night. 

No space suits or oxygen are needed at space central, but I could use some oxygen today, I am not use to walking this much. I had such a troubling dream last night, it's got me disoriented.

The new space explorers heading out are flush with cash. The merchants are skillful in their technique. Why wouldn't someone want to buy a Swiss army knife to take to Neptune? Of course it costs more up here, this isn't earth. The bargaining saddens me.

Priscilla leaves for Earth tomorrow. I don't have clearance to go to home port to see her there. She doesn't want to see me again anyway, she has moved on.  I still have seven more months on my two year job as a astroid technican destroying rocks between Mars and Jupiter. It's imparative that I find Priscilla here at Space Central and tell her about my dream last night. Only she would understand the nuances of my dreams.

Why do we start these love affairs in the first place?
end