Somewhere deep in space, hidden in the infinity of the Universe, there is a treasure trove just waiting to be opened by the eager hands of a daring explorer. A mere asteroid, a piece of rock, a speck of dust lost in the boundless void, yet priceless to humanity. For under its frozen crust there are rich veins of the most precious substance known to man – hubbardium. This “liquid metal” is a key ingredient in the fuel of interstellar ships, thus enabling mankind to spread across the Universe from its base on Earth. Its importance is the reason why it is monopolized by the State Business Federation, a huge multinational corporation which is given control over every single step in production of hubbardium, from exploration to distribution.
And so, when this asteroid, subsequently named Alpha Prime, and its fabulous riches were discovered, the Corporation quickly came, and a huge, sprawling base was promptly built on its surface as the giant mining machines begun its work.
But all was not well on Alpha Prime. While its hubbardium veins might be plentiful, some of them were also dangerous. They slowly intoxicated the minds of human workers, and damaged the positron brains of the artificial ones, including the central computer. Conditions on the base became highly unstable and the Corporation finally decided to seal off the entire facility and leave. Only the most basic maintenance and security, including weapons systems, were left turned on. To prevent the base falling into ruin….and to prevent illegal prospectors from entering and resuming the mining operation.
But they came anyway. The lure of the unimaginable wealth of Alpha Prime was too strong. Moreover, some of these illegal visitors were naturally quite resistant to the effects of “bad” hubbardium. So they arrived, they circumvented security protocols and partially resumed mining. Their use of hubbardium was rather different, though. They didn’t want to produce fuel; they came to make hubbardium into a powerful drug, worth its weight in gold on the black market. If the operation went successfully, they would become multimillionaires. But they miscalculated. Alpha Prime hubbardium was apparently too strong and started to exert influence even over the hardened minds of the miners. There was something very, very weird about this asteroid. It didn’t take long before they started to become desperate and called for help. One of those on the team, Warren, called his old friend, Arnold, a seasoned, hubbardium resistant explorer, and asked him to come and help them out of their dire condition.
And even though YOU, Arnold, already quit some time ago, you were finally persuaded, less by the obvious desperation on Warren’s face than by appeals to consider your tight financial situation by Livia, your girlfriend.
