Rob got up to check the status of the suction port. Jeff was watching a last century 2D movie on his tablet, something about intergalactic wars with funny looking aliens. He was amused by the primitive, and completely off-the-mark, vision of how the twenty-firsters imagined beings from other star systems looked. The cabin was almost silent, except for the muted whirrs, dings and vibrations from the command and control system of the mining ship - Theseus XIV. Rob and Jeff worked for the MittAdan Corporation, mining delirium from asteroids. Delirium was an essential ingredient of the neural implants, everyone used to connect to Oasis Mk243. Oasis was the hyper real, virtual space for all kinds of human activities - trade, services, retail, research, education, leisure, love and hate. Delirium was named after Philippe DeLeri who discovered the element, and not out of a sense of irony. Rob came back to his seat and sighed. "1 down, bloody 11 more to go" he said, referring to hi
Leo was lying on a gurney in the Government Veterinarian Hospital. He was too weak to stand up, and could barely move his tail. He hated the cold, metal feel of the gurney. He wanted to be home, playing fetch with Joy, his best friend. Leo was adopted by Sam, Joy's father, when he found a tiny pup shivering in the rain. Sam, then 17, swaddled the pup in an old blanket, fed him milk with a dropper, and held him close when he wouldn’t stop whimpering. Now Leo was 14 years old and had a weak heart. He fainted last evening in the middle of running around with Joy. Sam brought him to the hospital. The vet gave the bad news to Sam - Leo was dying. He might be dead in a day, most probably will not survive the next week. Sam came to see Leo, trying hard to brave. Leo tried to wave his tail, and managed a very slow, little movement. Leo just wanted to run around with Joy, getting the old tennis ball back to Joy and see his face light up with a smile. In the haze of his sickne