Mining is a dangerous occupation. Any miner or prospector you talk to, regardless of whether they’re asteroid rock-hoppers or planetary-surface moles, will tell you a story about a tunnel collapse.
They all have a parent, sibling, or friend who got “covered up,” which is what these rugged men and women call being buried alive, a truly horrific way to die. In addition to the risk of collapse, fire, gas leaks, and explosions, they also face robbers and outlaws who try to make a fortune in frontier territories by stealing ore and machinery, at gunpoint in the best of cases, or most often by shooting to kill.
Sometimes these bandits are freelance entrepreneurs, and in many cases they are hired mercenaries or even prospectors working for other mining companies who are trying to make a profit by harming their competition. If that weren’t enough, this is not only a dangerous job, but also a poorly paid one.
Or at least the paycheck doesn’t really cover the risks involved, which is why many prospectors working in these frontier territories are willing to make some extra cash by carrying out these type of after-work armed jobs for the mining company that employs them.
The thing is, once you’ve been involved in a few situations like that, and you’ve seen what you’re capable of with one of the exoskeletons you use on a daily basis at work, you start to contemplate the idea of engaging in those activities full time—and for yourself, rather than for the company.
As a result, many of these prospectors end up creating their own gangs of robbers, joining pirate crews, andassociating themselves with mercenary groups. Many of you will think that all these occupations are equally dangerous, but the rewards are higher, and anything is better than going back underground to that suffocating darkness that sucks the breath and the life out of you.
This text was extracted from Infinity Raveneye. If you want to learn more about this exciting universe, don't miss this book!
