RECV EDC:    21NOV2018
COMM MODE:   DSN REFLECT
CODED ABST:  D/M/C
CRC:         509234123 3027
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Maybe I shouldn't have taken the job. Darius warned me that 
working a distant outpost- no matter what the pay was- would 
lead to trouble. The original assignment was going to be one 
cycle on, two cycles off, repeated for two ESRs. I'll admit, 
I was on my guard for the first rotation; but, after they 
let me loose for my two cycle hiatus without any drama at 
all, I didn't hesitate to come back. The pay was so good. 

The separation might also have tipped me off, if I wanted to 
be tipped off. We were remote, so I didn't expect to be 
surrounded by a huge crew, but I knew that there was 
something wrong when they stationed me in an empty unit to 
work alone. I could manage the gear, but the job would have 
been exponentiallly more efficient if I had a team to help. 
The Corporation would have made exponetially more profit 
too, and that's all the Corporation cares about. It nagged 
me from the beginning, but the pay was so good.

The work was managable, if slow. My super never baulked at 
my pull stats, which rarely met content targets. I lulled 
myself with the thought that she was just tired. Over and 
over I returned for each of my cycles, left for my breaks, 
and returned again for more cycles.

When my commissioned ESRs were coming around, the 
Corporation approached me with a renewal offer. Apparently, 
my mediocre performance was exactly what they wanted. The 
anxiety that I had been pushing into the background rushed 
into my mind all at once, and I questioned myself.

"Why didn't your super ever issue a reprimand, or even give 
a verbal warning? Those pull numbers were bad, even for a 
one-man unit."

I answered myself as well. Subvocalization is normal, but 
spending so many cycles alone usually leads to vocalization 
that no one else is around to hear. It wasn't a shouting 
match, but I wasn't gentle either.

"I don't know- she was tired, she's been posted too long, 
she hates the Corporation. Pick one."

"Yeah? Well, why didn't the Corporation ever come around to 
inspect? Two full ESRs and not a single spot check? Not even 
a communique?"

"It's remote, why would they bother?"

"Don't give me that, you know the Corporation values dense 
pull sources more than anything else, no matter how remote 
they are."

"They don't have endless resources..."

"Don't they?"

This argument continued on for some time, but in the end the 
more logical part of me won, and I decided not to renew my 
contract. I had already saved a considerable sum. I could 
float for a while and pick up another stint later. I was 
tired; even with the breaks, the work was long and 
difficult. Plus, I didn't want to be there when the 
Corporation found out how this outpost was being run.

I turned in a polite refusal. That was 0.2 cycles before I 
was to ship out. At 0.01 cycles, just one sleep unit away 
from departure, everything changed.