Pioneers

To the new frontier!

"We're catapulted through the stars,” he whistles, a sound that cuts through the bar’s hum, more metallic whine than melody. "But the worst part?" His gaze sweeps across the silent, captivated faces of the new recruits. He pauses for effect. "Takeoff!”

He catches his reflection, a boxy shape with a few dings and the surprisingly sharp lines of his attire. He scans the mission patches marking his arms: navigating nebulae around asteroid AR-263, extracting ice from Excelsior 9, the unforeseen rescue of the Njord crew. A flicker of pride softens his features. Why shouldn’t he hold court here? Indeed, he was an Atlas, the Atlas. An entire cadre had been named for him. He was the prototype, the trailblazer — and after him, the mold was instantly duplicated.