Abe emerged from the coal dust into a brisk winter morning. The sunlight was blinding and it took him a moment to adjust. He breathed deeply, and then hacked his lungs out. Fresh air was a commodity these days, and no one was used to it. He wrapped his coat tightly around himself and walked over to the pump to get some water. The ice crackled under his feet. Ice in the desert… who would have thought?

It was a vicious circle these days, those at the bottom were sent off to work, and those at the top were treated to pleasures at the cost of real freedom. Any who resisted were dead or subjected to horrors unimaginable, or at least, those were the stories. The only thing Abe new anymore was the mine. He’d been in and out for what seemed like an eternity, out being only on the rare occasions when he could sound pathetic enough for them to let him step into the sunlight, and even that was becoming less these days. It seemed certain they would all simply be worked to death.

Abe drank the cool water and wiped the dribbles with the back of his hand.

There was a collapse on Tuesday, or what he thought was Tuesday. A whole section in the mine had come down suddenly, and Abe suspected it was actually part of something bigger. Something seemed to be going on.

He stood up and began walking back towards the dusty mine entrance.

The Altruitins… what did they want? Apparently it was simple enough. They were taking over the galaxy one planet at a time. They were shape shifters, and took desirable forms and “snuck in the back way” in a manner of speaking. Humans had become willing slaves: slaves for sex, slaves for power; It was the same as always really, except something out there had found a way to manipulate those vices better than anything on planet Earth had. It had only been a matter of time. And now, what had once been pleasant was sickening, and humanity was dying except small controlled breeding, since after all, you have to maintain enough slaves to keep things running.

People at the top didn’t care as long as they got their kicks, but they never questioned who was really in charge. Having your military wiped out in one fell swoop usually puts an end to questions.

Abe had been working as a janitor at the time, going to school part time to get his medical degree. It was a lowly job but all he’d had at the time. Now he had nothing but the mine, a mine which there seemed no real point to anymore anyways, considering half of the original style of industry was gone. Maybe they were using the materials for something else, or maybe it was just to keep people in line, who knew anymore.

The ground shook.

Dust rose from the mine entrance. Abe peered inside and saw only a wall of rock and dust. His breath caught in his throat. He looked around and saw that small monitor antennas had collapsed. Part of the ground had sunk for a mile in the direction of the mine. A black shape lifted into the sky off in the distance. The silence was deafening. Time ticked by in what seemed like centuries for a single moment. Whoever had done it, it didn’t matter: the mine was dead. Destroyed.

Abe wrapped his coat around himself even tighter and walked off into the distance.