Staring at Rocks

Some say it's boring. Others, like me, refer to mining as dependable, low risk, income. It's just so, I don't know. Repetative.

I'm just starting out at this. Just learned how to fly a barge not long ago and was all too eager to jump out to the first belt I could find and watch the strip miners chew rocks and haul in more than I could ever dream of doing in a small frigate. I don't think I could ever go back to one now.

ORE engineers recently changed their schematics for my new prize, making them even better. I hated JetCan mining. Watching my hard earned ore just floating outside my ship, vulnerable and open for anyone to take. I tried mining with secure containers too, but it was a pain to anchor three or four, then fill them up and having to switch to an industrial hauler to bring it all back to station.

I love my new Retriever.

This was not the first one I had owned. My first was destroyed in a scuicide attack, which I was barely able to escape with my life, which is worth about as much as the augmentations in my head for a capsuleer.

These barges have skyrocketed in price too since the redesign. I'm weary about taking this one out in fear it turn out like the first, but these asteroids aren't going to mine themselves.

Like I said, it's tedious work. I stare at rocks all day and watch a bright blue laser dance across them. If it weren't for the occasional pirate attack I would go insane. Then again, all I do is press a button and drones deploy to destroy the target for me. I press another and they return to the ship. Not much skill involved there.

Things have changed since I first came into being. My existance used to be limited to the confines of my pod. My ship was controlled by my thoughts as I float in a vat of primordial ooze from which my current body was grown. Now, we are able to leave our pods, and walk freely about our ships and stations. Capsuleers are now very hard to distinguish from normal people. Some, like myself, try and hide the fact that we are immortal. It sometimes scares people as they think we hold no regard for our own lives. They think we are loose cannons and wouldnt care if our ships were destroyed out from under us.

Dying sucks. It really hurts. It doesnt matter if you get to wake up in a clone afterward or not. Dying is the same for everyone. The worst place it hurts for capsuleers, however, is the wallet.