Prologue

“Rinse & Repeat”

The cockpit of the recon truck seats one, but that doesn’t stop the crew packing into the conduit to join their supervisor. It had become their little ritual, having their morning coffee before the shift begins.

Sitting in the driver seat, Bob radios the company for permission to commence. His finger already hovering over the toggle green switch in the center console.

“Proceed with day 428 expedition, truck 18”, came over the com.

"Acknowledged.”, he responded, “Switch has been thrown, crew is now on billable hours.”

“This is a hard planet to love.”, he mumbles under his breath, loud enough for everyone to hear. No one laughs. Bob engages the accelerator and the truck disembarks from the middle of nowhere to the next stop in the middle of nowhere.