~Flashback~
Mike floated weightlessly in a shipyard orbiting Earth looking over station inventory data on a computer. In the shipyard there was a large battleship docked covered in bullet holes visible out the window having barely survived a heated encounter and he was part of the hastily assembled repair crew. His mood was pretty bad considering that he had a trip to Mars planned on a space liner named the Angellica that he had to miss to be here, and his next opportunity to visit the Mars colony that his company created would be in 4 months when the Angellica came back to Earth.
As he works he overhears a conversation that catches his attention. "Wait, they are all dead? What was the cause? Oh no... This has to be the worst attack since 9/11." Mike stops what he is doing for a moment and hears a second voice: "Yep, all 2,000 passengers and 100 crew. The cause was some kind of nuclear detonation on the ship, and it was much too large to have been caused by the reactor." Mike's heart rate increases and he fills with dread as he speculates about what they could be talking about. Suddenly his AI Sam which is running on a computer on Earth establishes voice communications with Mike and says "You are going to want to hear this... The Angellica was destroyed by an explosion, the radiation alone was enough to kill everyone on board not to mention the blast, nobody could have survived that."
Mike's expression goes from worry to terror. He looks down at his robotic left hand remembering how he got it. "They were after me..." he mutters, "They still want me dead."
This was all my fault.
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Also known as MarsMatter.
Diagnosed with Asperger's, ADD, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder in 2004.
In denial that it was a problem until early 2016.
Deviant Art