Reunion

Abstract

Smooth, desolate mounds stood against the stark black of the sky. Piles of debris, shattered rock and fractured boulder rested uncomfortably on crater rims, leftovers from a more violent past. Stones baked in the blazing sunlight and shimmered with a patina of frozen gases in the shadows. The only sign of life was a metallic framework protruding from a heap of discarded talus. It was good to be home. Horf had not yet visited the inhabited interior of asteroid Vesta. There was no time; he was on a mission. He went straight from the staging sector to the Topside Bar on the comm center level where his friends awaited. It was a party, wasn’t it? Welcome home for the wayward son? Celebration for the traveling friend? He hated to take advantage, but this was important business.