Venus Arrival

Summary

An undercover Space Federation agent stationed on Venus under the guise of a mining operation is tasked with uncovering the perpetrators behind Urite crystal shipment hijacks, with suspicion falling on the Helios Corporation.

Abstract

The narrative describes an intelligence-gathering mission on Venus, where an agent of the Space Federation, embedded within the Pegasus Mining Company, is investigating the thefts of Urite crystal shipments. The agent reflects on the harsh environmental conditions of Venus, the challenges of the mission, and the dual nature of their work, which involves both mining operations and espionage. The agent's primary objective is to identify the individuals responsible for the hijacks, with the Helios Corporation being the prime suspect. The mission involves navigating the complexities of spycraft within the Helios-owned entertainment zone, which, while not physically dangerous, caters to morally ambiguous adult entertainment.

Opinions

The author equates the term "excavation" with "mining" or "dig," suggesting a more sophisticated connotation to the former.
There is skepticism about the general awareness of the true, clandestine nature of the mining projects among civilians and non-commissioned personnel.
The author expresses a personal appreciation for the job's intrigue and complexity, indicating a fondness for the challenges of espionage.
The use of Zanitol + Brannix as a truth serum is mentioned, implying a reliance on chemical means for intelligence extraction.
The Helios Entertainment Zone is described as an "adult amusement park," hinting at a disapproval or unease with the type of entertainment provided there.

The Excavation and Intelligence Gathering Mission

I’ve always thought the term excavation was just a bougie way of saying “mining” or “dig”. No matter the name, I seem to get just as tired and dirty on any project that involves moving megatons of the pedosphere around. Regardless of the term used to describe digging up stuff, I guess what matters most is if you know what you’re looking for.

While entering Venus’s dense atmospheric layer my mind drifted back to the question of the legitimacy of our mining projects. I can’t help but wonder what civilians and other non-commissioned personnel associated with these digging projects know about the true nature of our clandestine missions. My guess is that the bad guys know as much about us as we do about them even if they don’t let on.

Venus suffers from facing the sun for nearly 177 earth days. Its slow rotation contributes to its scorched barren landscape, that — combined with it’s thick ghastly cloud cover — present an uninhabitable temperature of 460+ °C. Excavation projects are scheduled while the dig location is on the dark side of the planet, but this only presents slightly better conditions, and of course you’re always in the dark.

Quarters on Venus are 0.5km underground where the temperature is artificially managed. It would be nice if the heavy equipment used for surface excavations neared the level of comfort of the underground quarters, but I guess you can’t have everything.

My team has been operating under the Pegasus Mining Company cover for 11 years. It’s not a bad gig and it does pay handsomely. If I wasn’t already a commissioned Space Federation agent, I would probably be working this sort of job because of the travel and amazing cosmic scenery. The Pegasus Mining Company takes on contracted excavations for rare ores found on various planets in our solar system with some of the contract work actually ordered by the Space Federation. This current mining project is for an ore used to harden interplanetary ship exoskeletons.

Under the guise and cover of this mining project, my primary objective is to discover who’s behind the scourge of Urite crystal shipment hijacks. All indicators point to the Helios Corporation that also has claims on Venus for commercial digging. I just have to figure out who to extract information from, and the Helios owned entertainment zone is a good place to start.

Spy vs spy is tricky business but I seem to have a penchant for the intrigue and complexity, guess that’s why I love my job. The tricky part is knowing that any agent worth their salt has any number of counter measures for thwarting basic intel extraction techniques. But the best agents find an angle to offset the balance of known avoidance tech and there in lies the fun.

A few milliliters of Zanitol + Brannix in the blood stream normally do the trick of providing clarity and unconscious rambling, but it’s the who and how (target and application) that make for a good spy.

Entering the Helios owned Entertainment Zone is like going to an adult amusement park, with an emphasis on “Adult.” Entertainment is subjective to each persons relative point of view, and on Venus I prefer to call it dark entertainment. The Helios Entertainment Zone is not a dangerous place due to the return home safe ordinances put in place 20 or so years ago, but it’s definitely not a place to write home to Mom about.