STATION 24501, 2947

Amelia tried to imagine what the Earth would have looked like without the ring around it. She stared for a long time at the ringed planet in the distance. Some of the folks who worked alongside Amelia claimed that there was a time, long ago, when all of humanity fit on the planet alone. A time before the ring was built. Amelia knew that it must have been true, humanity had to have started small, but it seemed impossible now that the tiny planet could have fit all people. Earth had long since been outgrown by its people. The ring had been there for hundreds of years, not a soul was around who remembered a time before it. Amelia sighed and sat down on the edge of the platform. She let her legs dangle over the open space below. The Earth itself was bright, but the ring that surrounded it was much brighter. Amelia had never been to the Ring herself, but she had sometimes heard stories from travelers and traders when they stopped by the mining station. They would say that the whole Ring was a massive city, bright and brilliant. A few of the travelers, when they had been drinking in the tavern, had promised to bring Amelia someday, but unsurprisingly, they never came back. She never expected these travelers to come back and whisk her away to a new life in the Ring anyway, she knew what she was. She was a poor mining girl, she would never be anything else, and she would die here. When she was younger she had dreamed of leaving mining station 24501 and going to the Ring, or maybe even to the planet’s surface. As she got older reality replaced fantasy and Amelia quickly learned that she would likely spend her whole life on the station. That was the life of those born on the mining stations. They were born, they worked, and they died- all in the same place. They all dreamed of better lives elsewhere, but most didn’t earn enough to make ends meet her, much less enough to go to the Ring. Sighing again, Amelia leaned back, propping herself up on an elbow. It wasn’t all bad, she thought as she glanced at the metal tree to her right. She had made it herself out of scrap and covered it in colored lights. That was one of the things that fascinated her about the Ring and Earth itself, their holidays, especially Christmas. Many of those who visited mining station 24501 talked about christmas, and some even had picture that they would share. Amelia found it enchanting. A family, gathered around a tree, giving eachother gifts. And the snow! The ground covered with a layer of white, it was always so beautiful. Amelia, oh course had never seen a real tree, or seen real snow. She had also made herself some gifts from scrap that she had collected. Amelia knew that it was sort of silly, but it made her happy. She had never had a real family to give gifts to. She sighed deeply again, turning back to look at Earth. She stared at the planet with its giant ring, imagining what it would be like to celebrate down there.

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