Tether Space Program

WELCOME TO THE RETRIEVAL DIVISION Following the incident, and in consideration of charges the company has agreed not to discuss, you have been released into the custody of the Retrieval Division. Bail has been posted by the company, on the company's terms, at the company's rates. You will work it off. Your duties are simple. Objects of value drift near the rift. You will fly out, take hold of them, and bring them back by way of the company tether, which the company provides, maintains, and counts. The tether is a condition of release. Removal of the tether is escape, and escape is expensive. THE WORK Each shift is a timed excursion into the field. Momentum is yours to keep: every boost replaces your motion entirely, and speed is never taken from you, only billed. Chain retrievals to multiply their value. Strike for distant orbs and ride the borrowed speed. Return what you catch before the clock runs out, or file the appropriate regret. The field is not empty. Debris accumulates. Meteor activity is advised. Celestial bodies transit. Stellar weather occurs. The company logs all of it, issues the appropriate memo, and pays hazard rates it considers generous. THE PAPERWORK Every shift ends at your desk. Your retrievals are itemized. Your bonuses are revealed. Your deductions are applied. The payslip is thorough, animated, and legally binding. Watch your gross become your net in real time. Between shifts, the standing board posts the day's offers. Take the jobs you like. The ones you skip will wait, or will not. Days pass. The balance remembers. THE REQUISITION BOARD Wages may be exchanged for capability. File a requisition and the company will, reluctantly, improve you. Hundreds of line items across the board: anchored strike multipliers for hitting distant orbs harder, wider chain windows, extra boost charges, faster recharge under duress, hazard-specific armor, per-orb bonus clauses, and instruments the company had previously not mentioned. Every node is a one-time purchase. Every purchase comes out of the same balance you are trying to pay down. The company finds this arrangement elegant. CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT - A first-person retrieval job: fly, tether, collect, get billed. - Momentum-forever movement with an anchored boost for closing distance fast. - Chain retrievals into multipliers; style is compensated at the standard reluctance. - Itemized end-of-shift payslips. The reveal is animated. The deductions are not optional. - A standing board of daily offers across five difficulty grades, from routine collection to conditions the company declines to specify. - A large requisition board of one-time upgrades bought with earned wages. - Hazard advisories: debris, meteor activity, celestial transits, polarity, stellar weather. Each arrives as a memo. Each memo is technically accurate. - A calendar that advances whether or not you do well. FINE PRINT This agreement supersedes all prior freedoms. By downloading, the released acknowledges the incident occurred, whatever it was. The employee floats. The company bills. The tether keeps the two of us together.