Mellow Mercury
Making our way around the solar system — flash fiction style!
Greetings, awesome humans!
A song I was listening to in the car + weekend panels at Capclave + more that I’ll discuss later is responsible for today’s flash fiction piece…
Before I get to the story, of course I need to remind you of ALL THE THINGS.
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Links: Lunar Logic | Robot Galaxy Series | Final Orbit | Objective Reality
I get 75% or more of the initial ideas for stories while driving around in my car. That’s where today’s story started—and I knew it would deal with the planet Mercury. (details upon details in the Beyond… section below)
And then, because the Universe seems to be paying attention, I came across a link to a little video about the European Space Agency (ESA)’s BepiColumbo mission. This video is a composite of several black-and-white images taken by BebiColumbo on it’s recent gravity-assist fly-by of the closest planet to the Sun:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2024/09/BepiColombo_s_fourth_Mercury_flyby_the_movie
Check it out. It only takes a minute.
I’ll be honest, up until I did some research, I knew very little about this planet. Luckily, NASA knows a lot more thanks to the Mariner and MESSENGER missions.
Mariner, launched in 1973, is older than me! And according to NASA’s website, it had so many “firsts” for a spacecraft:
First spacecraft sent to study Mercury
First spacecraft to use the gravity of one planet (in this case, Venus) to reach another
First spacecraft to return data on a long-period comet
First mission to explore two planets (Mercury and Venus) during a single mission
First spacecraft to use a gravity assist to change its flight path
The first spacecraft to return to its target after an initial encounter
First probe to use the solar wind as a major means of spacecraft orientation during flight
MESSENGER… as a mission that launched in 2003 and reached it’s destination in 2011… well, people who know me might be surprised that I was completely disengaged when it came to news about this mission. I’m kinda sad about that… until I remember that I guess I can’t know EVERYTHING.
2003 was a difficult year and I wasn’t in the aerospace industry. In late 2002, I had quit to open a retail paint-your-own pottery studio! I was *that* burned out. So in 2003, it was like I was completely decompressing from all things aerospace. (Except I was very aware of the Columbia space shuttle disaster.)
2011 was a difficult year for a different reason. I had been back in the aerospace industry since 2004. But in March, when MESSENGER became the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, I was a working mom to an 8-month-old — with some challenging health issues. And a month later I found out my dad had Stage VI cancer and that tells the story of the rest of my 2011.
I don’t enjoy writing about it much because I don’t want to depress anyone!
And, thanks to the magic of the internet, the moment I’m ready to dive in and learn about these missions that I didn’t catch at the time, I can.
In fact, I’m about to download and read more about missions I didn’t know a lot about:
There’s even two missions on the cover of that publication I’ve never heard of! (I’ll leave it to you to guess which two) (PS: Okay, I did download the nearly 400-page document! I might just skim/use this as a reference. Two things I noticed: 1) My first mission, ACE, is in there. 2) It’s not limited to NASA/US missions, but all deep space missions.)
On to today’s flash fiction story. Right about here, I usually include the following note:
[Note: Quick reminder about “flash fiction.” While there is no official legal definition of “flash fiction,” it’s generally accepted that flash fiction has a word count of up to 1500 words. However, to make this an interesting challenge, I’ve told myself that these stories will be no more than 1000 words.]
I broke my own challenge here (what? It’s my rules, I made them up, I can break them if I want). Today’s story is 1200 words. That’s down from my original version which was 1350. Believe me, I angsted over this… I don’t break my own rules lightly. But after going over it, taking out words here and there and tightening it up, I got to a point where I thought that was truly the best I could do. Taking out more would truly take away from the story…
So, 1200 words. Deal with me and my rule-breaking ways! :)
If you want to know even more about how this story came from a song I heard in my car, that’s all in the “Beyond…” section for paid subscribers below. (Remember that paid subscribers also get to suggest elements and get their name used in a future story!)
Mellow Mercury
"You were at the spa on Mercury?" my mouth might have gaped open a little. When Justin Fuentes contacted me a week ago, to let me know he was headed here, I hadn't asked where he was coming from.
Of course, that's because he’d sent a message and it wasn't a live chat. Live chats only happened with people who were located on the same station as you. They probably happened if you lived on the same planet as well. It had been so long since I'd left Earth. Details like that slipped my mind.
The minute I had accumulated all the education credits necessary, I joined the Vanguard Science Authority—the VSA—with my mother's blessing. After all, she had her hands full with my younger sister who was approaching the age when navigating the myriads of options for ed credits began.
The VSA led me here, to Resnik Station at L4. And I just realized that's not specific enough since I could mean any of the L4s. I read that someone had once proposed a different nomenclature for the Lagrange points. Like simply put two letters that designated which point one was talking about.
I'm talking about boring old Sun-Earth L4. So, kinda close to home, but far enough away that it still took a minute and a half or so for messages to transmit. Which meant I haven't had a live chat with my mother or anyone else on Earth in a few years.
But I had a vague notion of where my friends had scattered to. Most stayed on Earth. A handful left. I hadn't completely kept up with Justin, but that's not entirely my fault. After getting his message, I checked our virtual grid, and he’d hardly posted either.
"It's an amazing place," Justin said, when we were seated at a table in the mess. "You should go when you get a chance."
Justin’s suggestion hung in the air for a moment longer than I liked, as if the suggestion of me going to Mercury was something I could actually entertain. A spa? On Mercury? Me? The VSA doesn’t pay me that well, nor hand out luxurious vacation packages.
"I'll think about it," I said, knowing full well it was a lie. Not really a lie, I would think about it. The lie was the implied ‘maybe I could actually go’ part.
Mercury wasn't only far—it hosted a different class of people, with a different way of life. A life where one didn't sign up for shifts monitoring data streams and didn't have to file reports on solar wind velocity or micrometeoroid activity.
Justin didn't respond for a few beats, and I wondered if he sensed my hesitation. It was a long pause, long enough for me to imagine that he might've grasped the distance between us. Not just in kilometers, but in the choices we'd made.
"Do you want to know what it's like there?" Justin leaned in. That was weird. It felt a little creepy the way he asked. As if he’d learned some secret and was dying to tell me. But in fact, that was what he was doing. Justin had grown up in the same community as me, coming from the same background. He was never going to get the kind of ed credits that could land you any position with the VSA or any other science corp. Instead, he was on a track for the diplomatic life, and as far as I kept up with him or anyone from back home, I knew he'd been working with the Interplanetary Concord—the first attempt to not simply expand, but to wholesale revoke and replace the Outer Space Treaty, in more than 100 years.
“Elena? I asked if you wanted to know what it's like there?" Justin leaned in further. There was an odd intensity in his voice. For a second, I wondered if he was baiting me somehow. But to what end? He obviously wanted to talk about his trip. And he was offering me a glimpse into a place I'd never see for myself.
"Fine. What's it like at a spa on Mercury?"
"It's not just any spa," Justin said, lowering his voice like he was sharing information no one else should here. "It's at Picasso Crater. And it's only open during Mercury's night."
"Picasso Crater? Never heard of it." Frankly, I was expecting him to say 'Caloris Basin' which was the largest impact crater on Mercury, and if I'm being truly honest, the only one I could have named before now.
Justin smiled, patently enjoying the moment. "Of course you haven't. I hadn't either. But then again, I hadn't studied much about the geology of the planets... that was always more your thing, right?"
I smiled awkwardly; my cheeks flushed for a minute. I never assumed anyone remembered anything about me.
"Why only open at night?" I said, deflecting the attention. I probably could’ve guessed the answer, but Justin clearly wanted to talk.
"Because during its day, the surface of Mercury can reach more than 400 degrees. At night, it drops to minus 170 or so, but they've got energy storage systems to survive the night—like they have on the Moon and in deep space. Mercury is more about surviving the daytime and while the facility does, they take all the stuff away and bring it back each time. Only the structure needs to survive."
Before I could ask a question, Justin continued. "They've engineered the place perfectly. Whatever absorbs all the heat during the daytime is redistributing it through the walls. It feels like you're in a luxurious bath, surrounded by stars. Most of the facility is built into the side of a crater, but there's this observation room that's nearly all see-through. When you're in there, it almost feels like you're surrounded by stars. They don’t use artificial grav either, so with the low-G, it's like you're floating in space."
I stared at Justin for a long moment, trying to imagine it. The spa, the stars, the semi-weightlessness. It sounded... peaceful. So far removed from the constant grind of station life and the routines I had settled into. But the thought of it—the fragility of life in such a place surrounded by extremes—was unsettling. And yet, wasn't that the same everywhere? Here, too, we relied on the station's systems to keep us alive, and yet I had chosen this. I had chosen distance. I had chosen isolation.
"That sounds... incredible," I said, the words feeling strange in my mouth.
Justin nodded. "You should go, you know. Just for a few days. You might need it more than you think."
I opened my mouth to make an excuse but stopped. Maybe he was right. I couldn't remember the last time I spoke to my mother. And my friends? I hadn't attempted to reach out in…a long time. I had buried myself in work, thinking it would be enough. But now, with Justin standing here, I realized how much I had distanced myself—not just from Earth, but from everyone.
"Maybe," I said, forcing a smile. "Maybe I will."
For once, it didn't feel like a lie.
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My BIG Sci-Fi podcast co-hosts and I are done with in-between season content, finishing up with our final Super Fan interview with Jamey Wylie:
Season 7 starts tomorrow!
Beyond…
Have you been reading all the behind the scenes stuff? Today I write more about how Mellow Mercury came about and then… my Kickstarter is not dead!
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