by R. W. Jones
Melvin Parks was a simple man until he decided to get himself blown up by his foolishness. Now, crippled and alone in an aging world, the last people he'd ever thought of came knocking on his door. They offered him a simple deal: join the Hegemony workforce, and they would throw him into a new life. He has to work hard and keep his nose clean; no more experiments with technology he doesn't understand. Instead, they'll give him the knowledge and the ability to tinker. Whatever his heart desires. The only catch is that the Hegemony already owns Earth, and the only job openings that are vacant are working with the Irongrip Consortium, an extreme tech faction within the Hegemony that plays by its own rules.Now he gets to start at the lowest spot of the worker ladder. A scrapper, a person who strips ships for parts so the Hegemony can restock its ever-dwindling supply of shuttles. After being alone for so long and thrust into a new working environment. Can Melvin keep up with the ever-growing demands of the universe at large? Or better yet, will he stick to his motto of not fishing off the company pier? The heart is a fickle thing, and Melvin is tired of being alone.
