You land a job right out of university at Nanotrasen Interstellar, the largest megacorp this side of the Spinward periphery. Nothing glamorous. Just another cog in a machine too big to see the edges of. But it’s a start.
You rent a cramped apartment on a station you can barely afford, telling yourself the spesos will come. You find a partner because that’s what people do when they’re young and optimistic and still believe in upward mobility.
You work your tails off. You claw your way out of the hole. And just when things finally feel stable, copacetic even, you move somewhere better.
And suddenly you’re broke again. So you work harder. Longer hours. Bigger responsibilities. Bigger paychecks. And with every raise, you become aware of the raises above you.
It’s a different kind of broke now - leveraged. The kind of broke that comes with a hover-car, a mortgage, and a sense that you’re too invested to stop.
Somewhere along the way, the things you cared about when you started… Blur. You’re moving too fast to ask yourself the questions that matter.
When is it enough?
What’s the point of all this?
And by the time you think to ask, you’re already someone else. Someone the company trusts. Someone the company needs. Someone who knows the rules well enough to enforce them when corporate continuity demands it. That’s how a normal person land an executive position at Nanotrasen. Not with a snap, but with a lifetime of small, reasonable decisions that lead to a place where reason no longer matters.
