Free In Perpetuity by Ellis Morning Page B

and never would. He arrived at the Information Science pod within minutes, but had to pause to catch his breath before proceeding to the door labeled MAIN DESK.
    The still of colony night evaporated as soon as the door slid open. Nazari took one step inside before halting with confusion. Before him spread a maze of papers, books stacked ankle- to eye-height, half-packed storage containers, and torn posters left to spill wherever the meager gravity took them. He heard the faint, persistent whirring of a herd of printers, deep in the back of the room.
    “Hello?” Nazari called.
    A head of thinning ginger hair shot up from behind one of the shorter book piles. It belonged to Dr. Swain, the colony’s chief information scientist. “Ah, yes. Dr. Nazari.” Swain deposited a thermos atop the stack, and navigated the labyrinth toward his visitor.
    The younger man knew everyone in the colony, but hadn’t had much chance to acquaint himself with Swain before. “Something keeping you up this evening?”
    Even in reduced gravity, Dr. Swain barely reached Nazari’s shoulder in height. He offered Nazari a weather-worn hand and a genuine, if harrowed, smile. “Please, pardon the mess. I’m afraid my office is starting to look the way my brain must.” He tugged at his collar.
    “It’s no problem,” Nazari dismissed, shaking firmly. He didn’t miss the dodge, but didn’t press either. “I’m sorry, I know it’s late.”
    “Yes, well, good science rarely adheres to a schedule. Your, uh, your timing’s very good, actually. What can I help you find?”
    “Information on meteor impacts near Oceanus Procellarum,” Nazari explained. “I know that’s not very specific, but I’ll be able to refine it soon.”
    “Ah, yes, I’m sure. New project?”
    “Side project.”
    “How interesting. Well, even if I don’t have what you’re looking for, I can get it.” Swain retreated through the maze, reclaiming his thermos en route and running a hand over his scalp. “Want to wait here while I check? Not out there, I mean. Here, let me clear off a chair. Come on back— unless you were planning to be elsewhere, that is. This could be a long wait. Did you want any coffee?”
    Nazari quirked an eyebrow. “Are you sure this isn’t a bad time?”
    “No!” Swain called back. “No, not at all. Make yourself comfortable.”
    Nazari was anything but comfortable as he inched through the mess. Books, magazines, pictures of family, juggling balls, fictional starship models, tin wind-up robots… and the chaos bloomed even more colorfully around Swain’s desk. His nerves rivaled his curiosity, but he felt he should mind his own business.
    He lowered himself into the chair that had been cleared for him. Swain sat at his desk, squinting at his terminal. A coffee maker with a full carafe waited on a ledge behind him.
    “I don’t know about you,” Swain said, keeping his eyes on the screen, “but I do all my best thinking at night. Here, the sky always looks like night. I can’t tell you how grateful I’ve been for it.”
    Nazari chuckled. “I admit, I miss sunny days. Real sunny days, with light scattering through an atmosphere?”
    “Well, give the chemists another few centuries. They might figure out how to keep an atmosphere from running away,” Swain replied. “Though, I doubt it. Just easier to keep it caged… like everything too good to share.” Emotion crept into Swain’s voice, but he dismissed it and plowed on. “I’m finding plenty I can print out for you.”
    “You can just email—”
    “Printing’s easier at this point, believe it or not.” Swain’s eyes finally found Nazari’s, while he tilted his head toward the source of constant noise. “It’ll be a bit of a wait, though. I’d hate to make you sit here.”
    “I don’t mind,” Nazari said.
    “You will in another few hours.”
    Nazari frowned. “That’s some print job.”
    “Don’t I know it.” Swain smiled, but the expression was as