Magnum Blue awoke from their periodic hibernation period. It was a bit fortunate that no customers arrived during said period, otherwise they would have been irate at their disturbed sleep. They examined their surroundings and found the shop to be relatively untouched during their sleep. It brought a smile on their face.

They stretched their six legs as they rose from the bed they had built behind the counter. Magnum Blue was some sort of giant scorpion with a metallic blue carapace and a pair of large articulate claws. Their tail curled up behind them, armed with a deadly stinger ready to inject a variety of chemicals. It was in full view to anyone who entered the store, and the scorpion wasn't afraid to use it on any unruly customer.

Magnum Blue viewed themself on the reflective surfaces of the fridges of the store. They made sure that their beautiful carapace was gleaming in the light and that their golden eyes were as clear as possible to ensure good vision during their work. They armed their stinger with a mild paralytic chemical of their choice before they turned their attention to the rest of the store.

The convenience store was deserted as usual. What a surprise. It's been the usual state of the store for many years now. Only on a handful of days did the Glowing Mountain convenience store get any number of customers, and they can appear at any hour of the day. But that's no excuse for a poor work ethic.

The scorpion roved the store for any discrepancies. They restocked empty shelves and cleaned out expired product. They healed any cracks that had appeared in the concrete and glass. There was a variety of imported products on sale on the shelves: from cereals and soaps to multitools and all-purpose lubricants. They had exciting names too like Shekel Flakes, Kohrne Pups, and Beaker Buds. Local products however were scarce on the shelves. There weren't any local civilizations on this system for them to acquire stock. Not anymore.

The sensor detected their presence and the door automatically slid open. A protective forcefield had prevented the gases from within the store from simply being thrown into the depths of space. Magnum Blue looked into the yard before their shop. Before them was a parking lot. Large rectangles were painted into the concrete, indicating the spaces reserved for the spacecrafts. A spacecraft was space-intensive, taking the space normally reserved for twenty cars. Magnum Blue couldn't complain; even if their sixty-space car park could now only hold three vehicles, it's not like they're still getting cars driving here. Besides, any crew that wished to shop could park on nearby asteroids.

Magnum Blue stepped through the forcefield with no protection whatsoever. The forcefield passing through their carapace tingled, but nonetheless harmless. They didn't experience any ill effects of the vacuum. The scorpion was a hardy creature that needed almost nothing to survive.

Then, they began their cleanup work on the parking lot. There were many craters on the concrete, from the stray micrometeorites to pilots with poor parking skills. They filled them in one by one until the lot had become pristine and flat. They turned to the shop and saw that its walls suffered a similar fate to the ground. The walls were cracked and cratered, and the glowing sign that had once announced the name of the store had gone dark. Magnum Blue fixed all of them, filling the craters and healing the cracks and repairing the broken electronics within the glowing sign.

Now that the maintenance of their location had been done, it was now time to wait. The convenience store had been built in a very inconvenient location. Once upon a time, this place had been a busy avenue where cars and trucks often passed by and stopped at a regularity, but now it was just a floating asteroid among many in the void of space.

They looked up the non-existent sky and watched the asteroids spin and rotate. They could remember a time when all of them were together. In the center of the asteroid field once floated the planet in which they were born. Their creators and their customers lived and bought upon the surface of the world until some column of light sought the end of their happiness in a flash that shattered the world. It was rather fortunate for them to be flung to space rather harmlessly. They had to fend against some unruly customers in the aftermath. Those damned looters became the death of their partner, Opus Magenta.

Magnum Blue looked at a grave that they had built many years ago. Buried beneath the rocky surface was the body of their late partner, Opus Magenta. They missed them. They were partners in maintaining the store. Magnum Blue manned the counter and Opus Magenta stocked the shelves. They were an inseparable duo, but they guess that fate would find a way to cleave in twain things thought inseparable. It was rather lonely on the asteroid (now registered as the Glowing Mountain on the galactic registry).

They lamented the loss of all the industries upon the surface of that world. Now they're lacking a supply of very local goods that could no longer be restocked. At least they struck some deals with foreign companies to supply them with merchandise that they desperately needed restocked. They lost almost all of the variety of brands that they used to sell here.

As Magnum Blue continued to watch the asteroids placidly drift, they saw a cruiser approach the ship. Those kinds of spaceships were usually too large to fit inside the store's parking lot that they usually just parked themselves on a nearby asteroid and send an errands-person in a dinghy to shop. Magnum Blue took this as a signal to return inside.

At the moment that they had made themself comfortable behind the counter, the door slid open to let an alien customer enter. The alien wore a protective spacesuit that made it hard to determine the species, gender, and nationality of said alien. The alien then began to browse among the merchandise.

They came to the counter carrying a pack of goborell cigarettes, five bars of Hifford imitation chocolate, and a box of ter'lk tea. Magnum Blue obliged and gently scanned the items.

"That would be 243 kroner," Magnum Blue announced.

The alien seemed surprised by this. "I didn't know you accepted Mirus Sector standard currency," they said before counting their money.

"We also accept digital payment," the scorpion added.

The alien looked up at this statement. They grumbled as they put away their numerous bills and coins, and instead produced a green-blue plastic card. Magnum Blue accepted this card and swiped it through a card scanner. After a moment, the transaction was accepted and merchandise were successfully purchased. They then handed the purchased products to the alien alongside their printed receipt and credit card.

"Come back soon," Magnum Blue bade them.

However, instead of leaving immediately, the alien leaned onto the counter and began to engage Magnum Blue in small talk.

"So, Magnum Blue," the alien began. "I heard that you were there when planet Nion'dota-O7 was exploded. May I interview about the details of the event?"

The scorpion thought about it for a second before obliging with a "Sure."

The alien produced a tablet from somewhere and prepared to note down their answers. As soon as they were ready, they asked their first question: "What did your people call the planet?"

"Ralleth."

"Does that have some significant meaning?"

"Ralleth means 'of Ralle'. Ralle is the deity of the earthworks and smithing."

The alien asked many questions to Magnum Blue, and they answered them as politely and truthfully as possible. They were mostly innocuous questions about the history and culture of the planet. There were many questions they managed to clear up, but there were just as many questions they were unable to answer.

Soon, the alien had run of questions. They put away their tablet. They were satisfied with the answers. They thanked the giant scorpion for their answers and then left. Though the alien had left the shop and asteroid, the cruiser from which the alien had unboarded still drifted among the ruined asteroid field. They were still intent on learning more about the former planet. The experiences of one person could only open a window of the past so wide.

Their leave from the convenience store had been of little fanfare, but their questioning had inspired something in the scorpion. A warmth, an imperceptible warmth arose within Magnum Blue. Their golden pondering eyes betrayed the emotions roiling below. Magnum Blue had remembered something very important.

Magnum Blue fled into the stock room and searched for something very important. There, hidden beneath the shelves was a small wooden box. Opening it, Magnum Blue little toys and trinkets. Company policy didn't allow them to have any stuff, so he and Opus Magenta had to hide them where inspectors rarely looked.

Among the trinkets were instruction manuals, leaflets, and music discs. Though they appeared to be some sort of cheap items, they were invaluable to Magnum Blue and Opus Magenta. Borrowing an old disc player and a pair of headphones, Magnum Blue listened to one of their favorite artists, Bombastic Green. Bombastic Green was rather controversial when they were still operating. Their tunes were revolutionary, and their stances contentious.

Magnum Blue opened up their copy of the instruction manual to the operation of Scorpio units and reviewed their knowledge about the subject. They read as the metal song grinded in their ears.