The ice water tastes great. One of life's little pleasures. "Yeah, in my world, Mars was colonized and most people moved there after a big chunk of Earth was wiped out. See, there's this technology: space travel through a series of gates between planets or whatever that allow for hyper-speed travel, but the one between Earth and its moon exploded. So most people moved to Mars Colony at first, then established colonies on other planets. From Venus to Neptune, planets and moons, asteroids. Whatever's inhabitable."

He sets the water down, then stands again. "Back to it, huh. Looks like we might even get it done. Want to hand me that box of nails over there?"