{"id":60113,"date":"2026-06-03T20:03:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T12:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/?p=60113"},"modified":"2026-06-03T20:37:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T12:37:05","slug":"chapter-2-the-relativity-discount-the-interstellar-gas-fee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-2-the-relativity-discount-the-interstellar-gas-fee\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 2: The Relativity Discount &#8211; The Interstellar Gas Fee"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Interstellar-Gas-Fee-Chapter-2-The-Relativity-Discount-500x333.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-60114\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Interstellar-Gas-Fee-Chapter-2-The-Relativity-Discount-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Interstellar-Gas-Fee-Chapter-2-The-Relativity-Discount-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Interstellar-Gas-Fee-Chapter-2-The-Relativity-Discount-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Interstellar-Gas-Fee-Chapter-2-The-Relativity-Discount.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Scene 1: Aboard the Coreward Miner \u2013 Kaito\u2019s \u201cMorning\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>&nbsp;did not have a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito had learned to stop wanting one. When your ship orbited a neutron star at a distance that turned physics into a suggestion, the concept of \u201cday\u201d became as meaningless as \u201cnorth\u201d or \u201cfair.\u201d The star itself\u2014GRB-7, a dead core spinning six hundred times per second\u2014bathed the&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>&nbsp;in a radiation glow that shifted from X-ray to gamma to visible blue and back again in patterns too fast for human eyes to track. The ship\u2019s hull shimmered with Cherenkov light, a permanent aurora of impossible colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito woke from his seventy-two-hour sleep cycle to the sound of his alarm\u2014a gentle chime that increased in pitch until he slapped the control panel. His body felt heavy, not from gravity (the&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>&nbsp;spun for artificial gravity, a modest 0.8g), but from the sheer&nbsp;<em>age<\/em>&nbsp;of being awake. Seventy-two hours of sleep meant he would be conscious for the next ninety-six. That was the schedule. Sleep long, work long, repeat. Anything else would cost too much subjective time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was sixteen years old. He had been sixteen for a very long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMorning, Kaito,\u201d said the ship\u2019s AI, a cheerful voice named Vesper that he had programmed himself when he was twelve. \u201cYou have four hundred and twelve new transactions in your mempool. Also, your hair is a disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito ran a hand through his tangled black hair and grinned despite himself. \u201cThanks, Vesper. Priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He swung his legs out of the sleeping pod and floated for a moment before the spin gravity caught him. The&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>&nbsp;was a small ship\u2014a mining vessel designed for a crew of six, currently crewed by exactly one sixteen-year-old and a very talkative AI. The original crew had been his parents and three other miners, but relativistic time had done what accidents and disease could not: it had separated them. His parents had taken a supply run to the outer system eight years ago (Kaito\u2019s time). By the time they returned, he would be in his thirties. They would be the same age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He did not think about this often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He pulled on a jumpsuit, zipped it to his chin, and made his way to the bridge. The&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>\u2019s bridge was a single room wrapped around the ship\u2019s quantum node\u2014a stack of processors that would have filled a building on Earth, crammed into a space the size of a closet. The neutron star\u2019s gravitational field provided nearly infinite free energy for computation. GRB-7 was a natural battery, spinning at 600 Hz, its magnetic field stripping electrons from the vacuum and flinging them into the&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>\u2019s collectors. The node processed more transactions per second than the entire inner solar system combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito sat in his chair\u2014a worn mesh thing that had molded to his body over years\u2014and activated the main display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cStatus,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vesper\u2019s voice came from everywhere and nowhere. \u201cNode uptime: ninety-seven percent. Validation queue: four hundred and twelve transactions pending. Average fee: 0.8 credits. Current time-cost: 1 hour subjective per 0.3 seconds processing. Your ask price remains at 12.0 credits minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito nodded. Twelve credits was his price. Not because he was greedy\u2014though he didn\u2019t mind profit\u2014but because every transaction he validated cost him an hour of his life. Literally. The time dilation factor around GRB-7 was extreme: for every 0.3 seconds of processing time (the average for a standard transaction), Kaito experienced one full hour of subjective time. The node\u2019s processors were fast, but Kaito\u2019s biology was not. He had to sit there, watch the validation happen, monitor the node\u2019s performance, and stay alert for errors. An hour of his irreplaceable youth, per transaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So yes. Twelve credits. Take it or leave it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShow me the mempool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The display bloomed into a swirling nebula of colored dots\u2014each one a transaction waiting for validation. The visualization was similar to what Juno saw on the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>, but with one crucial difference: the colors were shifted toward the red end of the spectrum. Not because of a display setting, but because the light from distant ships was gravitationally redshifted before it reached the&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>. Kaito had learned to read redshift like other people read facial expressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFilter by fee,\u201d he said. \u201cAscending.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The mempool reorganized. The smallest fees drifted to the top. Kaito scrolled past dozens of micro-transactions\u2014ships trading a few kilograms of water, stations sending status pings, colonists sharing cat videos (some things never changed). The fees were laughable: 0.01 credits, 0.005, even a 0.001 transaction from someone who clearly didn\u2019t understand how markets worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then he saw it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A transaction with a fee of 1.5 credits. Blue bubble, average size. Sender:&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>. Recipient:&nbsp;<em>Helios Express<\/em>. Five hundred tons of helium-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito\u2019s finger hovered over the bubble. \u201cWhen did this arrive?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTimestamp: 72 hours, 14 minutes ago, shipboard time,\u201d Vesper said. \u201cRelative to the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>\u2019s reference frame, it was sent approximately eight hours ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito did the math. Eight hours on the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>&nbsp;meant seventy-two hours here. The dilation factor was roughly nine-to-one\u2014not the highest he\u2019d seen, but enough to turn a fresh emergency into ancient history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShow me the transaction details.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bubble expanded. Kaito read the metadata: the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>\u2019s cryptographic signature, the fuel quantity, the price, the urgency flag (set to medium\u2014not critical, but not casual). And then he saw the timestamp of the fuel itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*Helium-3 harvested: 42 years, 3 months ago (Ceres Station time).*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He blinked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cVesper, when was I born?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou were born 42 years, 3 months ago, shipboard time, approximately. Why?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito stared at the screen. The fuel on that tanker had been harvested the same year he was born. The&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>&nbsp;was buying fuel that had been waiting in space for his entire life. And Juno\u2014whoever she was\u2014was treating this like an emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To her, it&nbsp;<em>was<\/em>&nbsp;an emergency. Her ship needed fuel&nbsp;<em>now<\/em>. But to Kaito, the fuel was archaeology. A relic from a time before he could walk. The urgency flag might as well have been written in a dead language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He leaned back in his chair. \u201cThis is why I hate relativistic economics,\u201d he muttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou say that every time,\u201d Vesper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBecause it\u2019s true every time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Scene 2: The Incoming Transaction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito didn\u2019t dismiss the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>\u2019s transaction immediately. That would have been unprofessional. Instead, he added it to a \u201cmaybe\u201d pile and continued scanning the mempool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Four hundred and twelve transactions. Most of them were routine\u2014ships refueling, stations trading cargo, the usual interstellar commerce that kept the Beacon humming. But one transaction dominated the mempool like a planet dominating a star system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Drifter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito had seen the Drifter\u2019s distress signal before. Everyone had. It had been floating through the network for years, a low-fee plea for help from a ship that should have died a decade ago. But here, in the&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>\u2019s mempool, the Drifter\u2019s transaction looked different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cVesper, highlight the Drifter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The red bubble swelled to fill a quarter of the display. Its fee was 0.049 credits\u2014barely a rounding error. But its urgency flag was set to CRITICAL, and attached to the transaction was a human-readable message:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*\u201cReactor failing. Mark-IV fusion core. Need schematics and repair instructions. Children aboard: 37. Hours remaining: unknown. Please.\u201d*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito read the message three times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhy is this still in the mempool?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBecause no validator has included it in a block,\u201d Vesper said. \u201cThe fee is too low to justify the time-cost for most nodes. However, several humanitarian-aligned validators in the Drifter\u2019s local spacetime region have been attempting to prioritize it. They are\u2026 inefficient.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cInefficient how?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTheir processing power is low. They are using emotional reasoning rather than economic logic. They want to help, but they lack the computational resources to validate the transaction quickly. As a result, they are clogging the mempool for everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito snorted. \u201cEmotional reasoning. That\u2019s a polite way of saying they\u2019re stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI would not use that word.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI would.\u201d Kaito pulled up the Drifter\u2019s location data. The ship was drifting in interstellar space, far from any gravity well. Its time dilation factor was negligible\u2014close to 1:1 with Earth reference. That meant the Drifter experienced time at the same rate as most of the network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>&nbsp;did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHow long would it take me to validate the Drifter\u2019s transaction?\u201d Kaito asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cApproximately 0.2 seconds of processing time,\u201d Vesper said. \u201cWhich would cost you 40 minutes of subjective time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cForty minutes of my life. For 0.049 credits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito laughed. It was not a kind laugh. \u201cTell the Drifter I said \u2018good luck.\u2019 I\u2019m not working for less than minimum wage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He dismissed the red bubble and returned to the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>\u2019s transaction. His \u201cmaybe\u201d pile now had exactly one item.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cVesper, open a voice log. Label it \u2018Beacon AI \u2013 General Comment.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRecording.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito cleared his throat. \u201cThis is Kaito, node operator of&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>, GRB-7. I have a note for the network architects, if any of them are still alive. The current fee market assumes that all validators experience time at the same rate. That\u2019s wrong. My time is literally more expensive than a validator in flat spacetime. If someone wants me to validate their transaction, they need to pay a&nbsp;<em>relativity premium<\/em>. The Drifter\u2019s fee is an insult. The&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>\u2019s fee is better, but still below my ask. I\u2019m not a charity. I\u2019m a miner. Pay me what my time is worth, or find someone else. End log.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLog saved and broadcast to the Beacon\u2019s suggestion box,\u201d Vesper said. \u201cI have also taken the liberty of flagging it as \u2018spirited.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re the best, Vesper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Scene 3: The Drifter\u2019s Signal (Kaito\u2019s View)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito spent the next three hours (subjective) processing other transactions. The&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>\u2019s node was powerful enough to validate dozens of transactions simultaneously, but Kaito had learned to pace himself. Each validation cost him an hour of attention. If he pushed too hard, he made mistakes. Mistakes in blockchain validation could be catastrophic\u2014a single incorrectly verified transaction could fork the network, and a forked network was a network that trusted no one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He processed thirty-seven transactions in those three hours. Thirty-seven hours of his life, gone. The fees totaled 412 credits\u2014a good day\u2019s work by&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>&nbsp;standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>\u2019s transaction remained in his maybe pile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He couldn\u2019t stop thinking about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not because of the fee\u20141.5 credits was still below his ask. Not because of the fuel\u2014helium-3 was common, uninteresting. What bothered him was the&nbsp;<em>timing<\/em>. The transaction had been sent from the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>\u2019s reference frame eight hours ago. In that eight hours, the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>&nbsp;had moved closer to its rendezvous with the&nbsp;<em>Helios Express<\/em>. By now, Juno (if that was her real name) was probably desperate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And desperation, Kaito knew, was a market inefficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cVesper, show me the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>\u2019s transaction history. Last six months, their time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The display filled with a stream of data. The&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>&nbsp;was a generation ship\u2014slow, steady, predictable. Its economic patterns were almost boring: regular purchases of fuel, water, spare parts. Occasional sales of scientific data and manufactured goods. A stable, conservative budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But buried in the history were&nbsp;<em>future<\/em>&nbsp;transactions. Not actual future transactions\u2014the Beacon didn\u2019t allow time travel\u2014but&nbsp;<em>scheduled<\/em>&nbsp;transactions. The&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>&nbsp;had a calendar of planned purchases for the next five years of its journey. Each scheduled transaction had a timestamp, a counterparty, and an estimated fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito\u2019s eyes widened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cVesper, can I see those scheduled transactions from&nbsp;<em>my<\/em>&nbsp;reference frame?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYes. Because the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>&nbsp;is moving at a different relative velocity, its scheduled transactions appear to you as\u2026 historical. They are already determined. From your perspective, they have already happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBut from&nbsp;<em>their<\/em>&nbsp;perspective, they haven\u2019t happened yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCorrect. Causality is preserved because no information travels faster than light. However, the&nbsp;<em>data<\/em>&nbsp;about the scheduled transactions is available to you now, because the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>&nbsp;broadcast it in advance. It is a\u2026 quirk of relativistic networking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito leaned forward. His heart was beating faster now. \u201cSo if I know what the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>&nbsp;is going to buy in the next five years of their time, I could\u2026 buy it first. Sell it to them at a markup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat is called arbitrage. It is generally considered ethical as long as you do not manipulate the market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd if I use their own scheduled transactions to predict their needs?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat is called \u2018time-dilation arbitrage.\u2019 It is not explicitly forbidden by the Beacon\u2019s protocol because no one anticipated it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaito grinned. It was the grin of someone who had just found a loophole the size of a planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cVesper, open a message to the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>\u2019s economics console. Addressed to Juno.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cComposing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He typed slowly, carefully. Each word was a negotiation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cI received your transaction. By my clock, you sent it 72 hours ago. The fuel you\u2019re buying was harvested when I was twelve years old. I can validate it instantly. But not for 1.5 credits. Not for 12. If you want my time\u2014my actual, subjective, irreplaceable time\u2014you need to offer me something I can\u2019t get anywhere else. I have a proposal. It\u2019s unusual. Read it carefully.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He attached a second message\u2014a private, encrypted proposal outlining the arbitrage deal. He would validate her He-3 transaction for free, right now. In exchange, she would sign three blank, timestamped trades that he could fill later with market data from her future. He would buy low, sell high, and split the profits. The Drifter would get a share. Everyone won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Except the Beacon\u2019s assumption of a universal \u201cnow.\u201d That would lose. But Kaito didn\u2019t care about theoretical flaws. He cared about survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSend it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vesper hesitated. \u201cThe message will arrive at the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>&nbsp;in approximately 0.3 seconds of their time. But for you, that will be\u2026 three hours from now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d Kaito stretched, feeling the weight of the hours already spent. \u201cWake me when she responds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He closed his eyes, and the&nbsp;<em>Pickaxe<\/em>&nbsp;hummed around him, and the neutron star spun its endless, violent dance outside the hull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Scene 4: Meanwhile, Back on the Axiom (Juno\u2019s Perspective)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>From Juno\u2019s point of view, only fifteen minutes had passed since she sent her first message to Kaito.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She was still staring at the mempool, still watching her blue bubble drift ignored among the red swarm, when her console pinged with a response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*From: Kaito (Node: Pickaxe, GRB-7)*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She opened it. Read his words. Read the proposal attached beneath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And felt the world tilt sideways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCaptain,\u201d she said, her voice steady despite the shaking in her hands. \u201cI think I found a validator. But he wants something weird.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Captain Saito turned. \u201cHow weird?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Juno summarized the arbitrage deal in two sentences. Saito\u2019s expression shifted from curiosity to alarm to something that looked almost like respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s asking you to bet the&nbsp;<em>Axiom<\/em>\u2019s future on his ability to predict markets using time dilation,\u201d Saito said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd if he\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe lose money we don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd if he\u2019s right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Juno looked at the rendezvous timer. Seventy-nine minutes remaining. The&nbsp;<em>Helios Express<\/em>&nbsp;was still waiting, but not for much longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf he\u2019s right,\u201d she said, \u201cwe get our fuel. And maybe\u2026 maybe we help the Drifter too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Saito was silent for a long moment. Then she nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s your console, Juno. Your call.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Juno turned back to the screen. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She thought about Dr. Aris Thorne, the woman who had built the Beacon a century ago. She thought about the flaw in the code\u2014the assumption that \u201cnow\u201d meant the same thing for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And she thought about a sixteen-year-old miner orbiting a neutron star, selling pieces of his life for twelve credits at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She typed her reply:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cKaito \u2013 I don\u2019t fully understand your proposal. But I understand that my ship needs fuel, and your node is the only one powerful enough to save us. I agree to your terms. But with one condition: if you profit more than 10% from my future, you share it with the Drifter. No arguments. No loopholes. Do we have a deal?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She pressed send.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The message left her console at the speed of light, racing across the light-years toward GRB-7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Kaito, it would arrive in three hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Juno, the wait had just begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong><em>Table of contents:<\/em><\/strong><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/the-interstellar-gas-fee-science-fiction-story\/\">Introduction<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/prologue-the-genesis-block-of-proxima-b-the-interstellar-gas-fee\/\">Prologue: The Genesis Block of Proxima b<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-1-a-transaction-stuck-in-pending-the-interstellar-gas-fee\/\">Chapter 1: A Transaction Stuck in Pending<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-2-the-relativity-discount-the-interstellar-gas-fee\/\">Chapter 2: The Relativity Discount<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-3-the-mempool-of-deep-space-the-interstellar-gas-fee\/\">Chapter 3: The Mempool of Deep Space<\/a> <strong>&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt; NEXT<\/strong><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-4-bidding-against-time-the-interstellar-gas-fee\/\">Chapter 4: Bidding Against Time<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-5-time-dilation-arbitrage-the-interstellar-gas-fee\/\">Chapter 5: Time-Dilation Arbitrage<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-6-validators-on-the-event-horizon-the-interstellar-gas-fee\/\">Chapter 6: Validators on the Event Horizon<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-7-a-proof-of-spacetime-consensus-the-interstellar-gas-fee\/\">Chapter 7: A Proof-of-Spacetime Consensus<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-8-the-infinite-block-time-the-interstellar-gas-fee\/\">Chapter 8: The Infinite Block Time<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/epilogue-confirmed-the-interstellar-gas-fee\/\">Epilogue: Confirmed<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div><p id=\"pvc_stats_60113\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"60113\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p><div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scene 1: Aboard the Coreward Miner \u2013 Kaito\u2019s \u201cMorning\u201d The&nbsp;Pickaxe&nbsp;did not have a day. Kaito [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_60113\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"60113\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60292],"tags":[60307,60801,60332,58994,60293,58992,60294,60295,60333,60335,60334,60297,60296,60336,60789,60791,60795,60790,60794,60793,60792,60800,60330,60331],"class_list":["post-60113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-fiction","tag-chapter-2","tag-chapter-2-the-relativity-discount","tag-children-novel","tag-crypto","tag-crypto-story","tag-cryptocurrency","tag-cryptocurrency-story","tag-science-fiction","tag-science-fiction-novel","tag-science-fiction-novel-for-children","tag-science-fiction-novel-for-young-adult","tag-science-fiction-story","tag-science-fiction-story-for-children","tag-science-fiction-story-for-young-adult","tag-the-interstellar-gas-fee","tag-the-interstellar-gas-fee-science-fiction-novel","tag-the-interstellar-gas-fee-science-fiction-novel-for-children","tag-the-interstellar-gas-fee-science-fiction-novel-for-young-adult","tag-the-interstellar-gas-fee-science-fiction-story","tag-the-interstellar-gas-fee-science-fiction-story-for-children","tag-the-interstellar-gas-fee-science-fiction-story-for-young-adult","tag-the-relativity-discount","tag-ya-novel","tag-young-adult-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60113"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60151,"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60113\/revisions\/60151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}