Mickey7

“In my line of work, you spend a lot of time pondering different ways to die—when you’re not actually experiencing them, that is. I’ve never frozen to death before. I’ve definitely thought about it, though. It’s been hard not to since we made landfall on this godforsaken ball of ice. It should be pretty easy, relatively speaking. You get chilly, fall asleep, and then don’t wake up, right?”

Ashton immediately introduces the idea of death into the narrative through Mickey’s thoughts on his possible coming death. His opening statement about his “line of work” is intended to pique curiosity, as is the idea that he is “experiencing” multiple ways to die. Ashton also succinctly introduces the setting of Niflheim’s climate by describing the planet as a “ball of ice,” establishing the harsh environment the colonists are faced with.

“As he scuttled away, I felt like a benevolent god. Through the hole in the wall, I can see the snow-dusted bulge of our main dome, no more than a couple of kilometers away. I’m the spider. I’m the spider, and that thing in the tunnel just set me down in the garden.”

Mickey’s encounter with the creeper is eye-opening for him as he realizes that it may be sentient. He then further connects to the creature by describing it as “scuttling” and himself as “the spider.” This connection prompts Mickey7 to remember his childhood and place it in his childhood role as the spider rescuer, demonstrating his empathy with his sudden recognition that the creeper has rescued him.

“At this point, you may be wondering what I did to get myself designated as an Expendable. Must have been something awful, right? Murdered a puppy, maybe? Pushed an old lady down a staircase? Nope, and nope. Believe it or not, I volunteered. The way they sell you on becoming an Expendable is that they don’t call it becoming an Expendable. They call it becoming an Immortal. That’s got a much nicer ring to it, doesn’t it?”

Mickey7’s humor is evident in these sentences with his sarcastic rhetorical questions. The rhetorical questions also forge a connection between the audience and Mickey7 as he breaks the fourth wall in a literary strategy known as “direct address.” However, this passage also establishes the duplicitous nature of Mickey7’s employer, the Union, as they spin the actual nature of his job into something positive.