By: Kimberly Ann Smiley.

The spreadsheet looked so benign.

But I knew better. After all, I’d made the damn thing.

I knew the horrifying reality behind the data. Starving asteroid miners, expendable children.

My boss loved the projections and her massive bonus.

But I couldn’t stop seeing the numbers. Couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t ignore what I knew.

How could anyone—anyone reasonable—ignore the data once they saw it?

Wait…

They couldn’t. I had to believe they couldn’t.

Trembling, I opened a blank email.

To all employees…

It only took a click to attach the file.

I hit send.

And headed to the nearest exit.

© 2025. Kimberly Ann Smiley

Kimberly Ann Smiley is a mechanical engineer but has decided not to let the practical decisions of her youth define the rest of her life. Her fiction has appeared in multiple publications, including Worlds of Possibility and Daily Science Fiction.

Posted September 24, 2025.