network to satellites in dead space then to a micro wormhole generating transmitter.
He turned and started tidying up, smoothing down creases in the made beds, blowing out the dusty corners on the small desk and straightening the chair. It was all in the programming. If he were to remember anything about what he was about to do it would be heavily overshadowed by his memory of straightening up. He wouldn't know why he was doing it, but he didn't have to. As long as there was a memory to fill the lost time he would suffer while waiting for the transmission to be acknowledged.
The computer terminal signalled that someone on the other end of the transmission had received the codes. He turned, entered in the coordinates of Yuelle Varr, a description of Alice's ship and its approximate expected arrival time then shut the terminal down.
A moment later he had arrived at the bridge hatchway with nothing but the sorrow of a parting lover on his mind and in his heart.
More Trouble
The planet was one massive city divided into thousands of districts. Millions of buildings reached for the sky, a few were even taller than the environmental control facilities that punctured the grey blue sky with their rods and platforms. Most travellers considered the entire planet a port, since no one could imagine anyone in their right mind staying to try to make a life amongst the sixteen billion inhabitants.
The ground had disappeared ages ago, before anyone living could remember what it looked like. Smog choked the inhabitants of the lower cities while the criss crossing walkways and guide rails going around, through and between most of the tall structures blocked out the sun. As one moved higher up they found everything became more expensive. If you were to go further down to find what you wanted things got dangerous, competitive and selection tapered off. The poor, desperate and hidden folk ruled the congested underside. Anyone who could avoid taking a trip beneath the upper districts did. The underside had a reputation for swallowing less fortunate travellers.
The Samson set down on a landing platform that billed by the hour. It was only twelve levels down from the sun baked upper section. The closest place they could find to Frost's refuge.
“Last time we were here I wasn't allowed off ship. This should be interesting,” Stephanie said as they walked away from the Samson. The rest of the crew, lead by Ashley and Finn, were beginning their inspection of the outer hull. They had orders to not leave the platform.
There was no decontamination chamber, security checkpoint or duty post. Just a beat up port listing panel for declaring any goods for trade, announcements and browsing the bulletin boards. Any other programming or information cost extra.
Captain Valance didn't bother using the panel, he brought up a map of the area on his command control unit. “Last time we came here I brought four heavily armed boarding crew.”
Steph looked down at the rifle in her hands and shook her head. “Just me this time?”
“I don't plan on staying long enough to find trouble.”
“I'm surprised we're allowed to carry this kind of weaponry around.”
“It's part of their population control program.”
“You're kidding.”
Jake nodded, smiling a little. “I guess a few million visitors a day are just too hard to regulate. Things sort themselves out here.”
“Didn't you get shot last time?”
“I had it coming. I was lucky it was just a graze. A regeneration patch healed it up in just a few minutes.”
“Any chance we'll run into the shooter?”
“I doubt it. I tossed him over a railing.”
Stephanie peeked over the edge of the walkway and shuddered. There were walkways, building tops and gaps between with dark depths she couldn't begin to guess at. They turned the corner and saw one of the major thoroughfares for the first time. It was over twenty meters wide, half dedicated to high speed traffic with tunnels for people to walk under that area and get to the walkway proper. Small two to eight person transport cars were limited to travelling along guide rails to reduce open air traffic. The cost of a rail pass was based on how many kilometres one travelled, and there were few straight paths anywhere.
Jake pulled a safety cord out from the waist of his vacsuit and offered it to Stephanie. Normally the device was reserved for space, so two people could stay tethered to a ship or other large body using one line, but she could see how it was necessary here.
The milling crowd ahead was shoulder to shoulder in most places. It was a milling biped sea and she didn't want to get separated. Hooking the line onto her vacsuit gave her an idea, and she attached one of her own slender tether lines to the stock of her short assault rifle. “This is insane.” She commented as they walked down into the tunnel.
The sound of the traffic above was deafening. An unending stream of various vehicles moving at two hundred kilometres or more for minutes at a time then slowing down to a crawl for seconds before picking up again echoed in the dark passage. Stephanie had to use her proximity radio to communicate with Jake. “Are we still in the port section of the city?”
“We are, I'll bet we couldn't find a resident here if we tried for days.”
There was refuse strewn in the corners, a black and brown dust of some kind everywhere and it contaminated the air from above, stirring it all around their feet and blowing the smell into their faces. It wasn't even twenty meters long, but in that space it was joined by eight other tunnels from below. When they neared the end she could see the massive moving crowd and Captain Valance offered his arm. It was a gesture she had only seen in period films, and she chuckled but took it anyway. Even though they were tied together she still didn't want anyone to get between them and catch in their line.
Without waiting they joined the crush of bodies. They made their way with the stream of people for what her arm unit said was just over half an hour but it felt like an awful lot longer. Rounding a corner they found the Regent Galactic building, standing tall and white it was more grand than anything in the area. It had its own docking platforms, hundreds of them, and massive defensive cannons on swivel mounts. Just from the shimmer around it she could tell there was a protective shield in place as well. The only access point she could glimpse on foot was a covered bridge with thick security doors. She tried to follow the street that lead into that side of the building with her eyes through the net of crossing streets above and shook her head at the sight of a line extending as far as she could see leading to those big security doors.
“I hate this place,” Jake said over the proximity radio.
“You're not the only one pal,” Came the response of one nearby traveller.
“I only come here because fruit gets a high trade value,” added another.
“My daughter's going to school here, biggest mistake I've ever made letting her but you know kids, they just won't shut up until you give 'em what they want,” griped yet another.
Stephanie patted his arm and nodded. That was the problem with proximity radio. It was made to broadcast to anyone within a certain range as though you were speaking to them verbally in a normal atmospheric setting. Normally people who didn't know you kept their comments to themselves, but here the crowd provided an amount of anonymity and people were actually bored enough to listen in on anyone nearby, not just people on their crew roster like Jake and Stephanie. Changing the default frequency was also an option, but most people outside of the military didn't bother.
They began making their way towards the center of the pedestrian walkways in that district, where they would be able to take a ramp up or a tunnel down when the time came. Before long they were inside one of the wider passages and the traffic continued to be just as congested, only it was darker, and it was easy to feel buried, closed in. How fights didn't break out she had no idea. People were constantly bumping into her, she even had some people grab at her thigh pocket more than once, gingerly testing it to see if it would open for them. Thankfully they were sealed so only she or a few other people on the crew could get inside, and she was once again thankful for the Captain providing her with a high quality vacsuit. The form fitting style invited a couple of anonymous gropes,
