Episode 6
=== USER 6545198 NOW CONNECTED TO HIDDEN SERVER “Winter” ===
=== ENTER PRIVATE ENCRYPTION KEY FOR MESSAGE OPERATIONS ===
--- Private Encryption Key: ************************* ---
=== PRIVATE ENCRYPTION KEY ACCEPTED ===
=== MESSAGING OPERATIONS INITIATED ===
--- USER 6545198: Have you been successful in your task? ---
---< of course i was >---
---< a reproductive endocrinologist has been identified, hired, screened, and is assembling his team. he isnt the best, but hes controllable. we are close to the point of no return >---
--- USER 6545198: I thought I was already past that point? ---
---< you are. and dont forget what happens past that point. how is construction >---
--- USER 6545198: Progressing quickly. Concrete shielding has been placed on all exterior surfaces. No one will be able to detect the cavern, it should look just like core moon material. ---
---< go on >---
--- USER 6545198: We have designated areas for the laboratories, dormitories, basic education, everything needed. We will begin wiring and piping soon ---
---< excellent >---
--- USER 6545198: And what about my living quarters? >---
..
---< still working on it. material has been sourced. you will live in comfort the rest of your life >---
--- USER 6545198: Good talking to you ---
=== USER 6545198 DISCONNECTED ===
=== AWAITING COMMAND ===
The door opened, and Relcheir woke. He raised his head slightly from the floor. Jhuis stumbled in, drunk. He had a girl under his arm. She knocked over a bottle of ferment and loudly swore, then shushed herself.
Also drunk
Relcheir lay his head back down, and stared at the grimy ceiling. He hadn’t thought about Emson for a dozen light cycles. He hadn’t been back to The Design for a hundred light cycles. But he remembered her face.
Relcheir figured he would never see Emson again. He had been rejected for the machinery certification. He was subsequently evicted when he couldn’t pay rent. He had slept on as many floors and couches in the last month as he had taken jobs. Besides, protests were becoming more frequent, and the area of town around the pillars was becoming dangerous. The city splitting in two, The Design cutting off The Founding, it was all that anyone could talk about. Could think about.
Relcheir had tried to stay away from it, to ignore it. He spent as much time in E Section as possible. But E Sec is only available to those with credits. Relcheir had none. Jhuis had promised him 100 credits if he went to the protest tomorrow. It was supposed to be the biggest one yet. Speeches, demonstrations, the works. Some wealthy factory owner was paying people to show up. No one knew who he was or why he was against the split, but Relcheir couldn’t afford to turn down credits. No one could.
Jhuis and his new companion were not being quiet in the next room. Relcheir sat up and looked expectantly in their direction to see if they would recognize his presence and tone down. The woman moaned loudly.
Guess not
Relcheir slowly got to his feet and slipped his jacket on. He rubbed a hand over his hair. He kept it as short as possible. He looked back one more time, heard another moan, and walked out the door.
Relcheir didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t mind. He would often wander the city streets, especially during night cycles. Relcheir’s eye contacts, which greatly enhanced low light vision, gave the city buildings a beautiful silver sheen during the night cycles. Walking around, Relcheir would take whichever turn looked interesting to him at that moment. As a result, he knew several sectors well. He slid his hands into his jacket pockets.
Slightly more chilly than I like
This sector was one of the first to be built, and thus resembled historical cities. Most buildings were concrete and glass. It was dark and damp. Poor and dangerous. Security rings were located at major intersections, which left alleys unsecured. While getting through town was almost impossible without being tracked, the alleys were havens of the blackmarket. Relcheir had been twice, once to buy an infrared scarf, and once to buy blocking studs for his ears. Both items interfered with the security rings’ facial recognition scans and biometric markers.
Relcheir found himself staring at a distill entrance. It was off of an alley, underground. A place one didn’t find by accident. A guy who occasionally worked there owed Relcheir a favor.
Let’s get some payment in liquid form
Relcheir stepped down through the doorway, and looked around the room. Empty except for one table with two men. One of the men looked up and locked eyes with Relcheir. Neither made a threatening move, so the man looked back to his tablemate and Relcheir strode to the bartop. He nodded at his acquaintance.
“Your boss here?” Relcheir asked quietly.
“Nah, not today. Haven’t seen you around lately, what’s the deal?”
“Haven’t had any jobs. Can’t buy distill without credits.”
“Shit.”
“Yea… listen…” Relcheir leaned closer. “Give me three of your strongest and we’ll call it even.”
“Call it even?” The worker raised his eyebrows. “That’s a lot of credits. How about one?”
“Three.
“Come on Relcheir, I could lose this job. How about two?”
“You wouldn’t have this job. Remember, you would be in jail. Three.”
The worker sighed. “Yeah okay, but we are even. I don’t want you in here without credits again.”
“Yeah don’t worry.” Relcheir had no intention of coming back ever again. He grabbed the drinks and sat down at one of the three tables. The lights were dim, giving the room a hazy yellow glow. He threw back the first distill, and closed his eyes tightly against the burn. The men at the other table were talking too quietly for Relcheir to hear. Relcheir amplified the auditory settings of his cyberneural, and angled the zone towards their table.
“...tomorrow. I’m telling you, they better not fuck with us.”
“They are issuing us guns for the first time in months. Shit’s going to be real.”
“Light those fuckers up. They start throwing shit again and let’s end ‘em”.
Relcheir furrowed his brow.
They sound like Planetary Security
They must be talking about the protest tomorrow, what the fuck
He shot his second distill. When he opened his eyes a few seconds later, he noticed he was a bit dizzy. His brain felt like it was on fire. The fire slowly melted, warmth trickling down his neck. Relcheir turned his neural back to the men at the table. He wasn’t as subtle this time.
“Just cuz they don’t have jobs? The fuck do I care?”
“Lazy assholes, just causing trouble.”
“You’re telling me. Fucking allergic to working.”
One of the men glanced over to Relcheir, who was openly staring.
“You got a problem keeping your face out of other people’s business?”
Relcheir looked behind him at the empty table and wall. He had forgotten no one else was in the room.
No one else is in here, so he has to be talking to me
I knew no one was in here, I saw it earlier
How do I forget something like that
Shit I’m drunk
Relcheir chuckled at his inebriated stupidity, and raised the third distill to his lips.
Not as quickly this time...
“Hey asshole I asked you a question.”
Oh yea that guy was talking to me
Shit. Get it together Relcheir!
The man looked very angry. Rational thought was no longer flowing through Relcheir’s mind. He chose honesty as he couldn’t figure out a reasonable lie.
“I just heard you saying something about people without jobs. Well... I don’t have a job. So… so… don’t act like everyone who doesn’t have a job is some lazy fuck.”
The man stood up. “Well I don’t remember asking you for your stupid, drunk, lazy opinion.” He set his distill down. The small glass made a clink against the man’s metallic cybernetic arm. Relcheir was too drunk to notice. He stood as well.
“Well I think you need to be more polite!” Months of pent up emotion, frustration, weariness, and anger were boiling up in Relcheir. He didn’t have enough control over himself to shape it into finesse. He stepped toward the man without a plan.
“The fuck you say to me?” The man shoved Relcheir. Hard. The man’s metal hand left a dull ache in Relcheir’s chest on his right side.
All or nothing
Relcheir swung first. His fist clipped the man’s jaw, turning the man’s head and causing him to take a step back. It caught the man by surprise. He was not used to ignorant boldness. He was used to intimidated weakness.
Relcheir swung again. The man was ready this time, and held his cybernetic arm up. Relcheir’s fist crashed upon the metal like a wave on a rock. Relcheir swore and grabbed his wrist in pain. The room was starting to spin, and he stumbled. The man stepped forward. He liked finishing fights.
“You are lucky I don’t arrest you.” He set his right hand on Relcheir’s forehead, holding his head still.
“You stupid...” The man cocked his cybernetic left arm backwards.
“...lazy...” The right hand released Relcheir’s head with a slight flick of the wrist.
“...Founding…” The man swung his cybernetic arm. Relcheir had just enough instinct left in him to try to dodge, but the metal fist still connected with a crunch.
“...cunt.” A tooth flew across the room. Relcheir did not have the mental capacity to try to brace for the fall, and he hit the ground hard.