Angry Jasper: Fifteen

Cygnus Prime was a hellhole, and that was being kind! Corruption, criminality and neglect made coming anywhere near the place a risky proposition. It had fallen into terrible disrepair, and much of it lay in ruins. Only one of the great domes, that once could be seen from earth, still remained. One had collapsed due to general neglect into a giant heap of twisted steel. Another had been destroyed in a rebel suicide attack, appearing like a shattered eggshell. The scorched and jagged wreckage rose high above the stark lunar surface, and could be seen from anywhere in the colony, like a tombstone to a more civil time in human history.

What remained appeared as a dull pale infection upon the dusty and cratered surface. Long semi lit passage ways grew in all directions from the last remaining dome. From each passage grew clusters of smaller domes, like metallic little grapes. Around and among the pods and passageways was all manner of refuse, discarded equipment and the wreckage of few hapless ships. In fact, trash and junk littered the plain and filled several nearby craters. Stretched in a great tattered mesh over much of the colony was meteor shield. It too had fallen into hopeless disrepair, enough that a meteor strike year or so earlier had scored a direct strike, smashing one hapless pod.

The place was thick with Corporate and rebel spies. They were practically bouncing off one another. That was hardly a secret to anyone who knew anything of CP. Within the colony that understanding bred a certain suspicion and paranoia infecting every aspect of life there. As Buzz guided the ship into a small docking port Kate knew she could not be too careful. It took a moment for the pressure to equalize in the lock. It came as a low rhythmic thumping against the hull. It opened with a hiss. Cold, stale air from the colony flooded into the ship, only confirming Buzz’ misgivings. He caught Katy by the arm.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” he replied. “Maybe we should go.”

“Relax.”

“I’m going out of my freakin’ circuits, I tell ya.”

“Maybe you just need a tune up.” she patted his head and gave a reassuring wink. “I’ll be careful.”

“Listen, baby,” Buzz refused to budge. He tried to keep his voice low, “I’m telling you, we are in some serious sh… I don’t like it here.”

Kate signed and knelt, taking Buzz’ hands, as though he was acting like a petulant child.. “It’s something I have to do, Buzz, and I just couldn’t live with myself if I let down the rebellion. But I promise we’ll get out of here just as soon as we can.”

Buzz gave a mechanical sort of groan and looked away. With some effort Kate pulled his face back to hers. His head creaked grudgingly.

“Ouch!” Buzz complained. “Pinched a wire.”

“Don’t be a baby. Listen, we’ll go where ever you want,” she said. “One hour. I’m in and out.”

Buzz still couldn’t look at her, but there was no use in arguing the point. He nodded reluctantly. “Whatever.”

Neither of them noticed as Governor Maury’s spy docked at the adjacent port. The docks were wild chaotic places. He’d have to have had stepped out naked playing a drum for anyone to have noticed specifically. He stepped into the passage, shoving some poor lout that happened into his way to the floor. He was followed at a distance by three more men. All of them were dressed like the local dregs. They were tall, their faces covered to obscure the wolf-like features of hybrid soldiers. Under long cloaks they were heavily armed with ARP-34 automatic rifles locked securely to one arm. They carried enough firepower to lay waste to the colony, if that’s what it came to.

The ancient passages were crowded and crazy, even by Cygnus Prime’s offbeat standards. Time and time again Maury’s men nearly lost Kate as she and Buzz headed for the great dome and it’s legendary marketplace, which was by far the biggest and seediest in the lower four planets. Catching up he brushed past her, secretly affixing a tracking dot to her thigh. It was simple and she felt nothing so much as the casual bump, like a thousand others in the crowded passageways. The dot was hardly the size of a stamp, transparent and virtually undetectable. Legs entended from the dot and it crawled quickly up and under her clothing. It would allow him to track the pair on his credit pod safely at a distance without arousing undo suspicion. More than that the dot would transmit every conversation she had as clearly as if he was standing beside her.

The passage opened abruptly. Beneath the iron and glass lattice of the dome was nothing short of a crowded city center, if that city was ancient Rome. Once the maze of streets and alleyways, laid among neat concrete and steal structures, had been neatly maintained. Wave upon wave of the displaced, dejected and miscreants had transformed it completely. Makeshift structures, hovels and shacks leaned, rotted and crumbled everywhere. Filth and excrement putrefied in the gutters and made streets slick. Disease ridden prostitutes harangued passers by, battled one another or plied their trade in the shadows. Beggars and thieves swarmed over newcomers. Katy palmed her credit pod and held tight to Buzz, fearful he would be sold for scrap or chopped up for parts.
At the center of the dome was a busy market square. There were goods and contraband from every corner of the solar system. Much of it was junk. The most valuable items were hidden carefully where they could be protected from fellow thieves, or spirited away during one of the occasional Corporation raids. Katy moved slowly from table to stall, as if she was interested in the various offerings. She was looking for one particular stall and found it without much difficulty.
A dark man in rags stood behind a table of bionic replacement valves and out of date robot parts. He sat alone and sullen, digging at dirty fingernails with a curve antique Turkish dagger. He frowned as Kate approached the table. The frown changed to an unblinking stare that was filled with contempt.

“Business good today, I see,” she remarked sarcastically.

“Good enough,” said the man, quiet and low. He didn’t bother looking up at her.

“Must be your exemplary customer service skills.”

“Something I can do for you?” he scowled. “If not then shove off.”

“No way to talk to a woman.”

“What makes you think I care if you’re a woman or not?’

“If your content with the toothless bug-ridden hags around here?”

“I’m celibate. Saving myself for marriage,” he replied with ample sarcasm.

“Won’t she be the lucky bride!. Never mind, just a working girl looking to make a couple credits, and you look the least detestable around here.”

He knew the code words well enough and replied in kind. “Take I.O.U.s?”

“Sorry, I only deal in hard currency,” she purred suggestively.

The man stood and nodded. “Maybe I can work something out. Why don’t you step into my office?”

Kate and Buzz looked, scanning the crowd with the utmost suspicion, unaware that they had already been compromised. They stepped around the table and followed the man through a musty smelling red and white-striped wool blanket strung across the back of the stall. Inside there was just the narrowest space, bounded at the back by the metal dome wall. Kate wasn’t at all comforted that there was no escape route. She quickly felt trapped, and felt that tension building in her chest.

The man turned abruptly and stuck out his hand straight and rigid. Kate took it in hers. He had a good, strong handshake. He uncovered his face and hair revealing a fatally handsome young man. She quietly cursed, wishing she were ten years younger. Then she would really give him a ride to remember.