Against the Tide - A New Elysium Story [Complete]

18. Unfortunate Circumstances

The "Backside of the Coin" was a bar at a failed colony on Six.

The planet used to have a name – presumably one it shared with five others – but the kind of people who still came to this place really didn't give a shit about it. Not much was left of the colony, after the planet had been hollowed out by a mining company some years ago. Most of the original settlements had fallen prey to scavengers, until only bent and broken frameworks had been left. Their sight now littered the desolate landscape like bones that had been picked clean.

Life on Six was hard. The weather sucked. It changed violently and quickly, and alternated every thirty hours with clockwork precision. Residents sardonically referred to them as "dry season" and "wet season", or more commonly as "scorching" and "sodden", and they made agriculture or any other outdoor activity an overall unpleasant endeavor.

The only town on Six, built on the ruins of a former settlement, consisted mostly of rundown shanties. The town had no name at all, at least none that was not meant as an insult, so it was just known as "the Town". Not that there was any other town on the planet that it might have gotten confused with anyway.

The Backside was really the only thing worth mentioning on Six. Not just because it was the largest and sturdiest building in the Town, or because it was the only place that had an actual name, but rather because it was a hub for smugglers, raiders, scavengers and other lowlifes that came here to do business.

And business was booming on Six, because there were no military patrols in this sector and nobody else cared that it still existed. Everybody could enjoy coming here, no matter their occupation, because even the most ruthless scum of the galaxy had put their differences aside and agreed on a strict set of rules:

No weapons allowed! Fuck each other up out in the wastes if you have to!

No sex, no drugs, no rock'n'roll out on the streets. Think of the children.

No parking of shuttles in restricted areas: BLUE sectors - no parking on weekdays, RED sectors - every day

Business tax: 10% of all dealings, non-negotiable, pay or go to hell.

Only water is for free (it literally falls from the sky so we can't really charge anyway).

Glass deposit is five bucks.

They were written out on a sign that hung above the video screens behind the bar, which was tended by an elderly man with an elaborately shaped white beard and a bushy set of eye brows. His name was Phil, and he was always tending the bar and never seemed to sleep. His brother was known as Blue Ben, a hulking giant of a man with his hair and beard dyed blue, and shoulders wide enough for two. In contrast to Phil, he always seemed to sleep, sitting in his corner at the far side of the bar, his hands folded over his big belly, with his eyes closed.

But Blue Ben was listening, and he heard everything. They said he had augments, not just in his ears but also in the rest of his body. But nobody really knew. They didn't care to find out. The man looked menacing enough in his sleep already.

While Blue Ben listened, Phil talked, and while neither seemed to do much, they ran their establishment with great success. Together, they ran the show, the whole place: the Backside, the Town. So essentially the entire planet. Nobody could set a foot on it without their knowing.

At least everybody thought so, until the day that Amy Larsson stopped by, and brought trouble to Six.

She stepped into the Backside one evening, the weather was scorching, about to turn into sodden.