Inyanga's Star and Other Constellations

There's Money to be Made if Bay and Impala Play It Right

A/N: Hey, fam. This is the last update for the Inyanga's Star and Other Constellations book for a while. I am about to mark it as complete and submit book 1 to the Wattys, and the series will be on hold for a while.

I don't have a completed story ready, but there's one more piece to share with you before these characters take a haitus.

It's a future part of Bay's Star, just to show a sneak preview of where it is going. Bay's arc has been on my mind for some time. Her first episode ends with a really unethical choice to test whether she can get away with stealing from the till, by pinning it on Impala. A few scenes and pieces are missing to click this into place, but I hope you will enjoy what's here so far. She's one of my favorite characters because even I don't know how she will turn out. Will she keep making choices that hurt others, or will she find a way to survive in this world without compromising morality? Please let me know what you think of the story 💜

Bay's Star Episode II – Continued

A surveillance officer needed an office, or so Bay had argued.

The boss lady's office wouldn't do, Bay had argued, because doing the job would distract Yue from hers. Yue had paperwork and managerial work to complete, and all the action and noise from the surveillance replays would make it hard to get much done.

The office Yue had conjured as an addition to the Cloud was not the first protuberance on its otherwise spherical body. Other modular additions included escape pods (as per bylaw 19-2020SE), a new pizza forno, a smoking lounge for performers (separate from the dining area as per bylaw 6-2018SE), and an enclosed solar patio for pets (only service animals were permitted inside as per bylaw 31-2011SE).

The office was a tiny pod. A small bubble, it provided Bay a secure place to download a week's worth of surveillance footage into her brain in a split second, then lock the door and take a good dose of story.

The knock on the door of Bay's surveillance office came precisely on time. A good sign of obedience. "Come in," said Bay. She had only been awake for a few minutes. The Story she kept taking was getting better and better. Only when she felt fully restored to her senses had she unlocked the door with a command of the Stellar tablet — too lazy to get up just yet, but wasn't that the entire point of modern magic?

Amber came in with a tray and closed the door behind her a mano. The waitress gave Bay a sarcastic bow, the only rebellion she was willing to risk. Bay kind of didn't mind. Even if it was sarcastic, it made the service feel all the more fancy. "Did you get the matcha crepe cakes?" asked Bay as the smells of pan hot leavened naan and spiced mulligatawny soup reached her nose.

"You don't want dessert served at the same time as hot soup," said Amber. Good point.

"Is Impala bringing them?" Bay licked her lips as the platter was placed in front of her, steaming rich aromas her way.

"Sure, let's go with that." Amber took a seat across from her, picked up a spoon, and asked, "Anything else I can do for you, highness?"

Bay dipped some naan in, almost just burning her fingers. Amber took a spoonful from the same bowl and started to blow on it. "I'm thinking we should discuss next steps, right? This can't go on forever. But ideally it would. If Yue's going to keep me on the surveillance job, every once in a while I'm going to have to actually aid her in her loss prevention efforts. Right? I'm going to have to give her someone, just like I had to give her Ocean in order to get this gig. If I'm not giving her Ala, or you, who am I giving her?"

Amber swallowed and said, "The new hires," with a tone that said, obviously.

"Sure, but we don't want to establish a pattern. We can't throw a new hire under the bus every time. Every once in a while it needs to be an OG. There's only so many of us, but we can include the chefs, the lift technicians, the cleaners, delivery magicians, and anyone who could potentially gain access to the Stellar. Anyone I can incriminate by subtly suggesting that they can get away with taking cash from the register, then show Yue the footage later. And maybe any time someone's going to quit anyway, we accuse them of theft. Maybe we find a way to prevent people from actually losing their jobs; only report on people Yue doesn't want to lose, like the top chefs; or turn people in for smaller offenses, like meal theft. Better to turn the same people in multiple times. More sustainable."