I was waiting at the airlock and first off the ship when we finally docked at New Cali station. I was surprised that we hadn't have to dock in orbit of the station, but we must have arrived on the stations down-time. It wasn't too busy, so the smaller ASF cruiser was able to connect directly to the station. I sent a quick text comm to both the Captain and the XO, thanking them both for rescuing me and accommodating me while they delivery me back to civilisation. I invited them to come and visit me if they ever found themselves on Briller Corp Prime without anything do do.
The station was a torus shaped, older style habitat in orbit around the New Cali planet. It looked like one of the older models used back when the system was first colonised. The torus was actually quite a lot larger than I first thought, the images I saw of it as we approached made it look a lot smaller from the outside. The hollow ring held all manner of condo buildings, park lands, business parks and shopping complexes. The green belt was a main feature throughout the whole internal torus.
I made my way out of the military sector of the space dock with a borrowed ASF visitor's pass, then slipped into pedestrian traffic that ebbed and flowed past the popular docking section of the station. A short series of lifts and avenues lead me into the station proper, where I could look either left or right and find the huge inner doughnut ring filled with tiered balconies overlooking flat roofed apartment blocks, green-ways and park lands. It was really lovely to view.
[You are scheduled to meet with Mr Mo Philippe from the local branch of Briller Corp. He has arrived outside of the military checkpoint for you. I believe we passed him on our way out. Did you know this space station has the equivalent of two decades worth of digital entertainment? It would take me two decades to view the material. It would take you seventeen hundred years. There is a restaurant that sells traditional Hawaiian luau food? Roasted pineapple sounds delicious.] I hummed in affirmation that I'd heard him. He went on to describe the different number of foreign restaurants and the scattering of alien cuisine eateries. Some of those descriptions sounded downright awful.
[I have located a trade freighter that has births available for passage. There were actually a number of freighter long haul tickets available, but the reviews were not promising. Philippe was just notified that you'd already passed through the military checkpoint and didn't meet with him, as arranged. He looked decidedly upset. He is now telling his subordinates to find you and kill you. Did you know there is a double- decker bus relic in the station museum. And something called a bobble-head collectives archive.] Nova was excited. I could hear it in his voice. He rambled from one topic to the next, without a breather in between. I nearly missed the part about the local Briller Corp manager wanting me dead.
You in his backlogged communique? I asked.
[I've backed logged everyone's communique, my Dear.] Eww, that accent was a dead ringer for my cousin's head of security, a weasely guy with a thin frame and receding hairline.
Nope, don't do that. Stick with the usual accent, please Nova. I don't want to go have a shower just to wash that ick off.
[I've located a local money lender and exchange. Make a right at the next street, then take the third corridor. Follow it until you get to the banking sector of the station. The fees are nominal, but they will ask for ID. Oh wait, I found a lender that doesn't ask for ID on currency exchange. Its in the same direction.]
I followed Nova's directions and found myself outside a door down an alley way just past a few notable banks. It took me less than five minutes to get a credit chip worth four hundred thousand exchanged for a loaded money card that I can use in most major stations. I lost nearly ten percent in the translations, but considering the money wasn't mine in the first place, I really hadn't lost anything.
[The money lender has just notified Philippe of your whereabouts.]
Oh, that was quick. Can you lead me to a clothier or department store? Also, where can I eat? I might have to ditch the card now that I've been found.
[Yes, you would be correct, but I had the tracking tag removed as he completed the money transfer. You're free and clear to use it.]
We found a mom and pop restaurant on the other side of the station from where the lending guy was. I had a delicious meat product BBQ with a fresh salad. It wasn't as high end as our family chief at home, but since I'd been eating ASF mess galley food for the last week, I'd take anything I could get right about now.
[Your freighter leaves in two hours. You're scheduled to embark in one hour. Meals are included, but I've read their manifest. I would advise you to get your own food stock. The trip should last two weeks in subspace, headed towards New Texas.]
Two weeks? I asked, as trips between sectors usually only take less than a week in subspace between Lagrange points, and two or three days to the station docking.
[Its an old freighter.] His voice was flat, like he was pointing out the obvious.
I finished eating, then changed clothes again, something that I'd been doing frequently since we left the money exchange.
[Cia?] Nova called in my name in query.
"Hmmm?" I asked out loud, accidentally. An older lady looked at me as I walked past, but I ignored her.
[If I happened to come across humanoids who were being smuggled in luggage near the space dock, would you want me to interfere?] I growled under my breath and my whole tiny body took on a menacing vibe. Suddenly the people in front of me turned around then moved out of my way.
Show me. I demanded angrily. When I arrived at where Nova took me, I found two security guards pushing a food cart trolley each, coming down what looked like a high end space dock for high end spaceships. They parked the trolley's off to the side, nearby a stack of empty cargo pods and crates.
I watched the guards pull out a bottle and synth cigarettes and leave the area for a break. I pulled on a black cap and pulled it over my eyes. My cowl hoodies had been changed out a few clothing changes ago. Are you sure they're in the trolleys?
[I assure you that the bio-scanners in the space dock just reported their existence. Someone in the monitoring bay passed them off as small rodents and cancelled the request for investigation.]
How many? I asked as I stole the trolleys, dragging one in front and one behind, towards a nearby refresher facility.
[I've gone back over security footage and reports for the last twenty years and it began thirteen years ago. Would you like me to send a compilation of these reports to Commander Railex onboard the Crements, Cia?]
Yes, but do that just before we leave port on the freighter. Please book two more passages, shared with my room, if they will fit. I need clothing and medical materials, nutrients and toiletries – anything you think they will need – send it to the freighter with my birth number on it. I left the online ordering to Nova as I pushed open the cleaning service door and banged the cart trolleys trying to get them into the small room. I locked the door behind me with nanites and Nova's help, then opened the first locker.
Curled up inside was a very pale and fragile looking young lady, caramel skin, white blond hair. She was dressed in a slinky little number in pale purple that would match the colour of her eyes, if she was awake. She was knocked out. I felt her pulse.
[She's OK, knock out drug. Her blood sugar is low, she has neck and shoulder tension that would create a headache, but other than being terribly underweight, she will survive.]
"Bastards! I hate how they think they can mess with their lives like this. Is there a tracking device?" I asked out loud, my emotions getting the better of me.
[Place your hand on the back of her neck.] I did as he asked and nanites removed themselves in a thin line of familiar black threads and pierced into the skin. A moment later she twitched in pain, but she was too far under to wake up.
How do we get her to the freighter if she is like this? Can you have a delivery bot sent here with hover cart? We can pretend it is my luggage. I turned to the second cart trolley. Do you think this is Mocha? I was worried that they siblings had been separated. I quickly opened the cart to find Mocha looking groggy, but awake.
"Hey, sweetsum. How's it going?" I gave him a huge smile and leaned against the wall and let him get his bearings. "You going to hang out there all day? Or you wanna get free and hit the stars?" Ten bucks he tries to punch my face.
[No bet. He smells of narcotics and is probably off his face. He will take the punch.] Sure enough, just as Nova said that, I had to dodge a wobbly Mocha and only just moved out of the way in time.
"Woah, Mocha, wait up. I'm here for rescue, not a bar fight. We don't have a lot of time." How do I get him sobered up, Nova?
[I'll get that delivered with the luggage. Might as well stuff him back in the cart until you can get him injected and cleaned up.] So that's what I did. Mocha wasn't too impressed with me once I hit him with a medispray to the neck. It took him a while to remember where he'd seen me, then the meds wore off and so did the amnesia.
"Cia? Where is my sister? How did you get here?" He looked around the storage room, then something made his nose scrunch up and he looked down at himself in disgust. "Ergggh." He smelled horrible, like something crawled into the cart with him and died. A few months ago.
"Hi, Mocha. You sober now? Can't talk too long. You have a little over twenty minutes to get cleaned up, help me get your sister into a travel hover case and into the freighter we're travelling out system on. We need to go now. Here are your clothes." I passed it to him with a bottle of soap and a towel. He left for the refresher to shower quickly while I threw all of his stuff into a recycler unit. He was washed and dressed in twelve minutes, which I was impressed with. Then he helped me get his sister into leggings and a t-shirt over the... thing she was wearing. I felt so sorry for them both, not sure which sibling I felt sorry for more. The young girl who had obviously lived a hard life, or the older brother who had to watch her go through that.
He brushed hair off her face and gently kissed her forehead before closing her in the luggage.
Will the bio-security trip if we take her through like this? I asked Nova.
[No. I'm in the system still from before. The luggage will scan through as normal carrying a poor couple's honeymoon attire. Put on the sun dress from before and give Mocha the extra ring.] I felt a tingling on my left thumb and ring fingers, and with a blush I handed the ring from my thumb to Mocha.
Is this made out of nanites and person parts? I asked, only realising Nova could only use me to build the shiny ring from.
[You are missing a buckle on your combat boots. I recommend you throw them into the recycler when you get on board. They will not lace up again after today.]
Oh, that's good. Because if you were planning on using my bones or hair or something, we'd have to have words again.
[No, nothing like that, my Dear.]
"Take this, Mocha. We're on our honeymoon, I'm your new wife. Please follow my lead."
He looked at the ring, then up at my face, bewildered. "Ah..."
"Take this cowl, cover your hair. Let's go." I pulled him out of the refresher as he dragged the toggle for the hover luggage that held Latte. He didn't have much time to put the ring on his finger before I pulled him away towards our ticket out of New Cali Station.