11.2
I’ve been to Zar in the past, but it’s been a while. The files and maps I download once we pass through the artificial atmosphere are rudimentary and difficult to follow at best. I’m better off navigating by sight.
And it is quite a sight.
Ships of all shapes, sizes, and ages filter in and out in vaguely organized lines, managing by some unspoken agreement not to get their paths too tangled. As much as I proclaim this place to be a haven for criminal activity—and it certainly is—it’s also at the leading end of plenty of tech advancements outside of Amerov. Engineering thrives in a city that has to be self-sustaining and act as both a giant ship and its own planet with different sectors and cultures combined. Innovations in space travel happen pretty organically. It isn’t exactly a great place to be unless you know how to handle yourself, but if you’re of the moderately tough sort that knows about your industry, this is a place to find work. Anything from weapon manufacturing to hiring out hands to outfits like Lee’s goes down here. I found one of my first jobs out of this place. It was ages ago now, but I hold a weirdly soft spot in my heart for this ugly light show of a floating city.
That being said, I won’t be letting Bat or any of the humans out of my sight. It shouldn’t be dangerous just walking down some of the main thoroughfares, so I’m more nervous about leaving any of them in the ship than I am taking them along. Well, I’d be fine leaving Zane and La alone, they seem to know how to take care of themselves, but the idea of either Yvonne or Anya alone without us makes my stomach turn.
“I’ve read about this place,” Yvonne said, resting her hands and chin atop my head. Zane casts us a look and rubs his mouth, trying with everything in him not to laugh. His shoulders still shake in silence. I kick him under the console, albeit gently.
Ignoring us, Yvonne continues, “I didn’t expect it to be this large.”
“It’s probably as big as Taloon,” I say. “Which reminds me, this is a good place to get a crystal. Not that we need another one. Unless you have anything else up your sleeve.”
“Haha, very funny.”
We head further into the center of the drifting city. Though we’re blocked from the light of the star we’re stuck orbiting, it’s brighter now than it was in the dark of space. This place is all lights. Any building along the outside pointed into space, is coated with solar cells to collect as much raw energy from the nearby star as possible. I know there are other ways they power this place, but I’m not entirely sure how it works. I’m fairly certain this place is a mystery to most of the people who live here—I have a vague memory of reading about this place on the planet files Audra let me flip through when I was bored, and her not knowing much about the place when I asked.
There are a few places in the galaxy that are simply inexplicable, that approach impossible even with all our tech. Someone out there runs this place and there are people somewhere who know how it functions, but I wouldn’t know. And neither would some of the most powerful Amerov numbers.
I wonder if Captain has any idea. Probably. He has his nose stuck in things he isn’t even supposed to be involved in, I’m certain of it.
A few minutes of slow travel past tunnels of buildings clustered together like barnacles brings us to a wider opening of one of the larger ship ports. With catwalks crossing the dizzying expanse of space all around, it’s a strange little rounded pocket in the giant beast of a city. If someone were to fall from one of the walkways meant for parked ships, they’d eventually hit a shield far below meant to stop anything crashing on the residents and buildings below the floating shipyard. The gravity in here is pretty strange, meant to hold up the ships but not keep us from walking into the core of the city, but it won’t stop one of us from falling to our death.
Far below, in the hazy artificial light, I can glimpse other tunnels leading in different directions into the city. Theoretically, I know one of them should lead to the core of this place, but I don’t think the average person can get to it, and it certainly wouldn’t be smart for me to hang around and snoop. We have a job to do, after all.
It’s one of the few places in the galaxy where shipyard parking is free—they’ll get their money in other ways, mainly fuel—and I guide us into an empty slot away from other vessels as possible. All the humans are hovering over my shoulders, getting a good look outside.
“We’re gonna go there first,” I say, pointing to one of the smaller, red buildings at the end of the largest catwalk we’re parked along. “The atmosphere and air here are pretty wild, and they want most people who visit here to wear respirators. They’re small and cheap.”
“Really,” Lalia says, “You’re gonna put something on your face other people want you to?”
Bat snickers. “She’s got a point.”
“I wouldn’t wear one if it were just me. A few days wouldn’t do any damage. I’m mostly synthetic, anyway. But you tend to stand out more if you don’t wear one than if you do. And they cover up the bottom portion of your face.”
“Harder to recognize us,” Zane mutters.
“Right. And you two: find your glasses.” I gesture at the princesses.
Yvonne disappears into my bunk room to rummage through my things, not for the first time. Rolling my eyes, I check the panel in my arm for the DNA file I grabbed off Amerov. I put a copy into my ship’s computer ages ago given the tendency I have to get things broken and implants damaged—my head is only hurting a little now—but the panel and file are still in running order. Encrypted as it is, I know someone here will manage to unravel this for us. And we have Zane and Lalia for their DNA to match to.
Glancing at the gaggle of humans I’ve managed to collect, I swing around in my chair, “Alright, listen up, idiots—”
“Yeah, maybe don’t address my parents that way and they’ll like you,” Yvonne puts in, reappearing with the pairs of glasses.
I ignore her. “Just because I’m bringing all of you along doesn’t mean this place isn’t dangerous. I doubt anyone’s gonna start a fight with any of us right in the middle of the street. No one’s gonna scream bounty because that would just start a fight and half this place probably has a criminal record, but I’m serious when I say this: don’t engage with anyone. Don’t speak to anyone unless they’re really trying to get your attention and it would be more suspicious if you were silent. Don’t go up to vendors unless I say it’s alright. Don’t. Wander. Away from me. Don’t mention Bat and don’t talk to him. Don’t mention cyborgs or royals or anything. We are trying to find someone to unravel this DNA file and then we leave. If we really must stop anywhere, we’ll discuss it and work it out. Yes, I’m paranoid, but, well, you all know why.”
Zane snorts. I’m most worried about Anya causing some sort of problem with how friendly and young she is—and her apparent lack of fear concerning terrifying cyborgs—but I feel her eyes on the nearly-healed skin around my still-damaged implants. Her expression is drawn and serious, and she might be young and a bit too goofy for her own good, but I think she gets the picture.
I glance at Zane and Lalia. Their eyes are on me, expressions serious. Lalia offers a weak smile. As much as I understand the sudden nerves, it’s driving me insane.
Trying to break the sudden tension, I say, “Where’s that plucky attitude you two have been shoving in my face since I met you?”
Zane finally cracks a more genuine grin. Lalia rolls her eyes and smacks me on the shoulder as she heads for the airlock and cycles it open.
“You sure you’re good?” I ask, gesturing to Zane’s face and ribs.
“Fine, fine,” he gets to his feet without groaning dramatically. A little softer, not drawing the attention of the princesses, he says, “It’s gonna be a good day.”
He sounds a bit too much like he’s convincing himself, but as nervous as we all are, I’m not gonna hold it against him. The only reason I’m not panicking more is because I have four humans to look after while we’re in this dangerous place. There’s only so much stress a guy can take.
Bat already has my backpack in his jaws and sits on my shoulder comfortingly while I tug on my coat and hood. I rub his ears and follow the others out onto the catwalk just outside the hangar door. Recycled air blasts up in sudden currents from all the ship traffic below, threatening to knock my hood back. It’s still a bit of a jump with no walkway and the gangplank liable to break the catwalk if I were to let it out. Still not trusting Anya’s grace on her new prosthetics, I pick her up in one arm and swing us down onto the catwalk. She lets out a high-pitched gasp not loud enough to annoy my ears. At least the other side has a railing.
“Well that’s uh…not great,” Yvonne eyes the gap.
I’m more than certain she’s capable of a two-foot jump, but the height is probably messing with her brain. “There are shields directly under the catwalks for a few yards, you’d only fall if you took a running leap off the walkway.”
She squints at me. I roll my eyes.
“Come, your grace,” I say, holding out both arms dramatically. Behind me, Lalia cackles, but she’s clinging to the side of the railing herself. More wind rushes up from the ships passing underneath, tickling under the edge of my jacket, but there’s no one near enough to us for it to be a problem.
Making a face, Yvonne grabs my hands in a death grip and makes the jump. The catwalk wobbles and she swears under her breath.
“I’d think after that little adventure on Amerov this would be nothing,” I say, sealing the airlock and double checking I have my weapons. I’m hoping to get out of today not having to use them, but I’m not holding out much hope given the luck we’ve been having.
“Actually, I think that made it worse,” she mutters, guiding Anya along the side of the railing.
“What happened on Amerov?” Anya asks.
“Oh, ya know, we had to walk across a giant cavern on an old piece of cable from a bridge. I wasn’t tall enough to reach the cable above me so I had to hold onto Aaron. We didn’t really like each other back then.”
“Understatement,” I mutter, but when I look at Zane he’s wiggling his eyebrows. If we were on any more stable ground, I’d step on his foot.
I think of asking them if they’ve let their parents know we’re here, but I’m not certain I really want to know the answer. They’ll call them up after no doubt about it, so none of it’s really necessary right now. I hate to admit it, even to myself, but I appreciate Masyn and Kyra’s approval. I shouldn’t, but I do.
When Bat sticks his head out of the backpack, he clings a little tighter to my shoulder than usual, ears pinned back at the drop. He wasn’t here with me when last I visited this place.
“That drop would kill even me,” he mutters.
“Probably,” I say, then gesture to the humans out in front of me, “Everyone go alone. These things are meant to be walked on. Just hold on and don’t be too nervous.”
“Says the indestructible man,” Lalia says with a grin.
“Oh relax, this would definitely kill me. Probably.”
With a chorus of nervous chuckles, they head off toward stable ground with me close behind.