They jolted out of hyper jump and Rizier lowered the tablet. There was a lot of information that they simply didn’t know about the galaxy and Ula was perfectly willing to catch them up on things.
“So the planet I landed on was known as Ellego.”
“Correct. Your people were right in saying that it was a young planet. On their own they might have had several tens of thousands of years before possibly gaining space travel. The raw materials of the planet would make it very difficult.”
“With our interference how long would it be?”
“Considerably shorter. I want to go back through some of the recorded civilizations and see if your people’s influence can be seen throughout histories.”
“I don’t think so. My people choose fringe planets to spread our influence. If you were so inclined to find them perhaps I could find the simple signs of our touch.”
“That is a quarry that may be better explored.”
Standing Rizier’s four eyes moved about the rest room as they climbed the stairs to the upper area. Walking toward one of the panels they touched it and the door opened to their surprise. Inside it was a set of pictures. One of each of the crew presently and then one more. This was a brown skinned chitinous skin with green eyes and a mandibled mouth.
“That was Xilo, our previous captain. Sadly we lost him a long time ago.”
Rizier nodded and one of the doors opened. Tahu came through and waved both hands. “Hey it’s our new guy. Sand. Person. How’s it going?”
“It is going. Not much has changed since I’ve come aboard.”
“Also true. Though you should have learned a lot talking to Ula.”
“I have. You are both zorgs but you’re very different from one another.”
Ula picked up their tablet and stroked their fingers across the surface. They searched through the files before pulling up a page titled Nihlos. “So were you and Bicar.”
“I wonder if I would have been different if it weren’t for being grouped with Bicar.”
“We wonder if we’d have been different if we’d stayed on Tear. Can’t really know unless it happened,” Tahu shrugged. “But it hasn’t. You’re the Zier that’s with us now.”
Razier titled their head. “Zier?”
“Tahu likes to use nicknames for everyone. It’ll stick or it won’t.”
“Everyone except you Ula.”
“Yes I am the exception.” Ula didn’t look up from their tablet as they continued to read. “I assume with you here that means that we’ve arrived in the system?”
“Sure have. Utopia is there circling on its axis and the slums are sateliting around it.” Tahu shook their head. “I wonder what it’s like seeing the slums from your home in the sky. How can you live with yourself?” Tahu made a grinding gear metal noise “Where’s Yaya?”
“Observation deck. She wanted to get a little bit of rest before we went on our expedition. Perhaps one of us should go check on her.”
“I can do that,” Tahu said moving across the room. “Ula can you make sure we get to the slums properly. I’d hate to anger the local government people and have to deal with them getting their suits in a twist.”
“I would also like to avoid that altercation. Check on the captain.”
The two zorgs stood and swapped places. Ula left behind her tablet and Tahu walked to the observation deck. From the window they could see Utopia. The pristine jewel of city that floated just out of reach. The lights, the color, there was only perfect weather there. Especially with the local star a perfect distance away.
Ya’Cahin was staring at it her head up but her face a mystery to the zorg. But she turned and Tahu saw as she stared at the circling moons. There were three in total and each one of them was a dark grey smudge compared to the shining beacon of Utopia. One of them had an acrid cloud of black surrounding it.
“How can they live like that?” she murmured.
“Ignoring the suffering of those around them while in paradise?” Tahu asked walking to stand beside her.
“Yes.”
“No idea. Then again when you create a moon to throw your trash away it’s easy to draw the curtain and ignore it. On Tear there were ways to just block out the suffering of those around you. One step away from being a Taq-Law.” Tahu frowned. “Sometimes I feel guilty for them. Is that strange?”
“Careful Tahu. You’ll get recruited by the Eli.” She teased.
Tahu snorted, “Feeling compassion for other sentient races doesn’t make me one of the Eli captain.”
Ya’Cahin turned toward him and chuckled, “No but you and Ula both have asked that. Why does your creation bother you guys so much?”
Tahu pressed a hand to the window and shook their head. They watched the ship approach the slum planet on a slow rotation and felt the ship rock as they entered the orbit and watched the flashing lights representing their docking process.
“Not a lot of Zorgs have the spark of life that I and Ula have. Our planet slowly whittles away that spark until its gone. In our generation the amount of zorgs who chose to leave was a fraction.” They shuddered. “I don’t want to end up like the rest. A machine that only serves the directive.”
“You won’t Tahu. You’ve got more life in you than most organics that we’ve met.” She squeezed his shoulder. “You’re far more than a machine.”
“Thanks Yaya,” Tahu continued to stare at Utopia and its moons. “I could have easily ended up on one of these moons.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
“Me too. Ula and Zier are waiting for us.”
“You’ve already given them a nickname?”
“Sure have. They look like a Zier.”
She shook her head and touched the spines across her head. She stretched her arms behind her head and let out a breath. Together they walked to the half circle room. Rizier and Ula were talking, Ula letting a display float in front of their face and Rizier watching with rapt attention.
“Captain, we have the clearance to enter the slums. We are ready when you are.”
“Ready for your first foray into the world Rizier?”
“I believe I am I ready.”
“Then let’s suit up and get out there.”
Rizier chose not to arm themselves while Ya’Cahin took a large pistol. She was still annoyed about losing her rifle on Rizier’s planet. Fixing the gun to her waist she glanced at the others. Ula had their rifle but they were taking tbe tablet as well, plugging it into their arm and hooking it to their back. Tahu had their pistols and an added pouch at their hip.
Once they were good they followed Ya’Cahin to the garage. A door whooshed open and the four of them stepped through and into a hanger. Their ship was one of a few dozen currently parked and with a few in the air coming and going. The ground was smooth stone and they walked to a station with a person inside it. Some large hairless creature with tentacles for arms and one eye. Their face looked beyond tired and bored.
As they walked past, Ya’Cahin flashed her card. It was examined with a quick flash or infrared light. Her name, face, and ship registration appeared on a console. There was a grumble followed by a tentacled waved. They walked out of the hanger and were greeted by a darkness. Dark overcast sky with bright neon lights from a few large night clubs and bars.
The street was wide enough for only about two people before hitting the edge. It was a sharp drop off from the street into the depths of the moon. There were energy walls to prevent people from just stumbling to their deaths. Just across the massive gap were other islands of space connected by one person bridges.
Vehicles flew between those empty expanses both high above them and deep below. Rizier walked toward the edge and stared down. It was bright there too but it got less and less the deeper it went.
“What’s down there?” they asked.
“That’s the real slums. Up here is the cheap club life. Where people like us go to blow off steam.” Tahu pointed above toward a bright spot in the air, something that gleamed like orange sphere. “Nothing like Chance up there. That’s the fancy one that gets visitors all around the galaxy, not just Utopia.”
“That’s where we’re going once we have our information,” Ya’Cahin said pointing toward the end of the street. She was pointing to a tower with bright lights at various sections up the tower. Standing in front of the main entrance were two robots. Mechanical beings with sashes across their shoulders and misshapen limbs.
Ya’Cahin glanced above and read the symbols for the signs. A few of them were in languages that she didn’t know fluently but she could get by. “Tahu which bar was your contact in?”
“I think it was the Resin joint. Right there.” they pointed to a brightly lit neon red building right next to the tower that was like the stumpy cousin. They walked right up to the door before being stopped by tri-legged being of stone. It rotated around to face them and they Ya’Cahin recoiled suddenly smelling an acrid odor.
Two hands emerged from its torso and it looked at the four of them. Ya’Cahin waved her hand back and forth and scowled. “There a problem?” she asked.
“I.D.,” he rumbled. “And cover fee.”
Ula rotated their hand and their wrist dislocated. Reaching into it they produced a thin piece of plastic and held it up to the table. The tablet whirred for a moment and finally hummed. The bouncer grunted but stepped aside letting them pass.
The thumping music from inside greeted them, shaking ground below their feet. There was a center dance floor with moving bodies of all shapes and sizes and bars on either side of the floor. Booths were against the final wall, most of them occupied.
Ya’Cahin made her way to one of those booths now. A trio of creatures were sitting flipping a ball between them with overturned drink glasses on the table. One was a machine that looked like an older model version of Tahu and Ula. They were greasy and had constant smoke coming from random parts on their joints. When they went to drink it was quick jerking motions.
The other two were dark almost formless creatures. Like living shadows. They were sitting with two arms but we’re fading in and out of the air. They had two large yellow eyes and had no mouths to speak of. One of them tapped the robot and they all looked at their group.
“It’s you again. Thought I told you never to show up here again.” The robot said in a clipped voice.
“Now come on,” Tahu began. “Let’s find some sort of middle ground. We’re both zorgs right?”
“Your companion rejected our friend here.” One of the shadows said. “And then assaulted us. We should shoot holes in you.”
“You would not do that in the middle of a place like this,” Ula said. “We have come because we need information.”
“Why should we help you?”
“Because we can pay.” Tahu told them producing a few cards from their wrist. They gleamed in the light showing off the circuitry. “Pay well by the shine on these.”
“What do you want?” The robot asked.
“We need a part. A field dampener. We want to know who is selling one.”
“You know that’s lower level stuff. Not a safe place for such law abiding citizens like yourselves.”
Ya’Cahin scoffed at the words getting impatient. “Do you know someone selling or not?”
“Yeah we know someone selling. They’re on level 7.”
“Level 7,” Ula repeated eyes narrowing. “No one lives below level 6.”
“We just traffic information. That’s where it chose to set up shop. Customers are down there. And it doesn’t like organics.” The machine looked at Ya’Cahin and clanked out a laugh.
“Right.” Tahu handed over one of the cards and wagged a finger when they tried to snatch away all three. “Come on the info wasn’t worth that much. But glad you let bygones be bygones.” Those words earned them a trio of glares but they hastily were already on their way out. Rizier lingered, narrowing their eyes at them but ducked out as well.
“Who were they,” the sand energy creature asked.
“We worked a job with them a long time ago. They wanted Ula to join them. Ula said no thanks. They hold a grudge.” Once they were on the streets again Tahu shuddered and said, “Level 7. Couldn’t have been anywhere else.”
They walked toward the end of the street and rounding a corner found an elevator near the split in the middle of the street. It had a dented door and dim lightning. Going to the panel sticking up from the ground Ula took a braid from their head and plugged into one of the slots, tapping away at it.
“What’s wrong with going to level 7?” Rizier asked.
“There are 10 levels to this place,” Ya’Cahin said. “Level 6 is the lowest any living creature can go comfortably. Level 8 is filed with too much radiation. And Level 10 is the core of the moon. Only machines can go down there and usually its preform maintenance. Things like you and me aren’t meant to be there.”
“What’s the problem with level 7?”
“Psykik energy down there is dense and unstable. Non psykiks can’t stand it and are likely to pass out,” Tahu shook their head.
“Is this part that required?” Rizier asked.
Ula gave a short nod. “The stone is powerful as you sensed. We need to get a dampener for it as soon as possible or risk damaging our ship.”
“What is the stone?” They asked. “It’s psykik in origin, I’ve felt that much.”
“I’ll show you after this is said and done.” Ya’Cahin said as the doors finally opened. They each stepped into it and once the doors shut they dropped through the shaft.
The descent was controlled but fast. As it fell they were privy to the state of the slums. Only level 1 and 2 were brightly colored and seemed to have some sort of society and life. Once they were at 3 they saw the cramped living spaces and people shuffling about. Trash in the streets and violence that came with it. A few vehicles came down along with them. It seemed that ships were a commodity for only the uppermost levels.
The lower they went the denser the populations were and the darker it became. There were lights on the streets but they were dim and most cases broken. When they hit level 6 they could barely see outside of their elevator. “How do people live in this? Rizier asked.
“They do not.” Ula replied softly as the elevator finally slowed and they rested on level 7. The door opened and the smell hit them first like a closed fist. Ya’Cahin gagged on it and covered her mouth. Like garbage soaked in oil. It was so bad that she could taste it on her tongue. The darkness that wrapped around them didn’t help matters.
They stepped forward one at a time and the temperature came out next. It was humid, hot and just flat out uncomfortable. The ground was hard with a layer of something crunchy on top of it. Like the floors above, there were buildings on either side and a huge gap in the middle. It was hard to believe that anything was below this floor.
Tahu walked toward the edge of the street and glanced upward. He could barely see the light above and there wasn’t much up there to begin with. Turning back to the side streets there were a few lights on in the buildings but for the streets themselves a light pole every few sections was visible. Of those maybe only half of them were functioning or even in one piece.
There were a few people on the streets sitting in corners or roaming around. Maybe two levels up they would have looked and asked for money or even food. Down here they turned away from them, averting their eyes to the ground.
“They’re afraid of us,” Rizier said softly. “They wonder if we’re with the Gink. A gang I assume.”
“The Gink have this place?” Tahu tsked. “I thought this was too deep for them. And yeah Zier. They’re a gang.”
“Apparently they are extending their reach. We should be careful,” Ya’Cahin glanced over her shoulder. “Rizier, can you use your telepathy and make sure we don’t get ambushed while we’re here?”
“I can try. Down here I feel disconnected. Something interfering with my abilities. Even the sand within me is unsteadied.”
“Do you think it’s the field?” Ya’Cahin asked glancing at Ula.
“It is possible. Do you feel something similar affecting you captain?”
She looked at her hands, “Somewhat. But I’ve been here before. It’s their first time.”
“I can manage something small. A field around us that will alert me of something cross over into it.”
“If you can do it make it happen. Everyone else keep your eyes and sensors open. Let’s move.”
They started walking against the sidewalk and Ya’Cahin had her eyes upward. All of the buildings there were covered in either graffiti, markers to establish ownership from a gang, most of them being Gink, and others were just plain dirty. There were terminals lining the streets with flickering numbers on their display. They were meant to show what section they were on but with them destroyed like this they were going to have to guess some of places.
Ya’Cahin’s spines itched as she walked. She touched the one on her arm but didn’t glance around. She could feel it. Tahu tapped Ya’Cahin’s back as they passed section 9 but she didn’t turn toward the zorg. They leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “We’ve got company Yaya.”
“I guess. I counted at few keeping eyes on us. How many did you count actually following?”
“Only three but I doubt that’s all of them.”
“Ula think we should engage them or keep going?”
“I would recommend against confrontation. We do not know the area well and would run the risk of an ambush that way.”
“Rizier have you felt anything?”
“Here and there yes. Deciphering between hostile to us and unwelcoming to strangers is difficult. The trio following us are just on the fringe of my radar so I can’t read them well. There are a couple oncoming from the other side of the street. None of them are psykiks.”
“That’s still five in total,” Ya’Cahin frowned in thought. “Play it safe. Keep an eye out. Rizier if you can, mess with their heads. Try and make them lose us.”
“I shall make it a priority.”
Their pace increased as they counted up the sections. They were at section 13 when Tahu tapped her shoulder again. She stole a glance behind her to see them. “I don’t like this Yaya.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Just a bad feel-“
An explosion rocked the ground in front of them and sent the four of them flying apart as gunfire erupted around them.
The Harlequin Library 