“Wow. This is all so much bigger than I thought.”

  Vertan and Hilgo could only look out the windows of Suprima Extragalactal Spaceport in shock and awe. Countless ships flew by as though schools of fish around an aquarium, the previously ginormous Olgar from which they offboarded looking like small prey in comparison to the bigger whales and sharks around it.

  Huge as the spaceport may be, the sheer amount of asterships meant that people had to board smaller ships just so they could be taken out to the bigger ones refueling elsewhere in orbit. So much light was obscured from the megastructures surrounding Headworld Suprima’s binary suns that they were able to simply look at it with their naked eyes, even if with a slight squint. Long gone was the era of a day/night cycle on Suprima, with the night being equally dimly lit as the day from the sheer amount of infrastructure; the lights of the continent-sized megacities instead stay perpetually turned on.

  “The space elevator’s over this way, right?” asks Hilgo.

  “Yeah, I think so,” replies Vertan. “Yeah, that direction, it’s on the sign up there.”

  “Is it our elevator though?”

  “Yeah it should be—wait no, that’s Elevator C.”

  “Which direction is Elevator F?”

  “We just keep going down that way, right?”

  “I swear I saw it the other way, Vertan.”

  “Does it, actually? Oh wait, yes it would, the spaceport is a circle, it loops around.”

  “Well, which way is closer?”

  “I think we’re exactly halfway on the other side. There’s six elevators.”

  “Well that’s going to be a far walk.”

  “There’s moving platforms here. Come on, old man, you should try technology sometimes.”

  Vertan and Hilgo, with an initial jolt after boarding a capsule, were zipped through the spaceport to the other side where Elevator F is. The place is shockingly huge, perhaps a city in its own right. The walk to Elevator F would have taken hours without the capsules. But within a few minutes, with stops on the way for other boarding and departing passengers, they stepped off to see Elevator F in front of them, its gates closing in a few minutes.

  After departing for the surface, it would not return for about another hour. Following being scanned through, Vertan and Hilgo join the crowded masses huddling together in Elevator F. An outer gate first closes and restricts access, then another three sets of thick doors automatically slam shut. With a mechanical hiss and metallic groan, Elevator F quickly descends from Suprima Extragalactal Spaceport, rushing towards the ground below with a great rumble.

  Looking through the windows with amazement, Vertan and Hilgo watched as the ground rushed towards them, the surrounding buildings of the city they’re headed towards appearing to stretch evermore upwards to scrape and penetrate the sky. Far off in the distance, Elevator E zips by upwards back up to the spaceport on its massive cable, making the opposite journey faster than any skyship could.

  Within a few minutes of leaving, Elevator F slows down with a grinding rumble, its equilibrium systems keeping everything inside intact and from turning into paste, though this didn’t stop Vertan and Hilgo from feeling it in their legs and stomachs a little bit. After a moment for Elevator F to settle into its docking, gigantic clamps lock it into place, and the doors slide open out to its own station.

  Immediately upon leaving the building, Vertan and Hilgo are met with a thick atmosphere that stung their lungs and threatened to attack with each inhalation. Coughing, the aspiring two fishermen of a quieter world brought their sleeves up in a feeble attempt to filter their breathing, and managed to call over a taxicab to bring them in.

  “Where you two headed to?” asks the aging driver in a raspy voice.

  “We’re going to—cough—we’re going—cough—we’re going to the Tegol Hotel!” Vertan gasped. “I booked it before coming here.”

  “Tegol? Bah! You got some balls for sure, are you from around here?”

  “No, sir—cough—excuse me, we came from Ulminh!” answers Hilgo.

  “Ulminh?!” exclaims the driver as he drives out of the pick-up zone. “You came real far then, where’s that even at?!”

  “We’re from a small galaxy over in the Margken cluster!” Vertan answers.

  “The Marg, Marg-ken cluster, did I say that right?” asks the driver.

  “Yeah, that’s right!” Hilgo answers. “Ulminh is the name of our world, our system is a part of Sonta.”

  “Oh, Sonta, I know Sonta!” the driver exclaims, pulling a hard turn. A honk goes by outside their window. “Well, I know of it. Beautiful domain, I hear! I’d like to visit someday.”

  “Really? It’s pretty quiet and boring out where we are,” says Vertan.

  “Oh I’d love me some of that!” rasps the driver. “Too noisy and congested here, I get a headache.”

  “Well, you better get on with it, old man,” says Hilgo. “Make the most of your time left!”

  “Old?!” the driver exclaims. “I’m twenty!”

  After payment and a few needed tips from the driver, the taxicab flies off, joining the countless others in the vehicular ecosystem above them. They were by this time more accustomed to the air by now, though the sheer size of the urban jungle around them doesn’t fail to overwhelm Hilgo whenever he looks up at the towering monoliths above.

  The two could see what the driver meant now; they must be in a more run-down part of town. The roads were filled with cracks and leaks, and near a corner, a cleanup crew struggles to scrub graffiti off the walls. The streetlamp next to them flickers as though it too occasionally struggled to breathe in this air, surrounded by moths and other bugs that have somehow evolved to survive in such an urbanized space.

  The sky continues to glow a dim red-orange, the setting binary suns changing the directions of shadows but having no effect on the overall lighting.

  Stepping into Tegol Hotel, Vertan and Hilgo were surprised to find the interior to be more well kept and orderly than what they had just seen outside. After checking in through the front desk, the tired receptionist hands them their room card with a flat face, waving them off. She goes back to watching her show, flickering from her StarComms behind the desk.

  The elevator felt somewhat old and rickety, but nonetheless granted them safe passage to their floor. Scanning open to room 4602, Vertan and Hilgo are greeted with their home for the time being. It was better than what they had at home, but somehow, slightly underwhelming. At least in comparison to the cabin they had aboard the Olgar. It felt smaller and more cramped, and had a slight scent of oldness to it.

  “Well, looks like we’re finally here,” Vertan sighs with relief. With great release, he sets down his luggage and immediately sinks into the bed, softer than what he was normally used to.

  “It looks kind of alright,” Hilgo says with a slight hint of uncertainty.

  “Hey man! Things are expensive here and this is the most I can manage. I’m lucky to get a place not too far from the recruiting center tomorrow.”

  “You had to get a room with only one bed?”

  “I booked this room before I knew you’re coming with me. Besides, at least splitting lets us save a bit more now.”

  “If you wanted to save money, you could’ve booked a homestay, you know.”

  “What’s that?”

  “A homestay, Vertan.”

  “Yeah, what’s a homestay?”

  “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “What?”

  “You really booked a flight to another galaxy and didn’t bother to look into what a homestay is?”

  “No really, what is it, Hilgo?”

  “It’s like, you pay people to stay at their place. I reckon you’d have a better time and it’d be cheaper, too.”

  “Oh. Ohhhh.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I mean. Oh well. You live and you learn.”

  “Live and learn, well now there’s two of us and only one bed.”

  “What’s the problem? We’ve known each other since we were kids. You take your half of the bed.”

  “Well your ass is stinky.”

  “Hey!”

  “I’m gonna have to be sniffing after that all night now that your mother’s not here to nag you.”

  “We fish every day and you’re saying I smell worse than all of that?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What time is it by the way? It feels like it’s been a perpetual evening since we got here.”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  *****

  Walking down the streets of Suprima, Vertan and Hilgo can’t help but feel intimidated by the sheer scale of their surroundings, despite their best efforts. The monolithic buildings that stretched through the atmosphere felt as though they were alive and watchful of them. Glowing aeon signs flash and flicker across tangled wires and cables above the streets, and a smokey steam seems to continually rise from different vents on the ground and from buildings.

  Carefully tucked under their jackets are self-defense guns rented from a local vendor, as recommended by the concierge from earlier. She could tell they weren’t from around here from the way they walked, talked, and carried themselves.

  Everything here appeared to function in a perpetual motion forwards. There was no daybreak to wake up to, nor nightfall to signal sleep, and no seasons to dictate time of year. Business stayed endlessly open at all times, employees simply moving in and out of each shift in a carefully monitored system. Nightlife appeared to be eternal; everywhere Vertan and Hilgo went, a person finishing their day could be sharing drinks with a buddy about to start his.

  Leaving a nearby restaurant around a corner from Tegol, Vertan and Hilgo finally stomachs their food as they walked down the sidewalk. The meal felt a bit too strange and foreign for them, but hungry as they were, they couldn’t help but finish all of it.

  Suddenly, the voice of a woman cries out from an alley.

  “What was that?” Hilgo asks, somewhat shaken.

  “I don’t know, you heard that though, right?” Vertan responds.

  Another scream.

  “Yeah!” Hilgo says. “Another one.”

  “I think it came down that alley.”

  “I don’t think we should.”

  “Why?”

  “Let’s just ignore it and get back to the hotel, man.”

  “Well what if someone’s life is in danger?”

  “That’s none of our business, man.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “What if it’s dangerous!”

  Vertan looks around the corner into the dark and damp alley, the ground wet with puddles from dripping pipelines. Indeed, he sees a frightened young woman, dirtied, wounded, and shaking, her clothes appearing ripped and torn in some parts. She appeared to be blindfolded.

  “Please, somebody help!”

  “Okay, we’ve seen her now, we can’t just leave her,” says Vertan.

  “If something happens, I’m going to kill you,” hisses Hilgo.

  “She’s alone in there! What’s going to happen?”

  “What part about a random blindfolded woman crying for help in the middle of an alleyway isn’t suspicious to you?”

  “You want to take the chance on it being suspicious and find out she’s dead tomorrow?”

  “Man, fine! You go for it, I’m sticking back here in case anything happens.”

  Vertan steps into the alleyway, and a homeless man who had been sitting near the corner looks up at him fearfully, shaking his head before getting up to move elsewhere. Stepping carefully into the alleyway, Vertan took notice of his surroundings. Vertical platforms to reach upper floors. Trash bins. Smoking, steaming pipes.

  “Are you alright, ma’am?” Vertan calls out, slowly closing the distance.

  “Hello?” the woman calls out. “Is there someone there?”

  “Yes! I heard you crying for help. Are you alright?”

  “No, I—where am I right now? What’s going on?”

  “You’re in an alley, we were walking by when we heard you.”

  “We? Who are you with? Are they still nearby?”

  “Who is nearby? What are you talking about?”

  “Oh gods, oh no—”

  “Hey what’s going on? Look, it’ll be alright, we’ll get you to a hospital—”

  Suddenly, several shadowy figures appear from the darkness. Vertan was bewildered. Where did they come from? They seemed to have materialized out of thin air. Upon coming into the dim light, Vertan could see that they appear to be uniformed officers.

  “What’s going on?” the woman asks, shaking.

  “Don’t worry, I think it’ll be okay,” Vertan responds. “Hey, good to see you officers! You came right on time, can we help get this woman to a hospital?”

  The men stayed silent, instead talking in a low voice to each other.

  “He doesn’t look like one of them,” one of them leans to the other.

  “This is nothing to do with your business,” another one of them instructs Vertan. “We request that you leave the premises for your safety immediately.”

  “What?” Vertan is confused. “But she’s clearly distressed and in danger!—”

  “Leave. Now.”

  “Sir—”

  “Why don’t you go back to your planet, foreigner?!” another one sneers.

  One of the officers began raising a baton in aggression towards Vertan when a light shone from behind him. Hilgo rushes up to Vertan, trying to pull him away. Behind him, what appears to be a biker gang had pulled up to the scene, clearly angry and agitated.

  “Vertan!” exclaims Hilgo. “We need to go, now! This is too much trouble than it’s worth.”

  “You wanted us?” one of the bikers called out, supposedly the leader. “Here we are! We have you surrounded.”

  On the other side of the alleyway, more bikers blocked off the end.

  “Subject 13051814, you are under arrest for arson, destruction of Coalition property, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism!” one of the officers, supposedly the squad leader, calls out. “Hand yourself over, and the girl lives.”

  “You call me by my name with respect!” the biker shouts, his friends struggling to hold him back between shouts. “She’s innocent in this, let her go!”

  The escalation intensifies, both sides raising arms. Above, Vertan could see that there were more officers hiding in the shadows, pointing their guns down towards everyone below. The duo is stuck, Hilgo looking at Vertan with exasperated fear and frustration.

  “I am going to count to three!” the officer threatens, yanking the woman closer. “You are to drop your weapons and hand yourself over, or I’m blowing her brains out.”

  “You’re crazy—!”

  “One—!”

  And with a sudden split decision, Vertan yanks the woman back from the officer’s arm, his fisherman strength breaking clean from the officer’s grip. Pulling out his self defense gun, he points at them, and pulls the trigger.

  “Enjoy a well-earned vacation on Yorima Starlines! We offer reward points for—” the gun blabbers. On its tiny diagnostic screen, a text displays, “Pull trigger to skip to ad 2/5.”

  “Are you kidding me?!” Vertan exclaims wide-eyed amongst the confused men. Edging in panic, he pulls the trigger several more times before a shot fires off, missing the officers but striking a pipe, setting off obscuring steam that soon covered them in the alley.

  Running back the way they came, Vertan pulls Hilgo and the woman behind a large trash bin, tearing off the woman’s blindfold, revealing a bruised black eye. Hilgo pulls his self-defense gun and likewise skips through his five ads, firing off a shot after just to make sure the thing worked.

  Pulling a net hanging out of the trash bin, Vertan throws it upon the officers, trapping multiple. Amidst the madness, the leader of the bikers instruct to not shoot at Vertan and Hilgo for fear of hitting the woman, and the two fishermen began shooting on the same side of the bikers. The netted officers almost break free, but stumble upon one of the vertical platforms.

  Capitalizing on the opportunity, Hilgo took a few well placed shots to flip a switch that sends them moving upwards and away from the fight, eventually trapping them above. The bikers continued to fill them with holes, finishing them off until it rained blood in that one spot.

  A grenade flies out from the smoking alley, and everyone scatters moments before it goes off.

  Stumbling out of the smoke, Vertan and Hilgo carry the woman, injured but alive. Running across to the corner and making sure the coast was clear, they set her down on a bench.

  Two bikers rolled up out of the chaos behind them.

  “Get the fuck on! We’re going!”

  *****

  “So you two aren’t from around here at all, huh?” the biker leader interrogates.

  “Nope,” replies Vertan. “It’s our first day here, actually.”

  Hilgo could only side-eye Vertan, and continued to sit there quietly as they waited. The local medic continues to tend to the woman on one of the tables, the other bikers holding ground as they wait outside. The “open” sign continues to flash periodically, the holoscreen playing a game show on a nearby wall. At another seat, another worker cosmetically adjusts a different customer’s face to their demands.

  “He don’t talk much, do he?” the biker asks.

  “No no, he does. I think he’s upset with me.”

  “I see.”

  “What was all that? Who is she?”

  “My girlfriend.”

  “Ah.”

  “I mean it all worked out, but you two should know to stay clear of these things.”

  “That’s what I tried telling him,” Hilgo mutters. Vertan rolls his eyes.

  “So we can go now?” Vertan asks. “You got all the details you wanted from us?”

  “Yes,” the biker replies. “You’re not one of them, you’re good. Just stay out of it next time.”

  “‘One of them?’”

  “Yes, those thugs.”

  “I thought you were the criminal.”

  “Hey!” the biker snaps. “You can call me anything, but don’t you dare call us criminals!”

  “Vertan, you idiot,” Hilgo digs his face into his hand now.

  “Alright, alright, my bad,” mumbles Vertan.

  “Those thugs killed my family,” the biker continues.

  “Really?”

  “Yes, you should be wary of them.”

  “I thought they’re meant to protect?”

  “They protect their interests. Their people!”

  “Well, what good is that kind of system?”

  “It isn’t.”

  “Okay?”

  “Most of us in this group are all orphans. We’re all we have for each other.”

  “So you don’t count on the law?”

  “What law? Why would we?”

  *****

  Vertan and Hilgo were brought back to Tegol, escorted by the bikers. The territories they controlled consisted of many significant blocks of that part of the city, and law enforcement typically stayed clear of the area, deeming it more trouble than what it’s worth. Nonetheless, tensions have been rising with increased police presence and activity in that area.

  With a final good-bye, the bikers gifted Vertan and Hilgo a large sum of bundled cash in thanks for rescuing their woman, before departing to vandalize more Coalition property.

  “Well, that was quite the adventure,” Vertan attempts to make conversation after the awkward silence.

  “Don’t talk to me, man,” growls Hilgo.

  “Well, at least we got money out of it?”

  “You seem happy with using criminal money.”

  “They said they weren’t—”

  “And you believe that?”

  “No, that’s not what I meant—”

  “We don’t know where they got that from, Vertan. It’s going to be a lot of trouble tied back to us.”

  Vertan exhales in frustration. It seemed clear that Hilgo didn’t want to elaborate further. Quietly, Vertan pulls the cash bundle from his coat and tucks it away in his suitcase.

  “Let’s get some sleep,” says Vertan. “We have a long day tomorrow.”

  An eventful day, Vertan thought. Not ideal, sure. But he was glad a life could be saved, even if Hilgo may disagree.

  It would be another hour of lying there with his thoughts before Vertan could fall asleep.