Belters

Chapter 11:-2

Lea’s word slipped out before she knew it. “Procedures?”

The woman turned her head toward Lea, more machinelike than human. “Yes, FlyRight human relations chapter zero one, section four-niner, paragraph six, ‘Upon reaching a new destination, employees are to check company communications.’ You have failed to open a new directive.”

Tian’s cheeks turned red. The excuses came at a stammering pace. “I… don’t get it… I thought… I might have some… some time to enjoy… explore the station before my next shuttle.”

The female machine shot off the orders most efficiently. “You were not placed in this universe to get it. Change of plans happen. You have been reassigned to me. Gather your things and report to the Virgil, dock thirty-niner alpha. We depart as soon as clearance is granted.”

Tian, now flustered, worked like a madman on the device worn on zer arm. After the journey, piles of communications had gone ignored. It was a scramble to find the correct message. Zhe was never offered a chance.

“Off with you then. You are dismissed,” the mysterious woman barked.

Left little choice, Tian offered a quick hug to Lea before scampering off down the docks. “Good luck…” the programmer called over zer shoulder, scrambling down the crowed docks.

Lea never minded strong, powerful women, but there was a time and place for everything. As far as Lea could tell, this FlyRight puppet proved to be a b***h on wheels. Before Lea excused herself to escape the rude woman, the chromed glasses turned their attention to her. With no eyes to focus on, Lea talked to the woman’s nose. At least it offered a target for her concentration.

“Welcome to Ceres. I understand you are between stops. An individual of your skills might prove useful on our expedition.” The words sent a cold shiver down Lea’s spine. Few knew she was here. Fewer knew what her qualifications might be. “Reo here suggested you might be looking for gainful employment.” The woman from FlyRight finished her thought.

The thought of spending a second enclosed on any ship with this person caused her stomach to flop.

Before forced into an answer, a spacer walked up. It was easy to tell the type, tall and slender from a lifetime in limited gravity. Life in space mostly offered limited microgravity. The gray ships coveralls sporting reflective strips made a sharp contrast to the corporate woman who stood before her.

To make the difference more pronounced, the man had pulled off the shoulders and tied the arms around his waist. The man flashed his family tats with pride, snaking down the right side of his face and disappearing under his clothes. Each belter on a family ship wore an intricate pattern of symbols. It acted as a way to distinguish ship and qualifications. Belters plainly wore their resume etched onto their skin for everyone to see.

Lea knew a few of the different symbols’ meanings. Anyone who worked in space needed to know a few. The man was an engineer. That explained away some of his gruffness. Grease monkeys had a valid reputation for universally being better equipped to deal with machines than people. Being sent on an errand as demeaning as telling a passenger to get their ass back to the ship must have hurt the man’s ego to no end.

For those who couldn’t read the cryptic tats that covered the man, the name of his ship was emblazoned on his tight-fitting wifebeater undershirt: Virgil. “The old man sent me to tell you we got clearance. We leave in one hour.”

Lea had never met too many spacers, but she knew enough to know they didn’t normally talk with the thick, broken accent like this guy did. He was either an aberration or he put on a show for the corporate stooge.

“Would you mind not interrupting our conversation?” The women did little to hide her exasperation.

Lea bit her lip to hide the smile. Normally she hated to see any man talk down to a woman, but in this case, it might be well deserved.

“Listen, dragon lady, I don’t work for you, see. Master Baal tells me to jump, I says how high. Youse tells me to jump, I says piss off. Now I did what the master tells me to do.” Before the “dragon lady” gave the man a piece of her mind, he turned and started off the direction he came.

“You will kindly address me as Doctor Vizminda Abe or simply Doctor if the former is too many words,” the woman blustered to the man’s back.

Lea watched the woman’s hands clench in anger. With no release, she might explode before the ship reached its final destination. The spacer answered the good doctor with a single raised middle finger. Lea coughed to hide her snort.

“I will talk to the captain about that man’s insubordination.” Doctor Abe was going to have a hard time dealing with the crew of a family ship. Most the independents hated taking a corporate contract of any kind. Considered it akin to selling their soul to the devil. Taking a slot on the ship might be worth the hassle simply to watch the woman implode.

Rather than accept the offer, her excuse came quickly, before Lea cut off the conversation. “No, thanks. I have a job. I need to be going now.”

“Suit yourself, we leave within the hour if you change your mind.” Her arm reached out and, with the first outward appearance of nonhostile emotions, touched Reo’s arm. “This way.”

Crap on a cracker, what a b***h. Lea was happy to escape that bullet. Now she needed to find a place to hole up and let the heat die off. Given enough time and cash, she should find out more now that she was safely off Earth.

She hadn’t made it far when the strained voice of the company man Reo reached her. “Lea, please wait a moment.”

The urge to run was overruled by her need to keep a low profile. She didn’t need some ass running after her shouting her name. A quick spin on her heel, and he nearly ran into her. “What?” The words came out harsher than she intended.

“I wish you would reconsider… I think we should all stick together…” Reo twitched more than normal. The stress of space travel had taken its toll. Lea would bet the man would never make it back to Earth sane. Some people just weren’t made for space.

“Why…? You barely know me.” The words sounded hard, but it was the God’s honest truth. He had zero reasons for needing her on Herr Doctor’s crazy train.

He lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “Something bad is coming… Once strangers meet… Listen, we should stick together.”

“Listen, I have a job waiting.” It was only half a lie. She did need to find out if someone was out to cut her life short.

“Please just think about it… I don’t think you are safe here on Ceres.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever… You should go. The doctor is probably waiting.” Before Reo stopped her, Lea spun and hustled on her way. The man was losing it quickly, and she sure didn’t want to be near when he finally cracked.

The stress of modern life, well some people just couldn’t take the load of crap life threw their way.

There was a good reason Tian unplugged during the flight from Earth. The daily grind of constant connectivity found on Earth had become a real health risk for many. The peak of first-world problems, on-demand information at the fingertips, left little time for relaxation. Many people found sleep difficult with so much information.

In developed countries, a cottage industry had cropped up. Retreats were created with artificial black zones with no reception. People who could afford the price would check in for a week to decompress from the constant information bombardment. Space travel did most of the same thing. Connectivity was available during travel times, but for a steep cost. Nothing came free out in the dark.

During the trip, Lea unplugged for a different reason. Since she traveled on diplomatic clearance, she got off Earth clean. As soon as she reached out for clues or tapped her numbered accounts, the timer started. If she was lucky, it might take hours for anyone after her to spot her activity. More than likely, it would only take seconds. Her only hope remained the distance from Earth, which might give her a few days before she needed to skip Ceres and head to a new spider hole. Some people might accuse her of paranoia, but her mistrust of people was the reason she survived in such a dangerous profession for so long.

Now Lea needed a place to call home for the short term. A hole where she could tap into that well of information to seek out some tidbits of truth.

The docks were lined with all manner of flophouses, most rented by the hour. Signs flashed with offers of privacy, hot bodies, and cold beer. Everything a crew needed to fill those desires left untouched while in space.

Since most of the people on a ship were related, romance could get a tad tricky. Pulling into a place like Ceres was a way for singles to meet up and do what humans have always been good at. Making more of them.

The Circus was well known in the solar system as a place to find Miss or Mister Right-now. Despite, Earth’s puritanical attitudes concerning s*x and sexuality transporting into space, humans still worked hard to make little copies of themselves.

Personal contact was a complication Lea didn’t need. Besides, the closer to the surface of the station, the less shielding there was. If Lea ever decided to have kids, she needed to limit her exposure to cosmic radiation as much as possible. That meant finding a room deeper under the protection the rock offered.

Housing near the surface was relegated to the poor and disenfranchised. The newest, most luxurious places to live and visit on Ceres, or any station built in space, were the deepest.

Three levels down should be out of the way, protected, and still cheap enough to not raise eyebrows. All she needed was a coffin room, a place to access the net and lay her head to sleep. A room not much larger than a casket was easy to find. They were the type of place most transit workers housed up when not looking for a s****l partner.

Making her way down the ramps to the warrens of midlevel tunnels proved simple. Avoiding crowds, she sidestepped the lifts, opting to stretch her legs after the long confinement. The light gravity made for easy travel. She hadn’t noticed how thin the crowd was. Even if this was midshift, the Circus should be going full tilt. There were few locals about, only company personnel and ship’s crew.

If she hadn’t been distracted, she would have made it a point to be more aware of her surroundings, but the damned dragon lady… doctor threw her for a loop.

After the confrontation, Mindy had taken hold of Reo’s elbow and led him through the station loading docks. His old flame continued to speak the whole time. The steady drone of her voice allowed Reo’s mind a chance to wander.

He was surprised when he found himself in the stone-lined room, still trapped with the two women. Somehow, he jumped in midconversation.

“Shut up all of you.” Reo stood from the table, his anger at not being able to decipher the clues of the riddle driving him insane. To make matters worse, he could not open the door. No matter what he tried, his subconscious would not let him continue the dream until the last person showed.

He slowly banged his head on the door. Not too hard, as his mind did a wonderful job of recreating the pain he imagined inflicting on himself.

Lea and Tian, his comrades trapped in the dream, talked behind his back. Lea asked, “Who do you think the fourth chair is for?”

“I’m more concerned with the trope they will represent.” Tian chuckled.

“How so?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Dressed as I am, I represent the cleric, religious… wisdom… at least in a fantasy setting.”

Reo hit his head too hard. Stars flashed before his eyes.

“Dressed as he is, I would think Reo is a mage.”

“And he is supposed to symbolize intelligence.”

“That’s a laugh… Wait a moment, what the hell am I supposed to be dressed like this—lust?”

“On the contrary, I would submit you are meant to be a thief, cunning—”

“Deception,” Reo added.

“They are tropes. It isn’t an exact science, no matter how fanboys want to think it is.”

“So the missing person is?”

“The fighter.” Reo didn’t need to see who spoke to know who it was.

“Mindy?” He looked over his shoulder to find his ex-girlfriend dressed in a highly polished chrome armor breastplate.

“I was wondering when I would make my appearance.”

Reo slammed his head into the door once more, and the portal moved under the assault of his forehead.

“We are here.” Mindy’s voice pulled him back to reality.

They stood before a huge airlock door of a spaceship. A shiver ran up his spine.