Chaos in the Night 3

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3
A great claw swung over the rampart that blotted out the sun. Draybeck looked up and fought the urge to jump. He visually scanned the sweep of the machine to a small cab perched high above the deck. A smaller man sat inside directing the crane as it swiveled over the shipping container and dipped its claw into the behemoth.

“Hey Dray, wouldn't it be great if we could land a job on that monster?” Stephen pointed to a similar monstrosity further down the dock. He had one arm wrapped around Annie, a pretense at steadying her as she acclimated to Earth's motion. “This big rock is soaring around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour, after all,” he had told her. Actually she was feeling pretty good. Her hi-grav training and rigorous work schedule had kept her fit; she was probably more than a match for most of the Earthlings in this district, and Annie had even succeeded in many of the Outermost Death matches she'd entered inside Titan. No one really died, but a broken bone or two wasn't unheard of.

The dock was a noisy place and all of their communication took place through phone plugs that stopped the eardrum shattering decibels from doing immediate damage. Tri-photon cage shuttles attached themselves to the lode bins and noisily settled to the off load areas where giant cranes and their claws moved the shipments to rail or seacraft. Annie had come down on a container the size of a small building. Three of the cage shuttles helped it rumble safely down to a touch pad, where the shock absorbers limited their pain of arrival.

“I have a voucher for a TV dinner and a faux Chrona. I guess the company has a mess in the relocation district.” Annie had a palm-sized bit of Flixon with directions. The walk would have been 2 miles, but Stephen produced some coin and rented a lateral boonicap. They were there in 2 minutes. All around them, the green auras of the working class cast an earth hugging haze, while outside the buildings that loomed above the avenues a hint of blue shimmered from the reflective window panes. New Detroit was the bustling center of industry its namesake had once been, a century earlier. Built over the bones of the dinosaur that had been Detroit, this new city was run by the Company on the sculpted banks of Lake Erie, almost a country unto itself. Eighty percent of the interstellar traffic flowed through the upper Midwest. Wider, deeper channels had been cut into the Great Lakes and every major rail line had a hub here. There were a few stratosphere scramjet terminals for long range deliveries, but for the most part the mag'rail network was just as fast, and cheaper by a wide margin.

Once beyond the docks they pocketed their ear-phone plugs. Inside the relocation district Annie checked in at a corner hub where a Model T% directed her to the nearest mess. “It's the cleanest, as well,” said the Eduardo happily as it scanned her aura. “You are new to Earth. Welcome to Earth, Annie. Good day.”

Draybeck pulled Stephen aside while she was busy checking on her status. “You've got to stop throwing coin around like that.”

“Step back, Dray, pal. We're not some shlubs, you know. Did you want to walk an hour just to get here, to this shit hole?”

Draybeck pulled a punch at Stephen's arm. “Hey, you wanted to be a green. So here we are, and you need to act the part. You've got to live like a green to get the full experience, idiot. Good thing Annie is fresh from the outermost; she doesn't know the ins and outs yet.”

“Shit. Do you see that shop over there, can you read that sign?” asked Stephen.

“Yeah. Hell yeah – it's a mellow cafe.” Draybeck puled Stephen back. “Later; we're waiting on Annie, and getting a TV dinner.”

“Ha. Fuck that. Have you ever eaten a TV dinner? Well, you let me know how shit tastes, and I'll be spacin' at mellow central. First one's on me, my brotha'.” Stephen broke free and made for the cafe.

–

They sat facing each other in the crowded mess. Annie had turned in her voucher for the TV dinner, but after a bite or two she pushed it away and sat back to sip at her faux Chrona. “Does this taste right to you, Draybeck? So, the Chronas we had in Titan were pretty shitty, so I, I don't know.
Comparatively, I mean.” She poked a bit of tofu with her fork and sighed.

He liked her accent, actually he barely heard the words at all. “What, again? Oh, yeah; the Chronas.”
Draybeck was about to say they were crap; nothing like the Chrono Mocha le Chockas that they mimicked and could only be had on Outpost X V. He remembered getting sick on them, he'd drank so many, when his dad had taken him along on that inspection trip to X V. He wasn't really into the faux Chronas here on Earth; when you've had the best...you know. Now a good mellow; he was looking forward to that.

They were nearly shoulder to shoulder at the bench tables, and the big guy sitting next to Annie was looking between her breasts and the still warm TV dinner. Draybeck didn't much like the look of him, but the guy was huge and reminded him of an old vid's ax murderer he'd once seen on a contraband Flixon bracelet. Speaking up wouldn't help Draybeck blend in, so he just minded his own business.

“'Scuse'me miss – you gonna eat that, or no?”

“Or no,” Annie replied. “What's your name?”

“Jarlon.” He snatched the tray and glanced up at Draybeck. “You slick, what's your business then?”

Shit, he knew he wasn't fitting in. “Ah, I'm looking. Got any leads?” That was the reason he and Stephen were down around the docks anyway. To live like a green, one needed to work. The scant coin they packed wouldn't last forever.

“There's digipost boards down the pub a ways...if you don't want to go through the Company. Skip the scan, know what I mean.”

Draybeck did know. “Ah, no I don't know what you mean. Annie, are you ready to go?” Jarlon sneered and spooned some of the slop into his gap toothed maw, leering at Annie as she rose.

“Right; I just want to check in for my lodging and work schedule. You coming?” The Model T% just outside could direct her, as her meager Flixon map wasn't equipped for that function. They left the mess, dropping the depleted Chrona mugs in the door barrel. No food of any kind was allowed outside of authorized messes, or eateries. The only exception was re-purposed water pumps that were fitted into work garments. Sip-suits, they were called, and most of the greens down at the docks wore them, especially during the hot, muggy days of Detroit's summer months. Annie didn't have one, yet. It might take her a couple weeks to earn enough to wiggle into one, if her job required one.

The Model T% scanned her quickly. “Annie, again? Was your meal well received? Yes...well, you haven't earned a second complimentary meal. You've a credit for any lodging in this area, or nearer your job site. Report to the Plywaller office at 7 am. There is a mellow coupon on your map. You are welcome.” The Eduardo spit out a strip of Flixon map and muted.

“Ooh,” she said. “I don't have very much plywaller experience, though. Do you want this coupon? I don't need the map, the office is on this one I already have.” Annie ripped the strip off and handed it to Draybeck.

“Thanks.” He had no idea what a plywaller was. His life as an inspector's son left him woefully unprepared for any sort of menial occupation in this district. “Is it a hard job?”

“Nah; tedious. Well, the really talented ones don't have to work for the Company. That's a bright penny, huh?”

Draybeck was traumatized by her lilt. “Bright, penny. Hey – what now?” He hoped they could spend more time together, but not with Stephen at the mellow cafe. Still, “uh, want to get a mellow?”

“Oh no,” Annie smiled at him, near to send him spinning despite a lifetime of earthly acclimation. “I think I might get a bed at this place here,” she pointed to sloppy stucco building on the street. Every room had a tiny balcony, probably to match the tiny room and even tinier bed. “I don't have any gear, and tomorrow after work I can look for a closer place.”

Draybeck stared at her for a second, but after she didn't speak further, and he had little to say, “Well, I guess I may as well catch up to Stephen then, for a mellow." He had an insight and dug a thin Flixon card from his front pocket. It had a coin credit of thirty-hundred on it, but also included a memo function. Draybeck was sure he would see her again. He spoke a number to the Flixon which recorded it. "You can reach me by this. I'll see you?”

“Uh huh. You know where I'm at...” Annie turned on a heel, looking back over her shoulder at him briefly, “...tonight.”

–

Stephen was completely melded. “Yo ho ho.” He pointed to a seat. “Sit you.”

“I hate it when you go monosyllabic.” An orange waitress traded Draybeck a small mellow for the coupon. She was easily five foot, but her poodle-doo kicked that up another notch.

“Did you see her boots,” said Stephen, “they reach into the floor. Wow. And the fog here. It masks, right? Could be anyone in this joint. You know, maybe a blue...slumming in the districts. Look around mate...they could be us.”

“You're high. Wait up.”

Draybeck had one more. The sun was going down and he didn't want to go out overly relaxed. He asked if Stephen wanted a caffeine infusion, or if he'd seen any job listings on the digipost.

“Oom pah. Pah. Pahhhh.”

They decided to look the next day for work. Until then, the hotel across the street was looking pretty good. It looked excellent to Draybeck, and once he got Stephen settled he would be inquiring after a certain lovely Titan miss. He was loose enough to go knocking on doors.

In any case he didn't have to go knocking. Annie saw them stumble out of the cafe from her balcony. Her credit level put her on the street side and she was settled in with a virgin mochacreme watching Earthlings from three stories up. Annie waved.

Draybeck felt something hard up against his head, and before he knew it was lying on the pavement. He remotely heard Stephen cursing and throwing punches. Two big guys, maybe three. Probably they were just waiting outside the place. Draybeck shook his head and his eyes cleared a bit. Jarlon. The big guy from the mess....

Stephen was down, and now they were being dragged into an alley. There was a big lectruck in the shadows, with the rear door up. Jarlon hauled Draybeck up and tossed him in on top of his friend.

“Hey Jarl, these the guys looking for work?” A big bronze leatherneck laughed and spit onto the wall.

“Not no more they ain't,” said Jarlon. “These boys is Titans now. They's pressed.”