It took a very short time for the car to become almost completely silent. Silence from the occupants, that was. The car itself never stopped making noise, the engine kept producing a deep rumble that permeated through every inch of the vehicle, vibrating the walls and my seat. I could faintly hear the tires crackle against the uneven road. The rain too added to the symphony, continuing to rattle against the thin metal ceiling, I found it to be a curiously relaxing sound. It was a cramped space, even with a seat free between me and Mark in the back. Everything seemed built for function over comfort, the cushioning was hard, the leg room was lacking, even for someone of my height, though thankfully I didn’t have to crane my neck down to sit upright, unlike Mark who opted to slouch down instead of banging his head against the roof. There were many devices in the front seat, though from my position I could only see messes of wires that burst from the dashboard, and into a chunky, currently turned off, computer screen.

  “Why didn’t you shoot that man?” I asked Inim as the question reached my mind.

  Inim turned to face me from the front seat, her face had contorted in a way that told me I had perhaps asked the wrong question.

  “He will continue to come after us, and he definitely won’t hesitate next time. Seems to me you risked a lot letting him live, why do it?” It was a harsh reality, but it was reality. Men like him tended not to go away until you force them too.

  Inim looked shocked, “I won’t kill a man.” She put firmly.

  “He doesn’t have that problem. Leaving him alive was a mistake.” Then I remembered a conversation I didn’t have, “You were happy about Yannick Clement’s death, how is it different if you pull the trigger?”

  “It just… is. And that man was different.” She mumbled, I decided not to press further, it seemed she didn’t enjoy her hypocrisy being so obvious, and despite now seeing my question was inappropriate, I wanted to maintain at least some rapport with the group.

  Then she pulled something from her lap, the gun she had taken from the bounty hunter, “You take this then, since you can pull the trigger.”

  “People, please remain calm, we have experienced much hardship, let us not take it for granted.” Mark interjected, particularly aiming his defusing statement at me.

  I took the pistol though, I trusted myself with it more than I did Inim now I knew she wouldn’t even use it.

  The thing was both strangely familiar and completely alien. It resembled a gunpowder based, automatic pistol, but on a closer look it was only the silhouette that it had in common with them. I was familiar enough with weapons to understand the controls, the trigger was easy, the safety catch too, but it took a moment to find the magazine release in the heel of the grip. What dropped out the bottom really took me a second to understand. Instead of a stack of rounds inside a plastic housing, the magazine was split down the middle, one side was a heavy block with a metal connector at the top, the other side was a stack of thin metal darts.

  Lance whistled from the front, I now noticed he was looking at me through a mirror in the centre of the cabin. “That’s a coil gun that, uses the battery there to shoot those darts very fast. Make the shots count, you won’t find another magazine for that anywhere around here, even from our contact.”

  I slipped the gun into my inner jacket pocket which was thankfully spacious enough to hold the weapon. Not a bad find at all, if Lance was to be believed. I made sure to give myself a mental note on how much ammunition (if it could even be called that) was left.

  8 shots. Don’t be stupid. Mainly thinking of you, Knox.

  We drove for a few more minutes before stopping on a street as abandoned as all the others, where was everyone?

  Inim hopped out, alone, to use a public phone. While its presentation was unfamiliar, being in a private booth and needing funds to even function, it reminded me of the radio stations that were scattered across the Ship. While I had never used them, they were very useful as you could listen in on other conversations people were having. If my section of the ship was due a visit from some unpleasant folks, I usually had a fair amount of warning. I wondered if these could be used the same way, I found myself desperately wanting the assurance that we were being pursued, not knowing for sure was far more uncomfortable.

  My train of thought was interrupted by a cold gust and a light spray of rain as Inim returned to the idling car.

  “He wants to meet,” She spoke nervously, “Apparently you know where. He said it was well timed since he was already there.”

  “Bangin’” Lance replied casually, it seemed to put Inim more at ease.

  I cleared my throat to interrupt, “So what’s the plan? If I’m to believe Lance about this Hoss guy, I probably shouldn’t meet him face to face”

  “Just wait outside, one of his guards will be out there too but it’ll look professional if it looks like we brought our own, and that guard is likely not gonna bother to check you, he’s just paid to stop people coming in. At least I hope so.”

  “I’ll stay outside with her,” Mark stated, “This is a bit out of my depth anyway.”

  “Nope.” Lance denied him, “We need you in, I don’t want it just being me and Inim in there. Plus, it’s part of the etiquette, we put too many people outside and it looks like we are expecting interruptions, we don’t put enough people inside and it looks like we don’t respect our client’s power.”

  Inim chuckled, “Are you not overthinking this?”

  Lance laughed back mockingly, “Hah! Not at all! Why do you think I have bad beef with half the gangs in this sector?”

  “Because you are asshole?” Inim snorted.

  Lance shook his head, still smiling, “Yeah well you’d know all about that huh…”

  One thing I was beginning to find annoying about planets, was how everything just looked almost identical and lacked any unique features, I had gotten more surprises in a ship where I had spent most of my life than here, I found myself starting to feel just as trapped as I had been then.

  It had only been a few days, but it already felt like a lifetime ago.

  When we arrived at where Lance knew to go, I could not discern it from any of the other roads lined with concrete towers we had been on. The only difference here was that the metal additions to the buildings were fewer and much further between, as if it was a disease that hadn’t spread to this region yet.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Mark sighed as he looked out the window, peering through the sheet of rain that continued to hammer down, his eyes were also drawn upwards, to where I had been looking, “Cleaners must have come through here recently, poor souls.”

  I was about to ask what he meant, when the back door was opened by Lance, who beckoned me out. I pulled my hood up, its hugeness an unexpected boon to assist in keeping my anonymity.

  The building we approached, like always, was like any other. The only major difference was the number of vehicles that were parked outside the door. I counted four, all vastly different aesthetically, all looked equally likely to fall apart if I looked at them wrong. That was aside from one, even in the drab light of the storm, it shone brightly with an ostentatious chrome finish. I had seen shuttles outfitted in a similarly gaudy fashion, but seeing a terrestrial vehicle use the same unnecessarily showy bodywork was… quaint.

  The front of the building was manned by a singular woman, she wore a long coat and a brimmed hat, both of her hands were pocketed in dark suit trousers, her black shoes glistened with moisture. She may have been glaring at us, but her eyes were obscured by a pair of dark sunglasses. Before we started our approach, Lance appeared at my side and scoffed.

  “Hoss makes his goons overdress so much, it looks so stupid.” He shook his head, “So, you stand outside with her, chat if you want, just don’t draw any attention, don’t say anything stupid. We’ll sort everything out inside.”

  Mark gave me an awkward smile as we began moving, Inim was nervously fidgeting with her enormous and still oil stained hands. Lance nodded at the single guard, “Here for Hoss.”

  She nodded behind her to enter the building, as they proceeded through the threshold, I gave a nod to Lance, who threw two thumbs up before turning and exiting from sight.

  I took a spot on the other side of the door, leaning against the wall with all the casualness I could muster. A small concrete awning above the door shielded me from the torrential rain. I took a deep breath as I attempted to appear more assertive than I felt, I thought that looking the part was likely important for this line of work, considering my compatriot’s elaborate attire. I had to feel confident, like I belonged, I didn’t want any admittedly obvious weaknesses to show. Even though I was the most competent out of the three people who occupied my consciousness, this was still uncharted territory. My experience had mostly been in hiding, taking small opportunities, in reading intent in faces and knowing what I could get away with, and what I couldn’t.

  Everything here was so much grander, so much more intimidating, so I could only pretend to know what I was doing.

  I glanced at the other guard, her eyes were still forward, the shield of her sunglasses less effective from the side. She didn’t seem to be currently shaken by any kind of nerves, every blink was slow and calm. My own eyes caught on the hand she had pocketed, it was definitely holding something. I could see the knuckles of her gripped hand imprinted on the lining of her suit trousers, it was probably a gun of some kind. I was unsure whether I should’ve felt comforted at her readiness, or put off by it, I settled on being comfortable at least knowing where her gun was. If she wasn’t armed at all that would’ve been a surprise. What was slightly unnerving, was just how still she was. Her entire body, from neck to toe, was an unmoving statue, her chest didn’t even rise and fall with her breathing. I shuddered.

  I stared forwards again, peering through the wall of falling water that surrounded us. I couldn’t hear anything from inside, considering how big buildings were, I doubt they were close enough to be at all audible, and even if they were, the constant crashing of rain would surely drown it out. I tried to find something in the distance to focus on, but everything beyond a few metres was a haze of fog and rain, the only distinct shapes were the street lights that were barely piercing the mist. I winced as a wave of fog rolled over my mind. Moments of quiet like this had a habit of making me space out, and switch, often. I did not want to go just yet, I wanted to at least see this deal through.

  Stop trying to interrupt.

  Stop.

  “New to this sort of thing?” The women to my left spoke. Her voice surprised me, knocking me entirely out of my stupor. It was remarkably soft, like an expensive silk bedsheet.

  “Only a bit,” I attempted to maintain at least a slight veneer of confidence, I could tell she had read me and I didn’t want to look like I was overcompensating by denying it outright.

  I spotted a smile curl from her lips. She took a single gloved hand out of her pocket, and reached into her jacket. I tensed slightly, expecting her to pull out a weapon, despite me knowing where at least her main one was. Instead, she revealed a pack of cigarettes. Thumbing it open, she deftly removed one by lifting it up, raising it to her mouth, and taking it out with her lips.

  She pointed the pack at me next, there was only one left.

  “No, thanks.” I refused.

  Without acknowledgement, she returned it to her coat, replacing it with a lighter, and began to take a drag from the dried, rolled and condensed plant.

  “How long?” She asked, breathing out smoke as she did.

  I shrugged, “A sixth or two.”

  “Of what?” She turned to me with a raised eyebrow.

  “You know, of a cycle?” I answered, confused.

  “Ah,” She turned back, having answered her question, “You must not come down to planets often.”

  “How could you know?”

  “We call those months here.” She smiled subtly as she answered, I gathered it wasn’t something she had to clarify often.

  “What about you?” I asked in return.

  She blew out another puff of smoke, “A few years- cycles, sorry. Not super pretty but it pays better than anything official I can find.”

  “Isn’t that always the case,” I mused, completely bullshitting. I had no idea if that was always the case, I had no idea what the case would’ve been if she wasn’t doing this work.

  “Hah, yeah.” She confirmed. Nice, got it right.

  “What kind of ships have you worked on?” She asked next, it seemed she wanted to fill the silence with at least something. Either that or she had already made me, and just wanted to confirm her suspicions.

  “A fair few,” I lied, I would entertain her questions, but I wouldn’t give her any real hints if the real answers was all she was after.

  “Anything important?”

  I laughed under my breath, “Nope, wouldn’t be here if I had been.”

  “I get that, wanted to get off this rock for all my life but… it’s still home y’know? I cannae do ship work either, you have my respect there.”

  I felt something rising in my chest, “I don’t remember my home.”

  She paused, clearly a little uncomfortable, “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” I felt my throat become tight, “If it was important I would’ve remembered it, right?”

  “I suppose…” She answered, hesitant to press, “But I bet it would still be nice, huh?”

  I exhaled sharply, I hated it when people read me so easily, I suppose that was one thing me and Knox had in common. I was comfortable letting it be the only thing we shared.

  “Sorry,” She spoke after a pause, “I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.”

  “Growing up on a planet, what is it like?” I asked, if she could ask questions, so could I.

  She sighed, “It’s tough, never knowing when you’ll next eat, when your neighbours will disappear, just gotta take it one day at a time, y’know?”

  I smiled, “Sounds like neither of us actually missed out on anything.”

  She smiled back slyly.

  A few more minutes passed in a much more comfortable silence, no more words were shared, but none more were needed, at least from me. As first impressions of how different my life was starting to be, I was already pleasantly content with it. Our conversation had been small in the way of revelations, but it had been an exchange I never would’ve had aboard the ship. The people there had either been cruel and abusive, or kicked down and barely functional. I had been around such people for so long, it had never occurred to me that someone could be neither, or that they had been one type of person, but had evolved into another. Which might be a bit ironic from my own perspective (if I know one thing, it’s how to become someone else), but the point stood. The woman I was with had seen suffering, had experienced suffering, and yet here she was, being courteous and with those around her, and successful with what work she could find. If I could aspire to anything, it would be that.

  Suddenly, I head a quiet beeping noise come from her direction. She sighed heavily and put a finger up to her ear.

  “Yeah?”

  I couldn’t hear the reply, only a slight buzz of her radio.

  “What? Why?

  “No, none yet at least.”

  “You sure?”

  “Ok, got it.”

  She turned to me, her eyes looked sympathetic, but regretful. “Sorry to have to do this to you, lass, but Hoss needs you to get inside,”

  I scowled at her, “What does that mean?”

  “It means,” She smiled awkwardly, and without humour, “If you just agree, I won’t have to pull my gun out and make this harder than it already is.”