Starchildren Options

[Kane]

Two stories at once is a lot for me, so these updates may not be as frequent. I also did not plan on this but a certain young woman in my head refused to be quiet.

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Prologue (May 7th, 2330)
Ebbside, Neon City, Volii Alpha


Andromeda awoke with a start. Somebody was pounding frantically on the door to her sleep crate and had ruined a perfectly deep slumber after a long day of work and even longer night of partying to celebrate her birthday. There was no way in hell it was daylight already which meant she probably left her slate at Euphorika. Again.

The bleary-eyed young woman fumbled in the dark for her glasses while the pounding on her door continued. If whomever it was out there kept it up much longer, she felt like her head would start pounding, too. Having finally fished her glasses off of the cold floor Andromeda slid them on and then clicked her bedside lamp to life. Most of her clothes were strewn about the floor of her metal box, which also explained why she was now so cold.

Two minutes or so later, she was half-dressed, and her nearly decrepit Solstice was clutched tightly in her left hand. Please don’t fizzle out on me now old girl, she thought. Looking down at the worn laser pistol in her hand, she sighed and silently chided herself for never spending any credits on a decent gun. The little pistol had been thrown out for good reason, yet Andromeda had fished out of the garbage anyway and fixed it up in the most half-assed way possible. Each time she squeezed the trigger was just another gamble on whether or not the damned thing would even fire.

This time she prayed to gods she didn’t give a [censored] about that it wouldn’t let her down. And then she finally opened the door.

Andre burst into her sleep crate and slammed the door shut behind him.

“It’s about goddamn time you answered! What the hell took you so long, Dro?”

Andromeda blinked in surprise at the urgency in his voice. She’d known Andre for over six months now, and the man was usually as cool as a cucumber. Even when he drunkenly tried to flirt with her. Andre had taken a courier job for HopeTech on Valo and was reassigned here to Neon City, much to his initial dismay, but they had grown close in the time since. The man was of average height with dark skin and kind brown eyes that sometimes hid behind a mop of unkempt blue hair.

“Slow down, Andre,” she said. “What’s the big deal?”

“No time to slow down. The ‘big deal’ is that your [censored], Dro. Absolutely [censored].”

“Wha -”

“Gather up what you care about the most and stuff it in your bag. Security thugs are closing in already �" I set up a prox alert for when they get within twenty meters.” Andre saw her bag sitting on the floor near the door, grabbed it, and handed it to Andromeda. “Pack! Now!”

“Andre, I am not going to move another goddamn muscle until you tell me what the [censored] is going on!”

“[censored]. Fine. Start packing and I’ll explain while you go.” He waited until a few things had been shoved unceremoniously in her bag before continuing: “Those Ryujin files you hacked yesterday for your anonymous buyer? They were tagged for Bayu’s personal records. Dunno how he tracked you down so quick but if you wanna live to see your twenty-sixth birthday then we need to get you the hell out of this city.”

Her blood froze. Benjamin Bayu. The Administrator of Neon City and possibly the most corrupt man in the settled systems. His fingers crept into every business venture on the planet and the security force was at his beck and call. No one did business in Neon without giving him a cut, and his ruthlessness against would-be competitors was legendary. Everyone who lived in Neon lived comfortably by skirting his brutality.

If she was on his radar at long last, then she had definitely taken the wrong job, pile of credits notwithstanding. Being a Cyber Runner in Neon always ran the risk that Andromeda would one day cross paths with that monster, but she had always been careful about her choice of contracts in the hope of avoiding Bayu. Her luck had finally run out and yet she still was uncertain about leaving the only home she ever knew.

“I can’t just up and leave!” stammered Andromeda, freezing midway through emptying the contents of her wall safe. “My whole life is here! It’s all I’ve ever known!”

“Doesn’t matter. Bayu will have you killed just to make an example - “ Andre ceased talking abruptly at the sound of rapid beeping emanating from his slate. His face took on an unhealthy pallor and he nervously ran his hand through his hair. “Time to go. They got there sooner than I expected.” Andre pulled another slate out of his jacket pocket and gave it to Andromeda. “Here, take this and give it to Doc Manning at the clinic. He’ll give you a short makeover to fool security at the spaceport.”

“Andre, I...” Andromeda was at a loss for words. The sudden shock of what was happening and the thought of fleeing her life �" Neon, Andre, the friends and people she’d grown up around �" was too much. Hot tears fell down her pale cheeks and splashed on the floor of her crate. She raised a hand to brush them away, and then shoulder her bag. “This isn’t over,” she finally said with a firmer resolve than what she felt inside. “Bayu isn’t chasing me out of my [censored] home forever. I’ll come back for all of you, I promise.” Andromeda stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on Andre’s cheek. “I promise.”

“We’ll do what we can to clear your name. You need to go. Now. They’ll be here any second. I can keep them occupied for a few minutes but they’ll tell me to get lost before long. Go!”

Andromeda pulled her hood up to hide her vibrant fuchsia hair and fled into the night without another word. The garbled chatter of Neon Security radios echoed up from the alleyway to her right, so she moved silently away from them and ducked into a dark alcove that was still within view of her crate. It was hard to much of anything, but she recognized the dim form of Andre now standing back outside of her door and soon heard him pounding on it once again.

“Yo! Open up, Jen!” Andre’s voice rang out. “Open up!”

Flashlights illuminated and three security goons stood at the ready, their guns trained on her friend. Andre’s hands flew skyward while the nearest guard began to pat him down.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” demanded another guard.

“Damn, take it easy, bud,” said Andre. “My friend lives here and she’s gonna be late for her shift at Generdyne again. Just trying to get her ass on the move!”

“Jen, huh? Yeah, sure pal.” The guard shoved him aside and addressed one of his partners. “What do you got, Reg?”

“Andre Mitarn, known associate of one Andromeda Renault. Courier for HopeTech.”

“Did ya hear that you lying piece of [censored]?” laughed the first guard. “Jen my ass. Where’s the girl?”

“If I knew where Jen was I wouldn’t be here, officer.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever, punk. Reg, you know the drill �" get him out of here.”

Andre lowered his hands to leave while Andromeda released a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. Her friend turned to walk away but Andre only made it a few paces before two sharp cracks rang out through Ebbside. He fell to the ground in a pool of blood while Andromeda watched in silent horror. She shoved her hand in her mouth in a desperate bid to stop herself from crying out.

“Dump that sack of [censored] over the side. The chasmbass will get rid of the evidence for us.”

Two of the security goons forced open the door to her sleep crate and disappeared inside while the third dragged off Andre’s lifeless body and heaved it over the railing and into the churning waters far below. Andromeda slipped away unseen and headed silently for the Neon Core, wiping away the tears as she went. The nearest door to Bayu Plaza wasn’t far, and within five minutes she had stepped through it and darkened her glasses against the garish light that gave Neon City its name.

Every type of store and service imaginable spanned the length of the Core, brilliant neon signs and lights shining down upon everyone who walked the expansive length from Ryujin Tower to the Trade Tower. Even late at night (or early in the morning, as it was now), the walkways were teeming with citizens, tourists, guards, scumbags, and dregs.

Andromeda’s destination was Reliant Medical and thankfully it was only a short distance away. Doc Manning seemed to never sleep and with her life crumbling around her, Andromeda was grateful to see him sitting at his counter.

“Ah, there you are, Dro! Andre warned me you were coming �" c’mon around back and we’ll get you fixed up.” He paused at the signs of grief that had stricken her normally carefree face. “What’s happened? Wait… where is Andre?”

It took everything Andromeda had to not scream in frustration and anger. She settled for kicking helplessly at the front of his counter which only resulted in a stab of pan shooting through her foot. “They [censored] killed him, Joe! Bayu’s security goons iced him without a second thought and threw him over the rails of Ebbside!”

“Bastards,” sighed the Doc. “I keep hoping this city will change some day but I don’t think I’ll ever live to see it. Despite younguns like you fighting back, Bayu’s grip never seems to relent. All the more reason to get you out of here, I guess.” Doc Manning waved her towards the back again and dismounted from his stool. “Go on, I just have to lock up real quick.”

The back room had a small biological modification chair that the doc had somehow procured from one of the Enhance! stores that were peppered throughout the local galaxy. It must have cost a small fortune, but she once again found herself thanking gods she didn’t care about for its existence in the back of the clinic. Doc Manning followed her in a few seconds later and instructed her to take a seat in the chair.

“Okay, so Andre...” Joe trailed off and made a gesture that Andromeda had never seen before. His hand moved across his face in the shape of a ‘T’.

“What was that for?” she asked him.

“The cross? It’s from an old-Earth religion that most have forgotten about. I’ll explain some other time. Anyway… so Andre most have been tipped off pretty early and with a good bit of info. Bayu has your name, financial history, work records, and physiological profile; but not your DNA records. We lucked out there. A few cosmetic changes will get you past the spaceport sniffers.”

“Joe, I can’t pay for any of this,” said Andromeda. “All my accounts are probably seized and I have less than two-hundred credits in my bag.”

“You don’t owe me anything, Dro. You’ve already done so much for the hard working people of this city that your friends are lining up behind me to get you safely out of this place.”

Andromeda sniffled and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue from the box Doc Manning held up to her. She knew it would be a long time until she saw those friends again, and the thought of that hurt more than anything else. Then she laid back in the chair and closed her eyes while the doctor powered up the alteration arms. She knew it would take thirty seconds to a minute for the machine to fully boot, so Andromeda pressed her friend on what would happen next.

“I have another slate from Andre,” he said. “It will transfer enough credits to get you on an outbound freighter, and provide a new identity. But the tricky part will be getting you to the port with perfect timing. We need to have you at the gates just as the ship’s thrusters begin to burn, so that the guards will hopefully rush you through without looking to closely at your records.”

There was lot that could go wrong with that. However, she trusted her friends implicitly and so she closed her eyes again and let the doctor go to work. The procedure was relatively painless, but she did flinch from the occasional needle or sharp prod. Some calibrations to the machine were in order when she returned. If I can return, she thought. Benjamin Bayu had a long memory, and she doubted he would forget about her anytime soon.

Ten minutes elapsed before Doc Manning leaned back on his stool and powered down the alteration arms. He grabbed a mirror from a side table and handed it to Andromeda. The same brown eyes stared back at her, but Joe had completely changed her hairstyle and its color: the long ponytail she had entered the clinic with was gone, and only a small knot was tied up in the back. Instead of fuchsia, her locks were now dyed an incredible opalescent prism of stunning colors, and the strands on the right side of her face fell down past her cheeks while being tucked back tightly on the left side.

She noticed the bare skin of her neck and left cheek and inhaled sharply. “Did you get rid of my tattoos?! Those were really personal to me, Doc!”
“Relax, I just covered them up with some foundation. Keep your hood up a the spaceport or the rain will wash it away and give up the goose. They’ll stick out like a sore thumb. Oh, and leave your piercings here. Those are easily replaceable.”

Andromeda frowned but did as advised. She popped the studs out of her ears and nose, removed the loop from her septum, and slid the barbell out from her nose bridge. Doc Manning collected them all in a small steel pan and then dropped them into a medical waste bin. Andromeda slid out of the modification chair and gave him a hug.

“Thanks for everything, Doc. I’ll be back to repay you some day.”

“I already told you your credit is good, Dro. Just promise me you’ll be careful out there.”

“I’ll try. But you should know better than most that the trouble usually finds me first.”

“That I do!” laughed Doc Manning. “Damn, almost forgot �" lose the glasses, too. I have some lenses for you instead.”

She removed her glasses and chucked them in the bin with her piercings. The good doctor handed her a set of icy blue colored contact lenses and after a couple minutes of struggling, she managed to pop them in to obscure her natural eye color. Another hug for the Doc Manning. Then he tapped a slate to hers and ushered Andromeda out the back door of Reliant Medical. Syndal, her best friend from university and one-time lover waited somberly in the trash ridden alley running behind the shops.

“Time to go, doll,” said her diminutive cohort. “Ship leaves in six minutes.” Syndal was tiny even compared to the slight 1.6 meters Andromeda rose to. The top of her head just barely made it to Andromeda’s nose. She put a hand on the back of Andromeda’s head and pulled her down to a reasonable level, kissing her very briefly on the lips. “For luck,” she explained to Andromeda’s quizzical stare. “Don’t think we’re ever getting back together or anything.”

“Fair enough,” said Andromeda. “Are we taking the main elevator down?”

“Have to. It’s all you have time for. “Let’s go, and try to keep up. Security is swarming the Core for you.”

Andromeda nodded and followed along in Syndal’s speedy wake. It was easy to unobtrusively hang a few steps back and still keep tabs on the impressive length of platinum hair falling past her friend’s hips. It swayed to and fro in the constant gentle breeze flowing through Neon City. The draft was one of many effects of living on massive platform built high above the roiling seas of a water world. A world that Andromeda had never left. Or had ever planned to leave. Those idle thoughts helped keep her features neutral when they stepped back onto the main thoroughfare and snaked their way towards the spaceport elevator.

Neon Security had fallen for the gambit. None of them paid her any mind, despite having her former appearance projected on the inside of their helmet visors. Syndal led her right past squad after squad of the corrupt officers until they reached their destination.

“You’re on your own from here,” said Syndal. “Take the lift down to the port and make a show of rushing, but don’t outright sprint. Play the part of the late departee who is trying to make their flight. The guards down there are a different detachment than the Core goons and generally skew towards being less of an asshole than the ones chasing you up here.”

“Okay, I’ll try. Never was much of an actor but I can do this. I have to do this.”

Syndal slapped her on the ass. “Quit stalling. You’ve got less than two minutes.”

“Right. Bye, Syn. And thank you.”

The elevator doors opened and Andromeda rode the lift down to the docking port. Two guards flanked the it at the bottom but the alterations Doc Manning made to her appearance seemed to have fooled their scanners. She showed them her slate and they told her to get moving else she miss the freighter. Settling for a speedy trot, Andromeda sighed gratefully and flitted down the long catwalk spanning over the ocean below, squeezing her hood tightly to her face. The warm, wind-driven rain splattered against her while she half ran to the ship waiting for its final passenger.

It was an ancient Deimos model that took up most of the landing pad. Bright lights illuminated faded letters above the ramp: The Gryphon. A crew member ushered Andromeda inside with little patience and directed her to a jump seat in the main cabin. Unsure of how the seat worked, her fingers trembled while she tried to strap herself in.

“First time in space, dearie?” A middle-aged woman next to her smiled gently at Andromeda.

“Yeah. I’m scared shitless if I’m being honest.”

“There’s nothing to it.” The kind woman reached over and showed her which buckles went where, and pointed out the safety pouch under the cushion. “Mouth guards in there if you’re worried about biting your tongue off. Once we take off, just keep your mouth closed and you won’t need them.”

Andromeda thanked her, and the woman went back to humming an off-tune key. Voices rang out over the loudspeaker and warning signs began to light up all around them. The entire ship rattled and shook, and the message on the flight console on the wall across from her changed from ‘docked’ to ‘achieving thrust’. Seconds later the engines roared into life and the sudden g’s from massive acceleration pressed Andromeda back into her seat. Unable to move so much as a finger, she closed her eyes and whimpered slightly as the ship gained altitude.

And then the pressure was gone. She opened her eyes and the porthole in the ceiling above revealed the deep black of space, dotted with innumerable points of light blinking back at her from incomprehensible distances. For the second time in as many minutes, her breath had been taken away for very different reasons.

She had done it. She had escaped Neon City and the closing grasp of Benjaim Bayu.

The tears came again anyway. Her life as she knew it was over and she had no idea where things went from here. She didn’t even know where this ship was bound. She was alone among the stars. And then the engines powered down while the grav drive engaged, folded space around the ship, and leapt from the Volii System in a blazing show of cosmic light and energy, carrying Andromeda far way from danger with a dumbfounded expression on her face..

This post has been edited by Kane: Jun 20 2025, 12:59 PM

[Kane]

Eleven – On the Rocks

Abandoned Mine, Moon of Procyon III, Procyon System

“You are going to get us killed!” hissed Andreja.

Andromeda glanced back over her shoulder at the woman with a questioning look. She had the sight of her Beowulf rifle cued directly on the chest of a spacer far across the open pit they stood on the precipice of.

“What’s the problem now?” asked Andromeda.

The two of them had gotten off to a rocky start thus far. Seconds after their first encounter with an enemy, Andreja realized just how much of a novice the new rookie actually was, and she’d already intervened twice to keep Andromeda from getting shot in the back or hewn down by an axe. Sarah felt that the three of them would be too risky for such an infiltration and had taken Andreja’s ship back to Jemison – much to the latter’s chagrin.

“Look down there, and then over there to the left. I count at least four more enemies and yet you would shoot the most obvious target and give away our presence!”

“Oh, yeah… I see them now.”

“Serpent preserve me,” muttered Andreja.

“Hey, I never claimed to be any good at this. In fact I’ve told Sarah on multiple occasions now how much I hate this bullshit. But every time we leave the goddamn Lodge I wind up getting shot at on some random hunk of rock or decrepit station drifting through space!”

“How difficult that must be for you,” said Andreja rolling her eyes. “Just do what I say and perhaps we can survive this ordeal, yes?”

“Fine.”

Andreja took the forward position and peeked around the metal barricade they were crouched behind. A massive open pit from some long gone mining operation opened up below them. Industrial catwalks and narrow staircases descended down towards the bottom, some broken and hanging perilously askance. Abandoned machinery and tools were strewn about, with spacer scavengers picking them all clean for illicit purposes.

She gestured towards the nearest of them and told Andromeda to wait while she crept up behind the unawares man and silently drew a knife across his throat. The blood out oozed under the pressure of a dying heart and formed variously sized red globules that floated into the thin, low g atmosphere of Procyon III-a. The sight of it was enough to make Andromeda’s stomach churn.

“Now there are only four remaining,” said Andreja returning to Andromeda’s side. “But they are spread out. I do not like it. They will have too many opportunities to raise the alarm.”

Andromeda peered over the edge again, and focused on the drilling equipment rather than the hostile spacers. A small screen flickered in and out on the side of a massive fusion-powered tunnel borer, and it gave her an idea.

“How about a distraction?”

“What do you have in mind, Annie?”

“Don’t call me that. I mean it.” She pointed down at the rig. “That ultra-wide boring machine still has life in its batteries. See the screen lit up on the side there? I can hack into it from here with my slate and turn it on. That should draw their attention.”

Andreja seemed surprised by the notion. “You are confident that you can do this?”

“Child’s play,” shrugged Andromeda. “Hacking is what I do best.”

“Interesting. Very well, I think this idea could work. But wait for my signal. I will attempt to get closer to the man on the nearest catwalk. Turn on the machine when I say ‘go’, yes?”

“Understood.”

Andromeda’s new friend padded away silently while she sliced into the machine’s activation protocols. The operating software was filled with glitches, likely scuttled when the miners pulled out, but she would still be able to fulfill her end of the plan. Ready to go, she eased down onto her belly and slipped forward to overlook the edge, her rifle trained on the men below and the slate lying on the ground next to her.

“Go!” Andreja’s order came in loud and clear over her earpiece.

The boring machine shuddered violently and then roared to life. Far below, all three spacers closed in around it while Andreja’s strange weapon reduced the lone remaining lookout to ashes on the far side of the pit. Andromeda peered through her scope, ready to pull the trigger on the distracted miscreants when she was struck with another notion.

Flipping her mic back on, Andromeda whispered loudly: “stay where you are, Andreja!”

“They are sitting ducks, Annie! We need to move in now!”

“Just trust me!” she set her rifle aside and flipped through what little uncorrupted data remained in the machinery settings. After a few seconds of scrolling, she grinned wickedly when the list of reactor commands populated. “Cover your eyes! It’s about to self-destruct!” Andromeda selected the ‘Overload’ option and changed the countdown to three seconds before executing the task.

The spacers had no time to react when the micro-fusion reactor exploded in a blinding flash of light while a super-heated burst of energy and radiation vaporized them and most of the equipment at the bottom of the mining pit.

Once the dust settled, Andreja glanced down at the smoking remains and then over at Andromeda. “That certainly was much easier than what I had in mind!” she called across. “Wait there for me.”

Andromeda got to her feet and slung the rifle over her back while Andreja climbed the stairs and joined her side again. “Sorry I didn’t give you much warning. It was a spur of the moment idea.”

“No apologies are necessary, Annie. That was a cunning way to defeat our foe. But we must put suit up again before descending. The radiation from that melt down will linger for far too long.”

“Andreja, I swear to god if you call me ‘Annie’ one more time…”

“Yes? Care to finish that statement?”

Her eyes flashed mischievously and for the first time Andromeda realized there was more to Andreja than just a singular focus on whatever task was at hand. Now that the danger had passed, she felt comfortable enough to admit she’d been teasing Andromeda the entire time. And damn it if her coy little smile didn’t make her that much more attractive.

“I’ll let it slide this once,” winked Andromeda. “C’mon let’s suit up and get down there. Sooner we get the Artifact, the sooner we can get back to The Lodge. Sarah owes me at least a week off from this bullshit.”

They helped each other back into their spacesuits and then leapt over the ledge. Gravity’s pull on the small moon was only one-tenth of a full g, so they floated gently down to bottom and landed unharmed. Andreja immediately pulled out her hand scanner and honed in on the readings provided to her by Vladimir.

“Through there,” she indicated a small crack in the rock wall that was barely wide enough for them to squeeze through. Andreja took the lead again, but stopped short on the other side. “My goodness. These gravitational readings are all over the map.”

Andromeda eased in next to her and eyed the information on the scanner’s screen. “Yeah, same as Vectera. The Artifact is definitely here.”

“Vectera? That is where Barrett commissioned a dig for one of these, is it not? Is that how you came to join Constellation?”

“Mhm. I had the misfortune of pulling that hunk of metal out of bedrock. Not an experience I would recommend, by the way.”

“Interesting. Barrett also spoke of strange things after finding the second Artifact on Ka’zaal. I must admit, the idea of such a thing fills me with uncertainty.”

That must have been really hard for her to share, thought Andromeda. She seems so tough and determined. Andromeda placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. “Nothing bad will happen to us. I promise.”

Andreja smiled at her. “If you say so, Annie. Still, I would feel better if you were to take the lead.”

Andromeda hated the idea of what might happen if she picked another Artifact up. But she could not think of a single other time in her life when another person, friend or otherwise, had asked her to be brave for them. And despite her initial reluctance, Andromeda found that she was more than willing to ease that burden for Andreja.

She took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. “Okay. Stay with me though, yeah? When I touched the one on Vectera I passed out for nearly twenty minutes and when I woke up I puked all over the floor.”

Remembering the unpleasantness of subsequently vomiting in her helmet not long after that incident, she popped her helmet off and set it aside. Andreja flicked on her helmet lamp to illuminate the room, and the lights fell on the Artifact. It was affixed to the stone just like the first one Andromeda had found. They moved closer until it was within arms reach.

“Are you sure you are ready?” asked Andreja.

“No. But at least this time I know what to expect from this [censored] thing.” Another deep breath. “Here goes nothing.”

Her hand brushed the surface of the metal and she was pulled across the universe once again.

* * *
The Frontier, Procyon System

When Andromeda finally came to, she was laying in the lone bed in the central hab of The Frontier. The lights were dimmed to a pleasant setting that didn’t blind her, and classical music issued from the ship speakers. There was a surprising lack of queasiness after her second encounter with one of the mysterious Artifacts which made it that much easier for her to slide off of the bed and do some stretches to make sure everything was in order.

The cool air of the ship brushed against her bare skin and for the first time since waking up she became aware that Andreja had removed her spacesuit, and the skintight bodysuit she preferred to wear underneath it. Shivering in only her bra and panties, she looked around for something to keep the goose pimples at bay until she found the rest of her clothes.

Coming up empty-handed, she yelled towards the front of the ship. “Andreja! Where the hell are my clothes!”

“Ah, you are awake now? They are in a bin under the bed.”

“Why?”

“I had to check your vitals. If you feel I overstepped, then I apologize. But do not be self-conscious – I have met many women in my travels who would be envious of your bust. Myself included.”

Andromeda’s face reddened like a beet and she made a big show of bending over of and retrieving her clothes to hide it from Andreja. But then a part of her couldn’t help wonder if her new companion was still watching, and she stole a glance towards the cockpit. Andreja’s face turned away at the same time and she busied herself with the nav computer while Andromeda got dressed again. Feeling much warmer and a bit celebratory after managing to find the Artifact and not muck up the mission, she went over to the cooking station, fished out two drinking bulbs, and filled them with a bottle of gin she stashed in one of the cabinets.

“Here, have a drink.” Andromeda handed Andreja a measure of gin and clinked her bulb against it. “We managed to complete the job and you managed to keep me alive. Not a bad day’s work!”

“Do you often drink before flying a spaceship?” asked Andreja.

“First time,” said Andromeda while she strapped into her pilot’s chair. “But you already programmed the grav drive, right?”

“I did.”

“Then drink up and let the computer fly us home. Hell, it can even land the ship for us in New Atlantis if you’re worried a single drink will be too much for your delicate sensibilities.”

“Delicate sensibilities? I do not think you understand what you are getting in to.” Andreja tilted her head back and drained her bulb in one long gulp. “Satisfied?”

Andromeda bit her lip. She grew more attracted to her with every passing second. “Very. Care for another one?”

“Perhaps later.” She strapped in to the co-pilot’s chair and flipped on the grav drive. “It is time to go home now.”

Space folded around the ship and they were whisked away to Alpha Centauri.

* * *
Jake’s Bar, The Well, Jemison, Alpha Centauri System

“Another one, Jakey.” Andromeda pointed her finger down at the bar-top she was bellied up to again.

“This won’t be like last time, will it?” asked the eponymous bartender. “Should I call Noel again?”

“No, ugh, don’t remind me of that. This’ll be the last one,” said Andromeda, rolling her eyes. “I still have more shopping to do topside.”

“Good.” Jake uncorked the bottle of Ganymede gin and filled her glass again. “What were you looking for down here?”

“This right here, m’friend.” She polished off her third glass and paid her tab. “Cya later, Jakey.”

The elevator up from New Atlantis’ underbelly waited about thirty meters away from her. Pleased to see she could still hold her liquor, Andromeda meandered down the stretch and into the wide car along with six other city goers. It was a quick ride up to the surface and she followed the crowd out into an even larger crowd swarming through the city under a burning sun. The humid air of summer brought sweat to her brow within minutes and she was thankful when the NAT doors opened with a rush of cool, conditioned air.

Her stop was the MAST District once again, but this time instead of heading towards The Lodge, she plowed straight on and entered the offices of Aphelion Realty. Andromeda had an appointment with a Zora Sangweni about a potential home for sale on another world. She was a few minutes early and checked her bank account for the fifth time that morning to make sure her idea was a good one.

Available balance: $46,000

“It’s plenty, Dro,” she muttered to herself. “Quit stressing yourself out.”

“Andromeda Renault?”

She looked up for the source of her name and saw a middle-aged woman with dark skin, close cropped hair and a name tag that read ‘Zora’. Here goes nothing. Andromeda followed the realty agent into her office and closed the door behind her.

“So, you’re interested in the home on Nesoi, right? Olympus System?”

“That’s the one.”

“Great choice, miss. It comes fully furnished and the planet itself is wonderfully temperate, and lush with local fauna. We also have an agreement with the government pertaining to industrial operations, so there are no factories or mining facilities with three hundred kilometers.”

“And the list price is still $125,000?”

“Correct, Ms. Renault. All we ask is for ten percent up front to cover mortgage and paperwork fees.”

Andromeda whipped out her slate and tapped it to the terminal on Zora’s desk. The money transferred out leaving a healthy amount left over for anything else she would need.

“Okay, everything looks good! Congratulations, Ms. Renault – you are now a homeowner!”

This post has been edited by Kane: Today, 07:50 PM