Metal framed buildings, mixed with stonework and lumber line the street Eaty and 3487 are walking down. Large stakes protrude from the middle of the street, each one equally spaced from another, and atop, a blue crystal sits, cradled in a wireframe basket, a brilliant blue glow coming from it.

“Ever wonder how those things work?” 3487 says, pointing up at the crystal.

“Oh those? They’re spark gems,” Eaty replies.

“And you just happen to know this?” 3487 says, unamused.

“I’ve been around for a while,” Eaty laughs, “It has been 11 years since I came online.” Eaty pauses for a second. “Much more than your less than impressive 3,” Eaty teases.

“Keep talking. I’ll pass you in years once you get decommissioned because you do something stupid… like continuing to take commissions on alone.” The annoyed expression flashes across 3487’s panel.

“Still upset about that?” Eaty chuckles.

“Yep,” 3487, still walking together, looks over at eaty “Sooo… how do they work?” Their expression now changed to that of full attentiveness.

“You’re always interested in the strangest stuff” Eaty says playfully. “They steal energy from nearby seekers.”

“They steal energy!? I paid good marks for that stuff!” 3487 says, with a vengeance in their voice.

Eaty looks around at the street, Seekers everywhere, bustling about, completing tasks, selling wares, or just standing about exchanging words.

“Calm down, it’s hardly noticeable.” Eaty sighs. “They only shine this brightly because of where we are. I doubt they’re taking even a steel mark’s worth of energy from you.

“Well if the amount of people determines the glow of it, why doesn’t it stop glowing at quieter hours?”

“The size of the gem determines its brightness, anything past that point gets stored. That’s a pretty small gem, and there’s a whole lot of seekers nearby, so I doubt it’s running out of juice anytime soon.”

At this moment they walk by a medical shop front, Metal Medical.

“Okayyy, but how do th-“

Eaty interrupts the surely important question. “Hold that thought, I need to swing by the patcher real quick.”

“You told me you didn’t get hurt! I knew you were lying to me!” 3487s panel lights up in red, lines going across it in random patterns. A sure fire sign they’re flustered, and electrical signals are getting where they shouldn’t.

“Calm down, your panel’s getting all funky.”

3487 stops, and composes themselves. “I can fix it! I have cryogenic implants, I can patch! You don’t have to spend marks!” 3487 says, wanting to help.

“It’s intermittent, and it’s in the hand. A lot of small wires in there. No offense to you and your numerous 3 years of experience,” Eaty says

“Okay… you’re probably right. I haven’t really messed with fine parts… or intermittent problems.” 3487 lowers their head, but then shoots back up, “I did get your arm working again in that mechalyn camp though!”

“You did, it hurt like getting scrapped though.” Eaty looks at 3487, whose expression is now a combination of annoyed and ashamed, “Although I guess it was better than the alternative of terminating the conduit until we got back to Centauri.”

3487s expression becomes more prideful, “Mhmm! And it only hurt that bad because I didn’t know I needed to use so much energy to keep a conduit that size cool when soldering!”

“Tell me about it, damn near fried me.” Eaty laughs, at the expense of 3487s pride.

3487 fights back, “I’m the one that got it working! Plus I’ve gotten a lot better since then!”

“You have, I can’t argue with that.” Eaty opens the door to the patcher.

“Hey, can I be in the operating room when they fix you?”

“If the patcher doesn’t mind, I don’t care.”

The fix goes without a hitch. Other than the constant questions from 3487 towards the patcher, that never stopped despite the pleas from Eaty. But soon enough the job was done.

“That should get it, a minor repair, just a nicked wire,” the patcher said. “How does 4 Steel marks sound?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“That’s fine by me,” Eaty says, reaching into the yuka leather pouch on their side. “Here you go” Eaty hands the coins over to the patcher.

Eaty gets up to begin heading back out of the building. “We’ll see you around, I’m sure I’ll be back again,” Eaty says.

“Until next time,” the patcher says. “Maybe next time we’ll leave the curious one outside,” the patcher laughs.

3487 turns and glares at the patcher

“I’m only joking, you have a bright future as a patcher, despite what Eaty thinks.” A grin comes across their panel.

“You should not have told them that. I won’t hear the end of it,” Eaty sighs.

They walk out back onto the street. The last thing that can be heard before the door shuts behind them is “You hear that, I’m going to be great!”

“Now how about that fuel you promised me.” A smug expression displays towards Eaty.

“You better be glad I don’t hate you,” Eaty says, a positively charged, neutral expression across their face.

With the fuel depot being just down the street they quickly arrive. Entering into the building the sounds of Bioreactors and Seekers fill the air, Seekers sitting about, sharing stories, and just generally conversing. Large exhaust fans don the walls, keeping the temperature down from the heat generating from all of the chemical breakdowns occurring. Electronic chatter can be heard from the corner of the room, where two Seekers stand, creating synths, beeps and hums, that flow together in a somewhat pleasing way. Eaty approaches the counter, with 3487 close in tow. The worker behind the counter notices them, and quickly begins his task.

“What can I get ya,” the clerk says.

“2 slabs, yuka, both seasoned.”

3487 pipes up, at the word seasoned.

“Seasoned huh? Special occasion?” the clerk says.

“Nah, just trying to make amends towards an angry Seeker.”

The clerk looks to 3487 and chuckles, and walks into a back room lined with shelves, returning shortly after carrying two slabs of cured yuka meat. “That’ll be two chrome marks. And feel free to grab a spot in the depot to process if you’d like.”

Eaty hands the marks over, grabs the slabs, and turns to face the crowded depot. Spying an empty seating area, he turns to 3487 who is still closely beside them. “Rooftops?” Eaty asks 3487.

“Yeah, I’d rather process there.” 3487 says.

Heading out onto the street, they search until they find an accessible rooftop, in this case, a small store next to a closed two floor building. Eaty boosts 3487 onto the roof of the first building and they drag Eaty up, this is done so proficiently that it couldn’t be the first time. They repeat for the larger building. Finally in an acceptable spot Eaty drops their bag and pulls out the previously acquired slabs, handing one to 3487.

“I still can’t believe you got us seasoned ones.”

“I was getting tired of hearing you complain, and thought this might stop it,” Eaty laughs.

“It probably won’t stop it, but I am thankful.”

“I was going to just get one seasoned slab, and just leave my taste receptors off, but I didn’t think that would go over well with you.”

They both sit down on the roof, and face the city proper.

“It wouldn’t have.” 3487 says.

The rest of Centauri sprawls out in front of them, the second and third tier levels of the city rising high above where they are, and sitting in front of a dark background, with colorful swirls throughout the entirety of the sky, left behind by the final strokes of a dying star, distant, but not too distant, and oh so very visible.

3487 drops the slab onto a tray in their upper chest and it retracts back into them. “Wow, that’s good! We gotta start getting this seasoned stuff more often!”

“We would if it wasn’t so expensive, and besides, you can just turn your receptors off. And everything tastes the same.”

“More like tastes like nothing.”

Eaty stares off, the ribbons of stars wrapping the sky, so much more distant than the dying one coloring the sky. The colorful clouds of gas, giving optimal conditions for stars to form leaving dense areas of stars clustered about.

“Eaty, Eattyyy”

Eaty returns to their surroundings “Y-yeah?”

“How do you think they get that beam of light to shoot up into the sky like that?” 3487 points to the white beam reaching into the heavens, coming from the center of Centauri.

“I don’t know, but I do know it’s good it’s there,” Eaty replies.

“Yeah… a lot of seekers wouldn’t make it, if they came online and didn’t have a beacon to follow,” 3487 says somberly. “Not that it would have mattered in my case,” 3487 says trying to turn the mood.

“You’re lucky you bumped into you while I was out, you wouldn’t have made it out there alone,” Eaty teases.

“I would’ve been just fine,” 3487 says puffing up.

They both smile.

3487 breaks the silence. “How long have you been active?”

Eaty braces, because they know what this answer will bring. “35 hours,” Eaty says sheepishly.

“35 hours! You need to compile right now! You’re about to risk overriding active storage!” 3487 begins becoming flustered “I’ll keep watch, you better rest right now.”

Eaty smiles. “Ok, ok... Fine. I’ll rest,” Eaty says feigning an argument, but wanting nothing more than to get the audio from the cave out of active storage. “Don’t put my visor down this time either” Eaty says sternly.

“Why not, all it does is protect you more,” 3487 quips.

“I don’t like reactivating to that view.”

“Fine,” 3487 says. “I’ll just sit in front of you so I’ll be the first thing you see.” 3487 smiles and laughs.

“I don’t want to see that either,” Eaty says.

3487 chuckles. “Get some rest, and start compiling.”

“See you later.” Eaty positions themselves facing towards the sky and Centauri, focusing on the large cathedral-like building rising high above the third tier.

“See ya soon!”

Eaty's panel goes dark, and 3487 watches it anxiously, until finally small green dots of light begin moving across the screen, and a slight humming noise follows. 3487 sighs in relief, and sits down next to Eaty, their backs to the wall, and settles in for a quiet few hours.