Watching the scout ship shift from almost a soft pearlescent white to nothing was beyond cool. Finally, looking around to my surroundings, I was standing in a clearing by a small swamp, thick with trees and other vegetation. Some of the vegetation looked similar to what we have on Gaian, but with unfamiliar patterns and coloring to their massive changes in scale.
"I would recommend moving away from the edge of the water."
Taking a few tentative steps away from the murky water covered in green and brown algae, bubbles started to advance towards my position, but whatever it was didn't break the surface. Not taking the chance, I turn and start walking towards the city, only catching brief glimpses of the domes I saw when we passed between the overgrowth of the trees. Having to force my way through a mix of tangled roots and veins, I felt something move across my foot. Looking down right after it happened and not seeing anything, I try to shove the experience out of my mind, knowing not much could get into my armored combat suit even if they tried. The thought of whatever it was still kept sending a shiver down my spine. Again something slithered over my foot as I broke through the last of the thick veins.
"Leo, your heart rate just spiked, are you okay?"
"YES, YES I AM," I say out loud, hearing my own voice reverberate within my helmet.
"Sorry Zero, I just not the biggest fan of creepy crawly things, never have."
"It's fine, but the faster you move, the less time the hellebore adder has to find a way into your suit."
Another shiver went down my spine, "So it is a snake!"
"Yes, but I'm not really sure what kind," he says, laughing.
Just realizing he just made a joke even at my expense was different, not in a bad way, but I feel like he is finally coming out of his shell...code... I smile, shaking my head at my own thoughts.
Continuing to walk for what felt like hours but was more or less only a kilometer from the city. Having to force my way through overgrowth, trip over veins or climb over downed trees, or randomly sink into soft soil up to my knees, having to skirt around small swamps along the direct path to the city was exhausting. Finally breaking free of the jungle and coming to a paved path leading between two domes. Each dome was slate gray with cobalt blue panes of curved glass interwoven around a thin mirrored frame. Each dome was massive, they could hold a small town within each one.
"How many of these are there?"
"Twenty-four domes surround the city center, each dome has a purpose, and each houses one of the leading merchants or sects of the city."
"Sects?"
"Similar to large family groups but ran similar to a business."
"I know what a sect is, I mean what is a sect doing on a trading planet, especially one this small and out in the middle of nowhere."
"Well, it may be small and in the middle of nowhere, but the planet is rich in resources if you know where to find them or powerful enough to get to them. Sects tend to horde these resource-rich planets."
"So how many sects are here?"
"I'm not sure, all of my previous data is out of date but more than likely at least 3 and no more than 10."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, this planet has had the same 3 sects since this planet was established a few hundred years ago, but that may have changed."
"What about the other domes?"
"Some merchants hold a couple, others are held by the Eldera for their own use, we can confirm later when we have net access again," Zero said.
Walking up to the entrance to the interior of the city, along the exterior wall the jungle overgrowth was getting sprayed with some liquid, keeping veins from climbing the 6-meter tall walls leading up to the domes. The towering wide gates left open for anyone to pass through them, only a single guard left at the gate, rifle loose in his hand as he scanned the few who passed through. He wore only a little light armor, with no helmet to speak of. To my surprise, he was human.
"Humans out here?"
"Yeah, during our absence Gaians have expanded far and wide, most striking out on their own to make it big or joining the military to help in the war efforts. This guy, I have my credits on the former."
The line was moving fast, few people using this entrance. Almost all the people entering were tall Uzal wearing common clothes. The others that I could see wore full armor with helmets, similar to my own. Right in front of me were two such individuals. Both must be communicating over their comms. I could tell cause the shorter one kept nodding to the other one wearing all scuffed and dented armor. A long rifle magnetized to his back. The shorter one wore a cleaner white armor outline with black accents. He had two pistols at his hips. His helmet was completely sealed, no visor showed his face behind.
"Must be an updated model, I wonder what it weighs," Zero chimed in.
The taller gentleman wearing the armor stepped towards the guard, the shorter one stepped in, and I did the same. With a brief nod, we were let through the checkpoint. Breaking off from the two, I made my way through the tunnel separating the domes. Passing multiple gates, and small doors that more than likely lead directly into either dome at my side. I kept moving straight into the city, quickening my pace. Exiting out of the tunnel, sun glare shifted my visor, shielding my eyes. Above the gate, a set of trams moved into the dome to my left. The city didn't hold towering sky scrappers like back on Gaian but held wide walking paths and simple plain building with lush gardens growing from most of them. The tallest among them being probably only 10 floors max, it was directly in the center of the city; the building reminded me of an old building on Earth, if I remember right, it was called the space needle I think, located in old Seattle, before the exodus. Taking historical architecture as an elective in college, it's paying off now. Laughing at my own joke.
"We are here now Zero, what do we do now, start looking for the arbiter?"
"We should get settled first, then go from there."
"How do we do that? I don't have access to my accounts without net, and even if I did, I would be tracked here."
"Leave that to me, first find an information portal and pull up an updated map."
Walking further towards the center of the city, walking past a thick pane of glass, information appeared on it. My HUD translating it instantly. Pulling up the map, Zero pulled the data, updating our own.
"Why do they need these detailed information panes?" I ask.
"Both the Uzal and Eldera still don't use an MCI or similar device."
"Really, that's interesting. Why?" I ask.
"The Uzal believe being pure of mind and body will allow them to ascend to the heavens, while cerebral implants affect the Eldera's psionic abilities."
"What about the Ghul then, they use psionics too?"
"They do, but not by choice, they're all born with one implanted, and if they can overcome the disadvantage, they are all the much stronger for it."
A navigation vector came up on my HUD, leading deeper into the city. It lead me into a bar or restaurant of some kind.
"Brush past someone."
I moved to sit at a table towards the back, brushing past the Uzal server, who was serving a table with food and drinks.
"Sorry," I say, as I kept moving.
"Was that enough," I asked Zero.
"Yes"
"I sat at the table, placing my rifle against the inside of my table."
"So, why did we just do that?"
"I second..." Zero said.
My HUD lit up, a small Icon in the corner flashed, then kept blinking. "Okay, so this is a little... Cheeky... yes, that is a good Earth term. Well, in laymen's terms, we spoofed her ID, it won't be for more than 24 hours, but until it does, we have access to her net, and her accounts." My HUD showed the Uzals net feeds, and Karra Vonama's information, showing her personal credit score of 680, and finally her account showing her 11,287 credits stored.
"Wait, we are going to steal from her?" I ask, even already beginning to feel ill.
"Borrowing, we will return it after we have our new identifies with interest," Zero explains.
Just hearing that made me feel better, "Okay, as long as we return whatever we take, we cannot take too much either."
"Understood, this is an emergency situation, Leo, remember that."
I nod, just realizing I just did the same thing as that kid earlier.
"What now?" I ask.
"We sit here for a few more minutes, then head for a hotel to get a room, I'm currently scanning for a cheap one."
Karra walked up to my table, and I couldn't help but feel slightly guilty, "What would you like," she asked. Her voice is soft and clear.
"I'm waiting for someone, I'll wave you over if I need anything, thanks," I say.
She looks at me for a second longer before turning and continues serving other tables. Waiting a few more minutes I leave and head towards a dome. It was on the opposite side of where I came into the city from. Entering the dome, it was almost like a micro town inside, it held a forest around its edges, tall trees reaching for the glass of the dome.
"Hello Sir, how can I help you today." A well dressed Uzal said, stepping towards me. He was about the same height as me, his pointed ears peeking from behind his long black hair pulled into a neat tail behind his back. He wore an all-black suit, the jacket was longer moving past his waist, no buttons but with clean lines that hugged his form, it had a lot of similarities with a modern tang suit.
Text scrolled on my HUD, "We have a reservation for co..courtyard eight." I said.
"Courtyard, Zero?"
"It's cheap, and won't put any strain on her financials, don't worry."
"Yes, come right this way, Sir." Beginning to show me to my new sleeping arrangements. We came to a dais, around it ten driveways lead to ten identical gates, each marked in the Uzal alphabet.
"I must say, we don't get many mercenaries in our dome," The guide said, leading me to our gate away from the splashing fountain of the manicured dais.
"I'm new here, so I thought these accommodations would suit me best," I said, lying through my teeth.
"They're beyond fine, but if you need anything you can reach any one of us at any time," and with that, the gate to the courtyard opened. Revealing a manicured garden, with a large villa, and pond with splashing artificial waterfall feeding it. Birds chirped in the trees surrounding the small wall separating the villa from the others. The gate closed, and I was alone within the courtyard. "Isn't this a little excessive, I could just have stayed in a cheap hotel?" I said.
"These accommodations will be best, they charge you only when you leave, and I made the reservation for 6 months, so by the time we change our identities we can just switch accounts with our own and Karra won't even see any of this hit her account." Zero explained.
"Huh, that is smart."
"I am an intelligence, after all, better use it."
Laughing, " can I take my helmet off outside?" I asked.
"Yeah, should be fine. These are private courtyards and these domes are known for their privacy."
"Which sect owns this dome?" I asked, still looking around, trying to spot the birds singing somewhere in the branches.
"Vilden trade house, they own many establishments like these on other planets. They also run the auction house within the city and many other cities. They're the oldest merchant family settled on this planet, spanning back 300 years." (Make some high up Vilden make trouble for us taking the last open courtyard, need to build up to this next chapter somehow)
"Let's check out the Villa, they are known to have exquisite amenities for their guests." listening to Zero while walking into the single floor modern villa. Most of it was glass and shiny black-and-white marble. All the glass was smart glass, allowing full access to visuals from the net. The house automatically syncing with Karra's favorites. A pang of guilt hit me when pictures of a small child started populating the walls. Wearing cute dresses, and in pictures with Karra.
"Remove them, and anything that may make me rethink using her as my own personal piggy bank," with that all the pictures dissipated, leaving the glass panes empty again. "Thank you," I say finally.
I stripped out of my armor, and put on more comfortable clothing, The rest of the night I lounged around the villa and reviewed the feeds, catching up on information from the past 60 years. Even looking at the fateful day that changed the course of my life.
On the glass pane, an exploded image of a news anchor was showing the arrow-shaped ship of the ghoul just blink out of existence, its shields being pelted by point defense auto-cannons from the Njord as it moved a safe distance from the vessel before disappearing. Seconds after an Arbiter armada flashed into existence encircling the ship, all of the Njord's exterior footage showing the many sleek white vessels of the Arbiters. "It's still unclear who exactly was on the vessel, but the UGF are still trying to locate them, and now onto..." I waved my hand, cutting the feed.
The next morning, while eating a ration after my morning exercises, I donned my armor and headed back into the city. Nodding greetings to the Uzal who helped me yesterday on my exit. Zero brought me to the dome that was solely about mining, and processing of it. Trains and large vehicles similar to dump trucks took up half of the dome's massive size, loading, and offloading cargo. Large frames and golems doing most of the labor, noting the circle with the S in the center of them on them showing they were Solomon industries. I used to work on their drones and golems coding.
The mining dome held one central building for people to purchase metals, ores, and fuel. Going in and glancing around, trying to spot an Arbiter but nothing more than filth covered miners trying to get the best deal from their loads, or the administrators trying to haggle the best price from themselves.
On our way back to check the rest of the city, I took a detour through the trading district. Businesses lined both sides of the street. I spotted the Vilden auction house instantly. It was by far the tallest building in the district, almost matching the same height as the central tower. The streets were busy with activity. Vendors running stalls shouting their wares, while the combined talking of the masses just overpowered the sound of the city. I walked up and down two streets seeing a lot of different vendors, some selling ore, others selling meats, and vegetables, to others selling armor and weapons. It tempted me to look into that, but Zero informed me the prices were vastly inflated compared to prices on the net. Deciding that looking around the trade district wouldn't yield me anything more than a headache and wasted time, I headed towards the northeast side of the city where most of the ship docking was, on my way I noticed a kiosk that looked out of place. It was composed of timber frame instead of standard light metals to hold its wares. It was twice if not three times larger than any of the other vendors as well. Above the entrance held a sign so faded over time it no longer was eligible. Walking inside colorful cloth fabric covered the top of the kiosk, silently flapping, casting shade, and maybe protection from rain over the jumbled shelves and antiques on the shelves. In the back of the kiosk, a man was sitting cross-legged on a carpet with many trinkets arrayed around him. He didn't so much as greet me, and nor I him. Seeing one tall shelf in the back with real.. and I mean real actual books on it, I couldn't help my excitement. I made a beeline directly for it. They were all of Uzal origins. Translations showing their titles to me through my HUD with descriptions. "Zero, let me know if any of these are worth owning, or reselling," I said through my implant.
Three got highlighted on the shelf in blue, "These are all worth a good amount to a seller on the Uzal net," two more popped up green, "These are historical text and are worth reading, they're not on the net, and maybe worth selling after." I grabbed the 5 tomes, each bound in leather, and flipped the pages checking for missing or damaged. Only one was so damaged that Zero said to put it back. It wouldn't be worth trying to salvage it. Checking over the wooden shelf one last time. I noticed the very corner peaking over the top edge of the shelf. I had to get on my tippy toes just to reach to get the edge of the book and bring it down. Holding it in both of my hands, I knew something special was in them, like I could almost feel power radiating out of the book. "Get that book, no matter what, even if you have to kill the old man and steal it," Zero said in my head, louder than normal.
"What, I would never do something like that Zero, now... what's so special about this dusty tome?" I ask, not able to look away from it, examining the cover more looking at the intricately carved depiction of fox or wolf-like face with long flowing hair within the cover, its eyes seemed to bore into me as I looked at it, almost following me as I tilted the tome.
"This is a tome for aura gathering, and not a normal one either," Zero said.
"What do you mean, what's aura gathering?"
"Aura gathering is similar to your martial arts and meditation, but it goes further than that, it can increase your speed, strength, health by leaps, and bounds."
"whoo," I said out loud.
"This was from the Uzal's previous king, handwritten, from about 3000 years ago. I don't know how it's here and I honestly don't care, retrieve it and use it, Leo, it will make you stronger."
"Okay, okay, you'll need to explore more later though," I said.
"Yeah, buy it quickly, and let's go back to the Villa, oh, and don't let anyone else see it either."
I walked over to the old Uzal, still sitting cross-legged, his eyes closed. His head was shaven bald, but a long white beard hung down his chest and hung coiled in his lap. Small intricate tattoos scrolled around his skin, covering almost every inch of his bare skin. He wore simple clothing, with slight wear showing.
Clearing my throat, "Sir, can I buy these books?"
The old man opened his eyes at that, raising his hand for the books. Placing them on his outstretched hand worried the weight would hurt him, but sat them down either way. His hand didn't shift even with the added weight, perfectly still and balanced.
"These four are two-thousand credits apiece,-" handing them back to me with the other hand. Keeping the kings tome in his hand still. "This one, did you open it, do you know what is inside?" he asked, his voice low but held power.
Wincing, remembering I never opened it to see if it was even eligible, just going off of Zero's word. Shaking my head no, "I didn't open it." with that old man nodded and opened the book in the center and I could see nothing was written within the pages, just some lines, and circles. "Do you still want to buy this book even if you cannot read it travelers?" he said.
"buy it," Zero said again.
"Yes, sir, I do," I said to the seller.
With another nod, he looked at me, not through my visor but actually seeming to look at me, and through me, It felt like a presence was bearing down on me. Then it was gone, another nod. "Good, that will be one-hundred credits traveler," he said, handing me the book back. Blinking a couple of times, I slowly grabbed the book back. He held out a clear glass tablet towards me. I sent over the 8,100 credits, and he bid me farewell and went back to meditating. I quickly tucked the tomes into my bag before leaving the kiosk, taking one last look at the old man, before heading back to the Villa. Nodding to the servant at the front of the courtyards. Entering the gate and immediately walking past my peaceful courtyard into the villa without stopping.
"I felt like someone was following me the entire way back."
"No one was, I have been monitoring," Zero said.
"It felt like someone has been watching me since I picked up the book."
"Odd, either way, do you still feel that way?"
"Actually no, not since we went through the dome."
"Then there is nothing to worry about."
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "You're right, I was probably just imagining things."
----------------------------------------
Outside the dome to the Vilden suites, an old Uzal covered with tattoos covering almost all of his skin, stood wearing simple clothing. Staring towards a gated villa barely visible by his view. He continued to look for long seconds, then finally smiled. Placing a fist together to his chest and bowing his head after... he disappeared with a gust of wind from the north to never be seen again.