After we decided to visit the Terminal in hope of finding a useable phone, we sought a form of public transportation because the city center was quite a distance away. We couldn’t read any of the timetables, so we asked around for directions. Luckily there was a fitting bus line not far from our inn. We first unloaded our bags at our room and then took the arriving bus.
…….
A mechanical voice sounded. "The next stop is Terminal. Change here for the bus lines 2,3,5 and 15. This bus terminates here. Please all change."
We got up from our seats and approached the door. There were only a few passengers with us on the small bus. Most of them were tired-looking businessmen. I looked out the windows. The closer we draw to the city center, i.e., the terminal, the taller and more imposing the buildings became. Soon the bus stopped with a screech, and we got off with everyone.
The bus station was built very simple. A wide-open plaza, a few signposts, two parked buses, there wasn’t much to see here. On the other hand, this only accentuated the skyscraper looming dominantly before our eyes. It was standing alone as if it were the city’s overseer commanding over the common masses. There had to be at least one hundred meters of open space from the tower to the surrounding buildings.
Now that we were in the vicinity of the Terminal, I could identify that the line of light we saw before from afar was, in fact, a dense row of strange glowing letters and numbers streaking over the building’s surface. Spider-like automatons crawled slowly on the exterior, controlling and maintaining the structure. Whatever magic it was, it still had to be scientific in nature.
“Shall we?” I gestured dramatically with my hands. I was so excited to finally visit the place of my dreams. It was so pretty. How would it look like on the inside? I found myself skipping along the road to the Terminal’s entrance.
Stefan lightly grabbed my shoulder. “Hey, why is this place so empty? I can hardly see anyone else.”
“Oh, that’s because it’s not the right time. To conserve resources, the Terminal only opened portals at fixed times and transported the people in groups. Also, an appointment is often required. Right now, there is probably no transfer scheduled. However, maybe they will still let us in if we just want to make a phone call.”
We approached the entrance. There was a white futuristic sliding double-door flanked by two heavily armed guards. They each carried something like a plasma gun? and wore composite armor. One of them stepped toward us.
“Stop! State your business.”
“Good evening, we want to make an interdimensional call. Our almighty business partner from Sector heaven is impatiently awaiting our feedback. Can we go in now?”
“Do you have an appointment? Show me your papers, please.”
“…Ahmm, we forgot our passes.”
“Then I cannot let in. Come back with your passes.”
“Please, it is a big deal. Most of our assets including our lives are at stake here. Can you not make an exception this time? We will be quick, I promise. Here, for you and your friend.” I hiddenly handed him two 100 credits chips.
“No, means no! Good evening!” The guard didn’t even look at my well-intentioned gift and walked back to his post. Why must we meet two honest people now of all times?
We distanced ourselves from the monitoring gazes of the two guards.
“Markus, could we not simply sneak through with the Observer status?”
“No, it wouldn’t work. With this method, we could maybe fool the human guards, but they have multilayered scanners on the inside, which can detect lifeforms, among other things. Those are specially designed to counter supernatural abilities like, for example, soul abilities. Our camouflage would be discovered immediately and then the guards would no longer be as friendly as they are now."
We deeply brooded over the problem while walking back to the bus station. The light from the street lamps on both sides of the road sprung on, welcoming the night. Suddenly an inconspicuous man, dressed in a neat swallow-tailed coat, waved at us from under a street lamp. He signaled us to follow him and lead us to the backside of one of the few buildings around the station.
“Wanting to visit the big building, but don’t have a permit, eh. You can call me ‘dealer’. I have just the right thing for you.” The man reached into the inside of his coat and pulled out two plastic cards. “Two unsigned entry-level explorer passes. Put your thumb on this field, and it will assign you as its owner. With these, you can go in and out the Terminal as you wish.” He winked.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Hmm, sounded convenient. Too convenient. Could the passes be fake?
Stefan asked the man. “How much do you want for them?”
The man grinned. “It has taken me a lot of effort to get them. A lot of background dealing and calling in favors. 25 000 credits each. Already a bargain.”
“25 000!!! Does money grow on trees? Why do you not go and rob a bank instead!?”
The man just shrugged indifferently. “I am just letting you know that I have the ware. When you have collected the money, you know where to find me.” He walked away without further ado.
“Great, what do we do now? I am definitely not paying that shady black-market dealer. He can go to hell.” Stefan raged, his face twisted into a grimace.
“Hmm, let’s go back to the inn, it’s getting late. I will figure out something by tomorrow.”
I looked back to the giant building. “Another time.”
After eating dinner in a local restaurant, we didn’t go out anymore later that night.
…….
The next morning
“And did you get any ideas?” Stefan asked me while staring at the room’s ceiling.
“Yes, but actually no. You won’t like it very much.”
“As long as it isn’t a suicide mission involving trekking into the forest and somehow getting more horns, I am all ears.”
“Get a job. Pay the man.”
“There are two exceptions.”
“Well, I can’t think of something else. To get a permit or appointment, we need the approval of a well-known company or big shot. I don’t know how to do that. It has never been necessary for any characters who appeared in my novel, and obtaining an explorer license the standard way is even harder. We are not even registered here.”
“…sigh, it was easier to enjoy my stay when I haven’t thought of the phone recall method. Fine, what job do you have in mind? I hope not a monster hunter, otherwise, I will have to hit you.”
“Nothing, we have to go to the city hall first. The available jobs are all distributed there. There they will assign a suitable job to us.”
“…I like this idea less and less.”
…….
We strolled through the city hall, a boring building compared to what we have seen in this city. So unremarkable that the people who worked here must be equally boring too. Following the signpost for dummies, we eventually arrived at a room with rows of counters where people waited in line. We couldn’t decipher the signboards above each counter, so we just randomly picked one.
“Next”
Our turn came and we moved toward the counter. A short middle-aged lady with pink fingernails observed us from behind her desk.
“What can I do for both of you?”
“We are looking for a job, well paid if possible.”
"Don't we all want that, darling? In which branch are you interested and what skills can you provide. You two don't look like you're from here. I guess you also don’t have a citizen card, correct?”
“Well, yeah, we are from far, far away, worlds away, you could say, not even the same universe. We are mechanical engineering students at a university and came to this world of automatons to see the wonders of imagination engineering fulfilled. We can’t read the local language, though, so a job which doesn’t involve much reading would be much appreciated.”
“Victoria, another illiterate immigrant from far far away!” Her sudden shout startled me. I glanced toward her target and saw a brunette woman drawing a vertical line on a cardboard. There were already nine other lines.
“Excuse me, darling, but I need to know a little bit more about you. Do you have any hands-on experience? A recommendation from your professor? Car license? Any extraordinary abilities?”
“No, no, no, hmm, I can make a sandwich without bread, does that count? Oh, right, we both are also very good at hiding. Nobody can find us without our collaboration.”
I nodded to Stefan to tell him to demonstrate our ability. He just looked at me confused. Fine, I will do it myself. The moment the lady looked toward Stefan, I said quietly, “Observer on.”
“As much as it pains me to say but being good at a children’s game is not-… wait where did your friend go? He was just here a moment ago.” The lady rubbed her eyes and looked around the room.
“Observer off.”
A shrill scream reverberated across the room drawing everyone’s attention, except for that one clerk who looked about done with his life. “Ahh, steam above, never do that again. Huff, huff, I know the perfect work for you two. Your talent will be the idolized in that branch.”
Stefan interrupted her. “I will say beforehand that we will not accept any work pertaining to thievery or assassination.”
The lady seemed thrown back. “No, nothing in that regard. What do you young men think of me? I will get fired if I give you criminal work. Espionage or paparazzi work are also excluded. No, what I recommend to you is this.” She showed us some kind of form. “Excuse me, I forget that you two cannot read this. Basically, a private detective agency is looking for new hires who can work externally in the field. As far as I know, they work mostly on safe cases like finding proof of adultery. Although if you get caught red-handed then, kek. Being inconspicuous is a core requirement. If you are interested, I can give you the address of the agency.”
Stefan and I exchanged a look. This wasn’t the kind of ‘exciting’ work I expected.
“They also pay very handsomely.”
“Where do I sign up?”
…….
After we got the address of the private detective agency we immediately went there. The place was situated downtown in a densely built complex. Shops and living apartments were everywhere. Somewhere in-between was our goal. We could never have found it if we hadn’t received the address.
“Excited Stefan? You can now be the pervert stalker you always wanted to be.”
“Fuck off!”
“Hahaha,” we walked into a building complex and up the stairs. On the first floor, we saw the entrance to the agency. I pushed open the door and stride brazenly to the reception desk.
“You need professional stalkers? Well, you won’t find better people for the job than us. The invisible shadows in town, Markus and Stefan are around. Hide your folders, hide your affairs because the best detectives are here.”