Instead of taking the usual mode of transit, Chan decided to walk back home, he felt the need to contemplate on everything that just happened. Nathan had opened a radio channel and essentially committed an act of treason. If the Lunar City communications station detected it, both he and Nathan would be instantly arrested and sentenced to death. It was a high price to pay for something so simple and futile.

Luckily, Nathan did a good job of covering his tracks. Chan heard no police sirens, no armoured officers charging in to arrest them, and even as he walked home, there was no plain clothed agent following behind him. He’d been use to that kind of paranoia all his life. Even when he was just a boy, officers would occasionally keep a close eye on him, especially if he or any of his friends misbehaved in any way.

Living in a country ripe with communism, there were always tension and fear in everything they did or how they lived. Rules were strictly adhered to, independent thought or any type of action considered to be ‘an act of revolution’ would be stymied by the authorities. The pandemic years heightened the tension level another notch.

Now that he was figure of such high publicity, it made it even worst. He felt trapped, like a fly in-between panes of glass, watching him squirm about as it kept him contained within. And once again, he could feel that level of uncertainty and fear rising at the back of his skull.

“Hey, you there…”

Chan snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the voice calling out. A rough looking man with a group of others stood in his way. Chan soon realized he had walked into a forbidden sector. This was a dark place, where underlying crime and drug users were known to be lurking in the shadows.

“Yah, I talking to you…” The rough-looking man said with a smug grin. “Where you think you going, ah?”

“I-I-I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” Chan stumbled to speak. “Please, I just want to get home…”

“Oh!” The guy laughed. He looked at his crew and they joined in the lagging. “You wanna go home? Eh? Well, where is that? You got some good stuff there? Maybe, got something that help us? Yah?”

Chan started to back away slowly. This was a sinister looking bunch. He knew they’d get violent if he didn’t offer something to them. But the last thing he would do is show them his home. He held out his hand and pleaded that they let him pass. They were not so inclined to do so. Without realizing it, the group had surrounded him and started to take out make-shift weapons. Some had crowbars, others had hand-made shivs, and the leader of the group… he took out a gun.

“Crossing here comes with a price, yah?” The leader glared. “What you got? Cash? Credit? Maybe some good body parts we can sell, uh?”

Chan glared at them all in terror. It was commonly known there was black market going on for human organs. Underground doctors were surgically removing infected parts that had the virus and replacing them with healthy tissue. A useless practice, seeing how the virus would continue to spread regardless. But, it was big money for harvesting, and those doctors weren’t too picky on the details. Most weren’t really ‘doctors’ as such, having only taken a crash course and using their skills to get rich.

“No, please,” Chan pleaded again. “I have nothing… just take my wallet. Whatever is in there you can have.”

“Show me…”

Chan gave his leather wallet to the brute and nervously gulped. The criminal tore through it; spilling out his identi-card, his work pass, some small receipts and then the few slips of cash.

“This it?” He glared. With a disappointed click of his tongue, he threw the wallet back at Chan. “Pitiful! You have more! I know you do. You look like money… even smell like it. Ya? So… where home at? Huh? You take us there.”

“No…” Chan uttered.

“No?” The man repeated, his eyes wide with surprise to his defiance. “You say no to me? Fucking guy, man! You think you say no to me? I own all this sector, all you see here is my place, you think you stroll through without giving me something… you fucking rich asshole! What? You think you better than me? Huh? You think you better than this gun here?”

He put the tip of the barrel to his forehead and applied pressure. The weapon was an old, military issue hand gun. Either it was stolen from military ranking officer, or the man used to be one at one time. Chan shook in fear. The determined gaze from this gun wielding thug showed his level of commitment.

“I don’t… no… I…”

“Yah, yah you do…” The man stated back. “You think you better, right? Better than this bullet I gonna put in your brain? Ah? What you think? Ya?”

“Hey, Kai, come on…” One of his guys said, tapping his shoulder lightly. “He just some stupid fool, ya know? We got his money.”

“You shut up!” Kai said, pushing him away with his free hand. “I say when it’s enough! I’m fucking Kai Ji Zhao! The Lunar China City Tiger! I’m the fucking law here! Ya? You got that?”

The gang member defensively put up his hands and agreed that he was. The others nodded as Kai eyed them all.

“Fucking tiger of this city!” Kai shouted to them. “If I want someone dead…” He turned his eyes back at Chan. “Then… they are dead, ya?”

Chan closed his eyes tightly. He saw the man was readying to pull the trigger and grinned at him with evil intent. But just as he was about to shoot, sirens blared and vehicle pulled up with four policemen. Kai reacted instantly and started to runaway with his posse. Chan’s life was spared. The gun didn’t go off and he stood there shaking with his eyes still closed. He was too terrified to open them.

“You ok, citizen?” One officer asked as he stayed with Chan. “Are you hurt?”

Chan opened his eyes slowly. He could see the group fleeing the other three officers giving chase. The man gave a sigh of relief and glanced over to the policeman looking at him with concern.

“I… I’m fine…”

“Your lucky to be alive.” The policeman said. “We just happened to be scanning the area with a drone when we saw you step into this zone. That was stupid, ya know? This is a high crime area.”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“I know,’ Chan nodded. “I wasn’t thinking clearly…”

“Next time, take the transit,” The officer said folding his arms. “That’s what it’s there for. This city is full of danger, can’t let a rising star like you go to waste.”

Chan froze for a second. He quickly glanced at the officer. “What? What did you say?”

“Yeah, I know who you are. They probably did too.” He said motioning in their direction. “Your face is practically everywhere. Even for a city like this, it’s still a small community. Everyone knows everyone here, well, almost everybody.”

“I guess so…” Chan conceded.

“It’s my duty to get you back home, citizen Yong. I must inform my superiors of this as well.”

“Must you?”

“It’s my duty, and of course, the law, yes?”

“Right…” Chan sighed.

This meant another visit from Chairman Jin Xi Mao, who was already overly skeptical of his behavior, but now would be ten-fold as this incident would alert him. Chan wondered if he would be able to keep speaking to Nathan after this. A stupid mistake that cost him the chance for freedom. But like the officer said, everyone knows everyone in here. So how could he ever hope to leave? Lunar China City, now more than ever, felt like a prison to him.

* * *

Chan arrived home after his police escort; the place was a non-spacious apartment-type dwelling that barely had enough room for a kitchen. The only thing giving it some character (if any) was the few old photos of family hanging on the walls, along with some varied paintings of landmarks (China, New York and other world cities). Those images were from his phone. They were blown up and not the best of quality, the pixelation notable on many, but it was enough to give him something to look at.

As expected, Chairman Mao left a message on his vid-phone. Mao briefly berated Chan for his stupidity, which then lead to informing him of changes that would be made to and from his work. Now he would be picked up by an officer and seen home personally. Yet another freedom taken away from him, it seemed. He wouldn’t be able to meet Nathan before or after work now. Not unless it during work hours.

He took out a bottle of bourbon, hidden in the depths of his kitchen top cabinet, and poured it into a relatively clean glass sitting adjacent on the counter. Defeated and tired, he sat down on his small, tan coloured love seat sofa, alcoholic drink in hand, and let out a long sigh.

“What a day this has been…” He thought. “What a year… what a life even…”

Taking a swig of his drink, he slowly savoured the taste and eyed the glass afterwards. This type of drink was almost hard to find anymore. While many stores did carry a good variety of alcohol, the harder liquor brands and other ‘westerner’ versions of it no longer existed. Of all the things to bring with them, it seemed that keeping good supply of alcohol was almost paramount for survival. That made him chuckle in thought as he took yet another sip and relaxed in the sofa.

Just before he could finish it completely, the holographic vid-phone projected in front of him with an unidentified name and number displayed. He wasn’t sure if he should answer it, but, feeling like this day couldn’t get any worst, he tapped on the screen.

“Yes? Who is it?”

“Hey…” Nathan said, as his face appeared on the screen. “You okay? I heard you got picked up or something.”

“How did you…” Chan quickly sat up, looking surprised while placing his glass on the coffee table. “Wait… we shouldn’t be talking about this on an open line, you do know they’re monitoring all communications.”

“Not if you know how to run around them… I’ve got the skills, remember?”

“Oh, right… I forgot who I was talking too.” Chan slumped back in his sofa and glared at him with disapproval. “I guess you hacked into the police channel too, right? Figures someone like you would be constantly monitoring the monitors…”

“Well, you know me, I have to stay one step ahead. Especially being the only foreigner here…”

Chan shook his head at the man’s sheer arrogance. Nathan constantly pushed the line to where he might get caught someday. Hacking was definitely one of those, so-called ‘skills’, of his that would one day be discovered. Did he care? Probably not, maybe overly cautious to say the least, but, definitely not worried if he was found out. But Chan felt nervous about it. Especially if he was associated with one of Nathan’s illegal activity. He’d have to be careful himself.

“Why are you calling me?” Chan finally said, giving a slight yawn and rubbing his eyes. He was weary from the events of the day. “You don’t call unless you want something.”

“Or…” Nathan smiled. “When I have something to give you.”

Chan raised a brow and suddenly sat up in realization. “You made contact?”

“Yeah, I made contact.” He nodded. “It was a low transmission and the message wasn’t too complete… but, I managed to get in touch with the American outpost.”

“American? You mean the transport, right?”

“Uh, no… I got redirected.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Look,” Nathan grimaced. “I wasn’t able to contact the same guys as before, but this one was much more… uh… direct, if you get my meaning.”

“Where? Nathan… whom did you contact?”

“Look they’re aware of my last transmission to the transport, and it’s an American colony base, okay.”

Chan rubbed his face in frustration. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He swore at the Canadian friend and took yet another big gulp of his alcoholic beverage.

“Yeah, I know…” Nathan said, motioning his hands for him to calm. “That’s on the other side of the moon. Not sure if it was just a random communications satellite that dipped out of its elliptical zone or what.” He took a sip of water from his bottle near by. “It makes sense it would be them. I mean, they would have a greater presence on this moon than any other former country. Anyway, they said they’d be in contact with me in about four days and would send instructions on where I… or we, I should say, can meet up with them.”

“Meet up?” Chan glowered. “I don’t understand, Nathan. All you were going to do was to send a message. Now they want us to meet them? So, how are we going to meet up? Are they near by us? Or are they already in Lunar China City?”

“Neither,” Nathan dismissively gestured. “We have to get out of here and meet with them.”

“What? How?” Chan gasped. “How are we suppose to get out without being seen? Where are we to meet up with them?”

“On the edge of the Sea of Crises, where the dark side and light split.”

“Nathan,” Chan frustratedly balked. “That’s like a good four hours away from here, that’s only if you take a dune buggy at full power. Which we don’t have, by the way. And even if we do manage to obtain one, somehow, the battery will not keep charged for that long. It’s a very long stretch, understand?”

Nathan glanced away for a second. There was a pulsating beep suddenly from his end and he looked concerned.

“Shit, looks like my time is up. I’d better get off if I don’t want their AI to start tracing this call. Look, we’ll talk more later after work. Meet me in the Garden of Memories, say around five o’clock?”

“Wait, I can’t… you know I’m being…”

“See you then.” Nathan waved one last time and switched off his communication.

Chan opened his mouth to say something more, but Nathan had gone before he could speak. Chan flopped back in his seat and swore out loud. This wasn’t what he had in mind at all. Yes, he wanted to free of the tyranny keeping him in this place. But, he knew that was impossible. All he wanted was to find out if his wife and child had survived. A message telling him that they were safe, in orbit or living somewhere on the moon on one of the other smaller makeshift bases other countries had built.

Looking over to the faded picture, the only one of his wife and daughter, hanging on the wall, he soberly bowed at it with shame. How he missed the two of them so much, he felt like a failure, as a husband and father, abandoning them both in another country. Are they still alive? Did they survive the pandemic that claimed the entire globe? All he had was the hope that they did. Perhaps if he did escape, join up with the American colony, he could properly begin his search for them.

Chan didn’t realize he’d been crying in that moment. Once he did, he let it all out, the emotion took over and lied down. All that emotional turmoil and pain flowed out of him. He cried for a few hours until exhaustion put him to sleep. He hoped tomorrow would be a better day, but then, that’s all he kept hoping for ever since he came here. As he drifted off, the memory of being with his wife and daughter in their old house in Beijing, made him smile. The one last good memory of a life wished he could get back at any cost.

“I will be with you again…” He slowly rambled in his slumber. “I love you… I love… love… you.”