That was the only reaction I could offer. I had heard that there were certain technologies that allowed humans to see far into the skies with their eyes rather than through a screen, but such technology was usually not present here in the outskirts, or if it was, it was probably with the gangs, which for someone like me was definitely a no-go. Seeing me confused Roberto tried to explain.

“Yes! See, a telescope is something…”

“I know what a telescope is, I'm more curious about what you mean by that.”

He initially seemed confused at my question, but then made a face of realization. Looks like he had understood where my confusion came from. He then smiled as if he had the world's best kept secret in his mind.

“I may know where to find one, here in the outskirts, still unclaimed by anyone.”

“And what do you need my help for?”

If it was unclaimed, then I can't see how he hasn't already taken it for himself. I didn't remember him as the type of person that kept items that he alone couldn't carry.

“It's complicated, let me show you… Don't worry though, I'm sure no one else knows of this place. For now…”

Well, that was reassuring? I decided to trust Roberto. I knew him well enough to know there was no point doubting him. He hated people about twice as much as I did, so he realistically wouldn't be strung up in some conspiracy. Not that I had angered anyone recently, or even ever warranted the need to have me taken out.

“Well lead the way little kid”

At my comment, I saw a very cute scene. Roberto puffed up his cheeks and gave me a look which was a mix of anger with his eyes, and god knows what expression with his pouted lips.

Despite clearly being annoyed he refused to comment further after seeing my amused reaction at his expression. He instead decided to finally lead the way. After a few minutes, he dropped his angry kid act, and we started conversing again. We had a casual talk all the way through the trip towards the destination.

The city, like most cities outside of the Solar System, were structured in very similar ways. As the planets they resided on were not fully colonized, nor, for the most part, had full colonization as an objective. they expanded through distances forming cities, and often didn't care to expand further. It was rare to have more than 4 or 5 cities on such a planet, and interaction between each was not necessarily more common than with any other city in humanity's territory. So we basically had the inner city. Which was everything contained between the walls, followed by the outskirts and the no man's land. The border between the outskirts and the no man's land was not completely fixed, but as the inner city would only drop resources to the outskirts at the walls, we tended to stick close to them and not expand far away. I didn't know much about the other cities, but Roberto often shared rumors from mining cities, where the outskirts were active in the city's life, unlike here. He always saw this in a positive light, but I doubted that people from the outskirts were respected any more than they are here. Here, we were nothing more than meat shields. Being a military city in nature, where crafts would often layover and refuel, it would be under regular attack. Us and the fake military plants of the outskirts were nothing more than a diversion to their regular attacks. To limit the pressure on the inner cities’ defense mechanism.

As Roberto led the way, I suddenly got the feeling that we might be venturing further out than I'm usually comfortable checking out, and, with every step we took, this fear grew stronger and stronger. As we passed the furthest settlements occupied by the more desperate lone wolves, those that refused gang affiliation, but unlike myself or Roberto, lacked the necessary resourceses or resourcefulness to make it in the vicinity of the walls, I knew for sure that we were heading to the no man's land. Taking a deep breath, I decided it was time to question Roberto on the matter.

“So, why are we headed to the no man's land Roberto?”

His nervous expression made me giggle, it was in moments like these that he seemed more his age.

“I kinda hoped you'd take longer to notice”

“This is exactly why I call you a little kid. At least have the decency to respect your elders’ intelligence.”

“Stop calling me that! And you're just 2 years older than me. You're not some great sage…”

“Maybe if I was in the inner city no, but by our standards, I'm not part of the many…”

Noticing the mood of the conversation turning darker, I decided to stop myself from going further. Instead, I preferred to reassure him a little.

“Well since we've gone all the way here, and there shouldn't be a supply drop anytime soon, we may as well go through with your plan.”

“Really? I thought you'd be scared at the thought of venturing into the no man's land.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Scared? Really? You should know that in terms of safety, it's probably on the more tranquil end… The only reason we don't venture this far it's because it's further from the resources I need to survive.”

He nodded his head in understanding, making a more reassured and at ease face. Honestly, I was slightly curious about what he had found, so even if just to stretch my legs, I saw nothing wrong with this adventure. I wouldn't have longer with him anyways. Once of age, he'd join the military. He may try to drag me with him, but this wouldn't be my path to follow. So two more years… Well if nothing happened beforehand. It was hard to know in this godforsaken place.

We walked through the solidified dunes of the no man's land for about two hours. It was said that this planet may have once possessed an ocean if not multiple similar to the rocky planets of humanity's home system. What the humans achieved was impressive indeed. Originally only our little Terra was inhabitable by our species, but today Mars, Venus and Mercury were reshaped to earth's liking, and we had built colonies in many worlds beyond. Granted we hadn't attempted terraforming any new planet, as most of these had simple resource or strategic objectives.

Roberto eventually stopped, but to my confusion I didn't notice and changes in the landscape around me. Noticing such confusion, Roberts attempted to clear it up.

"It's somewhere here..."

"What do you mean? There's only rocks and sand here."

"Yes, but no, the entrance was somewhere in this area on the ground. Like a sinkhole, look for that."

"So I'm gonna have to look for a sinkhole in the middle of a desert, nice one little kid."

"Shut up and help me out"

Roberto made a cute expression when he was pissed off, but I decided not to push it too much and help him search.

It took another hour until I heard a victorious scream. Looks like Roberto had finally found that entrance.

"About time kid"

I made my way to where I had heard that victorious scream and saw an ecstatic Roberto carrying the manhole in his hands. Noticing my gave he shouted,

"It's here! I found the entrance!"

Finally making it to his location I could take in the unassuming manhole that had caused us trouble. It was nothing special really, it was completely rusted and as a result very in theme with the surroundings. I decided to stare into the entrance, but was only met with darkness staring back. Regardless of the sunlight, nothing shone through the hole. Its awkward placement definitely played a part, but I doubt that it wasn't designed like this on purpose. Looking back up I caught Roberto's worried glance so I decided to tease him a bit.

"Mind leading the way, little kid?"

"I'm not a kid! And I could definitely lead the way! But you have more experience and see I don't have a flashlight, I'm sure you have one... You're best equipped for this, most definitely the reason."

It most definitely wasn't the reason, but from his look I had already guessed that he wanted me to go first so I obliged. I took a second look and saw the silhouette of a stair hanging right below the manhole. There really was no light getting through. Turning on my flashlight I aimed down below and could see the stairs a bit better, but it looked like they went down a long way. I really couldn't make out much more. Putting the flashlight into my mouth, I put my foot into the stairs and began my descent.

The descent was awfully eerie. My light was barely enough for the stairs, and everything else was dark. As I was going down I decided to free myself from a doubt I had ever since I started climbing down.

"I'm assuming you've never been here Roberto, correct?"

"Yes..."

His voice trembled a little. He definitely was a bit scared of his current situation. Regardless he had followed right after me and was a few steps above me. I usually kept my light towards him so that he wouldn't be in complete darkness.

"Then how do you know there's a telescope here?"

"Well um you see..."

I had kept calm till now as I trusted the kid, but he was going overboard now.

"Roberto, just give it to me straight."

"A note... I saw a superior pass a note to one of the cleanup crew's captains and I made-out a telescope and a rough location."

"So you're telling me this might be an objective for the clean up crews and you didn't think to tell me before we got here?"

My voice was rising a bit, but I quickly controlled myself. Starting to realise our situation, being heard by someone else would only make it worse.

"I didn't think to tell you because the clean up crews just passed, they shouldn't be coming back so soon anyways. I don't think there's anything to worry about."

"Look Roberto, we'll look for your telescope and dip. They might come back as a separate mission, we never know. We don't want to be there when they come, god forbid they simply use us as target practice, so let's make it quick."

"Yes sir!"

"And don't shout!"

I wanted to say that last part more calmly, but I ended up matching his stone. It took us 30 whole minutes to get to the bottom of the stairs, and as I shone the light in different directions, I was happily surprised to see that it went a bit further and I could make out a part of this underground area.

It was in all effects a bunker. Perfectly rectangular, with a round hole at the top from where the stairs came through. The room we were in was relatively small, and didn't have much to show for it. I assumed this was an entrance of some sort. I quickly scanned all the walls, and found a sealed door on one of the sides. Luckily, more than locked, it was simply closed shut by a valve, which took some effort to open but ended up giving way. We both made our way through the corridor behind it. It was claustrophobic honestly, but luckily I was used to tight spaces, Roberto not as much.

"Would it cost them much to just have made this corridor a bit wider?"

I shook my head at his question and simply continued. We eventually reached another door, similarly closed as the previous one. It didn't take long to get this one open and we made it through to the next room.