“Destination Reached: **********, the sky-sea state. We hope you enjoy your stay,” chanted the airship’s service system. Kyte was immediately squashed between a crush of bodies.
“Goodbye; Adios; Zai Jian,” the system continued. Someone stepped on her foot, another jabbed them in the stomach with an elbow. “Ma’a salama; Ciao; Adieu,” the system continued. Together as one entity, Kyte and the crowd tripped, stumbled, and squeezed through the airship doors into the grand airport. Towering walls and dome ceilings are made entirely of glass-encased them. An enormous glass globe in the center displayed all flights arriving and departing, along with live holograms of weather conditions around the world. Kyte strained their neck looking at every passing grandier their entire walk through the airport. A chipper employee informed the group that this airport was the most advanced and luxurious, even compared to all others on the illustrious Azure tier. Kyte absentmindedly nodded along, too busy searching for a specific shade of teal through the gaps of the crowd.
There.
Kyte waved the employee a polite goodbye and weaved–with a good side of elbowing–their way to a man wearing a bright teal vest.
“Excuse me, are you with the University?” Kyte asked.
“Yes, I am. You must be one of the international students. Name please.”
“Kyte”
“Last name?”
“I have no last name.”
The man frowned and he opened his mouth to say something–but quickly closed it when he took a closer look at the display screen of his tablet. He proceeded to apologize and try to crack a few light-hearted jokes about her missing name. Kyte’s blank stare quickly made him drop the topic.
“Ahem, uh, well, since you are not boarding on campus, all I can do is call a ride to the nearest tier-terminal.”
“Sounds good,” Kyte replied with a small smile.
35 minutes later they were exiting the airport. Kyte didn’t bother hiding their glee when the mist rolled in through the sliding Mercury-infused doors and coiled around their ankles. Her chaperone looked particularly pleased. “I read that the Azure tier was covered in mist year round due to its high altitude. The photos on the website were breathtaking, but nothing competes with the real thing!” Her chaperone gave a deflated smile, clearly feeling robbed of a bragging opportunity. He shook his head and mumbled something about how kids these days were taking everything so seriously. They stood in silence on the platform. At least it should have been silent if it weren't for the constant noises beside Kyte grating at their peace. The man kept fiddling his zipper pull and twisting then untwisting his fingers. Kyte waited for him to speak.
“Ah-er, not to tell you what to do but uh, you should get a job as soon as possible.”
“Of course.”
“No no, you must understand the apartment complex you are registered at isn’t in a very uh, savory location.”
“Oh? It looked like a good deal to me?”
“I’m sure it will be fine, but don’t stay there too long, ok? The second tier…” he leaned in closer to whisper “is Mafia territory.”
Kyte widened their eyes and let out a small gasp. The man nodded, looking proud of himself for looking after his underclassman. How perfectly common of him. Soon after, the ride came and they bade each other a polite farewell.
********
Turns out there was nearly no public transportation in the second tier. The vehicle that drove Kyte through the Azure tier was shiny in a coat of fresh paint, self-automated and drove so quietly Kyte was sure it had to be the newest model of Mercury hybrid engines. It even offered her a free bottle of water. Three layers down, however, the best they could find was a shoddy bike rental shop tucked away behind the tier-terminal. Kyte cringed at the prices, but they needed to get home before nightfall, so they begrudgingly let the grinning shopkeeper scan their wristband. There goes their pocket money…
With her transportation secured, Kyte quickly peddled away deeper into the city.
The main streets are nigh untraversable. Sharp glass and metal pieces littered the ground and tired workers, on foot or in discontinued vehicles, would often cut dangerously close to Kyte. The smaller roads weren’t much better, just for different reasons. Kyte got their ear screamed off when they rode into a man’s laundry and caused freshly washed shirts to fall into the mud. Too dense. Everything on the second tier was too dense. There has got to be a better route. Projecting a map in front of them using her wristband, Kyte noticed a particularly lengthy loop around a cluster of structures a kilometer down. A quick voice search revealed the structures to be an abandoned Mercury plant. If they cut through the plant, it would shave 45 minutes off the trip. Kyte was overjoyed. There was the risk of the Mercury residue and its vapors but Kyte was so sick of encountering an obstacle every 3 meters that consequences be damned. Plus, she had always wanted to tour such a place anyway, who was she to deny such good fortune?
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A faint squeak sounded as Kyte rode through the plant interior. Judging by the tall ceilings, this must have been the refinement chamber. Their suspicions were confirmed by a crumbling sign on the wall. Beneath the sign was a completely rusted-over machine. Peddling closer, Kyte felt a pleasant shiver of excitement. The machine was a first-edition purifier. They had only read about these in textbooks. What luck that they would stumble upon a piece of history here! Kyte steadied the bike to the side with her foot and whipped out the scanning feature on their wristband. A little virtual dissection never hurt anybody.
BANG!
“Quit dodging and die already!”
Kyte froze. Several whoosh sounds followed by a series of ‘bangs’ exploded throughout the chamber.
“I would love to! Really! But you see I’ve got to buy medicine for my dying cat-” Another voice responded.
“You don’t even have a cat!’ The first voice said.
“Stop talking to him !” A third, deeper voice interjected.
Kyte slowly turned her head. Three figures stood on the second-level platform across the chamber. One of them, a tall man, had his back to the railing and his hands up in the air. The other two, a woman and a man, were pointing a gun and a very sharp-looking blade, respectively, at the man. To Kyte’s immense relief, none of the three had noticed her.
Yet.
The man with his hands up glanced over his shoulder and his eye caught Kyte’s. He winked at her. She gulped. So much for peace.
He turned back to face his assailants.
“Ahahaha well it was lovely catching up with you both after so long but I’m afraid my ride is here.”
“What ride?” the man asked.
“Why, that ride of course!’ Said the runaway jovially as he motioned behind him with his thumb right at Kyte. The two assailants looked past their target at Kyte. She gave a forced smile as a courtesy. In their split moment of combined distraction. The previously cornered man had flipped himself over the railing. More concerning for Kyte was that he was barreling towards her at horrifying speeds. The two assailants had snapped out of their stupor and were quickly descending the stairs. Quicker now with rage evident in their steps.
“What are you spacing out for?! Peddle! Peddle! Peddle!”
The voice was coming from behind her. Wait, was that man–? He landed with a thud that violently shook the bike and grasped Kyte’s shoulders and shook them vigorously.
“What do you not understand about booking it?!”
“Hey! Get off my bike!’
“Well, it’s our bike now.”
“That is not how this works!”
Before Kyte could pry this stranger off her overpriced bike, a sharp stinging sensation attacked her face.
“ACK!” She reached up to her cheek only to have her hand come back with streaks of red. Concerning, but Kyte was more heartbroken about how a bullet was now lodged permanently inside the beautiful antique purifier. Bang! Bang! Bang! Several more bullets riddled the walls around them in quick succession.
“See?! That machine is going to be us if you don’t move!”
Kyte bit back her retort on how she was only being shot at because of him. There were no breaths to waste as she peddled harder than she ever had out of that plant.
******
“Go right! Now left! Turn!”
Kyte let herself be directed by the stranger through the winding streets and alleys. These streets were significantly less obstructed than the ones Kyte had been in. As a result, they slowly but surely lost their pursuers. It wasn’t until sunset, at least an hour since the altercation, that the stranger informed Kyte that they were safe. Kyte made one last turn into an alley and flopped forward onto the handlebars.
“Whooo! You put in some good work back there! ‘Preciate it!” The man exclaimed as he dismounted the bike.
Kyte just groaned in response. Their breathing was too labored to properly reply. Her sweat was pooling beneath them. She could make out what he looked like now: deep brown skin, long limbs, and dark, Prussian blue dyed hair. The runaway man was dressed nicely and wore many pieces of silver jewelry. His dress certainly stands out against the dust and decay of the second tier.
“How about this as a token of thanks huh?” The man rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a keychain, which he dangled in front of Kyte’s face. It was of a black cat with a blue collar reading “NICO”.
“That your name or the cat’s?”
“Both. It’s just such a great name I wouldn’t want to name this adorable kitty anything less,” cooed Nico at the keychain.
“Uh-huh,” Kyte grunted dispassionately.
Nico dropped the keychain into the front wicker basket.
“Hey, at least you can’t say I’m ungrateful,” he said with a shrug.
Kyte just stared at him blankly.
“Anyway, Ciao now!” Nico waved and disappeared into the shadows. A couple of minutes later, Kyte dragged themself up and slowly made their way to their apartment once more.
*********
Kyte winced at the sharp sting of the alcohol wipe. Peering into her desk mirror, she carefully applied gauge and bandage to the graze wound. Several projected screens floated around the desk, glowing a faint blue. The man, Nico’s, face flickered between the screens. Kyte languidly browsed through his files. A sea of 'classified' red flooded the room. Kyte opened a new document file.