COLIN
It was bad enough to be coming in days behind the rest of my team, for the most important reality engine exploit of the past 200 cycles, but now I had to stop and pick up the boss's granddaughter on the way. I stewed.
My hired liner slid into dock at Deneb Transit Station 6, a ring-shaped hub station. Misfits Guild had hired me the passage on one of the later arriving vessels heading to the rogue world exploit. Since the transit cube I rented had space for four, I'd be picking up the late arriving girl here. We’d share a two-day trip to the exploit together. I hoped to have time to work on my strategies. The rogue world was a brand-new opportunity for my team to show our stuff, and I wanted to hit the ground running.
I exited my transit cube into the main body of the hub station. It would be picked up and moved to join the transfer ship going out to the rogue world. Meanwhile, I had a four-hour layover in which to enjoy the alien sights and sounds.
It was not my first transit station, nor was I particularly impressed. This one stank. All space stations seem to have a bit of an odor to them. You'd think advanced alien technology would be able to scrub that, but it can't. This one was particularly bad. Probably because the station was run by Talonians, the lizardfolk aliens. They have almost no sense of smell and don't produce much body odor themselves, but when they're hosting a bunch of orcs, space elves, pseudo-humans, and other galactic denizens, it could get pretty ripe pretty fast.
I checked my watch. Still 15 minutes till my rendezvous. I made my way over to the little cluster of restaurants and gift shops where I'd been told to meet her.
A food court is a food court, no matter where it is. The easily wiped-down tabletops surrounded by stools to better accommodate varying alien physiognomy and various booths hawking food. Most of it should be safe for me to eat. I had a list of what to avoid, but also an inventory full of home-baked goods.
I ordered myself a bubble milk from one of the stands and sat drinking it, studying the passers-by as I watched for a dark-haired young girl with an upturned nose and an obnoxious attitude. Granted, I hadn't interacted with Sage Williams much, mostly just on one occasion almost four years ago now, but she'd made an impression. I didn't think I'd have any trouble recognizing her.
"Colin!"
I turned. A tall, dark-haired young woman, her hair pulled back from her face in a neat braid, her skin glowing a golden-brown, sharp eyes, and exquisite features, approached. I nearly spat out my drink. The voice was the same, but where was the snub-nosed kid? She was graceful and controlled, the crowds parting around her like water as she moved through them, a half-smile on her face.
I stood up rapidly, glad I hadn't actually spilled the milk on my shirt. I managed to summon a smile and held out my hand. Sage looked me over as she took my hand. Her grip was firm. "It's been a while, but you haven't changed much," she said.
I winced at that. I didn't think she'd meant to be mean, but I thought I'd changed a lot in the past few years. "There's the beard," I said, gesturing at my week-long stubble.
She considered, "I suppose so.”
Ouch.
“You look different, though.”
Sage laughed. "Yeah, I grew up. Sorry. Kids do that." There were all of two years between us – she’d been fourteen when we first met, making her eighteen now to my just-turned-twenty -- but I let it pass. She sat down.
"How did the school thing go?"
Sage sighed. “Long and complicated. At Hollow Stars Academy, I spent the last 18 months on an accelerated history and philosophy of exploits, with an emphasis on ones that have gone horribly wrong. It was a business-focused course," she explained. I couldn’t quite see how that sounded like any kind of business degree I’d ever heard of. “It was great, aside from all the comments I got about being from a broken reality engine. Turns out to rich alien kids that’s about like, well, being from the Arizona Strip. Makes you poor trash.”
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“I’ve seen that a couple times,” I agreed. “On the other hand, it’s nice to be underestimated.”
“Maybe so.” She slipped into the table beside me and flagged down a robot waiter, who took her order and disappeared back into the cafe section. “Why the urgency? I thought the exploit wasn’t starting for another couple months. I had an internship with the Alliance for Disadvantaged Worlds lined up but Grandpa asked me to cancel.”
“Something apparently accelerated the timetable. I don’t have any more details than that, just a message to catch a ship back at Kendelbar, then meet you here, before jumping in. The rest of my team’s already out there. I was giving a seminar on the use of exploits and cheats in reality engine conquests.”
“Giving away all our secrets?”
“Selling some of our secrets, but mostly there to advertise how awesome humans are and why they should totally get special classes from Kronos. Anyway, I don’t know any more than you do why the timetable got moved up.”
She nodded. “Guess we’ll both have a lot of questions when we get there. So, what have you been up to these last few years, Colin?" she asked, her eyes dancing across my face.
I cleared my throat. I wasn't quite as inept around women as I used to be. An angsty six-month relationship between me and a fellow gamer, Amber, had gotten me past most of that. But something about Sage's intent expression seemed to cue the remnants of the wheelchair-bound video game nerd I had once been. I felt like every word leaving my mouth was the most awkward thing I’d ever said. “Well, as you know, I helped with fragment integration for Kronos. After that I spent some time contracting around with Firebrand. And after that I got asked to come to a seminar about thinking outside the box when it comes to Reality Engines. Firebrand sponsored it. I assume you remember them."
"Funny you should say that," Sage said, a smile playing across her lips. The robo-server returned with a steaming hot cup of something and a purple-tinted pastry. She set them both before her, took a bite of the pastry, washed it down with some of the beverage, and then leaned back in her chair. "My friend Rok'gar, you met him, those are his family."
"Yeah, I know him," I agreed. “We’ve run into each other a couple times over the years. He was with us on some of the early Firebrand contracts.” He was a good sort, for an orc, with a crafting path. He had that odd orc sense of honor that could strike at the weirdest times, but I had liked him.
"He's been at school with me. In a different program, but we had a couple of classes together and have been pretty good friends for the last year and a half. As a matter of fact, I'm waiting for him to join us now. He's hitching a ride out to the engine with us."
"He is?" I asked. I hadn't been told to expect any other passengers, certainly not an orc.
"Well, I mean, when I saw that we had a cargo pod rated for four and there were only the two of us coming, I invited him along. Figured you wouldn't mind. That'll keep things from getting awkward." She flashed me a smile and a wink.
My stomach did a quick flip. I had no idea how to take that wink. "I hadn't meant anything by coming here," I assured her quickly. "That is, your brother asked me to pick you up—“
“It's fine. Rok'gar will be here any moment. He doesn’t talk too much and he’s good people, you two will get along fine.” She sipped her tea. "So, tell me about your speaking tour."
With a few prods and comments from Sage, I managed to fumble out rough details of what I'd been up to. I probably sounded like a complete buffoon. I could talk intelligently on this subject for hours at a time when I was conducting lectures and training seminars, but get me in front of a pretty girl my own age, and I reverted to all the worst nerd stereotypes.
Sage was in the middle of a question when she cut herself off and stood up. She waved. "There he is now!"
I turned as the big orc approached us. Rok'gar was seven feet tall, brown-skinned, with tusks that protruded from beneath his upper lip and a bald head. His ears were a little too large for his head and sported half a dozen gold rings in each earlobe. He approached our table, greeted Sage, then scowled at me.
"It’s been a while, Colin Trevelyan."
“Likewise, Rok’gar. Good to see you.”
“And you,” he allowed.
Sage asked brightly, "So how long do we have until going aboard?"
"We have two and a half hours before they load our travel cube. We don’t want to spend any more time in there than we have to, so..."
"Great! That gives us time to pick up some more supplies. I don't know about you, but the rations they usually serve on these ships are awful. Come on!" She hopped down from her stool and seized me by one arm, dragging me to my feet. Rok'gar in her other, linking arms with us both, she dragged us down the promenade.
"There was a cute little Rathamorean imports shop I spotted on my way over here. I picked up a taste for Argelion tea while I was at school. We'll start there.”
Rok'gar and I exchanged a look over Sage's head. He bared his teeth and mouthed something at me. I couldn’t quite make it out but it seemed to be a threat.
This was going to be a long couple of days, I was suddenly certain.