Vessa woke to the loud silence of her room and waited. Got a knock on her door and was up, dressed and eating as the Umbaan rep talked at her about which targets she was focusing on today. In the section of the city called the Ports. Not a very clever name. She munched on food as his voice droned.
“Called that because it’s both the smallest of the three and receives most of the medical shipments…. You’ll be in and out, delivering actual packages as your alibi. Though the coincidence will likely make you….”
She paid attention to the important bits and nodded through the rest until she had left him with his hard eyes and way too friendly of a smile, with a backpack full of packages and a device that would, apparently, buzz at her.
Vesssa came out onto the streets with a crowd of people already walking. The first thing she noticed were the sidewalks and street level walls that were covered in blue and purple. Both by chalk and paint, with bits of silver glitter mixed in. Street artists making use of the color to draw or using it as a backdrop with black and white as their lines. It had been too dark yesterday to see, but now Vessa gawked.
Did the city dump massive amounts of chalk and paint on the regular? Both materials looked new with no weathering and there weren’t spills or trash to spoil it. It didn’t escape Vessa that these were the colors of the painters, but that didn’t explain how this much got onto the streets and walls.
Vessa wondered at it as she walked along with the crowd, the spires towering over them all. The second thing Vessa noticed and tried not to were the little children. Pulling at their mothers’ hands or ignoring their mothers’ shouts as they ran on the sidewalk, only to be scolded when captured.
Vessa tried to ignore them with the rest of the crowd, only she couldn’t and kept thinking how they’d react if their child died right in front of them. Finally, she arrived at The Ports. Where most split off into two directions, one towards the shipyards. Water crashing against the docks as huge cranes unloaded or loaded cargo. The others into the three spires lording over them; which Vessa was currently concerned with. Huge spaceships were flying above, being swallowed by the spires, or if too big, coming alongside.
Her day would be going up and down the three, taking out life. Vessa took a big breath in of the salt water mist as she looked up at the spires. They weren’t the biggest, but yesterday had shown even the smallest spires were larger than she had realized looking down at them as the star had set.
Another breath as the wind blasted at her face. All the air and her chest felt like she didn’t have any. The wind passed and Vessa turned to walk into the smallest of three, the Little Doc if she remebered correctly. When she noticed a man watching her. In line at the checkpoint that led into the shipping yard.
Male 27: 76%
He wasn’t on her list for the day, so she turned and walked into the Little Doc and showed her pass that the Umbaan rep had given her.
“A messenger, and a new one at that. Are you ready for all the walking you’ll do?” The security guard asked, his face jovial, as he handed her back the pass.
Male 55: 96%
“I’ve been told I’ll be up and down the three.” Vessa said, and the man shook his head.
“Don’t call them that. I know the outer planets do, but they’re The Sisters and you’ll make more friends if you switch over.” He said and Vessa nodded as she handed over her bag and walked through the detectors. She paused as the man held his hand out and waited until he gave her a thumbs up.
“Welcome to Esaul” He said handing the bag back and Vessa was in.
“Thank you.” She said as she walked to deliver her first package of the day. Vessa filled her attention with the numbers swarming at the edges of her consciousness.
Male 75: 89%, Male 34: 98%, Female 56: 84%, Male 189: 65%, Female 22: 94%,
Male 172: 24%
There! She had him. Before she even walked into the machine that would lift her up. It was nothing like portals or other magics or even stairs, but she kept all the gawking inside as it moved up and up.
Vessa waited until she had delivered all the packages for the Little Doc and was past the security guard before she pulled the target’s number. He moved away from her far more than he should be able to, but she had never the less.
Male 172: 1%
Male 172: 0%
Into the Mech, the middle of The Sisters, carried up seven floors with others around her. The machine was strange, almost wondrous. Out of the machine to deliver her packages. Down in the machine with her target’s number tightly held in her grasp. Passed the security guard and out, then into The Mother, the largest of the Sisters. Before finally killing her target, who also moved more than expected, but Vessa killed her anyway.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
Female 47: 1%
Female 47: 0%
Up The Mother in a machine all the way to the top where wind blasted through and everyone was in coats as they unloaded a huge spaceship. Her package taken. Vessa’s grip on the target’s number was already firmly established since the fifth floor. All the packages were delivered with new ones to bring. The Machine took forever to get down as the doors kept opening and closing. People came in to take all the space with brief cases or boxes or both. People went out banging their items up against her, barely muttering a word. Finally, out and into the Little Doc, a wave to the security guard before finally her third target of the day continued the trend of moving more than expected.
Female 49: 1%
Female 49: 0%
All the way to the top, stopping to get and on and off. Her last package was an envelope and box of tools, from someone in The Mother to a huge burly man in the Little Doc’s largest ship bay, as a group of men yelled expletives at each other over how to pack a freighter.
Then the device buzzed at her. Multiple questions later, asked of a man who kept stopping to yell his own ideas about how to pack a freighter, and Vessa had the general idea of how the device worked.
From there, she was into the Mech up five floors that made Vessa appreciate portals more, and out with another number in her grasp.
Male 203: 1% – 67%
He moved far away from Vessa, which didn’t matter as she had him tightly in her grip, but she did wish she was with him. She had no idea how all her targets were moving so far, so fast. Probably magic, but teleporting hadn’t been mentioned.
Male 203: 1%
Not that Vessa had thought that file had been all that thorough, except for the maps of the capital.
Male 203: 0%
This time, as Vessa exited, her target dead; instead of going into one of The Sisters, the device lead her into the shipping yard to be yelled at.
“The Fuck am I supposed to do with this? Yeah, yeah, I know, just a messenger. Well messenge this.” The man said, gave a middle finger and walked off. Holding out the metal tool.
“Ask for something that will help and get back a toy that even my children couldn’t make use of.” He said to the other men as he walked away. She had her target’s number in her grasp as she followed suit.
Male 217: 1%- 24%
She stopped and turned at shouting; to see an explosion of color on a ship rocking in the waves and people running towards it. She was getting an idea of how chalk and paint ended up on the street.
Male 217: 1%
Male 217: 0%
“No need to worry, just some idiot failing to do anything with his brain matter.” A man told her and the device buzzed at her. She nodded to the man, hands black with grease, and was headed into the Mech and back out to the shipyard. Five times each with an explosion of blues and purples and sometimes silver, but never black and white. Vessa was sure that meant something, but had no idea what.
On the last time, the same man with greasy hands shook his head at her as she headed to go deeper into the shipyard.
“Give that to me. I’ll get it to who it goes to. Stay here, out where it’s safe. Gang warfare is crazy today. Six dead already and the day’s not over. And that’s just here in the yard.”
“Heard there’s a hand full in each of the princesses.” Another man said as he stopped by them, staring at Vessa; looking her up and down. Same as Glatis only her skin didn’t crawl.
“You should be careful, young miss.” He said, and Vessa nodded. The device buzzed, and both waved her off.
When the star finally began to set; matching the explosions with its blues and purples. Vessa had lost track of how many she had killed. Before walking back, she’d seen the same man who’d been waiting in line staring at her, though he was in a different set of clothes and was with a woman.
Male 27: 76%
Female 24: 84%
The Umbaan rep was all smiles as her feet entered the Umbaan’s building.
“You are truly talented.” He said and was all smiles, his eyes almost not hungry. He spoke all throughout dinner and Vessa’s dreams were filled with him offering a place with them in the Umbaan. Perhaps there was more to that than just her mind using familiar voices, but it was infinitely better than children screaming or mothers breaking down and pleading for her to spare their baby girls.