Garbage is not something we think about much. I knew that the orbital space stations had to have some of their garbage dropped down to Earth. Even with superpowers, it was cheaper to shuttle some of the residual waste down to earth than hire a super to deal with it on the station.

Now it was easier and cheaper to send up large shipments but a lot of the orbital station owners hated each other. More than likely bribery was involved somewhere along the line. How else would you explain there were a bunch of smaller garbage collectors rather than one company collecting from everyone? Luckily this meant that there were garbage rockets available.

The one I was about to be launched into space on was old and had what looked like duct tape holding it together. Someone had taken out all of the plant matter from the insides of it and sprayed it down. I was just lucky that waste being recycled was used to grow plants. Being blasted into space in a portable toilet would not be pleasant.

Unfortunately for me, all the bio matter left was everything that could not easily be recycled. Watching the pile of green goo being washed out did not give me a good feeling about being sent into space.

Kate pointed her ray gun at my head "Relax it is Japanese it is not like one of those Chinese or even worse American cheap knock-offs. Also, we will fill the capsule with a liquid solution that will freeze quickly. If there is a problem it will freeze around your suit."

I looked at the gel that was being brought. "Will that crush me? I mean water expands when frozen."

"Super science jackass. Honestly, this stuff was designed for pilots to reduce the g force. But it was too cheap and would have put a couple of the chair manufacturers out of business."

I nodded and jumped into the capsule before Kate could give me another lecture. Looking down at the green sludge that was still in the capsule. I felt it was worth getting my spacesuit a bit dirty if I could avoid another lecture.

Who cared if in the 2030's the famines and other global warming issues wiped out billions? They let the situation get that bad and they were lucky only to lose the two-thirds of the population they did.

Kate tapped my space suit head with her gun "Just for avoiding my speech I am going to switch on the smell sensors in the suit and put on the sight in the suit so you can see what your sitting in."

I shuddered as the suit began to create a simulated smell. From the speaker, I heard a voice. "Kill her whoever hears this kill my girlfriend Kate. Her father tricked me and took my ticket. The cannibals are closing in even now I can hear them. That b**** her father knocked me out and gave my ticket to Kate's little sister Jennifer. Please save me"

The pod filled up with liquid as the previous owner's voice broke down as he began to cry. "I have no credits left Jason took them all from me. He told me that Jennifer would need them more than me. Oh god, i can hear them coming. He left me here to die while he ran away to hide with Kate"

As the liquid began to rise I thought about what must have happened. Kate's father Jason must not have had enough cash to send himself Kate and her sister to a safe place. He obviously stole a ticket and sent his most vernerable child Jennifer off with most of his remaining funds.

The warning was clear I doubted that Jason would let the rich brat whose suit I was wearing live. More than likely he had knocked him out and left him for the cannibals to find. Kate was letting me know that her family were not pushovers.

I was betting that even if the recording got out the local police would ignore it. Kate was old enough her father would be ancient more than likely he was already dead. That or he was rich and powerful.

The liquid plus the bits of horrible grey goo that were mixed in with it came over my head as the recording started again. Then I felt the pod being moved. I really wished I had a window or video feed of a camera outside of the pod.

After all, I was going into outer space. It was not like I was heading to Mars or anything. But still, I was leaving the city where I had not moved more than 20 kilometers from and going into outer space. I felt a brief jolt and then I knew I was on my way.

Time lost all meaning as the voice of Kate's boyfriend played again and again. Finally just as i was about to open the suit and drown in the goo, there was a bump and the top of the capsule opened. Outside the pod a small girl was waiting. She lifted me out with one hand and dropped me onto the floor before picking up the space pod I had been in and emptying it into a container.

I looked in interest at the girl who was wearing an old and worn dress and what looked like metal twisted into the shape of boots. The girl had a scar on her cheek.

A cough came from behind me and a young teenage girl looked at me. She was stunning with blonde hair and was in a gorgeous red dress. She winked at me "My name is Jennifer I believe you had dealing with my sister Kate."

Jennifer chuckled seeing my face. "It is really rather simple the Reedemers do not allow life extension serum. My father gave Kate some when she was younger but once she joined the reedemers she had to stop taking it.

Now let us talk about you. My sister did not inform me why she wanted you protected. But I can guess. So I have a couple of rules.

One if you are a Reedemer do not mention it up here. Folks on the ground get upset that instead of food cash crops like coffee were planted. Folks up here get upset when the people on the ground find out all their grain fields have been changed to was it strawberry flavoured tobacco. They dislike seeing their neighbors going feral and cannibals appearing.

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Second, do not mention you know me after today if anyone asks we have nothing to do with each other. Any questions? "

I nodded "How badly do they hate Reedemers up here?" "An awful lot. A lot of the people up here were wealthy landowners. Captains of industry and politicians. When the farming corporations decided to stop producing grain and feed the poor with grey goo. That was acceptable a few riots and a couple of hundred poor dead a year is not an issue.

But when they stopped producing grey goo and smashed up the Grey Goo factories. They were not prepared for the response. Honestly, there were riots because it was grey goo. Who wants to eat a grey blob that looks like wet paper and tastes like ass? No one but the masses could barely afford grey goo. Take it away and you get chaos. "

Jennifer laughed "I am being preachy. Just remember up here destroying a couple of billions of tons of grey goo. And then expecting the public to be grateful to merely pay 40 credits for a plate of food is the norm.

Your dealing with the kind of idiot who think people who make 2 or 3 credits a day and are used to buying grey goo meals for 0.2 credits will accept starving to death? Or eating once a month. Unfortunately you will be working for them soon enough.

Just remember when they say work hard and you can climb up the ladder. What they mean is work hard and we will kill you when you can no longer hold a wrench and grind your bones up to make fertilizer."

I nodded the fact they had tossed entire families out the airlocks rather than pay them severance was proof they were ruthless. I was betting they were having trouble finding anyone willing to work for them.

For the next few months, they would be down staff. There were slave markets not that slaves were called that. But I was betting the upper crust did not want a bunch of drug-user slaves around. Of course, if there was another war they could grab up some of the fleeing population. But the news from back home mentioned only a small conflict. Because no major wars were happening at the moment there would be no skilled slaves on sale.

Jennifer grinned "Things are not looking up for you. Tracey over there has a scar on her face so that she does not attract the wrong crowd. If you stick out you might get lucky or you might be eaten by a couple of the thrill-seeking billionaires who live up here here.

I got lucky but I have seen others who were not as lucky. The unfortunate cleaning lady who was too beautiful. You can guess the rest. Maybe the son of the family she cleans for does things to her. The father of the family takes an interest. The mother gets jealous and feeds her to the father and son. "

I swallowed I had forgotten I was with rich folks now and they were animals. My ass clenched as I remembered the stories I had heard about the rich.

Jennifer laughed "Relax relax this place mostly has second generation inherited wealth. It's not like those stations with the third or fourth generation. Those rich masters and mistresses get bored easily and bad bad things happen.

Germany has a law saying you have to live there or you are not a citizen. So it's mostly Chinese and Canadians up here. Now remember to avoid the third generation and above young masters. They are the ones who wear less than the prostitutes. Remember the professionals wear pink. If you see someone naked using someone's helmet as a toilet you are dealing with a rich master.

If it's your helmet they just used as a toilet and they are looking at you it is time to put on that helmet. It is actually a game with some of the rich teenagers. Just remember to avoid them if they are aged 6 to 10 like the plague. Kids can be cruel just take a look at the influencers of that age group"

As there was a recording of them cooking a waitress alive because she refused to give them extra ice cream I believed her. Jennifer tossed me a bag with some clothes in it before giving me some more advice.

"All of the rich Chinese corporate types were hunted down by their government. It is the reason they are still a superpower. Unlike the other powers, they made sure that those who caused global warming and the famines died.

A lot of the old Chinese space stations are available for rent. All the other rich folk think it's bad luck to go in there so you can get a good deal renting out one of their unused cupboards."

I was given a hand wrist computer and some clothes and sent on my way. Jennifer took the spacesuit I had been wearing. I was sent a link to the various apartments and job websites given a fifty credit note and then sent on my way.

Being tossed by a little girl out of a door would have been embarrassing. So I left with dignity or as much as I could in bright yellow paper thin one piece coverall.

The corridor I was in was stark and looked like any building inside. Cursing the fact there was no window that i could use to look down on the earth. I got busy before any passing slavers decided to capture me.

The job website was easy to navigate and I found a job I could do easily enough. Apparently, the rich folks wanted a human to monitor the supply warehouse. It turns out they were afraid of hackers poisoning their food.

I hit accept and was given access to the store's database. For a second I thought about heading back and asking to go home. But I was here now. Then finding the old records of what my predecessor had been up to i decided this might be a cushy number. There were hours of video of him pissing into the water he gave to the rich folks. Then there were hours of video footage of rich people taking showers.

I pulled up the walk way map and charted a route that would avoid running into any rich people. Keeping my head down I set off trying to be invisible.

Getting to my new workplace was easy. Taking a look around my stores I found piles and piles of bottles hidden in a cupboard. Looking at the warehouse that was not designed for storage I began to grin. I could do a lot with an unsupervised warehouse.

Clicking back on the computer I took a long look at the porn lists of the rich. It looked like the person before me had stopped recording the rich in their showers. Except for a few he was spying on to see what expensive things they were throwing out he had stopped. Years of stupidity and a lot of banal behavior must have bored him.

I found a bed hidden under a counter and another one hidden in what looked like an aquarium. The aquarium was a chest inside a massive tank of old water. The filter had not been changed in years and I only realized he was using the chest as a bed because some of the dust was missing from the side of the tank.

It was an interesting place to hide and I looked up the records. It had been owned by the Mollox family. They had owned a number of news corporations until they failed to pay off a crime boss. Everyone had known they were paid by the slavers and organ thieves to look the other way. But no one cared until the slavers and organ thieves were put out of business. Suddenly the Mollox were not rich enough to pay all the bribes that needed paying

When the competition came in the Mollox were unprepared. They spend millions a year on their art and vineyards. Refusing to do without meant after five years they were bankrupt.

As I watched the video of the Molloxs being whipped in the streets by their once friends. I realized that no rich person could trust another rich person.

I still wanted to be rich. Maybe I could buy my own moon somewhere far from the earth. Somewhere far from the corporations and their lies.. All I had to do was avoid the fate of the ex-stores keeper.