PLANET ORYXS - MORRIAN CITY

Morrian Starport was buzzing with activity. Passengers were scurrying about like rats in a nest while every tenth person seemed to be stopped by a port security officer for random identity checks. Rumour had it the cult conspiracy group, Yesterday’s Children, disabled the live feed in all the patrol drones a few days ago and NexTech used it as an excuse to increase security in high-traffic areas both coming and going from the city.

The starport was also being patrolled by a legion of Sentinels. An undercurrent of chaos permeated through the crowded terminal as people tried hard to skirt around or avoid the killing machines, only to be approached by security officers instead. The crackdown was momentous; the number of people being caught for both minor and major infringements skyrocketed within a few days. It seemed like NexTech was purging the city of Morrian of illicit activities in their entirety. 

Hyejin didn’t like that. The increase in surveillance and security meant that someone would know where she was travelling and very probably, who she was travelling with. So much for covert operations. 

“Ma’am, I need to scan your ID chip,” the security officer told her in a gruff tone.

With a roll of her eyes, Hyejin unfolded her right arm and held her wrist out to him. Her vicious glare made the officer sneer back at her. He used a small rod to emit a bright blue light along her arm until the little red light turned green. The holodisplay on his arm lit up with her ID card and the blood drained from the middle-aged man’s face.

“O-oh… I am so sorry, Ms Choi. I-it’s protocol. Can’t be too safe,” he stammered awkwardly. The man cleared his throat and bowed his head ever so slightly. “C-can I get you anything? Please, Ma’am, I would like to make sure you are as comfortable as possible for your journey.”

“Thank you,” Hyejin began, examining his name tag. “Hendrik. Would you be so kind as to show me to terminal Orange 812?”

Hendrik nodded profusely and gestured for her to start walking in a direction. “A-are you going on holiday, Ms Choi?” he asked, trying hard to break the awkward atmosphere.

Hyejin hummed and nodded absently as she looked around the building. She had never been in a commercial Starport before. Typically, her flights were small private vessels, however, only the commercial shuttles were able to withstand travelling through the jump gates. 

To travel to the border worlds from the core planets, space vessels needed to use portal-like gates to avoid lightyears of travelling through space. It was technology NexTech had developed using the dimensional collision as a blueprint for tearing holes in space that could be travelled through safely. 

A shadow loomed over Hyejin and she turned to see Dion standing behind her. Atticus was next to him, but his attention was on one of the Sentinels patrolling nearby. Hyejin thought she saw his lips reading the production number on its back.

“Sirs, please back away,” Hendrick suddenly said, pulling a mana baton from his belt and stepping between Hyejin and the brothers.

“It’s fine, Hendrick. They’re my travel companions,” Hyejin assured him with a sweet smile.

The security officer examined them incredulously. The look on his face said all it needed to about his low opinion of her ‘companions’. “Your arms, please,” he stated, glaring at them both.

“Hendrik!”

“I’m sorry, Ma’am. I must insist. It’s protocol.”

The brothers didn’t argue, they just held their arms out and let the security officer scan their ID chips. Hendrik looked over both of their information and suddenly seemed even more confused. “Ma’am, are they threatening you?” he asked so sincerely that Hyejin was taken aback.

“What do you mean?”

“These people… I mean, the way they live–” The look Hyejin gave him told him to shut up, so he did. He nodded quickly and gestured to the massive holodisplay beside them. “We’ve arrived at terminal Orange 812,” he informed her before he scurried away.

Crossing her arms, Hyejin turned her attention back to her companions. “You didn’t answer my call,” she said, examining Dion's face. The bruising was gone and he had a much healthier glow in his complexion than the last time she saw him.

Dion tossed something small to her and she nearly dropped it when she fumbled the catch. She flipped it over a few times before giving him a puzzled look. She had no idea what she was holding.

Atticus smirked. “It’s Dion’s DataCuff.”

The surprise hit Hyejin so hard that she visibly stumbled where she stood. She examined it again, and sure enough, a tiny worn-out engraving of the NexTech logo was stamped onto the back. The screen was cracked and it looked like it was being held together with glue and string.

“And this… works?”

“Not anymore,” Dion responded, slipping his hands into his jacket pockets. “Died this morning.”

“We better get to the shuttle. Our flight is due to take off in a few minutes,” Atticus suggested, leading the way without waiting for a response.

Dion walked beside Hyejin as they followed Atticus to their elevator, glancing at her with a strange expression.

Hyejin frowned. “What is it?”

“Is that what you’re wearing?”

“Is that a problem?”

“Yes.”

Hyejin stopped and scowled. “How dare you!” She was wearing a white top with white pants, black knee-high boots and a cropped black jacket. Although her clothes flattered her figure, she was not scantily clad.

“You’re advertising your money. Only the rich wear white; too hard to keep clean. You don’t want to stand out on Agafra, trust me.”

Hyejin huffed, crossed her arms and stormed past him to walk beside Atticus instead.

The elevator platform lowered with a loud ‘koosh’. A crowd of people entered at the same time, crammed in like sardines. Unlike traditional elevators, this one didn’t have ‘floors’ to select. They were connected directly to the vessels waiting to take passengers to their transport.

“Why do we need to pick them up?” Atticus asked, looking around at the other people on the elevator. “Why can’t they come here?”

Hyejin cleared her throat and leaned in a little closer so that, ideally, only Atticus and Dion could hear her. “They’re unregistered.”

“What?” Dion shouted. “You’re going to trust unregistered to–”

A hand slapped over Dion’s mouth. His lips were chapped, but warm against the palm of Hyejin’s left hand. She glared up into his brown eyes. The moving lights of the elevator caught in them, shining like stars. She stared a little too long. Long enough that the anger disappeared and was replaced with something… else.

She cleared her throat again and awkwardly withdrew her hand. “ Let’s talk when we get to our cabin.” Hyejin swallowed hard. She could still feel Dion’s eyes burning a hole into her soul, even as she avoided his gaze. Heat welled up in Hyejin’s face and she tried to shrink into her jacket to try and obscure the fierce blush. As the elevator stopped, she caught Dion’s sly smirk before he turned away from her to follow Atticus to the main hold.

Hyejin took a deep breath and followed them at a distance. She hated herself for being so obvious. Sure, he was attractive, but Dion was a criminal. How could she let herself be manipulated by some common thug? She was Hyejin Choi, for Earth’s sake.

Atticus found their room quickly. The cabin was a dimly lit room with worn-out leather couches, a small coffee table, a mini-fridge and a window that took up most of the wall. Hyejin could see all the other shuttles and their coloured lights flashing in the darkness outside.

There was a clink behind her and when she looked, she saw Dion pouring an amber-coloured drink. Dion took a deep gulp, almost finishing the tumbler in one go. “My brain needs to be tipsy for it to make sense on the other side of the gate,” he explained, falling into one of the couches, the bottle and the tumbler still in hand.

“Does it hurt?” she asked, suddenly concerned.

“No, but it makes you dizzy. Ever heard of ‘Gate Sickness’?” 

She shook her head.

“Tell us more about these unregistered,” Dion encouraged, raising his glass to offer her a drink.

Hyejin bit her lip before taking her place on the couch next to Atticus and taking an empty glass from the mini-fridge.

“They’re something called ‘engine rats’, but I don’t know what that is,” she admitted while she watched Dion pour her a drink.

“Slaves,” he said curtly. “Children sold to mining companies.”

Hyejin was horrified. “What? But slavery is illegal.”

Atticus nodded. “That’s why they call them ‘rats’ and not ‘children’. Drones are expensive in the border worlds, so they buy unwanted kids and put them to work maintaining the mining machinery instead. I heard they literally live in the engines.”

“Are all unregistered… slaves?”

“No, sometimes it’s as simple as not being born in a hospital. It costs money to register a birth, not to mention all the hoops you have to jump through to prove their identity,” Dion explained before taking another swig of alcohol.

“You sound like you’ve had to do it before.”

“Atticus was unregistered until he was four. It’s not something I ever want to do again.”

“Wait, you registered him? What about your parents?”

Dion suddenly gave a pause, staring into his empty glass. Without another word, he stood up and left the room, taking the bottle of alcohol with him.

“There was an accident,” Atticus told her. It was clear Dion didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “I don’t remember anything, but Dion still has nightmares. I don’t think he knows he screams in his sleep sometimes.”

“I’m so sorry! I didn't mean... I just… I mean, I lost my mother too…” Hyejin muttered, feeling more and more awkward as the conversation moved on. She brought her drink to her lips and swallowed it as quickly as she could. It was only the first day and she was already messing everything up.

The younger of the brothers turned his attention to the scenery outside. “He’ll come back in his own time.”

‘Interworld Shuttle 5550-X32 is now taking off. Please remain seated until we break orbit. In the meantime, please help yourself to the minibar and inflight menu,’ announced a recorded voice over the speaker.

The floor lurched aggressively as the shuttle detached from the elevator tube. Hyejin dug her fingernails into the arm of the couch. Private shuttles were a lot smaller and a lot smoother to take off. This inter-world shuttle felt like it was ready to fall apart before they even left the atmosphere.

The window shade lowered, jerking like the mechanism was broken. Suddenly Hyejin wished Dion had left the bottle of alcohol. Atticus poured them both glasses of water instead.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly before taking a sip.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, but her smile faltered. “Just nervous. I heard Yesterday’s Children shut off the drone feeds, I can’t help but think anything could happen.”

Atticus choked on his water. “Oh, that wasn’t…” For some reason, he looked conflicted or maybe guilty. His facial expressions changed quicker than Hyejin could make sense of them. He cleared his throat and said, “You saw how much security patrolled the port. I doubt they could have gotten in or out without being noticed.”

“But they got into the system of the biggest security network in the galaxy!”

“You say that as if you didn’t hire me to do exactly that. I think you’ll be in more trouble trying to sneak unregistered onto a core planet, anyway. How do you plan to smuggle them past security?”

Hyejin opened her mouth to object, thought about it and then changed her mind. She didn’t want to admit that she hadn’t thought that far ahead.

The shuttle shook and trembled as they left the atmosphere. Hyejin could feel the heat through the closed window. It was like standing inside a furnace. When she closed her eyes, it made her anxiety worse.

“Breathe, it’ll be over soon,” Atticus cooed softly. He looked so relaxed; like he’d made this journey a million times before. When Hyejin had snuck a glance at their ID chips being scanned, it said Atticus was born on Koros, an underdeveloped border planet, so maybe he had travelled between planets a lot. 

The ride soon smoothed out and a voice announced, ‘Inter-world Shuttle 5550-X32 has broken orbit. Please remain seated. This vessel will now jump through the gate.’

There was barely any time for the warning to register before Hyejin’s stomach felt like it was crushed by something heavy. The interior of the shuttle felt like it swayed and twisted. She could feel bile rise, ready to escape and barely managed to hold it in. Then in a split second, all the sensations were gone and the ride was smooth again except for a lingering dizziness.

“Sucks, doesn’t it,” Atticus said, grinning at her. “Lie down for a bit; it’ll be another twenty minutes to reach Agafra.”

“Have you been there before?”

Atticus nodded. “Just once. It was a long time ago when I was a kid. When the dimensions collided it was hit pretty hard by monsters. There isn’t anything left out there. Most of the cities have been swallowed by the desert. What are the engine rats doing there?”

“They’re racing,” Hyejin said with a shrug.