If I rode to the subway station with no further distractions, got onto the train, and then rode the train to the first address Cleo gave me still without further distraction it would have been simple and easy. It would not have been my life I was living out. I did get to the subway station without any more revelations that made me want to kill the world. That has to count for something I suppose.

I had heard many stories of Marland. I had seen images of Marland. I had seen vids of Marland. The real thing was nothing like the stories, images and vids. The only good part of Helios parking the runner in Hising was it prepared me for just how bad the entire city truly is.

Marland is a manufacturing city ran by unions, so I was not expecting white fences, manicured lawns and beautiful people in over-priced designer clothing. What I was expecting was a nice blue-collar working class place, maybe a little rough around the edges but comfy and cozy. I guess my complaint about society staying static while technology marched on is not cynicism. A good way to keep the status quo the status quo is make sure the poor only have access to poor infrastructure.

The subway station had three lights working.

That the ceiling was not painted with bioluminescent paint was not the part that surprised me. When you go to the amount of different planets I’ve been to you get used to outdated technology showing up where you don’t expect it. The surprising part was that I counted three light bulbs working out of twenty six fixtures that I could see. I don’t know what it takes to replace a light bulb but it can’t be that difficult. The not working ones looked pretty small.

The train itself, thank the good Lord, was normal. I half expected it to be on wheels. Familiar advertising scrolled and flashed its way across the outside of the train and the inside. No one got off the train though, not even to peek their head out and look around. I didn’t blame them; they were most likely worried about the air itself giving them a disease. I hoped the air was filtered on the car.

"Tom, as you looked around I tagged two sonji in the car behind us and what appears to be three, two cars towards the front of the train. I just want you to be aware." Bevisste said to me.

"I hope they are friends of Laez." I eyeballed the ones in the car behind me. So far they didn’t seem aware of me or they were not friends of Laez and didn’t give a shit he was dead. Seeing that androids do not sleep I had no doubt Helios had already visited Laez’s business partners and the word had spread. News of cheating Helios always made it around his circles damn near instantaneous.

"You cannot just kill them all on the train Tom. You are not in a war, the killings are not sanctioned by a government." Bevisste replied.

"I could make them attack me and defend myself."

"Please do not Tom." Bevisste pleaded with me. Killing things made her a mite squeamish, which made for very interesting moments while in the Corps especially when I became an Interrogator.

"I make no promises." I made sure my Luxor was loose in the holster and set my bike where it could be used as a weapon.

True story. I was in my fourth year of the Corps, filling out all the form boxes to reenlist because, Oohrah, brainwashing. I had left the mess hall and was walking across an enormous parade deck back to my office that had not seen a coat of paint since before humans discovered fire, when some crazy asshole came flying at me on a tiny scooter, the kind that can get about ten feet off the ground and create massive headaches for traffic. I jumped to the side, rolling on the ground to see him land the thing. I didn’t think I leaped up, ran to him and pushed him down. In a fit of rage I ripped off the little frilly saddlebag he had on the side beating him twice in the head. I never did learn why he wanted to fight me.

Weapons of opportunity they are called. You never know when the opportunity will present itself.

I was so concerned with the two sonji who had now been thoroughly weirded out that a man on a bicycle stared at them like they were his next meal that they moved to the far side of the car they were on that I completely forgot about the three that were on the other car. Turned out to be two sonji, one lope and one human. I was going to have to get Bevisste’s eyesight checked out.

"That’s a nice bike you got there mister." The human teenager said from behind me. Maybe he thought I would be more receptive to someone of my own race.

"Sure is. You have one of your own?"

"Yeah you’re fuckin standin in front of it. Why doncha get the fuck away from it right now and run along."

One thing can be said about members of a gang or just a group of friends hanging out thinking they are tough; you won’t find a smart person in either of said groups.

I patted the seat looking longingly at the bicycle as if we had gone through many a tough time. "I kind of like it. I’m glad you found me though, I’ve been waiting to thank you for such a generous gift. It was beyond what I was expecting from someone of your stature."

The idiots were still bunched together as if proximity would give the leader strength.

"Gift? What are you talking about? I wonder if me kicking the piss out of you and pushing you off the moving train will teach you manners!"

"Fuck yeah! You tell him!" His friends yelled with some other variations thrown in. The high I had felt from talking to Laetitia had now officially worn off leaving me getting angrier by the moment.

"Do any of your know Laez?" I wanted to get to the bottom of this little charade.

"Laez who?"

"Man we know who the fuck we know and it aint none of your business who we fucking know!"

"They don’t know Laez, Tom." Bevisste said. I nodded in response.

I have a quick release trigger installed on the seat post of my bicycle. If someone wants to steal my bike while I’m inside a building they better like getting poked in the ass, I’m not leaving a seat for them to sit on.

These four were most definitely not the hired muscle of drug dealers.

The seat came off the bike sounding like a sword drawn from a sheath. The ringing of the seat was still in the air as the flat black surface connected with the jaw of the boy that would not shut the fuck up. He was still threatening me when he got hit. I pulled down swinging the seat in a full circle crushing the clavicle of the lope. A quick jab to the throat of one sonji and a round house to the side of the head of the other took them both out. I would like to thank my first platoon sergeant for beating the snot out of me thus forcing me to learn how to fist fight.

"I saw them attack you first. You were just defending yourself." I heard a voice say from behind me as I bent down to pick up the seat.

Both of the sonji I had been staring at like they killed my child were standing by the open door of the car.

"Hopefully they will all leave us alone now. Those four have been terrorizing us for months."

"Oh, well, you’re welcome I guess. They tried stealing my only mode of transportation, aside from the subway of course. I wasn’t about to let that happen." I flinched when I saw their fingers begin twitching. Laez and Acla were so raw in my mind and the anger at those four assholes for causing me to get a rip in the side of my bicycle seat made me want to beat the two sonji with my bike. Fuck I needed a drink.

"Thank you mister. You are a hero." One of them said to me, the other nodded in agreement as they both walked away back to the train car they were in.

"You are a hero Tom! You should definitely tell Laetitia about that. See if that gym rat can compete against that." Bevisste said.

I laughed sadly. "You’re a good friend Bevisste."

I rolled my bike over the human asshole, it’s not a heavy thing it was just the principle behind it, as I left the subway train. I suppose this subway station was far enough away from the poor people as this station had the normal bioluminescent on the ceiling and obligatory caffeinated beverage stands, one at each exit. People milled around the platform waiting on the next train to come in, I noticed two people kick at the four moaning in pain on the floor of the subway car. I suppose those sonji weren’t making that up.

"How much further to the first address? Can you get a hold of Helios?" I asked Bevisste. I may have been a little paranoid, it was just sinking in I had tortured and aided in the murder of a drug dealer who had to be big news for Helios would not have suffered him the way he had, so when a car did an illegal u-turn driving over the center median to stop from me twice as far I could spit I had a bad feeling.

"It is another three miles. You can take a bus there. This is as close as the subway goes to the assembly plant. Hold on for Helios."

I stared at the car with my hand resting on the butt of the Luxor. I wanted them to try something. It had been longer than I could remember since I had a drink of an alcoholic beverage. I was dying for a drink and getting angrier than a mama elephant separated from her baby.

"You’re awake Tom." I swear to God the body Helios was given is so goddamn cute staying angry while I looked at it was not a possibility. Though I did try. "And I see you got out of the city runner." Those pretty blue eyes twinkled.

"You’re such an asshole Helios. It shit me out!"

He began giggling then burst out laughing. The cute laughter was infectious.

"That’ll teach you to keep your hands to yourself."

"You told me to grab your ass!"

"I didn’t tell you to grope my tits."

"What’s the big deal. I could tell you enjoyed the feeling."

He rolled his eyes at me. "What do you want Tom?"

"Blue car, black windows, driver likes driving on medians when he see’s people on bicycles."

"Oh yeah. I’ve been meaning to call you about that. Laez had his EEs send a real-time vid back to his partners. He tried passing it off as needing proof of me swindling him. How the fuck he was supposed to prove that I don’t know. While his partners have no issue with me murdering him for fucking me over the past few months they seem to have an issue with you. They mentioned Acla twice, who is that?"

"The son of a bitch that killed two kleens, maybe more, at Cleo’s house. I saw two of the dead kleens with my own eyes. One of them was no more than thirty years old, a fucking child. They killed a child just to teach Cleo a lesson."

Helios shook his head looking sad for a moment. As bad as he was, even he saw the utter pointlessness in brutalizing a person that would not fight back. "Well if you want to go self-righteous and lay waste to the group you have my blessing. No one will get in your way that is not directly employed by them."

"The people in that car?"

Helios shrugged. "I don’t know. Maybe they are just drunk and forgot how to drive. Don’t forget, thirty percent Tom." Helios cut the connection. I hoped I could blackmail Timber out of a lot of money.

"Point me in the right direction Bevisste. I want to get this over with." I kept my eyes on the car that was idling in a lane that did not have a shoulder. Cars honked incessantly as they passed by it. A blue line appeared in front of me doing a sharp u-turn away from the car.

One more glance at the car and I began pushing it hard. I wanted to get this shit done with and a beer in my hands. At the thought of beer I made a detour for what looked like an open air bar. I loved the things. They completely went old school, as in medieval old school. The bar stocked with alcohol was of course modern it was just the rest that gave the finger to modernity. Terrible feeling wood benches were lined alongside long terrible looking wood tables set on top of packed dirt and weeds. I had one bar owner tell me the warping of the wooden benches and tables was really because it was cheaper to buy terrible wood than wood that was machined to look terrible. The owner saved money by buying cheap wood and people loved the look of it. It was a win-win for everyone.

"The assembly plant isn’t going anywhere Bevisste."

"I did not say anything Tom."

She hadn’t, she never did. Oh she bitched up a storm afterwards when I was drunk but she never told me to not go into the bar. I guess I was still feeling a little defensive at the look Laetitia had given me the other night.

The bar was exactly what I was expecting. In a city that was marginally more than repressed it was refreshing. The subway had put me in a mixture of duplexes and businesses, however the duplexes appeared to have been built before Oazan was colonized. It was as if the city had suffered a catastrophic economic collapse and never recovered from it. That the city produced more goods than every other planet in the  Mei System combined was the head scratcher.

The bar was as busy as I was hoping it would be. Four people including me and the bartender, a kleen who wore too much makeup and showed not enough cleavage, occupied the place. I just wanted a drink, just one. I didn’t want people talking to me.

"Hey good looking. How you doing today?" I suppose I had to talk to the bartender.

"Now that I’m looking at you my day is fantastic, and how could it not be? I hope I’m not too forward for saying this but you look positively radiant. How are you?" I was hoping to get an extra shot or two in my drink.

She beamed, turned around for two seconds then turned back to me. Ah there was my cleavage.

"I’m doing much better now. Thank you, it’s a slow day."

I looked around for a moment. "I couldn’t tell." I winked at her.

She giggled like the sound was in a loop. Oh yeah, she was going to say to hell with the glass and give me the bottle.

"What are you having? First one is on the house."

I leaned forward moving my eyes up and down her. "It all looks so good." I do love flirting. It has to be one of my more favorite pastimes. "I’ll just take a well bourbon."

Instead of bending over to get the bottle from under the bar she pulled a step over to get to the top shelf. I was half expecting it to be a series of manual steps instead of the normal floater. I noticed, with amusement, as she tried to get the bottle her tail twitched like lightning. Anyone who has dated a kleen knows what that means.

"I’ve never been to Marland. Did this place have an economic boon it never recovered from?"

She poured a draft beer worth of bourbon. If I didn’t have prior engagements for the day I knew who I would have been doing that night.

"Not really. The pay at the assembly plants is not that good, there’s long hours and the union gets what you don’t need for living. The city is just a black hole there is no escape from. When you finally get old enough to realize that, you are a product of the city with no means to leave because your work hours are too long and the union takes the money you could have used to leave."

That was deep, far deeper than I was expecting a bartender to tell me. It was then I noticed the rings on her still twitching tail. She had to be one hundred sixty years old, which is right around forty human years when put into perspective.

"The rich get richer. The poor stay poor while society marches right over its backbone in favor of politicians and their wealthy donors. " I waxed poetically.

I thought she was going to leap over the bar, tear my clothes off and mount me right then and there.

"Beauty and brains." She replied. I was going to have to come back here more often. I was getting a good vibe.

Well I was getting a good vibe.

"Tom, I believe now is time to leave." Bevisste said.

I didn’t need Bevisste to tell me my situation went from fun to a cat’s liter box. One large sonji on either side of me didn’t bode very well.

"I hope you bring my bike." I heard myself say as something struck the side of my head.

Fuck. Getting hit on the head really hurts.

Next Chapter: I may have a soft spot...