The cruiser was one of, if not the most, disgusting ships Nova had ever been on. StarX ships were supposed to be luxurious. Nevertheless Nova and Kade hurtled through space, feeling the ship's thrusts. They sat across from each other, Pinky was droning on about something in her head, and the air was as stale as the feeling throughout the ship. Nobody was talking. The great cargo space that held the passengers were mostly Corpo suits.
Nova smiled to herself, To think, these bastards don’t even know the cyberware on me is worth a thousand of what they have.
‘I recommend caution, some of these “suits” can identify what cyberware you have.’
Fuck off Pinky, I didn’t ask for your opinion.
She could sense Pinky rolling his eyes in her head, she felt him think, ‘This is going to be a long existence.’
Kade woke up. Nova didn’t really know he was sleeping. He looked at his arm, checking to see how far from the next world they were. Kade’s cybernetics didn’t go much further than that. Other than his new organs, he didn’t opt for much from the OM.
“Ten minutes.” He nodded at Nova.
She nodded back, looked off to the right where nobody was standing, she moved her eyes to Kade and flicked them back towards the wall, a deep breath, “The Machinists will take us in.”
Kade gave her a raised brow, but decided not to push his luck with any questions. His gaze lingered on her a moment longer. Then back down to his wrist.
“You don’t need to keep checking. We’ll get there when we get there.”
“Habit?”
“You’ve had that thing for ten minutes.”
He put a hand behind his head and forced a laugh. “Fine, fine” the gesture said.
A familiar voice came over the intercom, “Landing in five, prepare.”
Nova had heard that voice so many times, she didn’t bother counting.
Nova walked over to a window as the ship started its descent. Arolla Nina was a vibrant green planet, at least half covered in wildlife. Two huge separation walls, about five hundred meters tall, about half as wide and a mile apart, kept the environment from turning into a gray hellscape. Atmospheric suction on the Corpo side, oxygen pumps on the wildlife side. Typical, I guess. They were landing between the two monolithic structures. She could see small houses with shops out front, people peddling wares from all sorts of places.
‘What a beautiful sight.’
I guess. A lot of planets are doing this nowadays, rather than go full city-planet. The only problem is the kind of people who manage to take over the other half.
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‘Your Machinist history is…’
That was all he needed to say. The emotions, the feelings running through Nova. He could feel what he wanted to know.
I don’t like you using me like that.
‘I understand. From now on I will refrain from such actions.’
Yeah, whatever.
They left the ship and started the march to the bottom of the equator. Though in space it could be the top, it just depended on how you looked at it. Southward.
Kade walked alongside her, stealing glances and finally grabbed her arm, “Look, you seem very confident about this. But I need to know how you know these people. They’re a cult for crying out loud. I don’t want to get dragged into something I can’t get out of, like with Mila.”
She pulled her arm back, Kade’s grip was too tight however. He let go anyway. She looked around, eyeing to see if anyone was listening to them, “I think you should just trust me on this.”
“Trust you? I barely know you.”
“I barely know you!”
‘I barely know either of you!’
Nova looked behind her, and found a small alleyway under some steam pipes. She ducked in, Kade followed.
“You trusted me enough with all the credits from the bar.”
“Yes, but we’re talking about the Celestial Machinists here.” Kade said the name in a way that made her uneasy.
“They’re not as bad as you think.”
“They sacrifice people to stars.”
“Rumors. Lies.”
“How do you know so much then?” He smiled and shook his head, “I think I know why. I just want to hear you say it.”
“It’s not like that!”
Kade showed some teeth this time.
Nova let out an angry shrug, “Okay.”
“Okay as in you’ll tell me?”
“Okay as in, if you don’t shut the fuck up and get a move on I will kill you.”
With that they continued to the wall. Five hundred meters of cold steel, a rhythmic breathing from the machines inside pumping an oxygen wall into the atmosphere. They went along for about a mile before they found a tunnel leading out of the Transpo city and into the wilderness.
‘If you want to get to the Inner Core, surely staying here would benefit you more?’
The Machinists can help us far more than we can help ourselves. Besides, I need some info before I head straight in.
They were met at the tunnel by a Machinist Guard. He had a spear in his right hand, and looked down at them as they approached. Nova got to work unzipping her jacket. She knew how they would be getting in. She could sense that there’d be transport for the colony not far beyond the gates on the other side of the wall.
She pulled off her shirt. Kade looked on. Shocked at what he was seeing.
“I feel like this isn’t the time for that.”
“Whatever might you be referring to, Kade?”
He stuttered on his words, then: “Nothing. Nevermind”
She looked at the man, the primitive spear in his hand. The wood cover was almost flawless, but she could sense the tech inside of it. A perk from her OS. The spear was deadly, luckily there would be no need to use it.
She pulled her undershirt to the side for the man to see it. The scar of a Celestial Machinist. Branded onto her many moons ago. He nodded and clicked a button on a receiver beneath his belt. The gate opened and they were through.
“Ahhh, a new face from another place. Pleasure to meet you.” The man gave a long slow bow before Nova and Kade. His white robe flowed perfectly with little excess, to keep it off the ground, “I see, you have brought a sacrifice!”
