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Chapter 9

A Pony and a Stallion

Of all the sights I have seen up until this point, none was as glorious as staring at the young filly that had come up to me. She had long flowing blonde hair and tail, and a light tan coat of hide around her shapely smooth body. Only her Stetson gave her away as to who she was, as well as her shiny badge. She had a dazzling smile that simply stunned me a few moments as I try to correlate the words she said, and come back with an equally intelligent answer.

"Um-mm well...yes...yes I am." I finally got out in an awkward voice. After all the attention most of the other Proto-humans gave me prior I was expecting her to pounce on me, yet she did something truly original. She extended her hand and shook mine.

"Pleasure to meet you, and welcome to Cerces IV, and the city of Durango." she said smartly as she release my hand. "I am Arianna Camino, I am your liaison."

"Liaison...for...."

"Adjusting. After all, you're coming straight from Earth, so you are not exactly ready to hit the streets. Besides, I need to get you down to the Colonial Registry, and see about getting you a place to live."

I didn't take kindly to being given a hot babysitter, so I took some offense being told not being able to hit the streets yet. "What about this Carla Vega I'm suppose to find?"

"In due time. After all, it's not like she won't find you." she replied with a small chuckle. From this, it seemed a bit concern as I grabbed my carry on and she escorted me to the hover car. "Ever drive one of these Sky-cars?"

"A few times on Earth."

She smirked a bit as she opened the cockpit. "Well, it's just as easy, but you have to compensate for the gravity. As you know, it's a tad less than that on Earth, and that leads into some really bad accidents."

I nodded to her statement, and was taken by her long blonde tail. I then walked around to the other side and loaded my duffle bag into Patrol Car 103, and sat in the passenger seat. Sky Cars weren't that big, they only had two seats and some storage room. Then again, technology always had a way to beat out common sense to handling crime. But these concerns were lost as the cockpit glass closed and she powered up the anti-grav on the vehicle and it lifted off the road silently. If anything was more wondrous then my driver, then it was Durango. I knew it was big from the shuttle, but it was truly immense from the streets. A network of skyways surrounded the core of the city which was much like the glass and steel towers on Earth but never did they reach these heights. I stared drop jawed, peering out the glass dome at the building.

Arianna smiled, "Because of the gravity, buildings get pretty high out here."

"So I can see. So where are we heading for first?"

"Colonial Registry. The Legionnaires hate when newcomers don't come to them first."

"Isn't there a rush when the ship comes to port?"

"Actually no, everyone usually do the same dang thing. They go to the bar, get drunk, end up in someone's bed, wake up to several Colonial Police Officer stunning their asses."

"Colonial Police? I thought we had...."

"We are Sheriff, not Police. The Colonial Police have jurisdiction pretty much all over Cerces IV. We tend not to step on their toes."

"But why do we need the Sheriff department for?"

"Non-interference, of course. That's the story with this planet, even Durago itself. Us so-called Proto-humans, we had our own language, our own society. That was up until the first Legion ship got here. Thing is, we looked to them as god, and mimicked their walk, their talk, and their behavior."

"I see, thus why things are like they are now."

"You got us living in a man's world. You can see where this is problematical. Every so often we get the rotten eggs like Marvin Weller who commit crimes. But these aren't crime us Proto-humans would know about. We can't comprehend as much like a man taking a lollipop from a baby. Make matters worse, have you ever seen what a proto-human could do to a human?"

"So they let you govern yourselves?"

Arianna smirked as she took a pitch to the left. "That's what they call it, yet no Proto-human has ever been the Marshall. Even the territorial Governor is human."

"That is a bit unfair."

"More a fact of life here. You see, most proto-humans have no ambitions to lead, to govern, or to serve. All we want to do is live and enjoy life."

"If that's true, why are you an officer?"

She looked to me with a playful smile. "Some of us enjoy other things, and I enjoy law enforcement." Despite the sexual attraction, I could understand what she wasn't saying as we approached the Colonial Registry. A large building that seemed to dwarf the others yet seemed more cold and unfriendly. "Take a good look, Glenn, we call this building the tomb. Always empty and dead as all shit inside."

Upon entering the building, I didn't believe it could be so miserable inside, yet it was. It was clean and functional and loaded with personal, but it was cold and uninteresting. The registry is where all humans that come to Cerces IV are to register. You get vaccinated for a number of diseases that are mostly fatal, and the worse part, placed into the Legion Central computer database. Seeing how everyone who usually comes here is fleeing Earth, nobody really comes here first. But that doesn't mean they will end up here as for violators of the first day rule can get up to 9 Cerseian months in jail, or simple deportment. I was one of a group of 40, which means a good thousand or so from the ship skipped registration. I was poked, prodded, and asked a long questionnaire of reasons why I came to Cerces IV. In all it took an hour and a half, which at 17:44 hours meant it was past midpoint. As I rejoined Arianna who waited so patiently, she pretty much told me we had to do some police work.

"Where are we off to?" I asked as the sky-car whizzed past countless buildings minus sirens and lights.

"To Browning. We have a commercial disturbance."

I was a bit confused by this. "We are the only ones close enough?"

"No, the disturbance is the woman you are suppose to be watching."

Now I was really confused. "I...I thought she was an officer."

"Sure, when she feels like it, and right now we better get to her before she is no longer an officer."