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2nd Chances

Chapter 1. Naivety

5101 years after the brink.

Location: Ecunomenopolis “Astral queen"

Narrator: Thorren

“We are on final approach for ecumenopolis Astral Queen, migrant section 12. Please be prepared to disembark, and have your papers ready for scanning." (Awareness)..Cold… and sound, but from inside my head? Ah, the neural link implanted there repeated the message, and the world came into focus. Eyes crusted over from weeks in cryo, I opened them to find myself, and several thousand others, standing up and stretching carefully out of our cryo seats. Yet, with the suddenness of my standing and with a thud and wumph, I collapsed into the seat. I was stuck, how odd? I reached up to my skull, feeling the wires there, beneath my hair, and manually disengaged the sensors that had not self-retracted into the pod upon my revival.. Oh… The luxuries of coach travel in space. And bonus! That smell of old spaceship that has probably been growing in my nose for weeks made its-self known, Something akin to, smelly feet, plus mold, mixed together, and subtly spiced. Delish.

Now where did I store my luggage? and drew a blank… I looked up, oh there it is, duh. The tiny overhead compartment above every seat, formulated so that each and every passenger gets fucked by the lack of storage space, haha. At least we are all equally fucked.

People started trying to make their way past my seat and into the isles. Like, god damn, we still got 10 minutes until we dock! I looked left and right, and immediately I wasn't envious of the 30 something people in my row all trying to just go crowd the isles. Go right ahead people.

45 minutes later the ship had docked and all the ME First assholes had gotten off the plane, serenity, finally. Ready now, and squeezing past a few families on the way up, still getting it together after something so traumatic to young children, I finally made it to the front of the space liner, and with a smile and a nod, I presented my credentials to the flight attendant at the exit. She smiled at me, taking them to scan. Seconds later, she returned and with a kind expression, said, “good luck." I Took her statement to be earnest and I felt a little reassured at this momentuous step.

Woosh, fresh air, blinding light, and a reek no better than the plane's own unique musk, I passed through the meter thick double hull airlock of the space transport, and descended down the ramp into the sprawling space docks of this section of the under-city. Kinda shitty, but thats ok. New life, new prospects, new people. I Grinned at the scene before me, and took it all in. The masses of people meandering from kiosk to shuttles, others laying in the streets and huddled in similarly colored groups around camp-fires, and yet others still, forming lines to enter transports or buildings. From such a distance, their colors and features were but a patch-work quilt slowly shifting and transforming before my eyes. Wow, The diversity before me represented more spacial tribes than I had ever seen in one place.

“Watch it," thud, thud, smack. Came from behind me, and I was nearly bowled over by a green hued human with teeth protruding up from its lower lips, shoulders seemingly as wide as I was tall, and a torso as round as a boost collimator. God damn.

“Move outta the way puny, I can't fit past you," it said, its voice both grating and deep.

Well I guess when your as big as a horse you need the entire ramp to get out. Haha

“Sorry sir," I said, and I moved down the ramp, hoisting my backpack back over my shoulders in haste. The creature gave a gruff aggravated huff of irritation, clearly loud enough for me to hear, as it made its way off the ramp behind me. I was finally out of its way as I reached the bottom of the ramp, and glancing back over my shoulder the modded human barely fit down the ramp even without me in his way. Maybe you should lay-off the Lasagna and pot-roast.

Looking around briefly at the other docked ships beside mine, I could make out ships whose terminal signs read locations I knew of, but many others I had never heard of, it is a big galaxy after-all! Port Elizabeth arriving, Scancia Departing, Andros departing, Tanais departing, Marathon Portal departing, Bursa Connection departing, Delos Tribal affiliates arriving. Wow, so many places and people, I wonder if all of them were equally shitty like home was? Or if some of them were filled with the wonder and joy of this place. Coming back to myself, I realized I was on one of the top-most decks of the exterior wall of the space port, and I immediately felt compelled to move inward to take a look over the edge and see what was around me. Below my tier and the twenty something decks beyond that, vision scrolling down, eyes squinting into the hazy atmosphere, I could just make out the basin of the docks, and beyond that the curvature of the cities foundation, a feature never witnessed from within the cloistering tunnels and hab domes of my childhood. Here, decorated Terran like structures bound to this layer of the city, squat before me, stood out in stark contrast to their steel and titanium monolithic counterparts, whom pierced the floor and ceiling above them. How magnificent! The massive structures looked like connecting spars dotted here and there, vision just able to make out their hulking shadowy shapes in the kilometer or two of hazy city that I could see sprawling before me. The engineer inside me immediately connecting the dots, they must serve as structural beams connecting the two layers of the massive space globe together, the outer most layer which berthed the city I was now in, and some inner layer where the true glory of an ecumenopolis could be held.

I descended tier after tier of airlock ridden terminal gates, the ships glimpsed outside as varied as the cultures within. Suddenly, as I decended another moving ramp, wam. And I almost fell backwards.

A holo-vid advertisement had sprung in front of me, eagerly waiting my attention as I was locked in place on the descending ramp. God damn. It was one of those which you had to physically walk through. Haha, regaining myself, what was the sales pitch on this fabulous idea? Its hard to ignore something that might, or might not be solid! What a croc! Its just as likely to get someone hurt. I hadn't expected such a thing, and I had nearly fallen on my ass when it popped up, inches from my nose. Now, it seemingly went on about all the potentials within! About the glorious opportunities within this ecumenoplis, how you could expect a great career, and be part of something bigger.

“Welcome new resident. Apply today for your citizenry ID and get one the the best jobs in the verse by tomorrow! We have all sorts of opportunities within the envelope of the corporations, engineers, scientists, factory workers, all the best jobs! Remember, to be a citizen is to be a part of something greater than yourself. So come join us, seek citizenry ID, or come talk with your local corp representative at the base of tower 3, within the space port. And remember, with us you are safe, no more worrying about being spaced, or a vac-suit breach, or hab dome failure, here within the walls of our glorious city you are safe, so, welcome!" The melodic voice ended then and the holo-vid dematerialized as I arrived at the bottom of the ramp.

Well that was a lot of information, but it can wait till later, I wanted to go explore a bit before having to come back to reality.

Some 20 minutes later, walking down the last row docks before the basin, I saw other ships unloading and loading just like the one I had gotten off. It seemed to me that a lot of people were transiting the station, and that gave me hope that there would be many opportunities here. Some of the ships, spied through the 10 meters thick poly-clear windows and their space-cradles beyond, were absolutely huge, and others were virtually insignificant. I could see dozens of tiny space freight trollies designed to haul cargo to other places of the massive 47+ Kilometer globe, littering the sides of the large cradle, eagerly waiting for their cargo. Then the adjacent cradle, which was taken up by one 500 meter long ore miner, its nacelles practically disappearing into the void beyond. As I watched, its belly was opening and connecting magnetic conveyer belts immediately deployed from the station, reaching into the belly of the beast like strange mechanical tentacles vying to consume it. Seconds passed, entranced as I was, and then fine metallic rocks began their long trip down the magnetized conveyers into the space station below me, likely to be processed at furnace sectors.

For the most part tho, I saw medium sized passenger liners, like the one I came on. Just wow, so much activity! Thinking back, at Sputznia, we had maybe 1 ship, every week, that wasn't local? What a bore! This titanium mini moon probably had literally thousands of space docks just like this one, all just as busy.. The scale was mind blowing, but hey, A billion people make for a much larger economy than a few thousand.

I had no idea where to start. New place, new life, new job. Where do I begin? I had made it to the basin, and could make out the peoples I had spied from so far above. They huddled in groups, pertaining to clan. Some had funny faces, some had ears that could swivel, one group was a menagerie of different features ranging from glowing tattoos to ridiculous musculature. Man, I felt plain. I couldn't recall my family having any genetic alterations in our history, and for the most part I felt normal, tho a base-line human was kind of a vague thing, what was baseline? Tan skin, green eyes, 1.8 meters tall, black hair, 5 fingers on each hand, 4 toes on each foot, fuck, was I baseline? Who would I even ask to find-out? Haha, well if I ever made enough I could get some gene-mods, maybe somethin to make me stronger, or more dashing? I could be a ladies man, but what do ladies like when you could look like anything? Hmm.

I passed the base of one of those monolithic structures, it was massive, stretching for a hundred meters and then turning a sharp corner, likely squarish in shape. The side that faced me now had al kinds of those holovid advertisements recommending who to work for, and where to go, many of them literally pointed to doorways right beneath them. I'l get there! But what else is there to explore?

I began passing groups of people whom didn't look as well off, the creases in their faces filled with worry and concern, some regret even. Many had made literal Jipsy camps on the basin floor of the sprawling docks. A few had official looking vehicles pulled up to them, men and women in business suits talking to them. Huh, maybe some groups were just waiting then, and waiting on their turn. That makes sense!

I had walked across the entire open floor of the basin, from the far side (or up-globe) where the tiered docks protruded from the exterior skin of the ecumenopolis, to where they melded with the open floor, which was its-self just the interior side of the exterior shell of this massive titanium moon. IT felt a little weird, but in reality the vacuum of space was dozens of meters beneath my feet, as there was so much armor, gantry cranes, machines, and other protruding nodules the pockmarked the outside of the globe that it didn't feel quite so vulnerable.

Coming up to the far side of the C-shaped open floor that was lined with buildings on all sides, save this one spot, I figured this must be the exit of the spaceport. I wanted to explore still, it was day one, and I had plenty of money saved to pause my integration for a day. Coming up to some official looking people and a gate, I read the signs. “Make sure your ready!" “Good luck!" “Welcome to your new life," “no admittance after hours," “no re-admittance without work visa or citizenship," Man, this was going to be great, here we go, into the city proper! Several of the people gave me funny looks from their perches, or vehicles as I went to leave, as if tempted to say something to me. But, not wanting to look clueless, I squared my chin and puffed my chest, I was ready! No one said anything, and I made my way into the streets.

An hour later, and after wandering around and returning to the entrance of the docks, I had to admit the place looked more and more like a rundown shit hole than I originally thought. The street level of the buildings I passed varied. Some had scribbles and trash all over them, others had strong gates in front of them, some were decked out in more holo-vids than I could count, many of those buildings displayed some rather detailed vids depicting amorous leeasons with humans so varied I had to not look too closely else be tainted forever. Haha, wow this place had no scruples, damn. Other buildings were vandalized in places, and lots of trash littered the streets. It kinda killed my mood, Ugh. Focusing, I figured it was time, I needed to make a plan. At the very least, I needed to find a map of where I was and find a nicer section of town. Maybe someone could even point me to a hotel for the night.

Man, so much to do, and what is the local time? I Looked up in vain, hoping for hopes sake that I had missed some previous detail, unfortunately this city layer did not have a simulated sky like I had envisioned. Hell, there wasn't even a clock, just blinding light coming from day simulating emitters on the uniform ceiling deck, some 100 meters above my head. The only interesting details on the ceiling surrounded the occasional gargantuan, titanium trunk-like buildings, whose structures started at my feet, and pierced the ceiling above, for, at the juncture of the two were massive viewing platforms stretching out like giant balconies for the gods to look down upon the masses. Well thats impressive. I had to stop for just a minute, how powerful it would feel to look down from such a height, the world at your finger-tips. My reminiscing, as usual, had led me astray from my actual goals, and refocusing on the tasks at hand, I turned another drab corner, now out of sight of the dock entrance, and entered a little cafe eatery that was on the edge of the warehouse here. I approached the counter and addressed the woman, “Ah ma'am, what time is it?" I asked the Cafe Barista.

Startled, she turned around swiftly and seeing me, settled.

“6pm, we are closing up shop in just a minute, I suggest you order now, else I'll have to ask you to leave" she paused, appraising me in a top-down slide of her eyes, “I suggest you go back to the docks." She said.

I frowned a little at that, not understanding the non-sequitur, but at least she gave me the time. “Thanks" I said, feeling awkward, I ducked out quickly, damn, it was getting late. I hadn't made it ten feet when the slamming of metal gates rang out from behind me. Well, so much for going back there..

Making my way around the outlying dock buildings, which revealed themselves to be massive warehouses, or so I thought by the pallets and big gates on their perimeters, I realized I had not asked for a map, or anything about where to go. God damn. I did not want to end up on the streets my first night. Quickly now, I made my way down street after street, looking for a hotel or some other business that could help me. Something built up in my minds eye, a sense of urgency, and I couldn't explain it. The few people whom had been out on the streets over the last hour my my explorations, were quickly disappearing, and not one ever got within fifty feet of me, if I tried to approach, they quickly moved away, and they seemed to melt into their buildings as I walked down the now seemingly abandoned roads. I tried knocking on a few doors, which I realized were quite often made of steel and probably impervious to anything I could do to open them. This was all getting strange. And I realzied that I should proably make my way back to the docks, at least there I didn't have this sense of dread building within me.

The last few alleys I had passed looked like some activity stirred within them, and like that whatever had been stirring within the back of my mind sprung fourth and asserted that I needed to find shelter. Quickly now, not quite remembering the way back to the space docs, I headed in the general direction. I could make out its lights in the distance, the curvature of the globe allowing me to just barely glimpse the top-most deck of the air-lock tiers.

Another corner, no lit signs, no unlocked doors. Fuck, what was going on? It seemed like everyone around here closed at 6 and promptly disappeared! Another corner, and seeing a lit sign down the street, made haste. I passed a side street basked in shadow, and looking down it quickly, swore I heard voices. The shadows moving.

“Maggie's safe place" read the holo-sign. And below it a soft voice chimed out, “please deposit 300 credits, or the equivalent in galactic platinum, into the payment receptacle for entrance to Maggie's safe place.

God damn, that seemed like a lot! But this was the closest thing to a hotel that over an hour of walking had found. Thinking quickly, I rationalized that the businesses were open before 6pm, so therefore I could stay here for the night and then either find someone in the morning to explain to me where to go, or just go back to the docks and see about those corp representatives or something. Still, I hoped there was someone inside who'd be worth talking to, maybe where to go for employment or housing. At this point I'd go for someone who could explain what was going on. So, shifting my backpack to access the wallet pouch, I unzipped it to pull out my wallet. Haha, feeling slightly elated at finally finding a place to crash, I realized something I had totally overlooked, ever since boarding the plane, I'd never even checked my stuff! You never know when something might have fallen out, or some fight attendant might have plucked something from you while in cryo.. what an odd thought? I pulled out my wallet, quickly unzipping the platinum pouch to check for the little platinum strips, I looked for a 300 credit piece. There it is…

WHAM!

The ground came rushing up to me, pavement striking my chin and elbows before I could arrest my movement. Oww! Had something BIG just hit me?, and man my head hurt. I tried to stand up, and everything was in duplicate, swirling in jittery motions that made me feel sick. But I could make out a person running away. They must've been blue, no red? With black hair flying all over the place? Fuck, what just happened?

My vision was clearing, I stumbled, and I felt for my wallet…FUCK…They! Took! My! Wallet!

“Hey!" I shouted after them, but immediately fell over from dizziness, and vomited. “Hey, thief!" I tried to stand again, stumbling, falling again, and crawling now, the world had just become far colder…

They were gone! Oh shit.. Oh shit.. Oh shit..!! The implications hit me with a constriction of my chest muscles, mouth dry, what am I going to do? That was all of my money, everything I had been able to scrape together from a meagre existence on that stupid rock.

“2 years!" My voice went squeaky and hourse as I yelled it to the world. “2 years of work to earn that!" Tears were streaming down my face, the thief had just rounded a corner some several blocks distant, they were gone. I had just lost everything.

Childhood, unspeakable.. Adolescence, horrid.. adulthood, toiling, dirty, monotonous. ALL of that for this day, my new life! New people, new places, new job. “Just gone", I husked.

I couldn't stand, couldn't walk, couldn't face what tomorrow would now bring. I hung my head in defeat, not knowing what to do, tears blanketed my vision. Minutes passed, and I slowly gathered myself. What could I do, beg? Get back on the plane and crawl back home? “wait.." I said it quietly, reverently, “Maybe they have police here?" My voice sounding meek and distraught. 2 years…just gone..

“Nope, you won't find police outside the docks here," A contralto voice, backed with a slight thrum of warmth said from behind me.

I fell straight on my ass in surprise. Quickly trying to douse my tears, slapping my shirt against my face, and look something akin to presentable to whomever this was. Hell if I'm not careful I'll have the shirt stolen right off my back!

Rubbing my eyes fiercely, I clear them only to see..

A furry dog thing? Is it even human? It was so strange that it brought me right out of my self-loathing.

It looked at me again, more wary now, “Hey" It said, “I think some of your money fell out of your wallet when that guy snatched it like that."

The world disappeared, senses shooting to the concrete street below, hyper focused at the place it was pointing. There, tiny glimmers of something shiny, some now covered in the vomit I had spewed. I dove for all I was worth, covering the small platinum strips with my entire body. I Greedily snatched them up from within my cocoon, shoving them to the deepest darkest recesses of my travel bag. I don't know how long I lay there, checking every concrete crack and crevice for the tiniest glimmer of precious metal… But when I stood back up, the furry creature looked entirely different. It looked hurt.

“I would never take your money sir. I'm a good dog." It said, seeming very sad as it uttered those words, the thrum in its voice had gone solemn and its ears drooped.

I felt ashamed, I felt fearful. Never had this happened to me. And now I'm stranded in this place with hardly any money. A stranger offering me a kindness and I..

I looked over at it, “I'm sorry" I stammered.. “I ah, I, I've never been robbed before, and this is all I have, I thought I was a goner. Just gimme a minute ok?" I said to the furry dog thing through a clenched jaw.

We were both motionless in the middle of the street, it had not approached me any further, and it even looked like it wanted to bolt. Minutes ticked by and I finally arrested my emotions into control, but the situation felt awkward, standing up, kinda didn't know what to say. I was no longer totally desperate, did it want a hand out for its kindness or something? Cause I really didn't want to lose any more. Fuck, I'm an asshole.

“Do you have a place to go?" Came that soft thrumming contralto again, it was looking directly at me, a little harried maybe?

“Ah no, I just got here." I said.

“Well I suggest you either find a hotel thats still open, or you can come with me tonight" it said, now I could definitely distinguish an accent, the creatures muzzle twisting the sounds of the words slightly, its English was passable, but I had to concentrate to recognize a few of them.

That was an odd thing to say. Why would it offer me a place to stay? But then, thinking back to what just happened to me.. The empty streets.. The time.. Oh fuck.. It clearly knew something my brain had yet to cobble together, but that urgency was back in my hind brain, telling me something I just couldn't put my finger on.

“What do you mean, still open? And can't I just go in there? I said, pointing at the sign.

“Um, I don't really know the specifics, I can't afford one" It said, “but most hotels shut their doors before dusk due to the gang's activities at night. They fight one another for territory during the night hours, it is a game to them. So to keep some semblance of order to their territories, the gangs put out a curfew, your safe if your inside before then, but if your on the streets past that time your free game. And ah, I wouldn't go into Maggies, your just as likely to have someone who's waiting to mug you on the inside, its a place for desperate people, you know?"

Am I desperate? Fuck, this was all turning out to be Fubared. But wait, surely this couldn't be the normal thing down here, where did all those offloading people go then? “Hey uh, dog? Where do people stay coming off the space transports then?" I said.

It looked at me kinda askance before replying, “They don't go past the security gate." It said, speech quickening in pace to a point I could just barely make out what it was saying, “You went through the entrance didn't you. You had to of, to be out here. It was the thing which had all the signs with warnings plastered on them. Usually no one comes out that way, I've seen plenty of people stay a few days on the streets in there as they get stuff figured out. Usually they then go up one of the corp towers, or to the visa center."

Visa center? Corp tower?

It interjected my thoughts, “hey uh, dude? These streets are going to get dangerous real soon, I need to get back home, we can talk where its safe, are you coming or no?" It said, making to leave real quick.

Fear suddenly shot through my veins at the prospect of not knowing what could happen next, of being left out here alone. It had said gangs come out at night? What kind of place is this? Ever more gracious for what this random alien? Human dog? Was willing to do for me, I made my choice.

“I'll come with if thats ok," I said.

For the first time, it smiled and its ears came up a little. “Follow me then, quickly now." It said.

It almost immediately took off like a rocket, shouting “C'mon human, faster!" We flew around the streets, all but sprinting back the way I had been wandering for the past hour, back towards the outlying buildings of the space docks. My knees immediately began burning where they had hit the pavement, my chin and elbows giving their own protest, and yet I was spurred on, I felt that every dark space now had shadows that writhed and twisted, as if some dark nightmare was gathering its strength to spring fourth. A shiver ran up my spine, the world seemed so much more evil now. My resolve had been damaged, but I had been thrown a life-line.

The two legged dog creature looked back at me occasionally, making sure I was still there. I found it surprising that I could just barely keep up with the thing, I was digging deep for reserves of strength, pushing my body to its limits. The thing in front of me was running on two feet like me, but its legs were jointed differently and it was FAST, tail billowing behind it obscuring its features. Some minutes passed and I focused on my breathing, It was getting harder to keep up. We approached a dark brick building, no lights pierced the visage beneath its canopy. I followed it into a narrower roadway between two of these ominous monoliths. Like a wave, we were immediately immersed in total darkness, and it stopped right on the border of the darkness. For a moment I almost lost my nerve to continue, it had turned its head back to my and all I could see of its face were the dark triangles of its ears, and the glowing pearlescent reflections of the low-light in the creatures eyes. I couldn't see a thing besides, yet before I could utter a word in fear, A hand covered my mouth, rough and fuzzy. “Shhh.." Looking down in front of me, the outline of the creature became just barely discernible when it pulled out a hand comp, the light emitted by it softly illuminating its features. It looked at me briefly, a fire and resilience had replaced the meek appearance it had shown earlier. “Come," it said. The light from the hand comp igniting a fire within the reflections of its eyes.

It grabbed my hand and pulled hard, running again, respite over, I almost immediately began gasping for lung-fills of air as we all but sprinted into the darkness. The thing jerked me back and fourth, presumably around objects invisible to my vision within the narrowing streets, I occasionally smacked a shoulder against wooden objects. I think they were pallets, which meant the buildings were probably the warehouses I had seen sprawling just outside the space docks. Oww.

Still moving quickly, the dog thing was holding the comp pad in front of it, it read whatever was on the screen before each corner. Left, Left, right, a twist. We meandered between buildings, never stopping. Suddenly all pretense of decoration was gone, and buildings here were not made from stone and brick fascia, but rather, the rusty hulks of aged steel structures sprung before us. Exposed piping became hazardous, and the spaces became immediately cloistering as we ducked into an alleyway. The enclosure around us was all equipment and jutting machinery, The smooth steel walls of the road we had just left, all but gone. We must have been entering some kind of industrial or service area. The alleyways shrank in size until you would just barely be able to squeeze through them. Something invisible cut me on the leg, and a voice came out of nowhere, “my space, get out of here!"

Fuck fuck fuck, the rushing of blood inside my head replaced all sound, and the creature in front of me seemed to put on a burst of speed anew, now all but pulling me off my feet as it outright sprinted for some destination. Zwap, pop, thrum.. It got darker.. Zwap, pop, thrum. A flash of light, and it got darker still. As we moved, whatever light remained was dimming, the emitters on the City's ceiling which had been dimming for some time, were switching to a dull blue hue. Some going all together out, and when they did so, they flashed bright white light. The walls around us leapt out in stark contrast with each pulse.

“Faster," it said, and I think its voice even sounded scared. I couldn't respond if I wanted to, every second was spent taking in great gasps of air. But through the blood pulsating in my head, and the great inhaling breaths I heard the distant sound of a few whoops and hollers, something in the back of my head sensed they were getting closer. The dog creature led me around another impossibly tight bend, this one I had to squeeze through, and in front of us stood a piece of machinery protruding several feet out of the ground. It was here it stopped. the obstruction at the criss-cross of several paths, it could have been a power node for all I knew, but it would have been at home on a starship, or my old home as a power station. She pulled me over to a side panel, and looking down at its little computer pad, it quickly typed a few keys and an access hatch popped out of the side of the machine.

“Inside now," a steely voice came from the creature.

And before I could crawl into the space, its hands were stuffing me through the fairly small hole. Moments later, I fell through ungraciously, and seconds after that another thud followed, followed by a snapping shut of the door.

The creature was upon me in an instant. And I gasped out in fear! Its entire body scrounged to cover my upper torso, and both its hands clasped over my mouth so tightly my lips were going numb. “Don't make a sound, they might hear you," it whispered into my ear.

Whatever it feared, it ruled my imagination of what was out there. I almost screamed when no more than thirty seconds had passed and the sounds of something.. Emanated from above us. It was eery, and then there were voices, human ones… I was dizzy now, head swimming from the lack of oxygen. My body demanding great lung-fulls of air which were impossible to take. I almost passed out, but then, tap tap tap, came metal clangs along the edges of the machine's casing around us. I closed my eyes, immediately brought back to full awareness despite my bodies needs. Simultaneously, the creatures hands seemed to get tighter around my mouth. “Not a word" it whispered directly into my ears, tho I could still barely hear it.

Minutes passed, odd sounds coming from around us occasionally, before the voices rose up again in anger, muted as they were, I feared them. Then, as quickly as they had come, the sounds of dozens of feet running over the metal plates above our heads drowned everything else out, and then..silence..

Time passed and finally the creature disentangled its-self from me, and quietly crept over to the other side of the crawl space. I wasn't recovered, and I all but pissed myself in fear, but my mind began its usual questioning anew. Where were we? Are we safe? What is this place? A dull thrumming from all around us entered my awareness, and static dry air confirmed my suspicions of what the machine was from earlier. It used the screen from its comp pad to illuminate the pitch black space, motioning me to follow. Several dull thuds later and another door, this one much bigger and thicker, led us down a small corridor, going deeper into the structure. At the bottom we entered a chamber that was furnished and illuminated. Its home, I guessed. It was probably a maintenance or storage space for the big machine all around us. Cozy.

“We're safe." It said. “The depth of this room and the thrumming of the machinery will mask any noise we make." And it proceeded back up the short flight of steps to shut the bigger door, sliding a rather large bolt into place with a screech and a sense of finality. I felt trapped.

On its way back down the stairs it seemed to sense my hesitation, I was still standing, a little hunched from the low ceiling, at the entrance to the little room. It spoke up, its voice not so aggressive as it had been, “You can rest easy human. The gang is gone, we fooled them, now take a seat." It paced to the other side of the room, passing a tiny table in the center, some lockers and some kind of console imbedded into the wall. On the far wall of the rectangular space was a dilapidated couch, and it was into that piece of furniture that it flopped. Tail draping over the side, and seemingly making itself comfy, it looked back at me, head flopped, its chest heaving. Making heavy breathing noises of its own now.

I think it knew I needed time to come back to myself, inside my head I was trying to reconcile everything that had just happened. Fuck, what HAD just happened? What did those people want? What was this place, that people actively hunted you when the lights go out. Remembering the moment we had passed someone, I looked down at my leg, whatever person had tried to cut me got mostly my pants, only a tiny cut seeping a touch of blood could be seen. Thank goodness. Time passed and I began to calm down, thankful to be alive and unharmed. I refused to allow my mind to think about what would have happened to me, had I been out there this night..

The room around me was small, maybe 15 feet wide, and just a bit longer. Dull light emitted from strips recessed into the walls, it felt positively homely with their soft warm hue basking everything in soft tones. The dog creature was still looking at me from its couch, laying on its back, muzzle agape and pointed in my direction, eyes kinda distant. It seemed to have calmed down as well, maybe lost in thought like I was.

Wait, how did it get that couch in here?

“Thank you" I said, shaking off some of my uneasy feelings. The beginnings of genuine gratitude had begun trickling into my heart. I was blessed, for this person had effectively saved me. Yet, an awkward silence grew between us, and I realized it was probably waiting for me to say something more.

“Ah, so whats your name?" I said.

A pause..

“My name is Sharra," it said.

And, as if a filter had been removed from my ears, the voice it had been using the whole time seemed to take on far more effeminate tones, connecting the dots, I realized that she may have taken an even bigger risk with me than I originally thought. I was ever more grateful.

“Thank you Sharra," I paused, “please know you have my deepest gratitude. I.. don't know how I'll ever pay you back." I said. And pausing to gather my thoughts, one stood out above the rest, begging for an answer. “What are you?"

Her ears drew back, and her tail looked like it wanted to tuck between her legs, and I realized she probably wasn't expecting that question.

“Your people call us dogs.. But I'm not of your origin planet, I think a more apt parallel is…" At this she opened her hand comp and seemed to search something, I stood motionless, entranced at meeting my first alien, hard to believe she was so similar in appearance to myself, no tentacles or anything. Haha. Oh wow, my humor is coming back!…

She spoke up again, cutting my thoughts short, “A more accurate parallel is that we somewhat resemble earth foxes, so I'm a fox-like alien, and my kind are known as Khurroan, we are native to this sector of space." She said, ears drooping again, but her voice seemed to hold its strength. She was positively making herself comfy on the couch by now, tail drooped over the side, head askew on the arm-rest, one foot over the back of the couch, and the other sprawled haphazardly on the floor.

“Huh" I said. Old timers around the rock had known, and told stories of the other galactic species inhabiting our galaxy…But they had always mentioned them like they didn't exist, or, that they stayed away from human contact. Were her kind common here? I had only ever seen the modded on a regular basis.

Mhmm, a mumble from her, “So whats your name?"

“Thorren" I said, the question reminding me that I was still standing at the entrance, still feeling awkward.. god damn, why couldn't I find my groove?

“Well Thorren, you look like a fish out of water just standing there by the doorway. I promise I don't bite." And she showed me her impressive set of cutlery in a broad smile.. None to comforting..that.. “Come take a seat. Theres plenty of room."

I didn't move.

“Come sit," she said again, with a bit of steel in her voice at my seeming unwillingness to move. “You can't stand there all night."

I felt she was showing far more teeth than necessary to say those words, and it was a little jarring, I guess there were still some significant differences between us. Man, I really was a fish out of water, I had no clue how I should be acting with an alien. haha.

And looking around, as there was no place else to sit, I finally decided to join her on the couch, ducking slightly for the somewhat low ceiling, I made my way and sat, purposefully keeping as much distance between us as possible. My mind seemed to be at war between finding this whole situation absurd and just rolling with it, versus desperately trying to find fault in this aliens seemingly kind appearance. “Why did you save me?" Came splurging out of my mouth before I could formulate it more diplomatically, fuck.

She looked at me, orange eyes boring into mine, white fur a little puffed up around her shoulders and legs. huh.

“Do you want some water?" She said.

She doesn't want to answer.. “Sure," I said

She reached into an alcove space beside her and pulled out a big water cantine, taking a few swigs of it herself, she then passed it over to me. I, looking at her strangely, for she had just drank out of it..

“I'm sorry Thorren, I have no cups to pour the water into. I hope your ok with sharing this." She said.

I took the water bottle silently and downed a few swigs, my mouth tingling the whole time. While drinking, Sharra was looking contemplative and her body seemed to be telling me that she was uncertain. Her ears drew back, almost disappearing into the light grey hair atop her head, she was slumped now too, and her eyes lost that fire she had shown me minutes ago.

She spoke up, softer now. “I'm not from here either Thorren, and when I arrived..it was far worse for me than I wish to tell you.. Things happened that.." She broke off, and was silent for some minutes.

I didn't know what she was implying, but I felt it would be wrong to cut in and ask, So, I waited patiently for her to continue.

She looked back over to me from her side of the couch. “I saved you because I thought you were worth saving. And, because I need a friend."

“Need a friend?" I said, confused.

Sharra leaned forward and touched my hand, “My kind are viewed by all humans here to be second class citizens, only capable and deserving of the most menial and dangerous labor. It is propaganda spewed by the corporations and their elitist class controllers. I don't know why they do this, as it makes no sense to me." She paused, “Most of my people do not venture into human space, and most of those who do, only do so as freighter captains and their crew. We typically never venture into ecumenopolis, as this is where the elites have the most control, rather we stick to the tens of thousands of tribal settlements and gathering hubs, and it is in those places that we trade our wares. Anyway..My story on how I got here aside.. I am now stuck here and have no way to get out," She paused again, gathering hereself. “ I refuse to work on the outside of the ecumenopolis, as either the cosmic rays, or some random bit of space trash crushing my suit would kill me… And I refuse to slug radioactive waste out of the reactors, cause that'll also lead to an often short existence. I haven't been able to get a job elsewhere without a sponsor.. But the humans here…If they sponsor you its either to do something illegal…Or they want something.." Her eyes slid sideways, not looking at me, and I felt my gorge rise at her implication.

“I'm Sorry to hear that," I said. And hoping to steer away from that likely painful line of thinking, responded, “But what do you mean by sponsor?"

She looked up, perhaps utterly baffled at my cluelessness, “Any second class citizen needs a sponsor to work for the corporations. There are some others like myself dotted across the ecumenoplis, I have heard of them. A few are other types of aliens, a few like myself, but none of us can get real jobs without a human's help. It is tied into the philosophy spewed by the propaganda machines that we, as being not humans, need to be integrated into society by humans, and therefore we need sponsorship. Unfortunately Thorren.."

She said my name, and my eyes snapped up from starring at her tail fur, back to her eyes. Her expression was unreadable, but I sensed no malice there, only contentment, or perhaps amusement? Staring at her tail, I had been lost in thought at all the information I had never bothered to gather before coming to an ecumneopolis. But maybe she thought something else?

“Unfortunately Thorren, The only jobs I can get in the under-city are for corps or the docks which are also ran by a corp. There are other unaffiliated businesses here, like that little cafe outside the docks, and the warehouses we passed. But, if I worked for one of them the gangs would likely just take me the moment one of the gang members saw me working there in the daylight, and I know for a fact this has happened, its how they populate their pleasure houses with exotics." She visually gulped, settling herself more comfortably on the couch, and she went silent for some time. Eventually one of her..feet? paws? And her tail, slid down the couch, and brushed against me slightly. The alien touch made me remember the holo-vids outside that one building I had passed on my wanderings. Oh shit, were some of the clientele displayed there actually non-human? Slaves even? That would be horrible! My mind screamed at the injustice, at the memories of my past, at what awaited her if she ever got caught by one of the gangs. Is that why we were chased last night, so ruthlessly? A cold resolve was forming in the pit of my stomach, but this was all so much to process, and it would need time to mature. I could still feel my emotions writhing and twisting just beneath the surface of my control, begging to be let out.

I quenched all thoughts, all feelings, struggling to make sense of the mess inside me. Only one thought rose unbidden to the top of my awareness; Whatever prejudice I had felt, stigma, whatever, was gone. Gone with the humanity this beautiful creature, no, this sentient, had shown me.

Beyond that tho, my thoughts were slow to process, and I was thankful she gave me the time to get my head around it all. I think hours passed in our silence, but it no longer felt uncomfortable, in fact I felt comforted by her presence. I took another swig from the cantine, my lips were tingling afterwards again, and I didn't know if that was a placebo effect, or if something in her saliva was doing it. How odd. But what I did know was that it wasn't some human-centric egotistical, superior bullshit that made me feel less of her, or feel grossed out by liquids from her body, just because by human standards she looked a little like a bipedal animal. In fact, searching my heart now, I could not scantingly find a trace of such feelings.

Coming to a resolution within myself, I reached out to her and grasped her human-like hand, I think she had fallen asleep, because she did not immediately notice my action. Instead, I took in the features of her physiology, her hand had short sharp claws protruding forward where my nails would be, and the skin on her palms was covered in a slightly leathery rough patch that was black. The fur covered her hand entirely outside of the palm and underside of her fingers. It, was fascinating. Looking closer, the joints of her fingers had clear wearing on the skin, just like mine, a tough life perhaps? The fur there much thinner, and the claws may have been retractible, they wiggled slightly in-and-out as she breathed. The intricacies of her biology didn't weird me out, and that was surprising to me, but really why should it? I gave her hand a slight squeeze, and she eeped out in surprise, jolting awake and her whole body wracked with a slight jolt. She tried to pull her hand away, and I let go immediately. I spoke quickly, earnestly, “Sorry Sharra, I didn't mean to startle you like that. I think you fell asleep waiting for me."

I gave her a minute to respond, but nothing was fourth coming. She recovered quickly, and the mask she wore to hide her emotions came back in full force. I sensed she was looking at me expectantly.

Gulping, I continued, “Thanks for giving me the time to process all this. I want you to know… I'm none of those things you mentioned about the other humans here, and…" I paused to formulate my feelings, to ensure I was certain of my words. The day had put a toll on my soul, but I felt it had also bathed it in fire, and then quenched in a cool bath upon meeting this wonderful..A word dredged its-self out of memory, Vixen? Better not ever call her that. Haha! I felt my resolve Harden, and I spoke earnestly, “I would be honored to be your friend." And smiled at her ears which had suddenly perked up. Continuing with, “You probably saved my life today, when you could have taken what little money I had left, spilt on the ground, and ran just like that thief. I am forever in your debt, and I will do everything in my power to get you outta here."

Sharra relaxed then, and a weight seemed to lift its-self from her shoulders, “Ok then, friend Thorren" She said. And her ears and whiskers seemed to get much more perky with her utterance. The grin grew on my face, her happiness felt great.

“Thanks Sharra, for everything," I said truthfully, just needing to say it again. And with that, I leaned forward and handed the hefty cantine back to her, realizing, as we met in the center of the couch, just how much smaller the hands grasping the bottle below my own, were. Sharra couldn't have weighed more than 100 lbs, and maybe four and a half feet to the top of her head, this realization made the proportions of the cantine stand out in stark contrast to her body size, and it made me smile a little at the absurdity of it all. Everything in the room was just a little to big for her. Poor girl. haha.

Her pleasant, thrumming voice spoke up from beside the couch again, and I realized she had placed the bottle back while I was day dreaming again, god damn it. “Sleep now, lets talk more in the morning. Ok?"

“Ok" I said, and to my surprise, she turned around and leaned against me. I got comfortable, and finding a lever, I pulled it and with a creak and a groan, the couches leg support popped up and I managed to get comfy. We both wiggled to get settled for some minutes, but at last darkness claimed me.

With morning came light, and the smell of bacon? Sizzling, and smoke. I opened my eyes to see Sharra leaned over a portable cooktop on the table, busily stirring whatever was within. Yum. The lights in the room were brighter now, and emitted a yellower hue, morning. Thats cool programming.

The white and grey fluffy creature stood before me, tail wagging, and hips swaying with a tune I could not discern, haha, that was down right adorable. She was humming to herself with ear buds in those big ears of hers. Oh that explains it. she was in her own little universe. And like a punch to the gut, the scene all too surreal, I realized she was really no different than I. Sharra was making breakfast!

I must've made a noise cause despite the ear buds, an ear twitched, and one of those large cups rotated partially to the side as if tracking me. Then her head turned, body following with it, and she looked over at me with a big toothy grin. “Good morning Thorren!" She said with Glee. Whiskers a-twitch. It was then that my brain kinda short-circuited, and with a cough cough cough shutter, restarted. It was naked.. Beautiful white fur covered it from head to toe, and oh thank god, her fur hid any naughty bits, but she was very…mammalian. I looked away as quickly as my neck muscles would respond to my commands.

“Good morning Sharra!" I said too loudly, injecting false calm and happiness into my voice. “Ah, can you put something on? I don't think its.."

“Oh!" Came a startled squeak from my left, my face distinctly turned away still, tho I couldn't hide the smile all over my face.

“Sorry Thorren, I um, well you know. Live alone, I completely forgot! If you ever have a fur coat you would realize immediately, that clothing on fur is absolutely terrible without specialized cloths." She let out a pained laugh.

“Sorry Sharra, but can you at least put pants on?"

I seemed to just be trading my discomfort for hers, and something about that wasn't right. But still, I wasn't ready to share this space with a naked alien fox woman all day, she'd have to deal with some clothing.. Wow, what a reaction, and I profoundly refused to question my reaction, for now.

I heard the sound of clothing being shuffled, and oh damnit.. she must be right next to me. Her tail brushed against my arms, folded in my lap, a few times, as she reached into that alcove beside the couch. The sound of stretching fabric and the soft swoosh of her fur. Something bumped me in the side of the head, soft and fluffy, and very warm, god-damnit Sharra. Her presence retreated. “Ok Thorren, I'm presentable." Oh c'mon! did she have to say it so alluringly?

I turned back, She was wearing pink short shorts, her tail seeming to just float behind her. I guessed that there was some kind of slit for it in the pants, but the fluffy fur hid any connection. she looked kinda cute.

She was also back to making breakfast, and some minutes later, she beckoned me to the table. “Come sit, and eat Dufuss."

“What." I said, chagrinned.

“You heard me, c'mere."

I got up, feeling terrible I hadn't helped in any way, and sat beside her. She was plating the food already, hey at least she has plates!

But hey wait a second, that doesn't look right, my plate was over flowing with some kind of yellow stuff, and bits of bacon in it. But her plate was still mostly white…exposed porcelain.. I scowled inwardly at that, was she so desperate to impress me to give me almost all her food? I thought, No way am I doing this to her. I refuse to start our relationship on such unequal footing, not after what she had told me last night. Memories surged at the thought, but I tamped then down with Iron will, not willing to allow them to ruin this beautiful morning with my new friend.

Quickly now, as Sharra was about to sit down, I dredged a shitty plan from my still sleepy brain, speaking up nervously I said," “Sharra, can you get the cantine? So we have water while we eat?" Her ears went askew, but she got back up and turned around to retrieve the bottle from beside the couch.

I quickly slashed my serving in half, and slid it atop her meagre ration. I didn't have time to portion it in any meaningful way, but I refused to have so much!

“So Sharra, I spoke up before she could even finish retrieving her water bottle, “can you explain to me what happened last night? And what is this place that such things can be allowed to happen?"

She returned to the table, cantine in both hands, and sat. A pause…

“I was truly terrified once those things started banging on the power nodes external casing, I just wanted to say thank you again, for saving me.." I said.

It was terrible, I knew it, just throwing thank you's at her hoping to dissuade any argument of my action, by trying to bury it in conversation..like nothing happened.. thats me..

I almost didn't catch the tear which fell to the table, as she had frozen mid-motion of placing the water bottle down on the table, head still bowed over. Triangular ears layed back, and a long thick mane of fur all but obscuring her features as its strands were pulled forward by gravity, hiding her entire face minus the pointy tip of her muzzle.

Another tear slid down the fur of her face, appearing like a diamond on the tip of her black nose-pad, before dripping to the metal table below.

My breadth hitched.

Seconds ticked by.

I didn't know what to expect, but then she leaned back into her seat, head coming up, and for just a second her features were unreadable. Then a few more tears seemed to leak into her facial fur, but she was smiling at me, black muzzle lips pulled up in a big smile.

“They were roving gangs." She said. Voice quavering, but growing stronger with each word. “They own this place, or should I say, they own the residential and commercial places outside the docks and machine spaces, both of which are owned by the corporations. Pretty much anyone living out here has either been banished from the ecumenopolis mega city within this globe and cannot leave it, works for one of the gangs, or is a gang member. The only exceptions to this are the intermediate zones, thats where we are. The gangs allow these buildings and businesses, which are mostly associated with the docks and its workers, to remain open and un-vandalized…for a fee. The individual gangs still own the intermediate zone, and if your caught within it at night your no better off. But they fight over the payed business taxes without actually damaging or vandalizing the buildings here. Thats why we are safe, and why we didn't get caught last night. So long as they didn't know we had escaped into here, they would never damage the equipment without provocation."

Wow, it all made sense, I just couldn't believe it was allowed to exist.

“Why aren't there police here, or a governmental body to rule over the populace?"

Sharra frowned a little, taking another bite of her food. I realized I had done nothing other than swirl my food around with a fork. Entranced by her explanations. I quickly took a few bites myself, the yellow stuff was light and fluffy, with the bacon providing it amazing flavor. Man, I could get used to this. Far better than the extruded ration bars I was used to in Sputznia, with the occasional fresh fruit or vegetable from the gardens.

Shara spoke up then, well over three quarters of her food at already disappeared. “There isn't a governing body because the Mega city of well over a billion people needs to have a relief valve somewhere. Where do you dump all your undesirables? There are dozens of zones like this one, from the outside they call them immigrant ports, from the inside they call them under-cities. You cannot just go to the mega city, which is really more of a nation in its governmental structure. You need a working visa to work there, and a citizenship ID to live there. Both are hard to get from an under-city. Most immigrants have pre-purchased some form of ID, or they have enough cash to buy one outright at the visa center within the docs. There are also Corp representatives which sometimes will accept highly skilled people on a work visa. The recruiter's roam the docks mostly, but there vehicles sometimes do routes out here. I've never been allowed to speak to one of there reps, but they will throw flyers at me. They are for enrollment in their sponsor barracks, work is what I mentioned earlier… I won't ever do it!" She pounded her fist, table shaking. Her voice went menacing, and she grasped her fork tightly, fur bristling all over her body. I would've found the whole thing funny, she fluffing up to twice her normal size..Had her shear predatory nature not made me keep my mouth shut, her words resonated with me, and I understood her hatred. I also hoped to never be labeled in that group of people in her mind, I wanted her to respect me, as much as I already respected her, and I wanted to be worthy of her friendship.

She calmed down then, “hey, how much money did you have Thorren? Before the thief.."

I paused, remembering the figure, just under 15,000 credits in galactic platinum.

A sharp bark of laughter startled me, and then a tone I had not heard from her yet resounded, “you could've made it! She said. “I'm sorry Thorren. You must be the most unlucky human alive. Not only did you not know what to do when you got here, but you lost your wallet with your golden ticket, and now your stuck with me!"

I gaped a little, at my friend laughing about my plight, at the loss of my future, at the loss of the potential, at my stupidity. But I also stopped those thoughts fast. I had also made a friend, and money was nothing to me compared to the loyalty of friendship, it was what I have been craving for years.

“Sharra your right on almost all accounts" I said, probably sounding a little hurt at her laughter, “But I don't think I'm the most unlucky human, I met you after all, and you have been far from disappointing. I've made a friend in you, and that to me, is worth far more then my lost golden ticket. And besides, something tells me you are smart, and between that and my..species.." I coughed at the odd usage of that phrase.. “And my species, I think we can get outta here together."

Her eyes were glassy now, and she had jumped out of her seat to grab one of my hands in both of hers, tail swishing back and fourth behind her. “So what do you want to do?" She said, strength entering her grip, “What can you do Thorren. I'm game for anything.. you know..cause I'm actually rather smart. As you seem to have guessed by what you just said. We can do this!" She went right for the meat of it. What a straight forward woman. haha.

I smiled at her, and at her enthusiasm, and at her oddly fox-like features which I was finding to be kinda cute, we would make it, I was sure of it.

And with that, we made our plans to break out of the under-city, career and home, to escape this shitty titanium moon.