Page 5 of Across The Stars
She reached back into her pockets and pulled out two transport passes. I took one and examined it.
“These are dated for tomorrow,” I told her.
“You bet,” Sam said with a smile. “The papers say we already went through physicals and interviews so we won’t have to dothat. As far as preparation goes, it’s a good thing we don’t really have to pack, right?”
3: Innifer
Sam was right. Packing wasn’t really a necessary thing when moving off-world. There was no space on a space station for many personal belongings. Not that I cared. I wasn’t very sentimental and life on an overpopulated Earth wasn’t exactly something you took with you in photo albums and keepsakes. I would just be happy looking at Earth from afar and appreciating her beauty without the noise of people and traffic tainting it.
I packed a few items of clothing. Toiletries. Two pairs of boots. Everything else was supposed to be provided on the Nexus when we arrived and every newcomer was only allowed one small bag of belongings. Sam took a few beauty products and her handheld game console. I chose only the necessities.
As of that morning, Sam and I were starting over. For better or worse, new things were happening. We met in our small living room, each holding one bag. Sam was dressed in a pair of white pants and boots with a gray jacket. She pulled her hair into a bun to look more refined and smiled proudly at her efforts. I was wearing a pair of black leggings, combat boots, and a leather coat I had in the back of my closet for years. Sam looked at my blue hair and cocked a brow.
“You think that’ll fly up there?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I went over regulations. There’s nothing saying colored hair isn’t allowed. And you have pink streaks.”
We shared in a little nervous laughter and took each other’s hands, heading out. We looked back at our little apartment as the door shut behind us. It was a tight little cubby, but in a weird way, it was safe. Even if rent was late, it was predictably late. Up in the stars, there was no telling what would happen. And if we got caught, jail time was a real possibility. And if we got off easy, we’d owe some hefty fines. But it didn’t matter. Desperation made people do crazy things.
“Bruce is gonna be pissed,” Sam commented. “You think he’ll report us as dead?”
“I give him two weeks,” I said. “He’ll sell or keep whatever is left of our stuff and rent it out to someone else. He’ll think Jason and I ran off together and he’ll think you got kidnapped by someone you owe money to.”
“Hey.”
“What?” I shrugged.
Sam rolled her eyes before letting the comment go. “You nervous?”
“Nah,” I said with a wink as we descended our building to the street outside. “We’ve got no family. No friends. No reason to stay. I’m not nervous at all.”
That was a lie. Of course, I was nervous, but it was a good thing. It meant new directions and risks and I knew deep down I needed that.
My palms were sweating. I hadn’t blinked in minutes. My heart was racing and I felt like I was going to throw up. Sam was next to me, tapping her foot on the metal floor of the tram platform. She was nervous, too, but she didn’t say anything. She just kept chewing on pieces of gum, spitting them out, and then eating another and her constant smacking wasn’t helping me.
“Jesus,” Sam said. “Trams don’t usually take this long.”
“It’s only been seven minutes,” I said.
Just then, the white tram slid up on its magnetic tracks and everyone from the station filtered in, crowding the interior. Everyone tried their best not to touch each other. In such close proximity, physical contact was hard to avoid and while I was not entirely paranoid about it, some asshole was always around to complain about those not following protocols. It was likely going to be the woman at the end glaring at everyone while she shoved packaged cake snacks into her mouth and took up three seats with her groceries. But proximity rules were hard to follow on crowded trams where the number of passengers wasn’t controlled. It was just one of the many contradictions that made Earth hard to exist on. A lot of regulars could ignore it, but some couldn’t and they were the grumpiest.
I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
We traveled for about three hours before the tram started to ascend over the cities for long-distance travel. The tracks stretched over the buildings and through tunnels that carried passengers across states and we were jumping three states over to the east coast. There were no more stops until we arrived at another interstate station where we hopped on a different tram that took us to the Nexus transport.
I’d memorized the root.
Most of the passengers had left after we boarded the connecting tram and Sam and I could finally sit down. It was quiet. There were small commercial holograms that popped up now and then to advertise new sanitization products, simulator programs, new VR glasses, the latest vocaloids, and makeup, but other than that, the tram was silent. Everything was white and once the crowds were gone, small cleaning mechanisms began sliding along the hand holds, poles, and floors to disinfect the tram’s interior. The rest of the ride, everything smelled like citrus and bleach.
“Ok,” Sam said, keeping her voice low as she scooted closer to me. “So, I’m insanely nervous. Should we turn back?”
“No,” I whispered. “That’s not happening.” I took her hand and sucked in a deep breath.
“Shit, I’m freaking out. What if we get arrested?”
I chuckled. “It’s very likely.”
Sam furrowed her brows with worry.
