Page 139 of Stars At Dusk

The ride brought back memories of the rudimentary subterranean communities where he’d spent his first days after landing on the rock years ago. Then, they’d been a lifeline, providing shelter, meals and zero judgement to a pack of injured, vulnerable and hurting young men. He and his brothers had since tried to pay back the roughshod compassion with a lifetime of giving.

Void X slipped into the underground, cruising past dark figures scurrying down ghostly alleyways. Kage passed food stall owners and spotted beggars lurking, waiting for scraps from their bubbling pots. He saw huddled groups of people hunched against growing swirls of lunar sand in what looked to be a rising storm. He wondered what the south Pikanis did when the sands lashed harder. Where did they go in these rough streets?Deeper into the tunnels, into caves they’d dug out into the rock, he supposed.

He pulled outside a seedy motel with a low-quality blinking neon sign that announced the Maji Castle. The boardinghouse however, was far from a stately residence. Instead, Kage saw a broken front door nearly falling off its hinges. The paint was peeling, and the run-down, dilapidated entrance matched its neighbourhood’s less desirable dwellings. It was hard to see through the darkened windows, but the lifelessness from within seeped outside.

As Kage exited his flyer, he noted that the underground street was empty, yet he felt suspicious eyes peering at him from the shadows. He’d bet a pretty schill that the Maji Castle harboured unsavoury characters with a penchant for illicit pastimes. A koko house probably resided on one side of the structure, and an illegal brew house on the other.

Mirage, I’m here. Please keep tabs on my location; I’ll do the rest.

Naam, Kage.

He sent Void X away to a location nearby where it would settle down in stealth mode and wait until he summoned it.

Kage pushed past the battered doorway of the motel. The place was far from any of the surface’s luxury establishments and was as dire inside as on the exterior. He stepped into a shabby, poorly lit lobby with outdated and worn chairs haphazardly arranged. Battered synth beams supported the upper floor, and broken lights swayed from them. The walls were littered with memorabilia, much of which had become unrecognisable due to dust, cobwebs and grime. The motel felt abandoned, with just a few figures lurking in the shadows.

A poorly-maintained, dirt-caked bot attendant creaked towards him slowly. ‘How can I help?’ it squeaked.

Kage swiped his wrist comm with its Eden II security pass across the bot’s screen face. ‘Looking for someone.’

The bot acknowledged Kage’s security access, its screen flashing with a green all-access flicker. ‘The guest’s name, please?’

‘Don’t have one. Just a location link.’

Kage used his neural node to send the connection to the bot. It jerked slightly at the more sophisticated data interface, whirring momentarily as it computed.

‘Room 203,’ it finally announced. ‘Sending you an internal map.’

‘Sante,’ Kage said with a lift of his chin.

He moved away quickly, negotiating the maze of seedy corridors. Behind mouldy doorways, he heard slurs and raised accents from all over the System. Places like these had a high turnover, with many guests coming and going from the more lawless jurisdictions of Pegasi, conducting their business swiftly before moving on to the next hit, high or score.

Eventually, he found 203, the number branded on the synth board with an electric implement.

He double-checked his wrist comm and confirmed the tracker was still broadcasting from within the room.

He knocked. There was no reply.

He tried again.

‘Who is it?’ said a hoarse voice through the cheap synth board. A woman’s. Geriatric, weak and trembling.

He thought for a moment. He’d no intention to terrify an old-timer if that’s who was behind the door.But, then again, someone had robbed Harlow. Perhaps the trembling voice was a feint?

He attempted the age-old tried and true enticement. ‘Room service.’

Tapping his weapon in its holster, he stepped to the side of the door and waited.

Presently there was the sound of shuffling. Then the door slid open, and a wrinkled face peered out.

Kage eased forward and extending his wrist comm, flashed his holo TSG sec badge at her and spoke softly. ‘I only want to talk.’

The woman squealed, cringing away from him, her hands raised in surrender.

‘Hey, relax,mamin. I won’t hurt you.’

He slipped inside and heard the door slide close behind them, allowing Kage to study his quarry. He saw a slight, faded female bent over with age and care. He ran his eyes over her limp, greasy hair and small eyes that kept darting to his badge—the same eyes from the footage Mirage had supplied him.

His eyes fell lower, and that’s when he saw Harlow’s pendant hanging around the woman’s thin neck.

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