Chapter 146: Welcome To Vega

Chapter 146: Welcome To Vega

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further... And one fine morning—

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925, 2nd Era)

Everyone stiffened and spoke in hushed tones in Yniol’s closer. The closer they got to Vega, the more the Pendragons sat on the edge of their seats. They weren’t any better than Erec. Which was surprising. They’d been here before. The Jewel of the wasteland, they called it. Though, in the light of the day, the city was more grounded than before. It came alive at night when those neon lights blasted everywhere.

Vega... was beautiful. A world completely on the surface; the massive buildings in the center of the dome were impossibly tall.

Yet on the outskirts of Vega, outside of the dome, was a sight quite to the contrary. The Kingdom had its slums, people struggled to survive. But they had the protection of being underground if nothing else. Here, the luxury of protection wasn’t granted.

Outside of the walls were ramshackle hovels filled with people roaming by with guns, bats, and metal pipes—a whole second city that dragged itself along outside of the barriers of Vega. It wasn’t as big, but it was clear the people here suffered. Sad strips of torn-apart buildings, many of them with caved-in roofs, and the occasional splotch of dried blood on walls spoke all the stories Erec needed to hear.

“Damn,” Erec said, watching a girl digging around in a building wreckage.

Vega didn’t lift a finger for these people. No one past the barrier existed to them.

His eyes turned to the light blue dome that stretched miles into the sky. Within its confines was an entire city, including a few smoke stacks that drifted out of the barrier. Houses, restaurants, and production. Even from this distance, he saw a fully functioning place. But what didn’t make any sense was in what he didn’t see. There were no farmlands, no form of agriculture. The Kingdom survived off its bio-caverns, and supplemental food on the surface, and still the strain of feeding everyone was a constant concern. While Vega wasn’t as massive as the Kingdom, it still had to support a sizable population.

“What the hell is going on here?”

“They can’t pay the entrance fee, that’s why they’re stuck out here. Either that, or they got booted, lost their savings, you name it.” Enide shrugged. “Oh, look—one of the red robes.”

Sure enough, there was one of the priests as the cars entered the streets leading to Vega; he had bread in one hand, with a group of hungry children reaching out for it. But he stopped them every single time they tried to grab a bite. Too busy delivering his sermon. Not all too different from the Kingdom. But seeing a priest out here was beyond surreal.

Like that, they were in Vega proper. The city was asleep, but he knew that it wouldn’t be long before it woke up.

— - ☢ - — - ☼ - — - ☢ - —

As Enide predicted, they were led to one of the skyscrapers. A casino hotel. An entire street that was lined with these and other entertainment, distractions meant to keep people drifting by and spending chips. The currency of this place.

And the people here came from just about any walk of life Erec could imagine. They were rags with gold chains, others in suits like the Magi, some in leather and wasteland wear.

On the strip, the name of the game was pleasure. Outside of that, from the brief glimpse he got, life seemed more diverse and ordinary. Schools, workshops, and housing. An entire ecosystem to support this veneer of forgetfulness towards the outside world. Built to support this.

Erec looked out the window of his hotel room, near the top of the casino. At the lights already flaring up as the sun sank, at the women dressed in colorful feathers, and singers with microphones plugged into street speakers. Drinks, for sale, men and women waving around, every day a party. The people were a mingling of half-a-hundred different cultures and places, yet they heard of this place, sold something to get in, and made chips.

It made him wonder how wide the network outside of the Kingdom was.

What did all of this mean?

In the back of the room, he heard the shower cut off. The instructions were to wash up, then attend an event hosted by the Magi; after that, they were to have a meeting with the council. In a rare show, Boldwick ordered them to do so with no Armor, to not offend their hosts.

“Strange,” Erec couldn’t tear his eyes from the outside. This place existed in a literal bubble and denied the reality of the world. A place where you could live a merry life in sin.

Garin strolled out of the shower, a suit shirt on that he was adjusting the collar to; fussing with a tie. “Think Olivia will like it?”

“Sure,” Erec said.

“Take it easy, alright? No need to get all serious. We’re just along for Boldwick’s negotiations, and while we’re here, we get to see what the rest of the world is like. It’s what you wanted, right? Maybe we’ll find something here to use to convince him to go along with the Pendragons further. We’ll know more, and can plan more by the end of the night.”

“I know. It’s just that I never pictured something like this outside of the walls.”

“World’s full of surprises. Go get cleaned up, we got a show to watch, then get to listen to a bunch of old men talk for a while, then we’ll cut it there. And turn into enjoying the night. We can worry about the future tomorrow,” Garin threw an arm over Erec’s shoulder, a smile on his face as he looked outside at the window. “Damn, what a view.”