Chapter Nine - Halfstar

Chapter Nine - Halfstar

Chapter Nine - Halfstar

Logistics are life.

Without them, you have no food, no water, no ammo, no materials. Youre basically stuck with what you have on you. Its why in times of crisis, one of the most important things is setting up a proper logistics train.

That gets complicated when the train needs to reach the undercity. The terrain is treacherous, the paths down are maze-like, and if cargo is unguarded, its liable to never make it to its destination.

One popular trick is to just figure out where the destination is, then plow a hole through the building above it.

Its a bit unsubtle, but its better than being shanked by a hobo.

--Sgt. Aaron Fenzer - The True American Armys Logistics Division, 2048

***

The maintenance elevator might have been faster, but it was also cramped, jittery, and felt like a place where someone could easily die.

Oh, wow, I said after we hit a particularly jarring bump. I had Myalis pull up the records, and this elevator was last inspected in 2045.

I was like, three years old then, Raccoon said.

I nodded. Next time, I think we can use the non-shortcut.

Were in something of a hurry, Gomorrah said. She was off to one side, hand wrapped around one of the metal poles reaching up to the ceiling. The elevator didnt have completed walls. Instead it was lined by a cage on four sides that ended at about hip-height. It meant that we got to see the bare structure of the building as we slid down. Cracked concrete, exposed rebar, and the occasional open vent where glowing eyes watched us pass.

The elevator jerked to a stop, and the cage slid most of the way open just as the door squealed apart.

This is it, Raccoon said as she squeezed out ahead and stepped into a dingy corridor. It was all graffiti-covered drywall, with the occasional hole punched into it. Lights hung from the ceilings, some of them working enough that they illuminated the boxes here and there where the homeless lived.

Had livednone of those I saw had anyone in them.

The Halfstar is one level down, Raccoon said.

Alright, lead on.

Gomorrah and I walked side-by-side behind Rac, the girl bouncing ahead with near-manic energy. Has anything changed in this area recently? Gomorrah asked.

Yeah, there were aliens.

Aliens? I asked.

But there was a line leading in, and a bouncer by the front with a half-mask and two cybernetic arms that looked like they belonged to a factory worker.

We skipped the line.

Hey, I say to the bouncer. Can pretty girls come in free?

He eyed me, then Gomorrah, then Raccoon. No, he said.

Can pretty girls with very big guns come in free? I asked next.

Gomorrah sighed. Were Samurai, here to speak with... someone within. Please let us in.

He looked at Gomorrah, then stepped to the side. Right, of course. Go on in.

Thank you, sir, she replied.

Sir? I repeated.

Being polite can help things. And its just common courtesy, something that I know youre unfamiliar with.

I can be polite if I feel like it, I said. Ive just never felt like it.

The Halfstars entrance was a dark place, filled with gauzy curtains of light-absorbing material that made it hard to guess how big things were. They might have done something to dampen down the sound, because as we moved in, the noise grew louder and louder. I adjusted my cat-ears down a notch or two. Super hearing was great when it wasnt pounding noise into your skull.

And then we were in the bar proper.

It was obvious that the place had been something else at one point. Walls were torn out, and the floor cut open. A second level below had chairs around a ring that someone could easily jump into from above. There werent even rails around it on the top floor.

No fights on at the moment, but the place was still lively. The dance floor was occupied by two dozen bodies, rubbing and gyrating against each other, and the DJ, some guy in a sweat-stained shirt waving his arms around.

There, Gomorrah said.

She was pointing across the room to where a nun was facing off against an obese man jabbing a finger towards her face.

Thats Franny, she said.

Franny looked pissed. Sure, she was as pretty as she was in the pictures Gomorrah had shared, but that beauty was twisted a bit as she sneered at the man blocking her path.

Still hot though.

Well then, lets go say hi to your girlfriend, I said.

***