I sat down on what I hoped was a clean surface. Tabitha did likewise but rubbed it with her hand before looking at me with a frown.
A burly, bald man with a sliver of grey hair and a woman wafer thin sat down opposite us at the round table. Both were in torn, shabby clothes, with black smut on their faces.
The man spoke first.
“Your ship is being loaded with the merchandise. You must bring it to Magellan four, five, niner to receive payment. On the approach to the station, you must say “Deontay” to get past security. You don’t have much time. A heatwave will be upon us imminently.”
I just had to ask.
“What is the merchandise?”
He blinked and then stared straight into my eyes. Then he pulled his bottom lip back before continuing.
“It’s Ezine 126 in tablet form.”
Fuck me, that’s the most proscribed drug there is. Ten times stronger than fentanyl, and much more addictive. And I had thought or perhaps hoped it was a relic from the past. The devastation this was going to cause to the people in the habitat is unfathomable, not to mention the automatic death sentence if caught.
Tabitha held her hand up to her mouth, but I tried to show no emotion.
“Let’s go Tabitha, no time to waste.”
Mark's Writing Corner 