Drugs. I had thought as much. The latest craze was called “E77” and the ship was undoubtedly full to the hilt. Rumours had it that it was being manufactured “en masse” near Neptune. It was one of the most toxic substances known to man. The flesh of regular users just rotted away.

If we were caught with this amount of drugs, it would be an automatic death sentence for us all. Of course, that was what we were facing anyway. Nothing to worry about then.

I left the two ladies and went back to the ship’s controls. Leanne’s Mom gave me a knowing look.

We were three hours away from approaching the Emperor’s habitat. No sign of us being followed. I decided to look up this town called “Darius” on the ship’s computer and read silently to myself –

Darius is the third largest city on the Emperor’s habitat with a population of half a million residents, all of whom are directly related to the Emperor to some degree. It contains a military base and remains an important industrial base.

When I reach the end of the screen, it mentions that it is also a major smuggling hub for drugs and weapons, but these issues are being dealt with by a major clampdown currently underway.

Uug

It didn’t take long for that first drink to turn into two, then three. I knew one of the myriad of men would eventually bite and they did.

A burly, bald man dressed in fading clothes came over to us. He addressed us in English.

“What has brought you two here? I caught a word or two of English being spoken between you. I haven’t heard it being spoken in years.”

Tabitha looked at me wide eyed. I took the initiative.

“You don’t get away with too much around here. And where did you learn it? You seem quite fluent.”

“My mother is from Aruna V. She insisted we use it to communicate. And you never answered my question.”

“No, I didn’t. We’re here on business.”

“What kind of business?”

“We need to get a package onto the Emperor’s habitat, and we’re prepared to pay big.”

I let him glance at our bitcoin balance.

He murmured something to himself and then left to go to a backroom.

I could feel the sweat on my brow and took another gulp.

Then the man returned and said to follow him. We got up, leaving what remained of our drinks. It was action time.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, a ladder appeared in the distance. The pace of their crawling suddenly picked up in anticipation of reaching their destination. Sure enough, there was a hatch above them. Tabitha tried to open it but it was locked.

Tabitha banged it with her hand. No response.

She looked back with a frown.

Then she banged again more vigorously.

There was a clinking noise and the sound of noises. Then the hatch door opened and a foul smell entered the tunnel.

A voice came from above. There was a sense of fear and dread.

“Come quickly. Come on.”

It was a pale white freckled woman with red hair. When I clamored out of the hatch I was met with a scene of devastation. The charred remains of purple people were strewn across the floor of a spaceship hanger. The lighting was flickering on and off. Tabitha was staring blankly at me.

The red-haired woman was in a frenzy now.

“Come, come. We need to get off this station!” she implored.

We followed her out of instinct. She was now the only one with a plan.

She talked as she ran.

“Uncle Robbie, he told me there was a ship here that I could take. They’ll be back. We need to get outta here.”

Yves was unlike anything I had ever seen before. A large rotating city made up of many different cylindrical levels. It was home to an estimated twenty million people and was a central trading hub in low Earth orbit. We had docked into the central and main thoroughfare.

A mass of people were walking up and down the narrow, paved street that was enclosed by uniform five-story red brick buildings with ornate windows. The clanging of so many feet and people chattering led to a great cacophony of sound that was almost painful to my senses. There was a smell of fish emanating from some of the restaurants that were at street level. Overhead, to their right, was the polluted, exploited planet Earth with hues of blue, white, amber, and black. Still, I couldn’t but stare at it in wonder. After all, that is where everything started, a relic of the past.

We were safe there. Yves treasured its independence which it saw as vital to its economy and the Emperor had decided that it was more valuable functioning, rather than obliterated.

Tabitha tugged at his shirt.

“You have surely seen Earth before?” she said incredulously;

“Of course, but not so close up. I guess you want my head back on mission.”

“Right,” she replied, “come on.”

With that, we joined the great morass of people

It was a majestic feast. Eventually, I felt fully satiated. I looked over knowingly at Tabitha who was slouched back on her chair with her arms wrapped around her stomach.

“That was good, wasn’t it,” I said sheepishly.

She smiled.

“Yes it was, I’m stuffed.”

For a few minutes, we rested.

“So, what next?” I asked.

“We have to do something for those kids,” she replied shaking her head from side to side.

“Come, we’ll see what other treasures we can find.”

And there were. The next room was the surveillance center where Barabus would have ensured that his little minions were constantly at work. There were screens all over each of its walls showing black and white video images.

They were struggling to lift weights and other tasks that were too difficult for them.

There was a large red circular button in the center of one of the walls. We both looked at each other. Then I pressed it. It set off a familiar siren. It was the calling siren that Barabus had used to summon his workers. It was time to update them about recent developments but I was unsure what way they would take it. Would we be heroes or murderers?