*
"It's so different," Jin said in awe as he took in the station. "It looks nothing like it did during the war."
Gone were the utilitarian gray walls and narrow spaces she remembered from her previous visit. They'd been perfectly functional—sterile, not a small scrap of color to soften the place. Now, the station looked elegant and timeless, bright spots of color saving it from being too monotonous.
Peacetime had been good to O’Riley, taking it from an obscure military outpost to a thriving hub of trade and government. The central area where warships had once docked for servicing was now an open-air market. The atrium slightly resembled a beehive, with dozens of levels of terraces clinging to the edges and a wide-open space in the middle of the station where several varieties of small ships floated from level to level like bees sampling the different delights.
The ships were personal cruisers, not meant for actual space travel. Some resembled old Earth sailboats, complete with a mast and sail to catch the wind currents stirring the interior of the atrium. Air gondolas also navigated the space, carrying couples intent on a romantic tour of the beehive. Still other ships were built for speed and zipped through the air with reckless abandon.
Kira even saw a few hoverboards staying close to the terraces as hoverbikes made the journey from below to those terraces high above.
A long tram crossed from one side of the atrium to the other. It rushed over an open drop, the floor of the station far below it.
Above it all was a large dome where dozens of bright UV lights meant to imitate a miniature sun twinkled. Those lights were the reasons for the small trees and planters filled with thriving flowers and bushes that lined the walking paths which bustled with business. High-end merchants had laid claim to the physical shops set along the walls, while smaller vendors plonked their mobile carts wherever they pleased—including the middle of the walkway
In a way, it was genius, forcing tourists to stop and look as they threaded through the maze the carts turned the walkway into.
O'Riley was a shining gem of human ingenuity. Class and privilege shone from the carefully crafted engineering marvel. The station was an emphatic statement, saying this wasn't the backwater of the galaxy anymore. The war might have humbled humanity, but it hadn't broken them. They rose from the ashes to rebuild better and stronger than ever.
Kira and Jin shuffled along the terrace as Kira tried to tamp down the irritation of being surrounded by so many bodies. She’d forgotten how crazy this place was, the press of humanity almost claustrophobic.
For someone used to the quiet of a small ship, this place was a madhouse. A dizzying confusion to senses adapted to solitude and plain walls.
Chaos hammered at her. Voices, sights, sounds–everything drawing her nerves tighter and tighter.
She took a deep breath and then another before she pushed everything away, concentrating on centering herself in the here and now.
Kira spotted a kiosk and strode over to it as Jin flitted from one thing to another. He didn't have the same issues with crowded places as she did.
"Look, they're selling candy globes," he crooned. "Can we get one?"
"You don't have taste buds," she told him.
"But you do," he said hopefully.
She paused and gave him a frown. "I'm not eating that crap just so you can ride my senses. You can do that when we get to theWanderer."
Jin was an oddity among oddities. Unique in a universe full of unique things. He was machine but not. Artificial but real.
One of the many things he had discovered over the years was an ability to tap into Kira's senses—taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing. It allowed him to experience the world on a more human level, turning it from logical data to something tangible he could feel and almost touch.
“Please.”
"That stuff tastes like crap."
"Come on, just one thing," he pleaded.
"What happened to in and out?"
They both stopped when they reached the kiosk, each going silent as they took in the image displayed on the front—a soldier in a Hadron class combat suit riding a waveboard into the upper atmosphere. Emblazoned on the person’s uniform was the image of a bird on fire. Behind the soldier, just breaking through the clouds, were ten more in a perfect V formation. The air was filled with fire as wreckage rained down around them, ships above dying as Tsavitee ground artillery picked them off one by one.
Under the image was emblazoned, "What difference will you make?"
Kira swallowed painfully, unable to move, the sight locking her in place.
The Wave Runners were a specialized and elite military unit, bridging the gap between combat suit and aircraft. The hoverboard under their feet made them faster and more maneuverable than any ship ever could be.
They were a product of the war. Their tactics had evolved to meet the Tsavitee's superior forces head-on—the suits and board compensating for human weakness. Humans might never be as strong or fast, physically, as the Tsavitee, but they were smart and adapted even under the worst of circumstances. The Wave Runners were perhaps the best example of that.
