The city itself lay underground. Although the surfaces of the land masses were much warmer there than on the outlying planets, nothing grew there because of the lack of sunlight. The seas often came up too high and ate away large chunks of the land as well. The city had been cleverly built inside the highest peaks of the land, and as they flew into a docking port, the walls of those mountains closed in around them, sheer rock everywhere.
He wanted to get violently sick. He hated being there. The place reminded him too much of the mines where he had been forced to slave and labor for so many decades, and he knew that that place had the same effect on his brothers. It was their last resort, always. They only went there when they had no other choice, and at that moment they had no choice at all. They had to find Dirk Bates, one of the most notorious space pirates of all time.
He didn’t go by that name anymore, of course. His father had faked his son’s death, and Dirk must’ve been aware of that. He now used the name Blade, a sort of riff on his given name or perhaps a testament to what he hoped to be against The Federation.
Talon spoke. “I say it would be perhaps best if Jessica, Margie, you, and I were the only ones to leave the ship at the moment.”
Jeval nodded. “He knows us. If we try to overwhelm him with too many people, he might sense something is up and run.”
Talon said, “Or fight. Neither of those is the best option.”
Jeval gave Margie a smile. “You can stay here if you choose to.”
She said, “No, thank you. I’ve been to worse places.”
He wasn’t sure if that were true or not, but he decided not to argue the point. They strode off the ship and into a long tunnel made of solid rock. Again, the memory of the mines came up. Claustrophobia set in. His heart constricted as it pounded too loudly. His eyes flicked ahead to where Talon walked, and he found himself wondering if his brother too felt that same near-panic in those halls. He would never ask, and Talon would never say, but he wondered anyway.
Margie’s hand found his and gave it a gentle squeeze. He looked down at her. She whispered, “This is so much like the Below. Oh, we had smooth walls and not rock ones but in so many ways it’s the same, and that frightens me.”
He whispered back, “It reminds me of the mines.”
Her face held empathy and understanding. “I’m sorry.”
Somehow that simple compassion, that understanding of his emotions, made them flatten and settle. He felt immensely better for some strange reason. Knowing that she, too, was having difficulty made it easier to navigate the place. They came to the mouth of the tunnel, and Talon stood to one side, waiting for them to catch up. As always, he was overwhelmed by the enormity of the place.
The city sat in a bowl-like depression below the mouth of the tunnel. It spread out, hundreds of thousands of hectares wide and long.
Margie whispered, “My God! How can all of this be here?”
He answered with, “For centuries this has been the hideout for those who would earn their living in a not so savory manner. It began as a few huts and dwellings and became this.”
She surveyed it. Her voice was hushed. “It sort of gives me hope that eventually home shall be more civilized, but it terrifies me too.”
“You have every reason to be afraid. For people here, death is their trade.”
She muttered, “You really need to work on your reassuring skills.”
They started down the steep slope that crawled through the rock face in a circular pattern that would have them enter the city from the eastern side. That too was part of the city’s defenses. Every tunnel had a wide ledge, but all of the ledges were situated up high. There was only one way to exit the ledges safely, and that was to take the winding shelf that ran before all of them and joined into others then led to the city’s eastern gate.
Attempting to jump from the ledge into the city itself meant death. Not only was it much further than it appeared, the optical illusion that the city was right below the shelf was just that; in fact it sat many hundreds of feet below, but a poor landing was the least of the worries that anyone foolish enough to try to jump it find themselves faced with.
The tech there was rudimentary but present. There was a wide net-bar across the city’s top. It was invisible for the most part, but it was deadly. Any who fell into it would find themselves decimated.
Any being who somehow managed to first make the jump and get past the netting safely as well was still not safe. There was no quarter given to anyone who entered the city through any path other than through the eastern gate. There were roving bands of pirates and crews, and there was always an argument or fight. Entering into territory that some had carved out for themselves and fought for on a daily basis meant declaring oneself an enemy. Here, an enemy was killed without question. There was no judicial system, but there were plenty of executioners.
At the east gate, they met armed guards. Those guards peered down at them and then, recognizing them, waved them inside. The gate opened with a loud clatter and bang that set their teeth on edge. Jeval’s hands never strayed far from his weapons and he saw Margie’s hand drop to first her belly and then to her hip. She must’ve secreted more than one weapon there under her clothing, he deduced as they walked past the first part of the buildings that made up the city known as End-World.
