Sol System Chapter 2

The city air blocked the smell of the tea, steam rising from the small cup. A trembling hand reached for the cup, shaking it wildly in its attempt to get to a mouth. The attempt was counted as vien and the cup set back down. To most, another Asian man drinking at a tea shop wouldn’t even register from the background of the Chinatown setting. The introverted trembling man felt like he stood out more than the blinking neon orange mandarin symbols that announced the tea shop.

The sound of his exhaling breath distracted him from his over-beating heart. He intended to sip the tea, but instead downed the small cup like a shot. He intended to pore himself more, but a cold breeze left him feeling exposed. He layed down his payment for the tea, as well as a sizable tip, and blended back into the crowd as he walked to the subway station.

By the time he got home he had stopped shaking, but he wasn’t any less anxious. He sat on his bed, but it felt neither comforting nor inviting. Minutes passed, and a constructive thought finally formed. He pulled out his phone and pressed number three on his speed dial. It rung only twice before a frantic voice bellowed through the speaker.

“Dude! I heard! What were you thinking? What happened? I mean…… is it true?”

“Yeah”

“Oh jeeze man…” The voice trailed off, but then returned in a changed tone to support his friend. “Look it was an honorable kill man, full on, no ones ganna question it, you can’t beat yourself up about it.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“What happened man, you usually just brush off their insults.”

“She’s dead” he trembled and held back tears. “I found out this morning.”

“Oh my god dude, I’m so sorry I…” Silence was dominant for several seconds, but his friend tried to help. “Look, we can get together and deal with your mom’s death later, right now you need to worry about retaliation.”

“Right.” He rubbed the tears off his eyes. “I…….have no idea what to do.”

“Well he was a Dragon right? I think your best bet is to see if you can join with the Tangs.”

“Join a Triad gang? Do you know how hard my mom worked to keep me out of gangs?”

“Do you know how much she’d want you to be alive? As much as those gangs try to spew about honor for their p.r. crap, if you hit them, they’re going to hit you back.”

“I know , I know.” HE trembled again as he ran his fingers over his haircut needing scalp. “So I just show up at the Tang’s and say I killed one of your rivals, protect me?”

“Look man, they’ll probably let you in and all, but these guys didn’t get where they are through charity work, they’ll make it cost you.”

“I’m a grad student in colony development, what can I offer a gang?”

“Remember that story you told me about New Attica?”

“Yeah I guess you’re right.” The trembling stopped, but shame replaced it. “You don’t think I’ll get some bad karma or, I don’t know, damnation by using New Attica to save my skin?”

“Sorry Oliver, but that’s kind of what a deal with the devil is.”

Sol System Chapter 1

NEW STORY!!!! This one takes place in the same future as my space adventure, only in our solar system (the "sol" system, get it?) Its goign to be about some criminals on the run in the future and the cop trying to catch them, tune in every week for updates! and i will be returning to the space adventure so no worries, until then ENJOY!

Her hair was red in the tones that light shone through stained glass. Her hair fell behind her shoulders, but a stray bang curved around her forehead and eye socket, stuck in place by sweat. From the neck down her body rose and fell with her heavy breaths, steady and deep. Her head stayed still, as transfixed as her eyes.

She didn’t notice the blood at first, just the body, then the blood accented it. She stayed transfixed when she realized she dropped what was in her hand, she never looked at it, and she didn’t remember what it was, but she was sure it was used to make this. Her breathing slowed and adrenalin cleared out of her mind and allowed for thoughts. She looked around the apartment for anything she’d touched. The towel she grabbed to wipe everything down only succeeded to smear blood she realized was on her hands. Heart beats were tiny explosions like pistons firing in her chest. She had to leave, now. She grabbed her power walk to the door, it spilled on the floor. She franticly grabbed all the items, never checking if she got everything.

While kneeling she saw a twitch and froze. Another twitch and her eyes widened. She franticly made for the door. If his med cybernetics were trying to resuscitate him, they had already called EMS.

She took another look at his body while in the doorway, holding the door like a shield between her and the room. She should feel bad. She should feel guilty. A stronger twitch happened, the cybernetics trying in vain, there wasn’t enough left to revive.

The second she felt the door lock she moved down the hall, heels clicking too quickly, her heart rate wouldn’t let her slow down. The elevator moved to slow, she tensed too much when the middle aged couple and their five year old got on, she had too much sweat on her, and the red fingerprint on the floor level button was just slightly too obvious. The parents looked at her with the combination of fear and judgment that affirmed the police would be called soon. The little girl smiled at her with equal parts ignorance and innocents.

She nearly sprinted when the doors opened. She checked her flight itinerary on her phone, then ditched it in front of an oncoming ground car. Its crunching the first comforting sound she heard. She bought water from a vending machine and a cab to the space port, then ditched her credit cards. The terminal at the port scanned her identification car and called a shuttle to bring her to her ship. She threw the card out of the shuttle as the doors closed. The shuttle gave a view of her star liner as it approached the landing area.

On board, she was stopped at a bright screen at a fork in the corridor, the line to the screen shortened to her, directing passengers to their lodgings, her eyes dotted both ways.

“Vanesssa Channel.” The screen went mostly back while it loaded her information. The blank screen left her starring in her own eyes in the reflection.

“Thank you for flying with us Vanessa, please follow the lit pathway to your room.” Vannessa avoided eye contact with everyone as she walked, wondering if she could ever afford to use that name again.