Sol System Chapter 3

The rust and grease stains were unsettling. The sounds of crowds echoed up and down the boarding area that looked like a converted missile silo. The clothing of most the spaceports denizens looked like converted rags. All the children needed better dental care, the air smelled like a bathroom and there was a nervous looking man huddled in an out of the way space between two supports.

He shook back and forth, rubbing his hands over one another, trying to remind himself of the sanitizer he had applied for the third time. He knew running diagnostics on his computer would calm him down, but the authorities would be looking for a high tech rig like his. He was hot with the extra clothing on top of what he was already wearing. He needed to blend in better, but he had no idea where these local clothes had been. As he continued to sweep his platform for police he spotted a crowd forming around one of the screens hovering above the rails toward the center of the cylindrical complex.

The man stopped shaking and fumbled in his backpack next to him, emerging his hand with an oversized earpiece connected by wires to his computer tucked out of sight. He pointed the microphone on the earpiece at the screen and it began to translate.

“…with the death toll rising to the thousands, whipping out some smaller Polynesian islands entirely. The malfunction that caused the deadly tsunami has been attributed by the authorities to be the doing of a hacker named Driftwave…” The earpiece almost dropped out of his hands. They didn’t figure it out; they really think he did it. “Despite the decades of service successfully counteracting naturally occurring tsunamis, Atlantis platform Avalon has decommissioned its wave generator until a complete investigation and overhaul of the security systems had been done. Launched from Avalon Island in 2490, the platform has stopped…” The earpiece dropped slightly and he heard the various gasps and comments. Many naming friends and family in the region they prayed for.

Driftwave Shoved the earpiece back in his bag and tightened the wrappings around the computer case. He shook back and forth as sweat formed on his face. He leapt up and gathered his things with the speed and precision of a twitch when the boarding lights activated next to the railings. Driftwave fell in line with the other passengers as he looked up and saw the circular platform began to float downward to the level of his terrace.

He felt more and more anxious with every step. The posted guard near the extended bridge checked his ID, its artisan level forging fooling the guard despite the suspicious sweating and fearful look of the holder. Driftwave sped his pace till he was nearly center on the platform.

The all aboard signal chimed as the lights around the bridge to the loading platform blinked. Driftwave looked back at the terrace he had been on, wondering if it was the last time he would set foot on Earth. He saw guards making rounds, checking IDs, no doubt looking for people like him. Last chance, he thought, last chance to turn myself in, not be a fugitive on the run, and hope the authorities figure it out. The platform began to rise out of the spaceport shaft to dock with the ship. Driftwave didn’t even see what the ship looked like; he simply watched the guards become dots as the platform rose away.