Page 69 of Tempting Cargo

“Welcome to Vadias Town,” the guide said, tossing the speeder control fob into a collection box as she walked past.

There was no time to gawk. She led us through the bustle of people, taking multiple turns down narrow streets before coming out on a wider thoroughfare again. This one was lined with market stalls, the coloured awnings echoing the canopies sticking out like wings on the buildings above. Here, the familiar tang of burnt wiring and ionized air blended with scents of sizzling cooking oil and roasting meat, baking bread, and citrus-like fruit. The myriad ways the town assaulted the senses offered far more comfort than the crisp, earthy sweetness of the quiet dock, and I allowed myself the first deep breath since we arrived.

We weaved our way through the press of people—alien species I recognised, many more I didn’t, those who appeared to be interspecies, along with cyborgs and synthoids. A trio of humans wouldn’t stand out here nearly as much as I’d thought.

We weren’t back in the narrow streets for long before we stopped outside a nondescript building. Its stone walls matched a number of the structures here, a rough-hewn sandy grey, cut into blocks appearing almost seamless. An otherwise drab establishment, it was broken up by multiple windows with bright metal frames, one corner engulfed by one of the solitary, giant trees that towered over the town.

“This way.” The wide doorway opened out to a small lobby, where a green-grey alien stood behind a carved wooden counter, his small mouth tilting in a smile revealing too many teeth.

“Welcome to the Wayfarers Rest boarding house.” He inclined his head at us, turning to our guide. “How many do you have for me today?”

“Three newcomers. A new species, human.”

“Very good. Place your ID chips here.”

As he gestured to a metal device on the counter, I put a hand on Imani’s arm. “Wait. What for? What does this do?”

The receptionist settled his large, opalescent eyes on me. “We need to register your presence with the town’s authority,” he said, as if explaining to a small child. “This device reads your ID chips and updates them with your status as a resident.”

This couldn’t be real.

Even when I pinched my arm, it was as if I was watching all this happen to someone else.

Except his words were directed to me, and it wasmywrist that went on the device before Imani and Fenn did the same. Alongside them, it wasmebeing told I’d get accommodation and food for two weeks. Me being assured I’d get assistance in finding employment.

We were the ones who were on our own after that, he said. We were the ones handed small slabs of metal and shown to three small, modestly appointed rooms which were ours for as long as we wanted them—as long as we had credits to pay for them after the first two weeks.

“Garrison, are you okay?” Imani’s quiet voice pierced the fog in my brain.

No, none of this is okay.

I clawed my way out of the funk. We were here, and I had to make sure they were all right. This was always going to be harder for me to adjust to, even before I developed feelings for Shohari. They chose this place. I was here to support them.Focus on the mission.

“Fine,” I said, forcing a stiff smile. “What do you think?”

“I like it. It doesn’t look how I imagined, but I like it.”

“Same,” Fenn said. “It’s good to be somewhere we can settle down.”

I wished I felt the same.

“Let me show you the places you can eat,” our guide said. “A number of merchants accept newcomer tokens.” She whisked us back into the mag-lev elevator, the doors opening onto the lobby with a creak and a soft chime.

“I can make sure they’re settled, you know,” she said to the crew of theDorimisa,who had quietly trailed us this whole time. “I’m sure you have other business to attend to.”

A terrible sense of wrongness had been growing since we landed, and it mushroomed with a surge of nausea.

I swallowed it down. I had to.

“I’m hungry,” Shohari rasped. “We’ll go to the food stalls with you.”

“As you wish.”

Pathetic hope crawled into my chest, as if some more minutes of not speaking, not touching, could change things.

Focus on the mission.

I noted landmarks as we traversed the alley-streets. Left at the building with a blue awning. Right at the shop selling cybernetic parts. Enter the market between the grilled meat stall and the spice vendor.