"Welcome to Heaven," Jax exclaimed as he hit a lever, casting everything in a dull shade of yellow. "Here you go," he tossed Kade a key to a capsule and walked behind the counter.
The vibration of another train shot by below them, rattling the walls and making the lights flicker.
"You get used to it. Eventually." Jax shrugged again, his favorite punctuation mark.
They were all alone down here. Under different circumstances, it would've been unnerving, but right now, Kade was grateful for the silence. He looked at the key (714) and headed down the corridor toward the 700 block.
The door switch clicked under his thumb. The old panel rattled, shuddered, and stopped. Kade pressed it again. Same rattle, same refusal. He smacked the side of the panel with the heel of his hand. This time, it groaned and rolled open.
The 700 block stretched out in front of him. It was empty, quiet, and surprisingly clean for something abandoned in the support zone. The air smelled faintly of ozone and old disinfectant, like someone had scrubbed the place without wanting to leave a trace.
Kade set his small backpack on the ledge of capsule 714. The lights brightened as he slid into the narrow cell and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. Hard to believe the early colonizers slept like this. Stacked like cargo, sealed in little pressure coffins.
He hit the door switch. The panel zipped shut, sealing him in a hermetic bubble. The old timers called them coffins, and he could see why. Kade hit the switch again, and the panel hissed open, releasing the pressure. Cramped, sure, but if you were tired enough, you'd sleep.
Kade hopped down and looked at the fifty other capsules lining the chamber. Another train screamed beneath him, rattling the whole room. There was no universe where he was getting used to that.
The panel to the 700 block dragged open with a hiss, fighting itself the whole way. The corridor outside was skeletal, stripped to beams and conduits after scavengers had taken anything worth taking.
"Yo! Jax," Kade hollered, listening to his words echo in the exposed superstructure of the hotel building.
"Yeah," he chirped, his hand shooting out of the 500 block of capsules, followed by his head. "What's good?" He asked as he stepped into the corridor. The lights fluttered as another train zipped by. "I promise that it slows down around sleep time, I promise." Jax punctuated with another shrug.
"Hey. Where can I snag some grub?" Kade asked, leaning against the old titanium superstructure beam.
"I got some rations in block 200, we can cook them in the 100 block, and then I've some pirated feed from the fancy hotels on the Broadway level. Real quality shit. You know what I mean." He winked as he slid past Kade in the corridor. Kade only nodded; he wasn't in the mood for Timatian tentacle porn.
The 100 block was stripped bare except for an old rehydrator and a hot box oven.
"It's not fancy, but it eats." Jax joked as he slid a dehydrated pack of salmon steaks into the rehydrator.
Kade chuckled and looked around. His mind wandered for a moment.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked.
"What. What do you mean?" Jax said as he shuffled the dehydro packs.
"I can't help but think I willingly walked into a fucking jail." The words hung between them. Another train rattled the beams.
"Ah. Yeah. I get that." Jax's shoulders slumped. The rehydrator beeped.
"A jail?" he said, pulling the steaks out. "I don't know what you went through in the edges, or who you owe credits to, but I know… look, I want off this bucket too." He stammered, and Kade couldn't tell if he was deflecting or actually worried.
"There are some real bad dudes on this scrapbox," he said, plating the food on the exposed bulkhead. "They got plans. Plans I don't fully know."
"You're my way off this bucket," Kade said.
"What if I… can't get us off this bucket?"
"I don't know." Kade turned away. "Look, I appreciate this. I'm sorry if I'm suspicious. Comes from being on the edges too long."
"I get that," Jax mumbled around a mouthful of salmon.
"I don't know who I can fully trust." Kade let the words settle. Jax only nodded.
"I've hopped junk buckets for the last sixty‑two hours. Been on a scrap shuttle with the most famous woman in the galaxy. Who apparently thinks I'm cute. And now the damn Pinkertons are hunting me." Kade took a deep breath.
"Shit, I don't know what to think anymore," he said, scooping a bite of salmon.
Jax dropped his spork and leaned forward like someone had yanked a cord in his spine. "Did you say Pinkertons?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Holy sheeeiit! Did you kill the president or something?"
Kade didn't answer.
"Wait. You didn't, did you?"
"No." Kade shook his head.