SL Huang - Up and Coming - Stories by the 2016 Campbell-Eligible Authors

At this rate it would take all night. They’d have caught on by then, if he didn’t come to a sticky end here first. He stared outside at the river of flesh that trickled by the pod, stealing glances his way. He was just waiting for the crowd to get ugly. Start pounding on the windows. Pulling him from the pod bleeding and beaten. Dragging him to a back alley. Planting punches in his jaw and tearing away his valuables, sticking a .44 in his mouth…

Anders fumbled in his pocket and brought out a thick wad of notes. ‘How about now?’

The driver didn’t think twice. He slammed his palm down on the siren, scattering most of the crowd back to the sidewalk. The remaining people followed suit once the pod bore down on them, nearly crushing them into the tarmac. Anders liked to think the driver would have avoided killing anyone, but in this city who could say?

He leaned back in his chair as the city became a sweeping blur of brothels, eateries, moonshine brewers, pharmacies, flashing concave screens and vehicles, only jostling from his trance once the pod docked at the port an hour later, a hulking dome of silver and sleek grey. He flicked a couple more notes the driver’s way and disembarked, standing in front of the monstrous building. The blast-furnace heat raked at his skin, the air thick with cheap wheat beer and jabbering voices. Yet he ignored it all, a sickly coldness pooling in the pits of his stomach. It wasn’t over. Not by a longshot.

*

Man, this line was long. The entire port was packed full of people from all walks of life. They all shuffled towards the dingy control booth where a Council employee would either permit or reject access to interstellar travel. He didn’t know why these people even bothered; the chances of actually getting through were sickeningly slim. There would have been zero chance of him ever leaving this place if he didn’t have this face, along with the asset level that came with it. Engineers were ridiculously useful, and thus came with a high asset level that was not given to other civilians. Part of that package was permission to travel.

Anders forced himself not to trace his cheek with his finger for line marks, a habit that would get him a lot more attention than he actually wanted. The air vents had blocked up, turning the air into syrup. A man in front of him took a deep drag of his cigarette, a spiral of smoke ribboning off the tip. He noticed that the line hadn’t moved for a while now. What the hell was happening? He strained his neck to the front desk where an irate man was making wild gestures to the employee. Her face could have been chipped out of solid granite. He watched as the man was dragged away by two armor-clad androids, boots skidding on the polished floor, shrieking obscenities.

The line inched forward. Barely.

At least there were no more complications. People stepped forward, presented their IDs, got their faces scanned, had their profiles checked out, were rejected. They begged for permission to board, gave some lengthy sob story about their family, money, why they needed to get out of here. And they were rejected.

This happened almost every single time. Only five people—four of which belonged to a family—could pass. The other one was a black-suited businessman who either had special permission from the Council or simply had bribed his way through.

It was his turn next. The guy in front was kicking up a fuss. ‘Listen, I have the files with me. They’re Council-approved. Look at the stamps! Just let me in.’

‘The files are not the issue,’ the employee stated, her voice level and calm. ‘The date is incorrect; you were meant to be here almost fourty-eight hours ago.’

‘I got held up.’

‘Sorry. I cannot let you through.’

‘ What? ’ The armored androids swiveled their heads at the man’s rising voice. ‘I’ve got the seal. Just let me in.’

‘The decision has been made.’ The woman was cool as ever. ‘Please leave immediately.’

‘Listen to me—’

‘I will call security.’

‘You stupid bitch ! Wait—’ his words were cut off as the android on the right clamped a heavy hand on his shoulder and started to drag him away. He struggled to get to his feet, shaking them off. ‘I can walk! Let me go!’ He gathered up his tattered dignity and strode out on his own accord.

‘ Next. ’

Anders stepped up to the booth, eyes fixed on the woman. She scraped her hair back behind her ear. ‘IDs?’

‘Here.’ He placed the various cards, codes and seals required for the process on the bench. The machine sucked them up greedily. He had nabbed them from an unlocked drawer in Anders’ apartment, where they had all conveniently been placed together. It was great when people made your life easier like that.

The woman glanced at the monitor and gave the slightest of nods. He stepped to the right and placed his head in a circular mould. He felt the cold metallic bands fold over the back of his head, holding him in place as a blue-green light hovered in front of him, sweeping across his face. This was the crucial moment. If the machine detected an inconsistency, or if the scanners could read that something wasn’t quite right, then everything would go to hell. And these things weren’t failsafe. He’d seen banned footage where some guy struggled to get out of the clamp before the machine was done, and it had retaliated by tightening its grip, crushing his head like a mango, blood spraying, skull cracking, while he twisted and thrashed and struggled and—

‘Scan complete.’ The pressure lifted from the back of his head as the securing straps were removed and the scanner folded back into its place. The machine spat out his cards and IDs, like it was disgusted them with. He took them gratefully, nodding at the woman as the security doors in front of him parted like angelic gates of heaven. He strolled through, relief gushing out and flooding through his body.

*

He chose the earliest flight he could.

It would take him to Toh, almost as far away from here as possible. Even better would be Elva, but that flight wasn’t scheduled for another five days. He wasn’t planning to stick around that long. He might have gotten past the scanners and be wearing someone else’s face, but it didn’t hide the fact that he didn’t belong here, in this playground of rich families and loaded businessmen. It would be easy to get a new ID and face in Toh. The Council’s grip on the planet was so loose that contraband floated around the city like a disease.

He bought a meal while he was there. Chicken pamajama slathered in mushroom sauce. It cost a hefty price, but he remembered that it wasn’t his credits that he was spending. The food wasn’t fantastic, but would do for now.

Boarding was an effortless task. Everyone had been checked out already, so there was close to no security. They just took one look at his IDs and ushered him through without a word. He had the feeling they wanted to wash their hands of him. The feeling was mutual.

Anders settled back into his seat, clipping the seatbelt together. The flight would take around thirty hours or so. It had been an age before he’d had truly good sleep. Thirty hours with nothing to do except doze off was perfect.

There was almost no one else on board, just him and a handful of passengers and the family from earlier. Come to think of it, there hadn’t been many in the departing lounges, either. It seemed that the Council were only letting a trickle of regular asset civilians go through. It was getting less and less each year and would likely only continue to lessen until no one could get through.

Not my problem.

Not anymore.

It might have been selfish, but he was done with it all. There was no point in trying to fix anything there. He saw that now. The best he could do was go somewhere far away where they’d never find him. He should have done it years ago. He was done with killing, done with it all.