Mistrunner 2 - Chapter 8 - Back to the Bazaar (Patreon)

Jeremiah dragged me out of the proverbial gutter, gave me a place to live, food to eat, and training most people like me could only dream about. So, when it came time to get my Nexus Implant, I expected that he had something special planned. Looking back, I now know that he had the ability to give me power on a level that would truly make a difference, but despite how much he talked about us being like family, his decision not to give me the means to truly shine was the only declaration that really mattered. I was just a worker drone to him. Another cog in his machine. To Jeremiah, I was not special.

Nora Lancaster

On our way to the Dome, I resisted the urge to swing by our old megabuilding. I didn’t dare go inside – for now, at least – but I still wanted to look at it. Maybe I would get a glimpse of the betrayer. I wasn’t so naïve as to think that Nora didn’t have her own reasons for doing what she did. I was well aware that it probably made perfect sense to her. But simple awareness didn’t mean I cared about her excuses. Nor would it change my mind about what I intended to do. It would have to wait, though. I wasn’t ready.

Certainly, I could probably engage in an all-out assault. I might even be able to snipe her from afar. However, that wasn’t good enough. Her actions had resulted in my uncle being ripped limb from limb; I couldn’t do anything less for her, could I? Ever since I’d discovered her betrayal, I had been dreaming about how I would enact my revenge. And none of those plans were quick, either. So, there was no reason for me to go by the megabuilding. I didn’t need to see her now. I’d get plenty of that in the near future.

So, as the monorail pulled to a stop at the platform closest to where I’d grown up, I remained in my seat next to Patrick. He’d been quiet since leaving Gunther’s Guns, and I suspected that he was lost in thought. Everything was so new to him that I’d have been surprised if he wasn’t a little overwhelmed. Still, I had some hope that he would adjust to his new reality.

For my part, I knew that I just needed to keep moving. So long as I had a goal, I wouldn’t have to think about what I’d lost, about all the people who’d died. Jo. Her parents. The Amigos. Jeremiah. The list went on and on, and if I let myself focus on that, I’d get lost in the weeds of my grief. So, my plan was to keep working toward my revenge, and hopefully, by the time Nora lay dead at my feet, I’d be in a healthier place. Until then, though, I would keep checking off boxes on my to-do list.

To that end, we rode the monorail all the way across town to the Dome. It was located in Bywater, which was a kind of buffer between the poorer districts like the Garden and the much more affluent platforms like King’s Row. In addition to being the home of the Dome, it was also a mercantile paradise, with thousands of businesses headquartering there. A few people did still live there, but the number wasn’t nearly as high as in other districts, largely because it was too expensive for the lower class and too low-class for the aristocratic elites. Even so, there were a few high-tiered craftsmen and moderately successful business owners that made their homes in the district.

However, the biggest and most important structure on the entire platform was the Dome. My uncle had once told me that it had been based on a structure from the old world, but back then, I’d only half believed him. Now, though, after having seen some of the ruins of that same civilization, I found it far more plausible.

As we exited the monorail, the Dome itself was visible, even from blocks away. And Patrick was suitably impressed when we finally found our way to the square surrounding it. Populated by statues meant to depict humanity’s mythological deities, each of the humanoid statues had their arms stretched toward the sky in a worshipful posture. The first time I saw them, I’d thought them beautiful and elegant. Now, though? I saw them for what they really were: propaganda for what would become our alien overlords.

Patrick and I quickly traversed the square, and once we were inside the Dome, we found our way to the red-and-white obelisk that would connect to the Confluence that, in turn, would take us to the Bazaar. I didn’t really understand what any of that meant, but I took it to mean that the obelisk had been made to harness some sort of convergence of Mist that would power our transport to the Bazaar.

Or perhaps I was entirely wrong. I had no way of knowing and nobody to ask, so I decided to simply accept my ignorance until I could cure it. After waiting in line for a couple of minutes, Patrick and I stepped forward and laid our hands on the obelisk. Immediately, a message flashed across my HUD.

Transportation to Station 25116452351 (colloquially known as “The Bazaar”) Approved. Fee: 25,000 Credits per Entity Transferred.

Fifty thousand credits. It wouldn’t quite wipe me out, but it wouldn’t leave me with much, either. Suddenly, I understood why so few people went to the Bazaar. If the price of entry was so high, only the wealthy could afford to even visit, which further limited the power of the populace. It was yet another layer of oppression, and, upon realizing that, I ground my teeth in frustration. Even so, I approved the transfer, and a moment later, I felt a swirl of Mist drag me away. This time, I managed to stop myself from screaming, but I still let out a gasp of surprise as I was whisked away and up into the sky. A couple of seconds later, I passed through the upper atmosphere and into space. That lasted only a moment before I landed in one of the Bazaar’s entry halls.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” came Patrick’s mutter from beside me.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

He glared at me, saying, “You could’ve warned me.”

“Sorry,” I said. “I just…I said the exact same thing the first time I did it. But I screamed, too. So, you’ve got one up on me.”

“Really?” he asked, clearly surprised. Did he think me entirely unflappable? Had he really put me on that much of a pedestal?

“Yeah. But it wasn’t as bad this time,” I said. Then, I gave him the rundown my uncle had given me. Some of it, like the existence of the liaisons who worked with the aliens, he knew. Other parts, like the nature of the Bazaar, he didn’t. Either way, it only took a few minutes before he knew most of what I did, and we set off toward our first destination.

As we traversed the halls, passing through cavernous rooms containing hundreds of stacked shops manned by various types of aliens, I couldn’t help but think that everything felt bigger than it had before. Likely, my excitement during my first trip to the Bazaar had taken the edge off of the travel time through the Bazaar.

Eventually, after walking for what felt like miles – which made no sense; if there were miles’ worth of corridors and rooms within the space station, the structure would be visible from Earth’s surface – we found our way to our first stop: Gala’s shop.

It wasn’t so much that I wanted to buy some weapons. Rather, of the two merchants we’d visited the first time around, she was the one I felt most comfortable with. And I needed some advice before I could enact the rest of my plans. So, after climbing the stairs, I planted myself in front of the plasti-steel door and knocked. It slid open a second later, revealing Gala herself.

She was, for lack of a better way to categorize her, a minotaur, complete with sweeping horns, tawny fur, and a face that looked like it belonged on a cow. Her fur-covered body was muscular enough that it would’ve put Nora’s to shame, and she wore a leather jerkin with matching pants. At her hip was Ferdinand II’s predecessor – a giant revolver that was more cannon than handgun.

“Little Mirabelle!” the minotaur exclaimed. “I was worried about you! Come in. Come in.”

She grabbed me by the shoulder and dragged me inside. A stunned Patrick received similar treatment with the other hand, and a moment later, the door slid shut behind them. Then, Gala wrapped me in her strong arms and hugged me tightly.

“You poor thing,” she said. I could hear the sobbing in her trembling voice. “I thought you were gone, just like Jeremiah.”

“I…I got out,” I said.

After a few more seconds, she pushed me to arm’s length and looked me up and down. “A little worse for wear, aren’t you?”

“Uh…I guess? It’s a disguise,” I said. “And how are you touching me when I’m not really here?”

“You’re not the only one with skills,” she said with a crooked grin that exposed her flat teeth. “I’m so glad you made it. Like I said, I was worried about you.”

“So, you heard about my uncle, too?”

“I did,” she said. “It was all anyone was talking about up here for a few days. He made a lot of trouble for some of the…more involved parties. Most of them were glad to see him gone, I’m sorry to say. But he had friends up here, too. I’m sorry it happened. Such a terrible way to attack someone like him. They couldn’t challenge him one-on-one, so they sent an army after him.”

“After they bombarded the entire town with heavy munitions,” I said. “They killed thousands of people just to hurt him enough that they could…do what they did.”

“Shameful.”

I shook my head, saying, “Yeah. But I’m not here to talk about my uncle. I need some help, Gala.”

“With what?” she asked, glancing at Patrick, who’d remained silent during the entire exchange. “And who is this young man? I sense that he’s more than he appears at first glance. Do you have some sort of smuggling skill, boy? If you do, I might be able to put you to work.”

“Uh…”

“We’ll cover Patrick later, Gala,” I said. “What do you know about Rift Shards?”

“Not much to know,” she said. “They’re raw energy. Crystallized Mist that’s used for all sorts of crafting and to power various machines. This station goes through them like you wouldn’t believe. Why? Did you get your hands on one?”

“More than one,” I said. “What would you say if I told you I had about a hundred small ones. Maybe as big as my finger?”

“I’d say that you and I could do some real business,” she said.

“And if I said I had about two-hundred that are a little bigger?” I asked.

“What did you do, girl? Rob a mining camp?” Gala asked.

“Something like that,” was my response. “And have you ever seen one that’s about the size of my head?”

“You completed a Rift, didn’t you?” Gala guessed.

I didn’t see any reason to lie, so I nodded before telling her the story of how I’d assaulted the mining camp before delving the Rift itself. At the end, I told her about how I’d killed all the remaining aliens.

“No wonder they were so upset,” she said, shaking her head. “The Castorix tried to keep it quiet, but you know how it goes. The moment you try to keep something secret is when it gets out to everyone. So, they lost a Rift. Good. Their methods are barbaric.”

“I agree,” I said. “Anyway, I need to unload those shards, and I want to use that money to upgrade my cybernetics. I also need to see about buying a couple of skills.”

“No weapons?” she asked.

“Uh…that depends on how much I can get,” I said. “My current weapons are fine. But I screwed up my hand, so I’m going to need some sort of an implant to make it functional again. And like I said, I need a couple of skills. Maybe some subdermal armor. I don’t even know what’s available, honestly. But if I have money left over, I’d like to upgrade my rifle and get something a little stronger, too.”

“You unlocked the Heavy Weapons branch of the [Firearms]tree, didn’t you?” she asked.

“Something like that.”

At that, she grinned, saying, “Then I’ve got the perfect weapon for you. It’s a bit bulky, metaphorically speaking, and it’ll stretch the limits of your Arsenal Implant. But you won’t get anything that packs more of a punch.”

“That sounds perfect,” I said. “But I’m not sure I can afford it.”

“You’ll be able to,” she said. “That haul of Lesser Rift Shards is probably worth at least a million credits. Maybe a little more. The bigger ones, which are usually just known as Rift Shards, are worth at least twice that. And the big one? That’s what’s usually known as a Greater Rift Shard. And it’s worth many more times that to the right buyer.”

“And you know the right buyer?” I asked.

She nodded. “I believe I do,” she said. “But he’s a bit prickly, so I’ll need to do the talking.”

“That’s fine by me,” I responded. Then, I glanced at Patrick, who seemed completely out of his depth. “Oh. I’m going to need a new pistol for him, too. And probably some kind of training manuals for [Cybernetic Engineer].”

“Shouldn’t be an issue,” the minotaur answer. “Now, c’mon. No time to waste.”

With that, she pushed through me, showcasing that our earlier ability to touch wasn’t going to be a constant, and opened the door. Soon, Patrick and I were struggling to keep up with her as she strode through the station. Fifteen minutes later, she led us to barely visible side passage, and when we followed her inside, the décor changed considerably. Gone were the shining metallic surfaces and crisp glyphs. Instead, this tunnel looked almost natural.

“What is this?” I asked.

“This station is far more than you know, hon,” said Gala. “There are parts of it that would blow your little mind if you saw it right now.”

“My mind isn’t little,” I muttered.

“Sure it’s not,” was her response.

After a few twists and turns, we found our way to what looked like a medieval village, complete with stone huts, oddly colored trees, and even a few animals. Instead of being predominantly green, the vegetation was purple, and the animals looked almost like dogs, except that they had a few extra legs and eyes.

“Borack brought most of his extended family with him,” Gala said as they walked through the village. “Paid through the nose for it, but as he specializes in Rift Shards, he can afford it. You’re probably the first Earthlings to ever lay eyes on this village.”

“Why does it look like this?” I asked.

“Meant to mimic his home world,” she explained. “It’s not perfect, but he says they got the gist of it right.”

“I said it was passable, you old cow,” came a growled voice from one of the huts. I looked over to see a man that looked like a curious amalgam of insect and human. He had all the right pieces – two arms, two legs, and a head – but he was far too thin, with oddly jointed legs, and skin that looked more like segmented chitin. “And I meant that it was barely acceptable. What are you doing here, Gala? And why did you bring these primates to my door?”

“Good to see you, too,” Gala muttered. “I brought Mira here because she has a cache of Rift Shards she wants to sell.”

“Bah! Send her to Treyachian,” Borack said, waving a taloned hand dismissively. “I’ve got all the Lesser Rift Shards I can use.”

“She doesn’t just have Lesser Shards, Bor,” Gala said.

“So she has a few mid-grade Shards? Big deal,” he said.

“I have over two-hundred mid-grade Shards, a little more than a hundred lesser Shards, and one Greater Rift Shards,” I said, tiring of the back and forth. “And I’m looking to sell.”

Borack focused on me, and I felt a tremor go up my spine. How that was possible when I technically wasn’t there, I don’t know. It might have even been only in my mind. Either way, I could practically feel the power wafting off of the insectoid man.

“That’s quite a claim,” Borack said. “What do you want for them?”

“Uh…”

Gala stepped up, saying, “I’ll be acting as her intermediary, and I’ll guarantee delivery of the items.”

“Interesting,” Borack said, steepling his long, thin, and rigid fingers. They clacked together, sounding like nothing so much as plastic slapping against plastic. “Very interesting. I couldn’t do more than five million for the lot, though.”

“Oh, c’mon, Bor,” Gala said with a flat-toothed grin. “You think I was born last cycle? The Greater Shard alone is worth twice that much.”

I sighed as the pair went back and forth over the next few minutes. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about dickering; I knew it was something I’d have to learn at some point. Rather, I was just eager to get going with my other tasks. After all, I couldn’t get to what was really important until I’d taken care of myself and my gear.

Finally, after almost fifteen minutes, Gala struck a deal that would see me being paid almost fifteen million credits for my Rift Shards. Hopefully, that would be enough to pay for what I needed, because I didn’t think I’d be hitting another Rift anytime soon. Whatever money I made from here on out was going to have to be earned the old-fashioned way. Or stolen from my enemies. Probably the second one, if I was being honest with myself.

Still, Gala seemed happy with the result, but then again, so did Borack, who told me before we left that he would be happy to buy any Shards I found in the future. I responded that I would keep him in mind if I ran across any, and after I accepted the pending transfer of credits, we were on our way. If, for whatever reason, I didn’t come up with the Shards, I would be sanctioned by the system. I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but I could intuit that it wasn’t anything good. So, I resolved to load them into one of the Rapid Transference nodes as soon as I got back to Nova.

“Next stop, a skill repository,” said Gala. “I trust you know where to find cybernetics on your own.”

I nodded. “Thanks Gala,” I said. “Your help means more to me than you could know.”

“I owe it to your uncle,” she said. “He was a good man. Besides, I’ve got a soft spot for freshly initiated worlds.”