“Sorry, Missy,” Klayson rumbled over the noise and bustle of the bazaar swirling around us. “I haven’t heard of anything that’d be a good use of your skill. But I’ll keep my ears open.” A smile split his dark face. “It’s good to see you around.”

I nodded, chest tight. Klayson’s booth had been my last stop of the morning’s plan. I’d visited enough old haunts that morning that were now long gone. I’d been out of the scene for too long. No one seemed to have any leads on where I could pick up some work.

Void, at this point I’d even take a drone level position, doing any number of tasks better handled by an AI, but humans were cheaper. Mind numbing, boring work, but it’d be something.

My stomach rumbled and heat flooded my face. Luckily the noise and chatter of the surrounding bazaar covered it up. Or maybe Klayson was too much of a gentleman to say anything.

I brushed the credit in my pocket with the tip of my finger. Nadira had forced me to take them when I headed out this morning. I appreciated both her generosity and her friendship, but I couldn’t keep relying on her.

I knew better than to believe I could rely on anyone forever.

“Let me see what you’ve got in the way of blockers,” I asked. Lunch might be welcome, but new components would get me situated, ready to take the job that I had to believe would come in, eventually.

I’d been hungry before. It wouldn’t kill me to do it again.

Klayson drummed his fingers on the table. “I do have a few items that might work for you. Come take a seat, Missy, I’ll step into the back and see what we’ve got.” He disappeared behind the drapes concealing his merchandise from view.

He always had the best selection of unique components. He never said anything about the decline in my muscles strength, but in the last year, when the trembling in my legs had gotten unstoppable, a second stool had appeared behind the empty table and Klayson had gotten a lot more direct about telling me to sit.

It would take longer than a single visit to reassure him that my legs really were functional now.

As I slid behind the empty table, I grinned. It was good to be back, to be home.

I stretched.

“Still hunting, Missy. Don’t lose me any business now, you hear?”

People flowed past, all wrapped up in their own worlds. Maybe I could stay here, watch the booth for Klayson when he went out on scavenging jobs. I’d ask him when he came back and then...

“Would you like to see a cat?” The soft voice came from nowhere.

I leaned over the table to see a pale child, wrapped in a faded coat that might have been a brilliant emerald color, long ago. Even rolled, the sleeves flopped over her hands, and the hem brushed the ground.

“It doesn’t look like you have one with you,” I answered. “Is he inside your coat?”

Her face scrunched up into a scowl. “Of course not.” She held out a grubby fist, then opened it to reveal a small silver figurine of a reclining cat, surrounded by intricate metal knotwork.

“That’s a lovely pendant. Where did you get it?” My words came automatically, but my mind stuttered and my stomach clenched. Not from hunger this time, but guilt and worry.

The child shot daggers at me from narrowed eyes. “I didn’t steal it.”

I held my hands up. “I didn’t say you did. But I think I’ve seen a cat like that once. A friend made it. I thought maybe you knew my friend.”

The girl nodded slowly. “I’ve seen your holo. But I thought you walked funny. Are you sure you’re the right person?”

“I think I’m the right person,” I answered. “Tell you what, you go somewhere else for a while. Somewhere I can’t follow.”

A thin eyebrow raised, reminding me without words how hard it would be for me to trace this little shadow of the station.

“I’ll go where I think I need to go. If I’m the right person, I’ll end up where you want me to go. If I’m not, I won’t understand the message at all, right?”

The dark eyes squinted and she gnawed on her lip, trying to follow the logic as twisted as the knotwork.

“Yeah, that should be okay. I’ve been looking for you for a while anyway. If you’re not you, I’ll try again tomorrow.”

The girl slipped away into the throng of the bazaar, taking the cat token with her, leaving all of my daydreams in her wake.

Klayson re-emerged from the tent. “Here’s the best I have. Should go a long ways towards getting you set back up.”

I glanced over the components and nodded, figuring which I could afford now, and what might have to wait. “These, for now. Can I come back and pick them up later?”

He looked surprised, but nodded. With both my credits and my parts, he knew I’d be back. Besides, as a friend of Granny’s, he knew where to find me.

I headed out of the bazaar, towards the hidden passageway that would take me to the maker of the cat trinket.

There was supposedly a staircase in the bazaar itself, a jammed rusted panel concealing the entry. But I’d never been able to open it myself. That was fine, no one seemed to use this little passage.

Outside of the bazaar the residential hives started.

A few blocks in, down an alley, always turning hubward. And there it was, a regular door, leading to a regular looking stairwell that had probably been set up for maintenance once upon a time. I’d never seen anyone use it other than me. And the woman I was about to go meet.

I started down the stairs counting levels as I went, knowing that I didn’t need to, that it was just a distraction from the flood of memories.

My parents had tried. They really had.

I told myself that during the nights at the children’s facility where they had left me after the sickness had gotten too much for them. It was too expensive, and they had other kids to think of.

Surely they thought someone at the facility would be able to help me. But it didn’t really work out that way.

What I learned there was to work on my other skills. I found how to slip into the facility records to find out information on my friends’ families, even try to track what had happened to mine.

Year-by-year my legs got weaker but my hacking skills grew stronger.

When another group of kids decided to break out, make their own way in the universe, it was more useful for them to take me with them than leave me behind.

They’d been my friends, and we’d all scattered, gone our separate ways except for Cintha and her younger brother Daix.

The three of us stuck together, bouncing from station to station until we ended up on Orem. It was loose enough anyone could fit in. Nobody cared where you came from as long as you could get something done, had something to offer.

I found clients for my comms skills, and Cintha’s creations could have graced the most elegant homes in the Uppers. But she’d refused to leave her brother behind, following him as he descended, trying to make a life for them in the wreckage his addictions left behind.

I pushed the final door open, a strange melody seeping through the edges reminding me that whatever time it might have been on the rest of the station, it was always night in the Under.

Instead of a run-down residential section, the buildings on either side of me hummed with activity.

If you didn’t know better, the lantern district looked like it was on fire. Colored lights and gauzy fabrics cast surreal shadows everywhere you looked, ruby and gold flickers played across the buildings’ surfaces.

I walked down the passageway slowly. Just because I’d been here before, didn’t mean I belonged. Chances were good that no one would give me trouble. But it didn’t pay to be stupid.

The performance hall to the left was clean and always held a packed house, despite an ongoing change of names and owners.

Rumor had it that the best performers started their careers in the Under.

Cintha had laughed when I asked her about it, said it was a story that slumming customers from the Upper levels told themselves to justify the imagined risk. Some people got high just on the illusion of danger.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for everyone.

I crossed the street, slipped between the crowds and headed toward her shop. A group of children ran behind me in the street, faces painted with starkly colored lines, each telling a code, a story that I wasn’t privy to.

The screen blocking the door was gathered to the side, showing the half curtain hanging down, covering the entry.

I took a deep breath before going in, letting my eyes roam the pattern embroidered into the fabric, Cintha’s characteristic loops and swirls.

Everything changed. And some things never did.

A recording of a bell triggered as I stepped through, and I saw a dark cloud of hair as Cintha hunched over her workbench.

“I’ll be with you in just a - oh!” Cintha grinned, put down her tools and hurried up to envelop me in a huge hug.

“Look at you!” she exclaimed. “A new medicine? I didn’t realize you’d gone off station for treatment!”

The dark circles under her eyes stabbed at me. I’d been so caught up in relearning how to control my legs, I hadn’t even thought of coming down to tell her I was back, what had happened.

I was a lousy friend.

She squeezed my hands and laughed. “I know, I could come up sometime. But I’m kind of wrapped up in stuff.” She shrugged and went back to her bench to tidy up. “Let me put things away. I have a commission but I’m ahead of schedule. What do you think?”

I looked over her shoulder at the fine filigree panels that lay across the work surface, the metal dull now, but after polishing it would shine like a star.

“You’re not the only one that’s been a little wrapped up lately,” I admitted. “I’m sorry I haven’t been down.”

I paused, reluctant to tell her about the Hunters, the abduction. None of it mattered now, right? I was home and walking. It was all she cared about.

But then how was I planning to explain Xander?

I pushed aside the unwelcome thought. He wasn’t a presence in my life. Nor was he going to be.

Nothing to explain, right?

“Who was the kid you sent up for me? She seemed like she didn’t quite believe I was the right mark.”

I took the offered cold glass and sipped, relishing the sweet herbal taste.

“Talley.” Cintha half-smiled. “Bright enough, she’s going to be running the kiddie gangs before long if I can’t think of something else to keep her busy.”

“Any reason you’ve taken her on?” I didn’t meet her eyes. I might not come down on a regular basis, but I knew Talley couldn’t be Cintha’s. However...

She nodded and took a sip of her own tea. “I’m pretty sure she’s Daix’s. I could get her tested, but it doesn’t matter. He and her mother were together off and on for years. She disappeared a few years back, probably OD’d, but I can see Daix clear enough in Talley’s face.”

“Is that what you wanted to talk to me about, for me to find her a job?” I offered. “I don’t have a lot of contacts but surely I could get her something-” I stopped myself.

“Better than this?” Cintha answered dryly. “The Under’s not that bad, just different. But I know you never saw it that way.” She brushed away my apology. “No, Tally’s fine. Daix however. I don’t know where he is.” Her dark eyes widened as she bit her lips. “And this time, I’m worried.”

I put my glass down, searching for the right words. “Cin, you know, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s flaked out.”

She shook her head, black, kinky curls flying. “No. Not like this. For a while, after Tally’s mom disappeared, I think he was trying to straighten out. Wasn’t much good at it, but was trying.” She reached for a set of pliers, twisted them in one hand. “He took a job for some guys.”

I grimaced. No story that started with that sentence ever turned out well.

“The pay was good, but then he quit talking to me. I don’t know what they were doing, but he stopped being around, stopped checking up on Tally. And now I can’t find a whisper of him. No one’s heard anything, or if they have, they’re not talking.” Her fingers fell still, and she fixed me with a look. “And that’s why I need you.”

“You may not like what I find,” I said softly, reaching for her hand. “You’ve never wanted to know details before.”

“I don’t have the luxury of looking away. Not anymore. I need to know where he is, what he’s doing.” Her jaw tightened. “And if he’s coming back.”

“If that’s what you want, I’ll find him,” I answered without hesitation, mind already spinning. Doc had comms at her lab she barely used. I could start there, build a new scrambler using the components I’d just bought from Klayson.

Not exactly a paying job, but it would keep my hand in. And more importantly, do my part to help wipe away a fraction of the tension in Cintha’s face.

“Good.” Her shoulders relaxed just a fraction. “Now I want to hear all about this new treatment. How long does it last?” Her eyes narrowed. “And what side effects did you decide to not worry about?”

The chime of the front door saved me.

A young trio came in, arms wrapped around each other, faces glowing.

“We’ve decided,” the young woman in the middle declared. “You were right. It’s time for us to settle down.”

The men on either side of her beamed, the darker blushing slightly as he shrugged. “Which means it’s time we get some rings.”

I laughed, calling out my congratulations as I backed away, leaving Cintha to attend the newly formed family.

On my way back I pondered where to start the search for Daix. I’d buried our old records when we’d run from the facility. He probably was still using the faked ID numbers I generated.

Tomorrow, when I had a better idea of how I was going to explain my miraculous cure, I’d head back down, talk to Cintha and get a better idea of the time frame Daix disappeared. There were cameras all through Orem station. Not as many in the Under, but I could find them.

I headed back to the bazaar to pick up my components, mind sifting through possibilities.

“Hey baby,” an oily voice called out, and I spun to face the threat.

Void, it was the creep from the arcade yesterday. I kept walking and he didn’t follow, just stood there smirking, stripping me with his eyes.

Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped Xander so quickly.

And that was something else to figure out how to explain to Cintha.

Xander.

But first, I’d have to figure him out for myself. When he touched me...

“Loree Sarratt?”

I stopped, startled out of my thoughts by the dark-haired woman standing in front of me. Deeply tanned skin pulled tight over razor-sharp cheekbones, she stood directly in my way, a slight curl to her lip.

And then I noticed the uniform. Dark grey with silver tracing.

Imperial System Security.

Void.

Slightly behind her stood an older man, not quite as rigid but certainly alert. Prepared.

Official.

“You’re under arrest. We have reliable information that you were behind an incursion against SysSec comms. Come with us.”