Domino

1 Wastelands

 "Okay then computer," she remarked to her suit's on board smart computer system, "recording and live on day boring of year tedious, this is my own personal log of my intrepid adventures within the ruins of humanity's arrogance."

The solitary figure descended slowly to street level and landed amidst a cloud of dust and small debris as the wash from the jet pack disturbed the settled remnants of a three storey building, which now lay strewn across the narrow street.

For a moment she paused and glanced about her chosen location to set down, changing the overlay on her helmet visor to quickly check for heat signatures in the immediate area to ensure that she was as alone as she hoped to be.

"No sign of local wildlife," she muttered in continuance of her audio log to accompany the visual imagery the on-board camera was recording. A quick glance to the right of her visor where the HUD was displaying local environment readings gave her a bit more confidence in her assigned task. "No sign of latent radiation either, which I am personally thankful for as I'll not be throwing up like that episode after my visit to York. That was really unpleasant. So far so good."

As she instructed the on-board system to cut power to her rocket-pack, the thin struts which extended out either side of each shoulder automatically began to fold down towards the main housing of her pack assembly, the auxiliary jets at the end of each strut now powerless and neatly locating into waiting recesses along the sides of the rocket pack as the struts completed their downward travel and came to rest.

Her attention was drawn upwards, scanning the sky for the trail of her former mode of transport, an orbital freighter whose Captain was easily bribed to transport her, along with his regular consignment of medical and food supplies, from Luna to the surface of the devastated Earth below, helping her circumvent the strict regulations the Earth's Martian overlords had imposed on non-company vessels making landfall on their prize. 

The plan was simple really, exit the freighter 'Morgan's Pride' half way through its designated route to Edinburgh, carry out her job to retrieve the artifact she would be paid handsomely for and then at the scheduled rendezvous time, she'd take off once more to board the freighter as it passed over her location, on its return journey back to Luna. Nice and neat.

At least that was how she hoped it would pan out. She really didn't want to miss her ride out of this place, as it would mean she had to trek through the ruins of one of Earth's once great cities, avoiding the Scavengers, Reapers and Acolytes in her effort to try and reach the bastions of civilisation Aries Corporation had established to show willing in its efforts to help Earth rebuild.

Thankfully, her present location was within one of the designated protectorate zones around the large Arcology complex Aries had established, one of many established on the site of previously main cities throughout the world, which meant that her travel would not be too rigorous, but it was still messy. There were still unpleasant fragments of humanity lurking in the ruined buildings, encroaching upon the supposed safe areas and striking at the more resource rich Martian settlements.

Returning her attention to her immediate surroundings, she made another quick thermal check of her surroundings. Never could be too cautious in this place, as the roving gangs may have witnessed her descent and be making their way over to intercept her.

For the moment at least, she was still alone.

Her hand reached upwards to the side of the helmet and activated the release, unsealing the contained environment and enabling her to employ both hands to lift the helmet up and over her short, dark brown hair. 

Even though the visor provided numerous overlays and readings which many in her profession depended on for their safety, she preferred the feel of the air on her face, the sounds in her ears and the smells about her location. Within the confines of the helmet, she felt as if she was encapsulated away from the local environment, which was a good thing in the lowlands of Venus and the surface of Mercury, but here on Earth in the places that were not hotbeds of radiation, there was something simply pleasing about not relying on artificial aids. She felt more in tune with her actions.