STEEL

Chapter 2 Oh Brother Where Art Thou

The streets were always crowded in the Market Precinct. Artificials, humans and even a few Psions shuffled about, conducting their daily business. The crowd pushed past each other down the narrow gaps that separated the walls of the tall buildings. These gaps where what the council had the nerve to declare "streets ". These "streets" were barely five feet across, and were frequently partially obstructed by a scattering of ATMs, circuit breakers, crates, and the huddled forms of societal refuse. If that weren't enough of an outrage for the compacted citizens of HiWatt, the council also allowed the vents on these "streets" to puff out a continuous barrage of steam from the Forge of Fallon Precinct, unfortunately located directly below those same vents. This caused the most popular fashion in HiWatt to be practical: goggles to see, scarves to breath, and heavy coats to prevent the occasional second degree burn from leaning against any of the loose copper pipping that had a nasty habit jutting out of any wall about to be leaned upon.

It was loud too. The air was thick with the clamorous chatter of pedestrians carrying out conversations with their traveling companions, the delightful delectation of playing children, creating their own percussive accompaniment. The vendors, primarily Artificial, loudly touted their wares to be heard over the hissing sound of steam escaping from the sporadically placed vents. All of these sounds combined, still failed to completely drown out the soft buzz of the neon lights above that traced the streets.

The neon lights, and the occasional flickering street lamp were the only lighting sources offered to the shuffling mob. The Market Precinct was an UnDomed and didn't have the bright artificial lighting of the wealthier Precincts. The smog from the factories had effectively blotted out the sun several decades back.

Ru was distracted by a group of children in tattered clothing playing hyperball. Her purple eyes deftly following their moving forms as they weaved in and out and under the throng of pedestrians. One of the children slipped on the damp and muddy cobblestones, hissing in pain as she smashed her knee in the attempt to dive for the little orbiting ball of neon purple light. Another child, a bit smaller, ducked under the leg of a Psion causing him to stumble and hurl some explicit rebuke at the tiny, fleeting figure. The smaller child made his own mad dive for the little ball of light. The ball attempted to wizz away, but the smaller child's fingers collapsed around it before it could escape.

The smaller child started dancing, giggling, and sing-songing a playful torment at his sister, still favoring her injured knee.

"Wanna go again? I bet I can win again!" He said once he had finished his victory celebration, "C'mon! Let's go again!"

The older girl pushed herself up off of the muddy ground and wrinkled her nose, "You didn't win."

"Yes, I did!"

"You did not!" The older girl insisted a bit more firmly.

"You're just mad cause you are a girl. You always say I cheated!"

"You DO always cheat! It was a TIE! You caught the hyperball when it was still MY color! That means you don't get the point." Ru chuckled at the girls matter of fact explanation, but the little boy wasn't amused.

"Ugh. You ARE SO ANNOYING! Why can't you be normal like Pern's sister? Why do have to be so bossy!?" wailed the flustered youth.

"You are so not worth this," huffed the older child and stormed off down the steamy street, leaving the dismayed younger brother standing just off to one side of the pulsating mob. Children are so fickle, Ru thought, slowly rising. She shoved her hands in her pockets, and kind of skipped and walked directly into the crowd.

Ru had a habit of being in her own head, yet not remembering to not forget that she was in her own head. This led to a bit of out loud thinking, humming, and singing. She belted out the chorus of a song she was making up as she went, her coloratura glamorizing the clobbering of Karla's head. It was risky, she supposed, to sing about such things, but Ru wasn't really worried. Ru didn't do worry.

Occasionally someone may call out rudely for her to, as they usually phrased it, shut the fuck up. Her response in such situations was what she liked to think of as, "Classic Ru". She punched them directly in the face. She certainly didn't think of herself as a violent person, she had a cat, after all. She just didn't abide by people being disrespectful, so she punched them in the face. Seemed fair to her. Generally speaking, Ru considered herself to be quite charming, except maybe when she was around rich men. Ru had a particularly nasty habit of despising them openly. Jatroh suggested she perhaps filter what she said around potential targets, but Ru didn't do filters.

To be fair, Ru didn't really hate rich men. It was more of a self con. She was a professional thief and it was far more productive for her to con herself into thinking she hated her targets in the event that she had to kill them. Less guilt that way and Ru didn't really do guilt.

Ru skipped merrily through the overly crowded Cornwell Street, weaving gracefully through the waves of bodies. She belted, "Clobberin Karla's Skull In!". Huh, I really like that name... I should consider making a career of song naming! I bet I could sell that idea! Yes. I could leave the Theivery Guild and go straight. Ru. International Song Namer. I should write that down. Ru thought almost failing to notice the Psion attempting to purchase a copy of HiWatt daily from a shady Artificial vendor who looked like a refrigerator with a toaster shaped robot face on top.

"...my Royal Account should be fine," hissed the speaker on the front of the Psions encounter suit.

Ru almost didn't see the older child from before standing in the direct line of her skipping trajectory. She stumbled as she adjusted mid skip to avoid a collision with the child, but as adroit as she was, only someone paying close attention to her would have had a chance to see it.

"Hey! You should really pay more attention to your surroundings! You could really get hurt." Ru hesitated as she noticed the look on the girl's face. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"I can't find my little brother. We were playing a game and I got mad and left him back by Cornwell and All Saint. I went back when I realized he wasn't following me. I swear! I didn't mean to lose him!"

The Psion would have to wait, but as she placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, she chanced a look back at the departing Psion, noting the Silver Horse. "It's okay, sweetie. We will find him. I promise. Let's head back to where you saw him last, okay? Did you tell a guardian?" Ru wasn't surprised when the child shook her head. Almost anyone would had avoided the copper coppers if the could. The Artificial police force had a bad reputation among organics. Even the Psions were wary of them.

Ru led the child through the throng, back in the direction she had just come. I wonder why she was suddenly so spooked. I watching them play just a few feet back literally minutes ago. Something was not sitting right with Ru and one thing Ru did do was listen to her gut.

"He's not here! What should I do?" the girl exclaimed when they reached the corner Ru had watched them playing at. "Maybe he went to his friend's house? Can we check there?"

"Of course, we can."

The girl grabbed Ru's hand, "It's this way!"

Ru was becoming more and more uneasy as the young girl lead her further away from the main streets of the Precinct, turning down even more narrow avenues and alleys. It was getting more difficult to see too far ahead, the neon street guides that glowed above barely cutting through the thick billowing steam.

The neon lights, and the occasional flickering street lamp were the only lighting sources offered to the Ru as the girl led her by the hand, deeper into the labyrinthine city. The Market Precinct was an UnDomed and didn't have the bright artificial lighting of the wealthier Precincts. The smog from the factories had effectively blotted out the sun several decades back, leaving the citizens traversing the outer precincts nothing but the steamy haze of the artificial lighting to guide them.

"I'm sorry," the girl said, just barely a whisper.