Machinery thrummed in the silence, mingling with the nauseating scent of oil. I hummed irritably, rolling over for perhaps the 50th time. The stiff bed rejected my movements, holding firm no matter how I tried to settle in and find a comfortable position. Light spilled in from the huge window across from my bed, all glowing shades of different bright colors that flickered on signs all night in this part of the city. The blankets I had hung up blocked out some of it, but with the window covering the entire wall and rising far out of my reach, there were still plenty of gaps for light to spill through.
I had thought that after all the time I had spent living here, I would have become immune to the base discomforts.
No such luck.
Of course, if I brought this up to my landlord, he would scoff and remind me that I should be grateful that I even had a roof over my head. He and I both knew there was no way I could afford even one of those little capsule apartments. As much as it rubbed me the wrong way, he was right. He didn't have to allow me to stay in the engine room of his refinery.
But he did, and as much as he seemed to be nothing more than a chauvinist pig, that was more than most would offer.
I forced myself to think back on earlier in the day and the sense of satisfaction I had gotten from wiring most of my paycheck to my family on Earth. That's what all of my hard work was for, after all. I reminded myself of my father, working three jobs to make ends meet, and my mother, caring for all of the kids in our small town while their parents slaved away. My siblings' faces surfaced in my mind's eye: my sister Lucia; the twins, Oscar and Diego; and Bianca, who was only six when I left. As soon as I swayed myself to think of them, my chest began to ache.
Of course, I had squirreled away time on occasion to schedule video chats with the family. It was tough between my job and everyone else's, especially with Endellion monitoring everything I said and did. Most of the time, it seemed safer to skip it entirely. The twins couldn't be trusted to not mention anything about the money I sent them. It would be easy for anyone to slip.
And if that happened, I would not only be deported, but I would have to pay back all of the funds I've sent my family over the past four years.
I couldn't risk it. My family needed me.
But I couldn't sleep either. With a groan, I pushed myself up, swinging my legs around to the side of my bed. Even through my heavy wool socks, the metal floor was freezing. Hugging myself against the cold, I headed slowly toward the window, peeking in between blankets at the world below. Endellion always seemed to hum with life—or maybe electricity.
Not wanting to go back to bed, I pulled on a coat and tugged my short hair messily back under a cap. Snatching my wallet and lanyard off of the coffee table, I threw one glance backward at the engine room before slipping out.
The shuttle didn't run at this time of night, so I picked up my hoverboard, hidden in the bushes alongside the building as I left. At first, I coasted silently through the empty streets, mapping the familiar route in my head. Once I escaped the most densely populated part of town, though, I crouched down closer to the board, my fingers curling around its edge as I tested its top speed. Moving this fast, it was no time at all before I slipped out of the city and into the heavily forested area that surrounded it.
Shadows falling from the massive trees blanketed me as I shot down the paved path that bisected the woods. The ends of my dark hair escaped my cap, tickling my forehead and the back of my neck as the wind tugged at my clothes. I had to keep my speed up if I wanted to make the trip in a reasonable amount of time, but my board was old, so I teased its top speed, hitting it and then backing off slightly in a predictable cycle. A newer model would have handled this sort of ride easily, but I knew better than to push too hard. After all, old boards didn't have any of the safety features new ones did.
