To Escape From Gravity

Chapter Eight

Another successful job. That had been one of the easiest handoffs Reed had done in recent memory. First, the entrance security officer ogled her more than checked her identity. Normally, she'd be inclined to punch him in the throat. But it worked in her favor this time, because he was quick to let her in and watch her walk into the party. Then secondly, her mark couldn't have been easier to spot. Reed had been provided with a sketch of Lorilell Andory, but it was more the accompanying description that helped locate her.

Lorilell Andory: loud, fat woman. Fifty years. Ugly. Center of attention, disliked. Laughs like dying bird.

As soon as she had entered Tenamen's Hall, Reed had heard a screeching laugh rise above the hum of the party.

Unmistakable. To her left, she saw a huddled group of socialites from where the sound came from. In the middle of the circle, she saw a rotundus middle-aged woman. As soon as she made the target, it was a waiting game.

Reed mingled aimlessly at the party, she had developed the skill of doing nothing but looking like she belonged. She kept an eye on her target, and as soon as Lorilell broke away from her gaggle of friends, Reed maneuvered through the crowd to 'accidentally' be standing in her way. Then once the large woman nearly toppled Reed over, the exchange was underway.

Sometimes recipients would be nervous or jumpy once they realized why Reed was there. It made some of the handoffs risky. But clearly Lorilell was no stranger to receiving a package of drugs at such gatherings. Once Reed mentioned the Alerkin mountains, which was Lorilell's key phrase, the older woman put on an absolute show. Reed subtly dropped in Brisnick's name under the guise of 'General Bris,' so Lorilell would know what seller delivered on her request. Her dropping the name of a location told Reed where she could go to collect her payment. These elites would never allow the money for illegal substances to be passed directly from their hands, so it always went through someone else.

After the exchange, Reed got lost in the crowd again. It wouldn't be smart to make an abrupt exit, so she again moved throughout the partiers as if she belonged there. After twenty minutes, she allowed the flow of the people to push her towards the doors, then quietly slipped out into the night.

***

For all the grievances it produced, Miasten had a beauty about it that couldn't be denied. Various metals wove together to form a tapestry of a city. Iron, steel, and copper played with one another to create looming buildings, with silver and gold accents and colored glass to make striking rainbows upon the surfaces. Large vehicles weren't present in the city, walking and tram cars were the common mode of transportation. Grounders were used to using various trucks, motorbikes, or open-topped solar-powered vehicles, called sand riders. They were sturdy, doorless, but lightweight enough to make long journeys without an excessive use of energy. But since the sky cities were only one or two miles in diameter, there wasn't a need for long-distance transportation.

Most floaters were content to walk to their destination. This resulted in the streets being rather narrow, with cobblestone sidewalks for pedestrians and light clay roads that could fit five motorbikes side by side. For most of the workday hours, the streets would have few people out and about, but as the sun set, the streets filled up and the citizens enjoyed every aspect of their city.

The people up here were mostly self-absorbed. They cared more about what dinners they were invited to or how they could climb up the social ladder. In all, they were oblivious to the struggles of those in the ground cities or the lower class of their own city. But among the throngs of stiff-nosed citizens, there would be one or two who would remind Reed that even people up here were just trying to get by.

Begging was strongly discouraged in Miasten, but there were a few corners where someone down in their luck would catch the kind eyes of a stranger and ask for a handout. Sometimes they were grounders who had scrapped and saved enough to make it up to the city, where they hoped life would be more generous to them. That never worked out. But more often than not, it would be a sky citizen who should have been leading a life of comfort, but made too many poor choices. Gambling, addiction, prostitution, and the like were present even in a pristine city such as this. While it happened out in the open down in the ground cities, up here it occurred in darken corners and forgotten alleys.