Outcasts of Gideon

Aftermath : Part 2

He sat outside the station for about an hour. From this vantage point, he could see a growing number of vessels gathering in the distance. Glancing at his comm, he confirmed the direction was toward the event.

Closing his eyes, he pictured the crater. Imagining it now, he expected it to be contaminated with both large and small vessels. There were likely dozens landed and hovering about. Still more would be approaching. He wondered how many would be from the authorities. With people in every system, how many would be Damasos? He assumed some of the onlookers would have been Runar's people. The rest would be tourists looking for excitement.

The ground around the station began to rumble. Vibration was a useful tool for the seasoned space traveler. As he sensed the shuttle slowing, he stood and worked his way toward the station's closest airlock. He entered and cycled it behind him.

In the station, he found no one. The doors of the transit pod were open. Within the pod was a familiar empty space. He entered, found the furthest corner of the furthest bench, and settled into it.

The doors closed and he was whisked away toward the next station. The pod would cover the forty kilometers in short order. There he found commuters waiting. The pod could hold several dozen people. Only a handful boarded while he sat contemplating his failure. He looked up to find he was the only one traveling without some sort of baggage. That was another oversight, reminding him that the alibi they supplied him was flimsy.

He should have expected it. Being paired with Mihr was a bad sign. The weak backstory could have been an earlier indicator. Maybe Runar's organization was in decline. He found that hard to believe. He was more convinced that he had somehow fallen from favor. The nature of his business didn't lend itself to strong loyalties.

>> * <<

He'd traveled over 200 kilometers before he reached Horus Station. This was the most active transit hub on the planet. It served both surface and interplanetary travel. The plan was for him to grab a shuttle to Pyroeis from here. That's where the plan ended. He'd need to connect with one of Runar's operatives somewhere along the way. If this operation was like those prior, the meeting would occur on the shuttle itself.

Part of his prep for any mission was familiarizing himself with planet traffic. That included shuttle and commuter patterns. Horus Station was much busier than he expected. Assuming it was related to the event, he added that as a variable to his calculations.

He worked his way from the transit tube into the station proper. To blend in, he stuck close to a few of the fellow travelers from the pod. They climbed an escalator from the tube platform. As they moved upward, they passed many more people heading down. He wondered if these were new arrivals. If they were, they couldn't be here because of the event. It was too soon for that.

At the top of the escalator was a much larger space than he expected. The crowds in the long concourse made blending in easier. As he navigated the kiosk and terminal traffic, he glanced up at the vid screens. Alerts dominated the feeds with talking heads and graphics. While he couldn't hear them, he could tell they were discussing the event. At one point, he caught a glimpse of the crater on a vid screen.

That was the topic in the crowd as well. Everywhere he walked he heard whispers about it. He tried to listen in to a few conversations, but found them just speculative. No one in the crowd knew more than they'd seen on the vids.

Some of the conversations were about the tremor. It was felt much further away than he realized. Like most planets, Phaethon didn't have tectonic plates. Any rumble would have sparked panic. This helped him further understand the tension.

A nearby group speculated that one of the many construction platforms had fallen. Kishan recalled seeing a few of these on entry. None of them were large enough to have caused more than a localized shock. The variety of speculation just fueled further conjecture. Here were thousands of people trapped on a dusty wasteland. None of them understood why. That would work in his favor.

He reached the ticketing counter. He could arrange travel through his comm device, but he felt being seen might be better. There were few manned ticketing stations. Each of them had a long queue. Even the automated stations were backed up. He realized that the facility hadn't anticipated the rush either. All indicators pointed to the event.

Rather than wait, he pivoted. He would handle flight arrangements remotely after all. He pulled up his comm device and reviewed his options. The next three shuttles leaving for Pyroeis were all full. He pulled up the facility's departure board. All flights – even private vessels – were grounded. This must have further increased the tension in the building. It also presented him with few options.

He wondered how long the lock-down would continue. He had to assume the order came from local authorities. The Damasos were likely also involved. If they weren't, the floating phaethonium would certainly get them engaged. Once the big boys arrived, it might take several days to bring enough agents to the planet. He could be stuck here for better than a week. Not a good prospect.