Shoshone Station: The Galactic Consortium season 2

Episode One: Not a Good Day to Die #14

When they arrived at the bottom court to work, they found Dhanvin there with three Native American men about their age. Sara was overjoyed to have "a real crew, finally."

The day before they had driven all day and barely made a single pass of the court. Between the added crew and the fact that they were slowly spiraling inward, they made almost a full pass in the morning and were eating space at a much accelerated rate.

Achi did not put in a second appearance. Instead one of the native boys said they could come back to the Shoshone section for lunch. The section was as bustling with life as the rest of the station was empty. They followed Charley through a maze of crowded corridors to find the three bedroom apartment he shared with his two sisters.

His older sister, a woman in her mid twenties with two kids of her own, had made fry bread and taco meat for them. The three natives explained the sport of snowboarding to Tapanga while they ate.

"As soon as I can go to the surface, I must try this," he told them.

Sophia ate quietly. She could imagine that Tapanga would be a natural at snowboarding, he seemed to have a natural grace.

Sophia kept catching the older woman checking her out. It wasn't the outright hostility that people like her parent's would have had, but there was an uncertainty behind the woman's eyes, like she was trying to figure out which box Sophia belonged in. It made her wonder again what options she had for transition here in the consortium.

"When we finish polishing the floor, then what?" Sophia asked Sara as they made their way back to work. "Do we have to find new jobs?"

"By the watcher, I hope not," Sara said. "Polishing is only the first step. I will need some maintenance people to help with the utilities but I will still need plenty of laborers. I have stalls to erect, tables to place, plants, platforms, you name it."

Sophia nodded and assured Sara she wasn't planning on looking for a new job. She was enjoying the work she was doing.

When they got back, Sophia was on the end of the line. She was shocked at how close to the center podium they had already come.

One of the native men had introduced Tapanga to an earthside pop hit and with Sara's somewhat reluctant approval they played it was they drove. All four boys were soon moving their heads to the beat.

Sophia looked away and saw the elevator arriving from down below. It paused temporarily on their level. A man got out. He was skinny, almost emaciated. He was dressed in a long tattered black trench coat. His hair was short, dark and patchy. His cheeks were sunken and his face pale.

He stepped off the platform and stared about the wide court in awe. Then he toppled, collapsing in a heap.

"Hey," Sophia shouted. She leaped from the scrubber before it had come to a full halt and was running across the space.

The man's eyes fluttered open as Sophia rolled him on to his back. His face was sallow and slick with sweat. He seemed sick, but there was no blood, nothing obviously wrong with him. She could hear the sounds of running feet as the others came over.

"It's going to be okay," she told the man.

That earned a short bitter laugh. The man gulped, licked his lips and spoke. "No, I'm dying. But I made it. By god, I made it to space." He laughed again.

Sophia looked up. She thought about the day she came up. There was one disease that she knew of that left men emaciated and wasted. She had it, too. "Maybe we can get you over to the window," she said. "Let you look down. It's quite a view."