Fantasy Vs Reality | The Tear

16: Time To Recruit! Part 2

The ride was a bit scary at first, it was like driving in a car that could travel up to three thousand miles per hour, and could move freely up in the air. Orion's face was expressionless the entire way out of the docks of the ship. I had to shield my eyes as the difference in the light hurt. Once my eyes adjusted, I squinted and felt my jaw drop.

The spaceport was like an enormous dome, sitting on what looked like an old, crusty asteroid. There was a ring around the massive asteroid the port sat on, like the outskirts of a city. The ring was like a flat disc with buildings that seemed to continue endlessly. And sitting at the very top of the asteroid looked like an enormous, futuristic castle with all sorts of machines and droids and things entering and exiting the high spires of the port's station. 

This place was practically a province than a port. Coal seemed to have noticed how awestruck I was because he laughed slightly.

"This place is nothing like the Neon Empire Capital." He said staring out the window of the cockpit, he was lightly grasping Orion's chair. "This place could sit on the capital's little finger."

My mouth dropped even farther to the floor, trying to think of what could possibly be bigger than a place like this. The place was bigger than the cities of New York and Chicago combined. It was as if Earth had split in half to leap into space and become a spaceport.

"W-what is the spaceport called?" I asked quietly to Coal, I tried to swallow my nagging hatred towards him since we needed to work together.

"Spaceport Regate Intergalactica." Orion said before Coal could say anything. I nodded, trying my best to remember.

Orion deftly guided the spacecraft through the spaceport. It seemed to speed up as we went high up into the air and then started lowering slowly. It reminded me of how my parents merged onto a freeway. At high speed Orion merged into an organized line of other spaceships close to this ones size. I looked up and realized smaller, faster crafts flew by, and then I looked down to see even larger spacecrafts going at slower speeds.

What an interesting way to organize and keep things efficient. I thought. The future or whatever this was... was definitely all about efficiency and order. We eventually merged out of the lines of traffic, heading out away from the masses of crafts. As I looked closely, I noticed there was a fine line of colored light guiding the exit of the spacecraft. Thin metal infrastructures held them up and together. No wonder the crafts seemed to organized without fail. There were near invisible "street" markers around and I hadn't even noticed them. 

"Alright, did Marcus mention anything about where to possibly find them?" Orion asked looking slightly disgruntled and tired. 

I shook my head. "No, but I would presume either of you would recognize some of the names right?" I pulled out the list and showed it to Coal. He gently took it out of my hand and read through it.

"I recognize a few of these names." Coal said, I was unsure if he sounded sad, depressed, or angry. He jabbed a furry finger at the small and slightly crumpled paper and grimaced as he spoke a name off the list.

"I remember Charlie all too well." He growled. "Charlie is the grouchiest, angriest leopard you could ever come across. He has this thick accent and he's always yelling." 

Coal's gaze wondered off for a moment, then he gently handed back the list. "I don't want any part of having to deal with a few of those off that list. I've had too many run-ins with their... other friends. We're not going to find Charlie or Zion here."

I frowned. "How could you be so sure?"

Coal unconsiously rubbed the back of his neck, where a large patch of scar tissue remains. He grimaced ever so slightly. "I just know is all." His tone was quick and short, almost monotonous. His pupils turned to slits for a second and then came back to normal. His attitude was completely different for a brief moment.