Gateway Worlds

Assimilation - 1

Six months of hard work and the results were becoming obvious. Maria slipped into the darkness of the building as the second sun hit the edge of the horizon. With a slower rotation, the overall year had nearly twice as many days but there was no winter to speak of, at least not from what she'd gathered. Today felt nearly the same as the day she'd arrived, albeit slightly more humid as they came into the planet's rainy season. Daylight hours stretched between sixteen and twenty with at least six to ten of night giving her plenty of time to accomplish both sleep and work.

Maria had stayed out a bit later than usual tonight to get a few things done, one in particular, had to be done during a small window of time. She gazed down at the handful of jewelry she's just acquired. Compared with the diamonds and rubies back home, these didn't manifest the same luster in the dying light, but the swirl of grainy color that marked the precious stones made them no less valuable. For a moment, the thief wondered what it would feel like to own something like this outright, but the reality was, it didn't matter. They would get her where she wanted to go.

Pushing the jewels into the depths of her hiding spot amid a myriad of other valuable items collected in recent days, Maria determined to leave in a week. She had enough time to fence a few of the less recognizable pieces before she would need to make her escape into a new portion of the outer cities. One or two more good hauls and she'd have enough to pay her way into the walled city. A degree wasn't the only method for entry, she'd learned.

Despite the near darkness of her living space, and the fact that no one else had ever intruded on her here, Maria felt the need to hide her loot and move away from it as quickly as possible. She felt safer with it buried out of sight and out of mind. Once she entered the walled city she'd have to mend her ways and go straight, but living straight in the outer cities had proved impossible. Justice here fell back on the old adage of every man for himself. Maria found this out the hard way when she left the bathhouse only to find her boots and heavy duty clothing gone.

Finding the perpetrator took only a few hours, but she had no boss to help her regain her lost possessions, and an appeal to Jupiter met with a shake of the head, 'You should be more careful with your things.' Maria growled low as she thought. It had taken her nearly two weeks to steal her possessions back, only to have the woman turn right around and sick her lower-boss on Maria. Maria found herself stripped of the only possessions she'd owned and right back in the proverbial mud. Luckily she'd gained enough of a reputation to get back on her feet. Thieving as a profession came only a few days later.

"Stop what you're doing." A hand grabbed her out of the darkness.

Maria froze. She had to fight herself to stop from screaming, muffling it back to a small squeak of fear.

The hand on her arm tightened just slightly, as if in surprise, "Little Mouse?"

Maria could make out enough of the shape in front of her to know he faced her, but not much more. A small green light played near the figure's eyes. Was he wearing some sort of night vision goggles? Maria hadn't seen anything that technologically advanced within the outer city. Her second surprise was in the nickname he'd used.

She tried hard to pull forward the man's name, "Uh, you're Slivers or Bowtie or something, right?"

The man chuckled in the darkness, "Ribbons actually."

"Right, well, if you don't mind, Ribbons, this place has been my home for a while now, so I'd like to sleep if possible." Maria tried not to show her panic in her words. If he had night vision goggles he would be more than capable of finding her stash. She didn't do much beyond a basic covering because she'd never anticipated night vision goggles.

"Little Mouse," he twisted the nickname on his tongue with amusement, "You've made a bit of a name for yourself, you know, and not in a good way."

"What do you mean?" She worked hard not to glance toward her hidden stash.

"You've used the Pirate's name to protect yourself several times. Do you really consider yourself part of his crew?"

Maria's voice remained guarded, "Not particularly."

"So he's just a convenient name for you?" He still seemed amused, but with an edge of warning.

"He's the biggest Boss around, no one messes with him."

"The perfect decoy then?"

She felt a strange need to defend herself. It was one thing to be a thief, but another to be called one. "Look, the first time was a mistake. He attended some Boss' conference and started throwing money around pretty liberally. I got my hands on some, moved to the next town, and they just assumed I worked for him because of the mint. I didn't dissuade them because it made my life a lot easier, but I never agreed to it either."

"Do you really think he's so big he doesn't know who works for him anymore?"

"Does it matter?"

"The first time may have been an accident, but the second time? What about the third? When you spoke with Jupiter you specifically told him you were on an errand for the Pirate so that he would release you."

"So what?" She answered her own question as her face flushed, "the Pirate is your Boss?"

"The point is, I know that your goal is to get past the wall, and I'd like to give you a bit of advice: if you tick off enough bosses on this side you'll never make it. Right now, the Pirate is letting you use his name, but he's also watching you, and if you continue to steal from the Bosses, then try to get out of trouble using his name as a cover, there will be repercussions."

"So you're here to warn me to lay off, is that it?"

Ribbons crossed his arms over his chest, "Partly, but mostly I'm here to take back what you've stolen. I didn't realize it was you doing the stealing, but now that I know I'm definitely giving you a warning. There are certain Bosses who would be willing to help you. You don't need to steal your way there, but you've already offended about half of them. Keep going and you're likely to die an early death."

As he spoke, Ribbons pulled her roughly to her feet and began searching her sides and pockets with one hand. Maria batted him away, "Don't touch me. You have no right to accuse me of anything, and it wouldn't matter anyway. Everything I had was stolen from me a few weeks after I got here, anything I've gained since then rightly belongs to me just like my shoes belong on the feet of the thief who took them."

"Why didn't you go get them back?" Ribbons continued his crude search and when she continued to fight he finally knocked her to the floor to better contain her flailing limbs. Nothing seemed to dissuade him.

"I tried," she spit bitterly, "Jupiter told me that I should keep a better eye on my possessions and walked away."

"Well, that is one of the downsides of trying to go it solo, there's no one to watch your back." He seemed to have finished the preliminary search and lifted himself to the balls of his feet, "Where's the stuff?"

Maria huffed, pushing herself up on her elbows. He still stood over her. "Even if I knew what you were talking about, I wouldn't tell you anything."

"Is that so? You've got a mighty stubborn streak, don't you?"

"Get out, leave me alone. I need to sleep."

"Little Mouse, I'm going to give you one last piece of advice. My nicknames weren't given to me lightly. I always get what I want, and people who get in my way tend to disappear."

"I just assumed Ribbons came from the way you like to do your hair when you think you're alone." She hadn't been a rude child, but something about becoming a criminal seemed to have changed her a bit. She didn't even feel her normal guilt as she spit out the insult.

The man leaned forward until she could feel the heat of his breath, "Not even close, it's a reminder of what my victims look like once I'm done with them."