Time Traveler Part I (Feeling Like The World Forgot Me)

Chapter 8

"Inhale slowly."

Ben followed Zach's instruction, not noticing anything unusual. By now he was used to the burning he felt every time he took a breath.

"Any pain?"

Ben shook his head, "Nothing that wasn't already there."

Zach nodded at Ali. "Should be all good, then."

"One hundred credits, right?" Ali asked, taking a small rectangular device out of an inner pocket and tapping the screen.

Zach frowned. "Come on, man, it's ninety for friends."

"Oops, too late."

A nearby terminal dinged and Zach rolled his eyes. "We'll keep everything we removed for a full rotation," he told Ben, "If you notice any weird side effects, come back and we'll see if we took out anything that should've been left in. Sometimes things are wired weirdly and integrated into essential systems when they shouldn't be, though we did check and I couldn't see anything wrong."

Ben nodded, though he didn't think he had enough time left for something like that to matter. "I'll keep an eye out."

"Is that everything?" Zach asked, glancing at Ali.

"I think Patty needed something looked at as well..."

"Cody will take care of it."

"Right..." Ali looked at Ben. "I suppose we'll be off, then. We have a few things to do while we're out here."

"See you around."

Zsashos V was...strange. The aesthetic had moved from pretentious minimalist bullshit to patchwork neon clutter, and though a lot of the structure as he'd known it was still there as far as he'd seen, there was so much that had been added on later that the station as a whole was unrecognisable. Much of the population was, too. He wondered how many civilisations had achieved space travel since he'd gone under.

"Oi, watch it, cunt!"

Ben jumped back, recognising the person he'd nearly kicked as osai. "Sorry."

The black and white feathered person, who barely came up to Ben's knees, clicked their beak irritably and waddled off into what looked like a holographic strip club.

This part of the station was dark enough that the club had set up two holo cages just outside its doors, an osai holo flickering and becoming a human as Ben and Ali passed to blow a kiss at them. When had multicoloured holos become possible? And when had they gotten so lifelike?

Ali gave Ben as many opportunities to sit down as possible on their way back towards the core, taking trams and elevators where Ben suspected he would normally walk. Even still, the journey was tiring for him and he missed how easy running used to be.

"Had the Library already been added before you were frozen?" Ali asked.

A fucking library? "No."

"I think the Order of the Six Gods set it up. They run it now, at least. It's probably the nicest place on the whole station, they keep it so tidy."

"I remember the Order." They'd been a small group, unpopular with a lot of governments since some of their gods were Truth and Knowledge. "They were peaceful back then. I guess that's probably changed if they're surviving here."

Ali shook his head. "Maybe that's why they're surviving. They believe in giving people free stuff, everyone knows if you fuck with them you're a piece of shit. A few gangs protect them now because they use the Library so much."

"For what?"

"Drug recipes, probably."

The Library was just as clean as Ali had said. Ben hadn't seen walls that glossy since before he'd gone under. The huge doorway, probably designed so that anyone could easily get in regardless of species, made no effort to hide the massive interior, the shelves upon shelves of files reaching far up to the ceiling.

Ali waved to an individual in yellow robes. "Excuse me."

Ben looked between the priest and Ali, wondering if they were zahath. Ali didn't have the talons or the intimidating beak, but the fine feathers of his beard and the larger ones on his head seemed similar to the priest's.

"How may I help you?" the priest chirped.

"We're looking for some old stuff about the station, actually. From when it orbited...what was it, Ben?"

"Kestruna. Iphion's moon."

The priest nodded. "We keep all our files about the station right there," they said, gesturing to a group of terminals in the middle of the room and leading them over, "Are you looking for anything in particular?"

"Court documents," Ben answered, "From the trials of the researchers that originally worked here."

"Interesting choice." The priest tapped at the keyboard in front of a terminal. "Would you like those downloaded to a personal harddrive?"