Blue Madness

The Spacedock Saint

'Wo es bar?'

Jade yawned like a cat, taking time to roll his stiff shoulders back and shimmy the pins and needles out of his legs. The professionalism of Spacedox Infodeck in all its sullen adolescent glory. A tall barrel chested figure tapped impatiently on the kiosk window. He was the kind of handsome only money could buy. 

Clearly a Chroma, probably born on a conglomerate founded planet. Jade gave him the once over. Clear green eyes, healthy complexion, cultivated physique, still soft skin. Closer to seven feet than six. Made to seek glory on the battlefield for sure, but likely to survive.

Jade asked him what kind of bar he wanted, though the attendant could already tell by the passport in hand. He relayed the Moysanti directions to Cantina on the Corner of Providence and Virtue. Every one just called it the Canti. It was in fact a block away from Providence, the spiritual hub of the spaceport. In between that and the red district. The best of both worlds but still relatively safe.

Obviously used to niceties, the man inclined his head, 'Danke.'

'Bi hao,' Jade's attention was already on his dataslab. He sighed when another Chroma sidled up to the Infodeck window dressed in a fur lined coat. She was well made too. All dark curls and sultry but damaged expression. She had legs for days and smelled quite strongly of vanilla.

'I need to change the date for a starcruise to Generis-Ultra.'

The woman snorted when he gestured to a standing dataslab next to the kiosk.

'Can't you do it?', she asked. As though she didn't have an innumerable amount of time in the universe to deal with such a trivial task.

'What changes?' Jade asked with a practiced mask. Her doe eyes barely regarded his presence as her traveldeck waved over the window panel.

'Re-book for the 17th instead of tomorrow. Don't care how much it costs...' before he could finish the task, 'and call ahead to the Luthien. Tell them to send a hover. I'm not walking all the way there.'

She said this with an eye roll. As though she couldn't run a whole lap around the spaceport without breaking a sweat. With a lazy swing of the hips, she left toward a hover stand. Didn't seem to mind using droid labor to transport her luggage either.

Probably an heiress. Jade's jaw clenched, Bet she'll get bored with the world in a few decades and top herself. Good riddance.

He eyed the golden Mech Droid manually carting square luggage bags for its master. It was skinless. Non sentient. To make Androids and free Cyborgs feel less guilty. Humans could care less. Since most Androids came with assertive personalities to lessen the chances of exploitation; if it didn't talk back, it was free game.

He ordered the hover shuttle and returned to his personal handheld dataslab.

>Square lug bags >...>

> ? ajibe

>Ya... so weird! Mus be a hipster, ke?

> oh XD

He grinned.

> Jadis?

The grin faded with a sigh and reflexive eye roll. Not for the first or the fifth or even the last time.

>Ya...

> Can I get some cred?

>No. I like u but u still owe me

If Annis were standing in front of him all bright eyed and full of unbridled charm, Jade wouldn't have been so abrupt to his friend. If that's what she was.

> kk hope u find brein back there

>mwah may amiga

> choke on em... ;)

As expected, she didn't message him after that. The thought almost made him laugh. A haggard looking new arrival exchanged currency and bought premium access to the station's Net Hub. He was thin and good humored. Two middle aged couples asked for restaurant recommendations and he fielded questions from a short but imposing young woman. 

She wanted to know everything under the sun. Best and worst areas, prices for just about anything you could buy in the spacestation, what benign activities were illegal there. She even asked about the red district. She also scoffed at the standing data slab, citing authenticity as her goal. By the end of it all, Jade wished for a can of cold fresh water and a better life.

3112.17 hours

Nearly free. A beep make him look down again.

>What

He replied to Annu again.

> Can u take my shift plis

>??

> Emeraude fone me to work. Plis, I give u 250

>You owe me 500 anyways

> Boy fine. 1000 we even

>Ya, hao fortuna

> Ha boy I don' need luck, i gotta nice face ;) you a Sante

Jade laughed. Saint my ass. But true to her word, Annis sent the credits she promised. 

3130 came... and it went. He stretched again, before popping the tab on a water can.

*** *** *** 

A/N (Edited): Wow, this story is old. I haven't been on this account in ages, and i lost literally all my notes for this book. I'll continue slowly, because it still interests me. But it'll take some time.

                                                                              ~~~

A/N (Before edit) : How was that? I still don't fully know what should happen. I'm really not much of a writer especially with plots/ character motivation. It's all down to laziness/ overthinking. And I like author inserts, unicorns, rainbows and bunnies... If anyone cares to tell me their opinion: Do you  think the spaceport should be above Mars, Earth or further afield?

Also, the language featured in this chapter is a conlang called Lingwa de Planeta/ LdP. It was created by a group of enthusiasts led by Dmitri Ivanov in 2006.

Am I gonna keep writing author's notes? Yes. Do I care rn? No. I'll even tell you what I had for breakfast this morning. Burger and chips + cornflakes with brown sugar... hahaha I have no social life.