Katelyn Lakynn Medley

  Socializer Relative

  Level 258

  REP: 45/100

  SB: 95%

  EB: 80%

  MB: 90%

  Flaw Level 16

  FP: 7/10

  Most space stations orbiting Earth, all belonging to the famous Station Line, were essentially their own cities in the atmosphere. All fifteen of them orbited around Earth like a spiral, gradually increasing in distance from the planet.

  Three of them were the famed Earthian prisons holding the deadliest convicts on the planet— mostly aliens sneaking onto Earth to get away from their own planets’ punishments for their crimes.

  The prisons were far too overcrowded, with many prisoners waiting for their own planets’ authorities to escort them back home, banned from ever entering their territory again until they completed the sentence for their actions. Even the notoriously harsh SECURE programs and guards couldn’t hold against all of them.

  With the stations’ proximity to each other, the citizens would often find themselves besieged by escapees trying to cross the Station Line, bouncing from habitat to habitat until they got to the one closest to Earth. Every station had launcher pods to send people back down, but they were less likely to be intercepted if they were closer to the planet’s atmosphere. To dodge SECURE, they would often take hostages so they wouldn’t be arrested or shot down.

  If Katelyn’s family knew she worked in a dangerous place like this, she’d probably be locked down in her house and never allowed to see the sun again. Calista, in particular, would bug out of worry and panic at the thought of Katelyn being so close to the most dangerous prisons on Earth, and her mother would probably die of embarrassment and cry about her fans finding out.

  Working at one of the stations on the Line was bad enough. She shuddered at the thought of them finding out the whole truth.

  Genesis X, the tenth in a long series of stations and the only one out of them that remained in orbit, was one of the worst stations in the Line, only three habitats away from the first prison. Katelyn had found a bartending position there just a year ago, after the Sociapalooza that started rumors about her sister being a ‘rager’. Her mother had blamed her for the incident, as if she asked that strange girl to attack her.

  Upset with how her mother had yelled at her, showing that stupid viewer tracker that proved all the idiotic fans agreed, she had run away. Temporarily free from spying micro-cameras, she’d gone to the launchers and plugged in a random route that led her to Genesis X.

  She had found the Cosmos bar by accident. It was hidden behind a projected wall in the station’s Studitorium, which she had leaned on and fallen through when a patron carelessly exited without checking if someone was watching.

  Next thing she knew, she was telling her parents she got a job at a historical museum, making a Mask to hide her identity, and typing up new ID codes that presented her as Seema Crockett, an adult Mearthian woman (half-Martian, half-Earthian) with pale gray skin, black sclerae, and a long, red braid that reached her waist. Her uniform was quite simple; a plain, gray full bodysuit with slits along the curves of her waist and a deep neckline. She told the fans the museum didn’t allow broadcasting, freeing her from any micro-cameras.

  Katelyn stared at the glittering globe of silver surrounded by three glowing metal rings, strongly resembling Saturn. The launcher capsule slowly approached the station and locked itself onto one of the doors. “Welcome to Genesis X, Seema Crocket,” the computer announced. Her UI changed to her alternative self, changing the reputation and beauty stats to regular life stats:

  Seema Crockett

  Bartender

  Life Level 202

  XP: 64/100

  HP (Health): 100/100

  EP (Energy): 89/100

  RP (Reputation): 134

  She knew that her blond bob and green eyes were completely hidden now. The Level was inflated, of course, to make her appear older. In reality, she’d be a Level 40 or so in terms of life experience.

  She walked to the grand atrium, which buzzed with movement and chatter. People of many species, full and mixed alike, gathered in a mélange of languages and colors. To her left, she’d see a group of green-skinned Paeseoans with thick suits made of stringy material; to her right, a shirtless Mercurian showing off his rocky skin and wearing black pants with glowing, colored patterns. Holo-screens illuminated the space with bright and colorful advertisements. Different tunnels led out to the residences, eateries, clothing stores, and other services.

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  There was a mix of Versus Games and Planetary Leader ads all over the atrium. The latter ads were hacked, showing distorted freeze shots of Whitley Geanna— her perfectly symmetrical face was deformed, her platinum hair was disheveled, and a disturbing smile split across her face. The caption ‘MASKY GLITCH’ hovered across her.

  That was an understatement, in Katelyn’s opinion.

  Katelyn noticed a significant increase of armed guards and SECURE drones compared to her last shift. Her answer appeared on one of the holo-screens: ‘CAUTION: Escaped convicts on the loose. Exercise vigilance’.

  The convicts’ faces were shown on the biggest screens the atrium had to offer, showing the citizens who to look for: a bald Seeyastian woman with hot pink skin and a long nose; an Emitonian man with the iconic large forehead and large, black eyes that stared into one’s soul; a huge, bulky Earthian man with nutty skin, a sword tattoo on his cheek, and penetrating green eyes; and a Mercearthian man with snow-white, pebbly skin and spiky black hair.

  Katelyn wasn’t too worried about these convicts. The strongest one of those four would probably be the Emitonian, with his telekinetic abilities. With Irenna Kalley’s murder having taken place just a year ago, there was still a lot of anti-Emitonian sentiment floating around from Versus fans on the stations, so he’d have a lot of opposition if he wasn’t careful.

  The Mercearthian would have a Mercurian’s fire abilities, but they would be much weaker than a full-blooded Mercurian. Seeyastians were much like Earthians and Paeseoans; they had no special abilities or powers. One of their defining characteristics was their hair; it was alive, changing colors based on their mood, but it didn’t really count as an ability since it did nothing for self-defense or offense. They were one of the slave species before the War of Ten.

  If the convicts were Hajjian or Klausian, she would’ve skipped work. She had to deal with enough of those species bursting into flames or ice in a bar fight.

  She went into the Studitorium, passing various people reading on their AIDA bands or silently reading in study capsules, and navigated to a blank wall. Pressing the silver wristband to the surface, she disabled the fake wall and entered the hidden Cosmos bar that had escaped the overworked SECURE drones so far. AIDA bands were usually for working, receiving important information, or researching, but Katelyn had discovered something more useful hidden in its code.

  Task Complete: Check into Cosmos shift

  Task In Progress: Complete shift

  There were plenty of bars for Earthian citizens, but they were bound by laws such as: ‘Cross-species alcoholic beverages are strictly forbidden’. For instance, a Mercurian beer could get an Earthian blackout drunk after just a couple of sips. But people loved to take the chance at drinking poison, so hidden, hacked bars were set up throughout the stations over the years, and with how overpopulated and crime-infested they were, SECURE wouldn’t waste their breath over some interspecies cheap thrills.

  Katelyn worked the bar on weekdays, from eleven in the morning to seven in the evening. Being an unauthorized bar, there was no AIDA to do the bartending for Cosmos. Her family could check her location, but they’d see her at the museum. Thankfully, her parents probably wouldn’t care enough to check that frequently, and the fans didn’t care as much about her as they did Calista.

  She did try the museum, but they required a certificate in Earth History, which Katelyn wasn’t really interested in studying. She was more into virtual architecture, but her mother wasn’t keen on paying for her to go to school, more focused on Calista’s NYWS career, and even her father thought it would be too hard of a path for her.

  Most other careers were dominated by other species that were considered much smarter than Earthians, especially Emitonians and Voraxians. It was one of the reasons Indiana’s buildings were so boring; their Earthian architects couldn’t come up with anything other than cubism.

  She would work at Cosmos for as long as it took so she could pay for school. It paid well for an unauthorized job, and the few tips from the masky customers that frequented the bar were quite generous. Masking herself as an attractive Martian definitely helped.

  “Medium Cosmic Fluke, please.” One of her regular customers, Scaaskal, sat at the counter, his shock of spiked, neon green hair blinding Katelyn, as always. It was far too bright against the dull gray of his skin and the empty blackness of his eyes. He was another patron that was too young to be drinking legally. For some reason, unlike most underage customers, he never used a Mask. When Katelyn had asked, he simply said, “My real face is safer than my Mask,” without any further explanation.

  She generated the drink for Scaaskal and watched for new customers. Above his head, his full name appeared:

  Scaaskal Tira

  Cosmos Customer

  Level 245

  She knew his Level was inflated, but he was probably not far off from the real Level. He’d always hinted to her about having a harsh past and upbringing.

  “You look upset,” Scaaskal observed.

  “Why would I be upset?” Katelyn asked.

  “Family troubles?” he asked, taking a long draft of his Martian beer. “I’m sorry, Sati. But you’re running a dead code.”

  “I overheard her and Mom on the broadcast this morning. She wants her to balloon her arms for that stupid dance. She’s going to be in pain the whole time, and she doesn’t handle pain well.”

  “If she’s going through that much alteration, she might not even be fit to fight anymore,” Scaaskal pointed out.

  “No, she can still do it. It hasn’t been that long since she last trained. She’s just too scared of Mom and her brainless fans to go for it.”

  “Sati, if she’s willing to give up so easily, she’s not the type. The Games aren’t for quitters,” he said gently, using the Martian-Eseti word for ‘cat’. When she first met him, he had a stronger Martian accent, so he would call her ‘Cat-lyn’ instead of Katelyn.

  She had also mispronounced; Katelyn rhymed his name with ‘Pascal’ for a few months until he finally corrected her one day: “It’s Skah-skull. Like a pirate.” He’d given her a wink and that familiar smile that Katelyn always liked to see. He was born and raised on Mars, then moved to Earth for his ‘business’— Katelyn wasn’t sure what ‘business’ it was, but it definitely wasn’t something SECURE would take kindly to. She thought it best to not ask further questions if she didn’t want to be in more danger than she already was in.

  “Why don’t you try it out?” he suggested. “You’re good at fighting.”

  Katelyn shook her head. “I’m not the fighter, Scaaskal. I don’t want what Cali wants. My mom would still care if it hurts her precious rep. I’m not the heiress, but I’m still her kid.”

  “Come on. You’re good at it. Just the other day, you slammed that Mercurian on the counter. Got some nice RP for it, too.”

  “Because of the taser. I can’t take someone that strong all on my own.” She flashed the white, rectangular taser strapped to her belt, which she used to de-escalate bar fights if they interfered with her job or threatened patrons’ lives.

  “You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for,” Scaaskal said, sipping again.

  Katelyn smirked. He sounded like he was saying ‘ribbit’, like an Earthian frog, when he said words like ‘credit’. She used to think his accent was strange, but she’d gotten used to it quickly.

  “In the end, it’s up to her, Seema,” he continued, using her alias. “Calista is nearly of age for your people. You cannot apply to the competition for her. If she doesn’t trust herself, then how will she survive? Fighters need to be confident in their abilities.”

  Katelyn leaned on the counter, staring at the HARP across the bar, which had Whitley Geanna’s opponent, Thiki Burna, projected in a hologram. Curious, she tuned in.