Cigne Part 2

Getting caught in The City would normally get you exiled to the eastern provinces with just the clothes on your back. There, if you were lucky, you would be killed, your organs harvested and what remained of your body fed to the wild dogs. If you fell into the hands of a slave hunter, you would spend the rest of your life wishing the dogs had taken you.

However, one of the many things that kept Patch hanging with Morgan, in spite of her temper, was her City Pass. To get one was near impossible, you’d have to pay millions in gold coins, threaten to kill someone or sleep with the right official. Which method she used, Patch could only guess at, though he did know that Morgan never willingly parted with gold.

Weapons were not allowed in The City so they buried theirs a few miles outside the walls, and left their horses at a special stable just for visitors. Once they were waved through the gate, they visited a rental clothing store, where they exchanged their provincial garb for more appropriate clothing. On the way out they would exchange back and take a small loss as the fee.

Now dressed to blend in, they walked a few blocks before queuing for a tram that would take them crosstown to their destination. They left the tram and walked up to the entryway of a nondescript post-rev office tower. Morgan’s retina was scanned, and Patch had to submit a DNA sample which was matched against a database of approved day-pass visitors. Morgan could stay indefinitely, but since Patch was a guest on her pass he had to leave at sunset. The penalty for being caught without a pass after sunset was imprisonment where you’d be tortured to make sure you weren’t a spy. If you were a spy you’d be killed for being a spy. If you weren’t a spy, you’d wind up another eastern province exile.

Dodge Bledsoe walked over. ”There you are! I’ve missed you, my cutthroats! Come on up and we’ll do a debrief.” Patch handed him a small rucksack they’d been carrying and they followed him into a glass lift that rocketed them up to the 75th floor. As they exited the elevator Morgan spied a drink cart and took a long draught from a bottle of something very expensive. Patch laughed. Dodge grimaced.

“Gimme a moment and I’ll have these sent over for testing. It won’t be long.”

Morgan gave Dodge a smile. She wasn’t flirting. ”It better not be. I can’t stand being in this hell-hole. It makes you wonder who actually won this thing.”

“I don’t think you can say anyone actually won.”

Morgan caught a young man checking her out and slapped him on the rear end as he walked by.  “Why do they always run away like that? I’m cute right?” She pouted, which on her came out like a snarl. Then she gestured at a group of uniformly attractive women by the drink cart. ”No one won. And yet here you are. Rough duty is it?”

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