She shook away the thought, then laughed nervously. “Shit,” she said. “So what jobs can we do now? Or should we get used to the idea that anyone we work for could turn out to be super goddamned crooked?” “Ah, I didn’t mean to alarm you,” said Amal. “I doubt they were bombs. Probably. Right? Otherw
The doors to one of thousands of Helios’ Police & Security Stations opened with a SWISH. Like most of the other government buildings in Helios, these were relatively nondescript. Large, unassuming, and plain, they didn’t do much to stand out among the rest. Eva, Miko, and Amal all walked out, foll
“Yeah, we figured we’d see what sort of contracts even pop up out there, you know?” said Amal. “We’ve got a lot of skills that we could put to use. Stuff like flying, building, healing.” “Also stuff like hunting, finding, capturing,” added Eva. “Or stealing, hacking, implanting,” said Miko. “What
“I definitely hate paperwork,” said Eva. “Especially when I’ve gotta fill out those god-awful bounty claim forms. Can’t you all make those more streamlined? I mean, that’s too many initials and signatures just to beat up a few bad dudes.” “Yes! Exactly! See, I love filling out forms!” Claire cried
The Toymaker sat hunched over his workspace in his quiet little shop and tinkered with one of his many delicate toys. With a jeweler’s loupe in front of one eye, he gently aligned springs and sprockets in place with unwavering precision. His hands, aged as they were, held onto his delicate tweezers
“Exactly why we’re doing this, you know?” said Amal. “Since there’s hordes of thieving jackasses out there already, least we could do is even things up. The galaxy won’t do anything to hurt or help them either, so it’s all on us.” The Toymaker chuckled with amusement at her naivete. As though three
“Don’t get me wrong,” said the Toymaker. “There will be abuse happening. People at the bottom will want to escape from their lives. It doesn’t matter if they’re getting shot at, or doing the shooting. Life is hard everywhere, especially out in the colonies. When life’s full of pain, people will want
A salesman in a wonderfully-pressed semi-formal outfit slapped a hand on the hull of the used ship next to him. “This bird can fit up to 900 cubic meters of standard goods,” he said, “such as your traditional flour noodle dish with delicious homemade red sauce poured on top.” Eva, Miko, and Amal a