In one of the rougher areas somewhere on Helios, a group of men sat around a table as they chatted and played a game.
In their hands were a half dozen cards. There were complex symbols on each of them, and all were unique.
There were more cards in the middle of the table, and they were arranged in a grid. However, they were laid out similar to dominoes, where they chained into each other and made an interesting, sprawling pattern going in every direction.
Hovering above the cards was a transparent hologram that displayed the current size of the pot.
It was high.
It got even higher when one of the card players increased his bet a great amount.
“Pallas,” he said.
“Yeah, Andy?”
“You remember that little treat from a few cycles ago?”
Pallas looked up from his cards at Andy, and saw
