Premonition

Chapter #1: NX7

***Mecha Space Station Hospital, 6:00pm***

As the blue color from the artificial ceiling in the station’s sky yielded to orange dusk, many of the patrons in the streets hurried home. Curfew was solid 7:00pm and enforced rigorously by police. This was to curb the increasing levels of crime at Mecha Space Station. Situated as one of Earth’s farthest living stations – on the edge of the nearest quasar, Mecha Station’s role for Earth was energy collection. Having had bio-engineered the mechanics to convert light energy to biological energy in humans, Earth currently used Mecha Station to collect the massive amounts of light energy from the quasar. It was a tedious task and everyone on the station was employed for work. However, the station did not have without its flaws. The leader of the station, President Fox, had found out through surveys that many of his workers were starved of off -time and overworked. During the early days of the station, many people relegated themselves to crime to blow off steam. To off-set this, President Fox built a large casino for the workers to indulge and take breaks. This curbed the initial wave of crime and placated many workers. However, one worker in particular had been visiting the casino a bit too much, and had earned quite an amount of debt for herself.

Sarah Duranheim, worked as light levels analyzer on the third floor of the station. She earned enough pay for herself, however needed more money even still. This was because of her younger brother. Keiji had developed an early onset of advanced Alzheimer’s while working. The hospital was not free and most workers had to pay for the facility. Keiji was admitted during the first year of the station’s creation. It was already year 5 and Keiji had no sign he was getting better. Sarah then took to the casino to try to win enough money to keep her brother in the hospital. However, luck was not on her side and she developed a dangerous amount of debt. She promised herself she wouldn’t gamble anymore, even though she still needed to keep her brother safely in the hospital. She would make one last gamble….and go all in.

Leaning on the wall of the alleyway between the hospital and the pharmacy, she waited. She looked at her watch that her brother had given her and smiled. It was perfectly angled to fit her wrist and its sharp features stood out like stars in the night sky. The clock hands were roman numerals and the bottom of the face had a small display of the date. 2082. ‘Reminds me of you brother,’ she thought to herself. ‘Smart and clean, like you always were.’ Just as she was in the midst of her reverie, a shadow moved behind her. She jumped and but did not raise her voice.

“Why are you hiding in the shadows like that?” Sarah said to the shadowy figure.

“Because I’m not supposed to be here. You made a very dangerous move coming here tonight. We can be seen even still. Let’s do this quickly,” the figure said. Reaching for her wrist now, she took her watch off and held it in her palm.

“This is all I have left. It should go for a pretty penny in the black market. It’s pure diamond. But I won’t give it too until you show you show me you brought it,” Sarah said nervously. The figure reached into his backpack and an pulled out a plastic bag. Sarah moved closer and she looked inside. There were seven pills sealed airtight. “Why did you bring seven? I only need one.”

“They come in packages of seven. You cannot deal away just one pill of NX7,” said the figure.

“Fine, let’s just get this over with. My brother is waiting.” Sarah said trying to hide the fear in her voice. She first gave the figure the watch and he pocketed it quickly. Next, he handed over the plastic bag to Sarah who put it in another purse she was carrying.

“Be careful. Holding that much NX7 is likely to get you killed if anybody finds out you have it,” said the figure as he walked away.

“It’s not for me,” Sarah said as she also walked away. ‘Just you wait brother, I’ll help you soon enough,’ she thought.