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‘Ain’t nothing to it,’ she laughed, then got lost in their heated gaze. She breathed in and got a lungful of his essence—a wisp of cedar, musk, cinnamon and man.
Delicious. Damn him and her traitorous reactions to riding shotgun beside his sexy self.
Kage was using the manual controls of the flyer, and she lowered her eyes to watch how smoothly he handled his machine. She found herself staring at his hands on the sports steering. Strong, veined and long-fingered.
He caught her gaze and leaned back with a small smile around his lips, obviously enjoying her scrutiny.
She tore her eyes away; instead, she pointed her focus outside the flyer’s windows at the columns and colonnades of Eden II’s modern metro-domed city. She was excited to be on the rock. She’d always been fascinated by the moon above Dunia, by its light and its sheer magnetism, its constant night sky, its closeness to the stars and nebulas which seemed so far away on Dunia.
Her head tilted back to the flyer’s transparent roof, her eyes tracking the dizzying heights of the moonscape buildings that rushed by and the silvery roof line of the vast dome.
Above that was a black sky, dark and dotted with stars, even during the lunar day when the system’s twin suns shone high in Eden II’s sky. It had always fascinated Harlow how a full day on Eden II took twenty-one Dunian days between each lunar sunrise and sunset. Unlike Dunia, where its planet’s axial spin took it from day to night every 30 hours.
The moon’s slower spin on its axis meant that one of its faces was in a perpetual cycle of starlight and never-ending dawn where fractured light bounced off the shadowed ridges from the undulating cluster of stars and twin suns above.
The other, where the metro dome had been built, was always aimed at Dunia, which hung in the same place in Eden II’s sky as the sun and stars cycled around it.
Her gaze followed the daisy chain flyer lanes that snaked vertically and horizontally under the dome. The metro city’s traffic wasn’t too heavy but more than she’d expected. The flyers showed off the reality of Eden II, and she could see just by the type of badges cruising past just how prosperous the rock had become in recent years. Passengers sat back in luxurious flyers with gold, chrome and even diamond-plated exteriors. Most had drivers, some AI bots, and some human chauffeurs. The costlier AI driver option was more common here on Eden II than on Dunia. Yet more evidence that the Edenites were genuinely thriving.
Better still, she could see that most of the flyers on Eden II had long switched to using force fields to power their engines. The early models were simple electromagnetic devices that pushed against a planetary magnetic field. The new models are still electromagnetic but took advantage of quantum technology to create fields that pushed against every atom of the rock. The result was flyers that only needed to supply their kinetic energy—the perfect green, radiation-free, eco-powered vehicles.
Many of the flyers also carried the Sable insignia. She wondered how much the Group had wound its way into every aspect of life on this rock.
Regardless, Eden II’s populace looked happy about it. She saw smiling faces and noted the very peculiar habit that each driver had of waving to each other when they passed. Even Kage lifted a palm in greeting as he cruised past in traffic.
‘Friendly folk,’ she observed.
‘It’s a tradition,’ her companion filled her in. ‘Not sure how it started, but we all do it. We encourage all our visitors to do the same. It’s been great for reducing traffic issues as well. Can’t quite indulge in road rage when people give you a friendly wave, now can you?’
Harlow smiled and shook her head. ‘Makes sense,’ she said.
They passed more gleaming buildings, new shops, and impressive lobbies leading to bustling businesses.
‘It all looks so clean and new.’
‘Don’t be fooled by all the glitter,’ Kage said. ‘We still have our share of dark, underworld activity that’s not so nice. A lot of it is under the surface, in the tunnels. Remember, Eden II is a glorified asteroid. Some say a piece of a long-lost planet that imploded. More significant than most space rocks, the mere fact it’s static makes it a moon. It’s riddled with holes, some natural, others artificial. The caverns are where you can find gambling casinos, gaming arcades, whore houses and seedy hotels catering to every vice in the system. And not long ago, every street corner above ground had its watering hole and gangs that controlled the distribution of alcohol, the highly coveted synth drug koko and the sale of illicit weapons. This bougie gentrification is recent.’
‘And does The Sable Group have anything to do with that?’
‘A little. Our commerce has helped shape the place, given people jobs and increased their lot in life. But we can’t take credit for it all. A lot of what you see, the Elder Council oversees. They govern and make all the rock’s administrative decisions. And it’s kept them very busy. This rock is uniquely placed at the epicentre of much of what’s happening in the System. It attracts many visitors, and as a result, our economy has grown. Our tax laws are slightly more lenient than most to attract the necessary investments. And with that came many corporations wanting to have a foothold here and take advantage of our tax breaks.’
Harlow nodded slowly, taking in everything Kage had just divulged.
‘I’d like to see the underbelly of Eden II,’ Harlow ventured.
‘I’ll take you on a walking tour one day,’ Kage grinned.
‘Sounds good,’ she said, flicking him a smile, then turning back to look at the view.
How uncanny, she thought. Two men today had offered to go on a tour with her. Yet it was the second offer that intrigued her the most.
He kept driving, turning into an avenue lined with real trees. Their overhanging branches and leaves made a perfect archway for the flyers cruising underneath. It made for a stunning vista.
She spotted children playing in a tree-filled park, riding air bikes and chasing each other around the monkey bars and swings. Watching over them were elegantly dressed adults toting takeaway cups, gossiping together on the benches that lined the leafy, green space. It was a surprising slice of suburban life on a moonscape. Indeed, were it not for the unique Eden II architecture and the blinding light from the system’s stars and black sky beyond, Harlow would have assumed they were driving through a treelined avenue in Axuma.
Before long, the flyer slowed outside a sleek, understated building.
She saw a small neon holo sign hanging above a thick wide wooden door - ‘The Osirian’. The nameplate was surrounded by mandated symbols pointing to the nature of its business.
