Elenah leapt out of the Voyager, her shoes slapping the glossy stone of the overflowing spaceport. Lights flashed across every surface, amber and blue and occasionally vibrant greens, but the city was not colourful. The sky was black, and there were no stars nor a sun. Shivering in the chill air, Elenah pulled her grey sweater across her blouse and exercised her cold hands.
“There’s a lot more people here than I remember,” Oswald said, ushering Eukaloo from the shuttle. Elenah watched the Troff, whose thin face swivelled upon his long, grey neck as he took in these new surroundings. His large, yellow eyes darted about. The light slithered across his greenish-grey skin, slipping in the cracks between his reptilian scales.
“You’re bringing him?” Elenah asked.
“Not because I like him. Because I don’t trust these people not to kidnap him,” Oswald said as he led them briskly away from the ship, and through an archway that became a broad tunnel.
“If you’d looked around, you’d find that Mokuura is not a Free World. There are magicians here and all breeds of other dodgy sorts. Just keep your eyes on the road and don’t stare.” Elenah wondered what made Eukaloo so special, and what Oswald needed of him, but her thoughts were soon whisked away as she glanced up and around and examined the city.
Windows overlooked a dark metropolis to either side of them. Ships hovered steadily through lanes in the sky. Buildings rose up awkwardly, jutting unevenly into the great dark. Elenah realised it was the first extra-terrestrial world she’d ever stepped foot on. It was also nothing like she’d imagined. Cold, dead, depressing.
“Why is it so bad?” Elenah asked.
They skirted to the side as a short creature passed them through the tunnel. Is that another Troff? Elenah wondered, glancing at its yellow bulb-like eyes and grey reptilian skin. Walking several strides behind him was a taller nonhuman with broad pink arms ringed with tattoos, and a snout that stuck pointedly from the centre of his face.
They emerged from the tunnel and into some sort of shanty town, with buildings that looked fit for slaves: slanted corrugated roofs, sphere-shaped lamps hanging from the eaves, trashcans spewing papers and scrap metal. Elenah clutched the straps of her knapsack tightly, afraid that somebody might steal it—not that it contained anything of value.
“Best you don’t talk to these folk,” Oswald told her, leaning close. “They’ll do anything to swindle, bribe or murder you.” Elenah followed his eyes towards an old lady sitting in front of a burrowed-out building, proffering a grey tankard that rattled with chits. Beneath the soot and scraggly hair, Elenah could’ve sworn that was a human.
“Not if you keep your distance,” Oswald said. “Come here.” He turned a corner and led them out of the town. Buildings here rose two or three times higher, but they remained dark and crooked. Other people lurked among the shadows. They scurried about with backpacks or grey sacks, riffled through fried vehicles and toppled structures. Scavengers. The only thing that hadn’t changed was the acrid, sweaty smell clinging to the air.
Elenah nodded, and Oswald also did—just a little less surely. Then he stepped away with Eukaloo and vanished amidst the crowds. Elenah couldn’t help but notice how well they seemed to blend in. She shouldn’t have been surprised; after all, Oswald was a criminal.
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