nofileext | A Wretched Hub of Scum and Villainy

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System Fanning is more vertical than horizontal, with massive pillar-like towers shooting up from the Energy Sea toward the dull orange sky above. They're connected by walkways of varying size, from tiny strips barely a pixel wide to broad platforms that support buildings of their own. The system is a bustling center of trade, with dataforms buying and selling items of every shape, kind, and level of legality.

YT's portal leads to a dimly lit alley between an old warezhouse and a building whose sign advertises "HOT NUDE NUMERALS XXX!"

"Nude numerals?" YT asks, looking up at the sign. "The ones I saw in Mainframe didn't have any clothes, though. Or did they?" She looks confused and a little unsettled.

But, she realizes, that's not really something worth dwelling on. Turning to Capacitor, she asks, "We going anywhere specific? And what'd be the best way to get there, walking or flying?" She would really, really like to fly here. All those tall buildings and walkways to weave through...

Capacitor chuckles, but decides not to enlighten the little User on the details of numeral anatomy. ~~Besides, the mun doesn't know either, and doesn't WANT to know.~~

"Look around ye, lass. D'you really think we can get anywhere by walking?"

A grin spreads across YT's face. "I was hoping not," she says, tossing her plank and jumping on with a practiced motion. "Let's go! Um, where're we going?" That's kind of an important thing to know.

"We're looking for a sprite who calls himself 'Babbage'," says Capacitor, leaping onto his own zipboard. "He'll be lurking around the ports as usual, I'll wager..."

YT floats out of the alley and takes a look around. They're on an elevated level: she can see the port far below, a collection of piers with various odd-looking craft docked at them. Some of the things look kind of like eighteenth-century sailing ships, while others look like they came out of a sci-fi film.

A buffer zone of loading cranes, crates and small warehouses separates the piers from what looks like an open-air market, although there are places where the market has pushed through to the piers, and even crept onto a few of them. In the other direction, the market stalls flow into streets lined with an assortment of buildings. None of them are more than four stories high, but their lack of height is more than made up for by their variety of colors and architectural styles. This whole thing is set on a wide crescent of...well, land, she guesses, that's at the foot of one of the larger skyscrapers.

Looks like that's where all the action is happening. "Down there?" she asks, pointing.

He looks a little wistful as he eyes the more old-fashioned looking ships in the port. "Aye, that'll be it, lass."

YT notices the look. And though she wants to go looping around the buildings and walkways as they descend toward the docks, she stays near Capacitor instead. "I know you're a captain," she says seriously. "I didn't see your ship, though. Did you...lose it?" She knows it's kind of a sensitive subject, but she'd rather get it out in the open than have it be an elephant in the room. In her mind, it's one or the other.

"You might say that," he says. "'Sacrificed' might be a better word for it."

"In the fight with Megabyte? I didn't hear all the details about that," she says, quietly. "I'm sorry, dude. That'd be like me losing my plank. Well, back home. If I lost it here, I guess I'd be dead." She chuckles ruefully.

"She was a fine ship."

Capacitor stares off into space for a long moment, then resumes his descent toward the port.

At this point YT decides that there's nothing she can say that wouldn't sound totally stupid, so she shuts her mouth and starts using her eyes instead. Her baud is faster than Capacitor's zipboard, so she's able to loop around a bit, flying back and forth to check out interesting things on the buildings, walkways, and platforms while still keeping pace with her guide.

A group of Goth binomes waves to her, and she waves back. Children of various formats, riding along in the backseats of passing hovercars, press their faces to the windows to get a better look at her. On a wide balcony jutting out from one of the buildings, half a dozen sprites dressed in what look like gang colors watch her coolly. Evidently, surfers are an object of interest around here.

When they get closer to the market, Capacitor's descent levels off into a horizontal cruise, and YT follows suit. From time to time, distinct sounds and words bubble up out of the noise below:

"Get'cher apples, two bits!"
"Stop! Thief! Come back here!"
"Best prices in the 'Net!"
"Psst! Wanna buy some travel papers? I swear, they're totally legit!"
"Oh yeah? Well so's your mother!"

Crowded and bustling as the market is, YT can see that it's not at full capacity. A number of the stalls are abandoned and have been for some time: so are many of the shops. Not all the open places have full stock, either. And now that YT thinks about it, there wasn't as much traffic in the harbor as you'd expect from a port of this size. The Guardian clampdown has obviously hit this place hard.

"So how're we gonna find this Babbage dude?" YT asks Capacitor, raising her voice a little to be heard above the din.

"Look for a ship that's about to leave port," the pirate shouts back. "If he's not there, he should--"

He stops abruptly. And for good reason. Even in a place as noisy as Fanning's ports, there are certain noises that get one's attention pretty quickly. A gun being cocked right behind one's head is one of them.

"Capacitor," says a short, bowler-hat-wearing sprite standing between the two burly binomes who are currently pointing pistols at Gavin and YT's heads. "Nice of you to stop by for a chat."

YT's had people point guns at her before: she doesn't freak out, although she does find the whole thing kind of annoying.

"This what passes for hospitality around here?" she asks. The question is directed at Capacitor, although she's keeping her eyes on the sprite with the bowler hat.

"That all depends on who you're talkin' to, luv," says Mister Bowler Hat, leering at YT. "You play your cards right, I can be very hospitable."

"That's enough, Babbage," says Capacitor, sharply. "We've no quarrel with ye, so why the ambush?"

"Ain't up to me," Babbage replies. "Orders from on high, see? My superiors 'ave noticed that the Crimson Binome dropped off the radar right about the same time the Guardians started their little trade embargo. They'd like to know why that is."

"Oh puh-leeze," YT says with a grand roll of the eyes. Whether this is a response to Babbage's textbook sketchy come-on or his textbook stupid insinuation that Capacitor's in cahoots with the Guardians is unclear.

"And which 'superiors' would those be?" asks Capacitor suspiciously. "Cable Jack has never taken much interest in the Guardians one way or the other."

"Oh, you've been away a long time, Capacitor," says Babbage with a chuckle. "Cable Jack's not in charge anymore. And the new management's got a particular interest in you."

The Crimson Binome's eye goes wide. "You don't mean..."

"Come on," YT says, in tones of utmost contempt. "Quit the foreplay and get to the point." She is so not impressed by this act.

Capacitor gives YT a Look. "We're trying to establish a mood here, if ye don't mind."

YT's not really into this 'mood' thing. But it's Capacitor's turf, and so she figures if she can't bring herself to play along, maybe she can manage shutting up. She bites her lower lip, crosses her arms, and looks heavenward. If there is a heavenward in the 'Net.

"That's better. Now, where were we?"

"I was just about to take you to the boss."

"Ah. Well, best get to it, then."

"Thank you, I will." Babbage gestures toward his two binome lackeys, who lower their guns into a slightly less threatening position. Then he turns and heads for a low-lying building set between two of the piers. The binomes 'encourage' YT and Capacitor to follow.

"Stop poking me," YT snaps and one of the hench-binomes when he prods her with his gun. "I know how to follow okay." She trails after Capacitor, who's trailing after Babbage, wondering where this will take them next.

* * *

The inside of the building is dark and cluttered; it looks like the owners have been confiscating random items from the cargos of ships passing through. Capacitor and YT are ushered into an open space lit by a dingy skylight. The two hench-nomes step back to stand guard by the doorway, while Babbage stands just to the side of a darker space at the far end of the room.

"There you are," says a distinctly feminine voice from the shadows near Babbage.

YT peers in the direction of the voice, but even her surfer-keen eyes can't make out much more than a silhouette.

The silhouette she picks out is rather small. And blockly.

A female One binome steps forward, arms folded. She looks old but spry, and very, very angry. "Gavin Capacitor," she says, "where in the seven servers have you been??"

Capacitor opens his mouth to answer, but she's not through talking yet. "Ye drop off the face o' the 'Net, not so much as an e-card all this time, and then ye come waltzin' back inta town without so much as a 'how d'ye do'? Are ye tryin' ta worry yer poor mother ta death?"

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