Snippet #981878

Ace never really enjoyed his parking spot in the community lot. Not that it was a bad parking spot, it was close to it seemed everything; it was just too public. He could see everything going on outside the glass dome, as well indoors in the common area. Those coming and going, some trying to get inside the dome. He saw a woman with fiery red hair standing near the outer gate, with Peng was it? He had seen that beast around for a while, he always liked being around the newbies. Before exiting the highway he studied the woman Peng was with briefly-- she had to have been new, he would have remembered someone with that head of hair on Mars. I wonder what her specialty is... he thought rather cooly, before directly his attention back on the guards collecting IDs, for those to enter back inside the community dome.

Ace made his way out of the tunnel finally, his eyes searching and calculating everyone in the main room. He was big into numbers, and could count fast. Not too many people were here as usual, which meant that most were sleeping on the floor above, in their capsule rooms. In Ace’s rather loud truck he already was drawing eyes on himself while he zoomed around the corner where his car spot was located, seconds from his warehouse, the headquarters of his group’s secret market. The greedy learned how to keep it hush, even with the small population on Mars. Ace turned the gas off, swiping up the delivery in his hand afterwards then got out of his truck. The object was now invisible again. He knew there were always sneaky eyes watching him, that was what his job entailed.

Ace knocked on a side door to the back garage. It was all that was needed before someone already had the door open for him, as if they knew he was coming. “Got the package, boss!” he said, tossing the box slightly up in the air, catching it again safely as he entered into the room. He placed it on a slate table, pushing it closer to a few others in the room who wanted to check it out.

“Where is it?” one spoke, raising an eyebrow at Ace.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that,” he laughed pleasantly, scratching the back of his neck. When he made things disappear, he could still see them, which caused him to forget sometimes that others couldn’t. He pulled off the shield on the box, making it visible once again to everyone in the room. Eyes lit up across the room in a wave, everyone very fascinated by such a tiny battery. Already some of the mechanics swiped it away, wanting to get a better look of it and get to work seeing what they could use it for, or if they could even duplicate the object with supplies they had on Mars. Ace’s job was done for the day. He could either work at the main front in of the shop, open to everyone, or take off the rest of the day. Neither seemed very entertaining, seeing as how there wasn’t too much to do on Mars compared to what there was on Earth. A couple seconds of debating led him to the conclusion he would walk around, maybe grab some food.

His favorite place for grub was at Kelzo’s Pizza Pub, a make-shift bar that one of his friends happened to own. It was small in square feet size-- there wasn’t much space to go around, seeing as how everyone fought for property on Mars. Yet, the size of his Pizza Pub was big enough for a couple dozen men, some beer, and some good old fashion TV with sports from Earth projected. Ace entered inside, a few men recognizing him right away. “Hey boys, the usual Kelzo!” Ace said, sounding quite cheerful and carefree now that he was here. His usual was a slice of pepperoni pizza and a nice, cold glass of Kelzo’s homemade beer. There was an open booth in a dimmed corner, one of the only ones still available since seating was short. Ace took the both, sliding smoothly on the leather cushions. He crossed his arms, resting his eyes comfortably as he waited for his pizza and beer.

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Katrina watched nervously as Jasen spoke. He was rather out there, speaking in cut sentences. It didn’t take long for her to realize he was being distracted by the scent of food in the air. They were standing next to a burger bar, where he seemed to know the man behind the counter. Food did sound good, seeing as how she hadn’t ate it what felt like days, yet burgers never were her favorite to eat. Her gaze looked around the dome. It was massive inside here, for the short amount of people she could see. There were restaurants and shops around of various things. When she spotted a sushi place, she was indeed surprised. “They have fish on Mars?” she asked Jasen, in a perplexed tone of voice. Her common sense told her that of course they must have a fish nursery, but she still found it strange, and didn’t trust the food from there, even though sushi was one of her favorite snacks.

She tapped her feet on the ground, crossing her arms as she looked at Jasen, then back at everyone in the room. Her eyes narrowed, taking in each face she could see. In a way she felt scared, since she had no clue what others were capable of. Couldn’t anyone hurt, maybe even kill others? Was there some type of law that prevented those to do so? And if so, who the hell enforced it? Being raised in her German lab, everything was strict, order was kept, things ran on time. All of what she was used to didn’t seem to apply here. Everyone was off doing their own thing, eating what they wanted, etc.

“I think I am just going to.... walk..” she finally stated, watching as Jasen now took a huge bite out of his burger. “Thanks for getting me here and letting me know the basics,” she added, showing honest appreciation. With that, she began to walk away, her long jet black hair whipping behind her in her smooth steps around the circle of the dome. She kept quiet, not wanting to draw any attention to herself. She peered over her shoulder, watching Jasen still eating away. A smirk crossed her lips, a feeling in her gut making her want to laugh. This was really happening... and this was only day one. What was she going to do with herself? She finally stopped near an open space, right next to the glass dome wall. She leaned up against it gently, resting her head on the cool wall.