Chapter 3

The corridor was about ten metres long and a couple of metres wide. Off the corridor were three closed doors and one open one, which seemed to lead to the bathroom. Just behind the door, of the living room, was a coat rack with the various jackets and the holster rigs of the guests on. On the floor was a thin blue carpet, the walls were the same colour as the living room and had low wattage bulbs in the light fixtures.
Sandra led Nick to her bedroom, where she grabbed two leather jackets, and her shoulder rig from some hangers behind the door. The spare jacket she handed to Nick was a standard bomber jacket. On the back was a similar wolf’s head motif to the one on Tina’s jacket.
“You had better wear this. We’re taking my bike. I want to show you the city after dark on this side of the street, where life truly is,” Sandra said as she put her shoulder holster on.
“Ok.” Nick looked at Sandra and his face was his most favourite, the one he had almost forgotten about. It was the one that showed his interested in learning about the environment, the ups, the downs, where people went for what and everything else he could learn, his Street Ghost face.
The two of them walked back through the living room, where Sandra took down two small black boxes from a shelf beside the door. It looked like they were sitting in a recharger unit. Nick followed her as she walked into the early evening. The sun was now gone, but in the west he could see the redness of the evening, it was fading to a mid blue and gradually faded to black. He looked up and saw the first stars of evening along with some wispy clouds.
Sandra walked to where her bike was parked under the veranda. Nick stood at the bottom of the steps staring in shock, at the size of it. She wheeled it out and propped it on the side-stand. The light above the garage door provided enough illumination for him to see the bike was clean and that it looked well maintained. Sandra handed him one of the small black boxes, from which came two wires, one was attached to a piece of material, the other was attached to an ear piece.
“Our communication system; put this on and we’ll be able to chat whilst we’re riding,” Sandra said as she clipped the box to her belt and she placed the cables up her back.
“Ok,” Nick responded smiling. He clipped the black box to his trousers and placed the earpiece in his ear. He watched Sandra put hers on and copied the location for the material band as he did so he felt a small piece of technology that had been sown into the middle of the band. He made sure it rested against his voice box.
“Place the tech against your voice box, you only need to make the it vibrate, the technology in the material picks up the vibration and the box transmits it to all people on the frequency in a 3-mile range. The earpiece removes the air from your ear channel and then vibrates the responses to the bones of your middle ear,” Sandra said as she put her jacket on.
Nick heard Sandra’s voice over the earpiece say, “Do you hear me ok?”
Rather than talking normally, he kept his mouth closed and forced his voice box to vibrate as if he was speaking, “Yeah, do you hear me?”
“Yeah, I do.” Sandra responded.
He smiled at the affirmation and watched Sandra stand the bike up. She swung her leg over so she could sit on the seat. She flicked out the kick start, and forced the kick start down hard and as the engine caught Sandra operated the throttle a little and let the engine drop to a gentle purr. She turned and patted the seat behind her.
As Sandra throttled Nick heard the engine. Even with his relatively limited knowledge of motorbikes, the engine sounded well looked after. As he put on the jacket he walked towards the bike and swung his leg over the passenger’s seat. Sitting behind Sandra he wrapped his arms around her waist and held on.

Sandra switched the headlight on, pulled out of the darkening driveway, where she turned left onto the minor street.
She drove the short distance between the driveway and the main road that ran from Richmond Park District to West Central. At the junction she turned the bike and headed towards West Central.

*****

As Nick was sat behind Sandra he looked around as she drove down the SRa33376 at 50kph. He looked and saw what life was like for the lower and underclass of society. As he watched the street pass them he noticed that this road was very similar to SRa87663, except there were no drug dealers. Instead Nick saw both male and female street-walkers touting for business from the passing cars. He saw a pair of girls climb into the back of a saloon car and he could hear the trendy popular songs that most of the commercial radio stations played being played loud even at the distance they where from it. The car indicated right and suddenly pulled out in front of Sandra which caused her to swerve around him. Sandra hit the horn and stared at the driver who looked as if he was laughing.
Nick wasn’t sure if he was laughing at Sandra’s reaction or something that had been said in the car. He looked at both sides of the streets and up the side roads and the buildings he saw could have been in better condition. He estimated only one in six maybe seven looked as if it was being looked after by the landlords or the inhabitants, maybe both. Even on the side streets that joined SRa87663, it looked very much the same. The pavements and roads were broken up or in the process of breaking up.
They had potholes in the tarmac or it had worn way and the surface beneath was visible. Down some side streets he saw Corporate Security Points which normally indicated the borders of an enclave, either belonging to a specific corporation, or the MegaCorporation his mum and dad worked for, Ebbsu Corporate Management. These sights and what he had seen as he arrived disgusted him, he began to recall what one of his friends, the Street Ghost, Uthura had told and showed him on a few occasions as he enjoy the time in Ne-U-Bar.
‘The corporations have a lot to answer for.’ Nick's thoughts went back to the conversation he and his father had when they had been living in Jarrzar and the chat with Wong-Ma’s father about ‘Capitalism’ and the ‘corporate way’. He was beginning to see both concepts and theories as fundamentally wrong, even flawed in certain respects. He looked at the corners as Sandra drove past, and saw people down on their luck, street walkers, or the homeless not those who didn’t want to work, but people who the corporations didn’t need. They would work if given the chance, but they wouldn’t care about the ethics of the companies. They only cared about getting a money to support themselves and maybe their families. Other corners had groups of youths milling about looking for something to do, or watching for other street gangs’ attempts to transgress the borders.
Eighty percent of the shops on the main road were either burnt out or had the fronts covered by heavy wooden sheets or metal grills.
Nick heard Sandra’s voice, “This is the real city; the corporations have priced 90% of the small independently owned local shops out of business. The only place we can buy anything are the corporate-run Malls and hyper-stores, where most of the stuff is over priced and not of good quality.”
As Sandra was speaking she drove past a large, brightly lit open plot. On the far side was a massive building, easily three stories high, and a large sign that took up the top two floors of the front said, ‘Rotanna HyperStore’.
“I never knew about this,” Nick said. He realized, ‘Maybe Sandra was right. Maybe I am a warrior, a warrior for the people not the Corporations I would have likely joined if I had not been offered this chance.’

*****

Fifteen minutes after leaving the house, Sandra stopped the bike close to a cliff edge. She climbed off after Nick and they both walked towards the edge of an old quarry workings drop. Nick stopped and stood next to Sandra as they looked out over the site that was located in the bottom.
In front of them was a large enclosure with tall chimneys, large buildings and large covered tanks which contained some form of chemical. The chimneys spewed smoke and all the buildings and tanks were lit up by powerful lights.

Nick's improved vision picked out the various vehicles that were driving on the roads inside the compound; the vapours that came from joins in the pipes that ran all over the site. Surrounding the compound was an eight foot high wall topped by cartal razor wire facing out over the pavement. He looked at the towers that were evenly spaced along the walls; each one looked as if it was for watching the compound. He knew that it was to get around the corporate and world laws that indicated anyone outside the compound was under the jurisdiction of the city government not the corporation running the site. The convex mirrors and the two guards watching the city side of the wall proved how the corporation was getting around the World Government laws.
He settled his vision on one of the guard towers seeing the inside; he saw that most of the towers had at least three guards. Placed on a weapons rack, were five assault grade weapons and located just below were a couple of boxes of ammunition, very likely live ammunition. Each tower was equipped with ten high powered lights that shone towards the floor and out from the tower, both inside and out. “What is this place?” he asked Sandra.
“This place was bought by the Ebbsu Corporate Management, the company your father and mother work for. It’s also the site where my mum and dad died. Matur Chemical’s upper management kept the budget to be spent on Health and Safety far lower than was legal and advised by the various specialists employed by the corporation to increase the bottom line. They damn as hell knew that to run the correct Health and Safety procedures on all their sites would mean a drop in profits, by at least a third.”
Nick heard the ‘drop the profits by a third’ and turned his head to stare at Sandra in surprise. “You are kidding?” he asked and looked back at the site as a chemical truck arrived at one of the loading feed points.
Sandra shook her head and he read her face at the same time, both said ‘no’.
“In the end most days it was a miracle an accident didn’t happen. One day one did; a large stack of 25 gallon drums, which were far higher than was correct for the bio-hazardous chemical they contained collapsed. As the stack collapsed it crushed the cab on the truck my dad was driving. The resulting spill also killed mum as she was the first on the scene and the signs that should have been visible weren’t. It was discovered later than none existed on the entire sight, none of the drums had been labelled, others stacks were even miss-labelled. From what we were told by Echo Tech Security Investigations, neither would have suffered, the fumes alone did most damage to the first eight on site. All of them died within thirty seconds. Then the first corporate rescue services arrived and they had the correct breathing apparatus. Did you hear about the Matur Chemical spill three years ago?”
“Yes,” Nick replied. “I’m so sorry. From what I remember Digital System News went massive on the whole tragedy and because of it the corporation was forced to settle big time.”
“Yeah right, to the World Government and the controlling governmental agency maybe; not to us the mere contractor’s families. The corporation apologized and paid a pittance to us, and if it weren’t for Echo Legal Support Trust paying the legal bills we probably wouldn’t have gotten that. They then sold the entire site to Ebbsu and made over four million on the sale. They did offer to school us both and pay for our college, but we weren’t looking for that. We needed a lump sum to make sure that we were supported. The only advantage we had was that mum and dad owned the house outright, so we weren’t homeless after the accident,” Sandra said and Nick noticed a tear roll down her cheek
Nick knelt down and placed his head in his hands and rested his elbows on his knees. He had heard what Sandra had said and began to wonder what Timaus had meant when he said, ‘The Echo Trusts are what make the difference to the people outside the umbrella. If Echo Legal Support Trust paid for the legal costs,’ he stopped. ‘Hang on what did I hear? ‘All Corporations have dirty hands except C.Industries, those hands are dirty cleaning up the other corporations messes’ I know C.Industries is under the Echo Tech Umbrella, and if... Bloody hell! Now I understand.’
“Back on the bike, we have a three more places to visit. The next one is one of the few public hospitals left in the city, which is run by the city government,” Sandra said and she turned to walk back to the motorbike.

*****

The route Sandra took to the hospital, which was located south of the factory complex, took only ten minutes, but it ran through one of the many real slum areas of South Central.
Here like before Nick saw the same, rundown apartment blocks, tenement buildings and open areas waiting for some corporation to buy the land or put a new enclave or business park on it.
As Sandra drove past one of the Free Fire Zones which operated in or on the borders of the district, Nick saw the areas of battle damage, the houses and the large expanses of waste land or rubbleized buildings. In these areas he knew law and order was in the hands of either the local gangs or strong men and small groups of well armed thugs.
Sandra slowed and turned the motorbike into the small car-park outside the Emergency and Casualty entrance. She parked the bike and both she and Nick climbed off. They walked in through the open double doors that led to the waiting room. The inner set of doors were closed and Sandra pushed the middle, this opening the two doors and allowed them into the waiting room itself.
The waiting room was a good 30 metres long by 25 metres wide and nearly all of the plastic chairs were occupied. A reception desk was located by a second set of double doors and sat behind it was a couple of women both of which looked exhausted.
Once they were through the doors Sandra was accosted by a young boy who slipped past her and out through the closing double doors.
Nick noticed that the boy looked ill, but he still had a smile on his face when he saw Sandra. His checked shirt was faded and the trousers he was wearing were torn in places and patched in others.
Sandra turned to face Nick saying, “I volunteer along with most of the people at the party, and I know the regulars in here personally as I also home visit. The problem public hospitals have is that the corporations price the drugs at a point that if you don’t have medical insurance you don’t get the treatments. David, the young one we saw when we walked in, suffers from lukaria and his parents can’t really afford the drugs and the treatments he needs. They do so by not eating for days at a time. Some days when I come here I’m surprised that he’s not gone.”
Nick stood to one side of the door and shook his head. He looked around the waiting room, it was full to overflowing and it looked like serving the fifty plus people were two doctors, five nurses and two orderlies, they all looked like they had large bags under their eyes. The waiting room itself wasn’t exactly clean, but it wasn’t dirty either. On most of the seats were children or young mothers nursing babies and toddlers.
Sandra moved and sat down on one of the only free plastic seats. She began chatting with one mother who was holding a small baby; the mother looked as if she was quietly crying.

“Don’t cry, what’s wrong?” Sandra asked in a comforting voice.
“My baby is sick. The doctor says he can’t do anything. They don’t have the necessary drugs to treat her, and I can’t afford to go to any other hospital.”

Nick looked at the mother and saw in her face the love she had for the infant. Inside his stomach went very tight and his face changed from shock to one of anger at the Bio-Tech Corporations. ‘Why price the drugs out of reach of the people.’ Nick turned and walked calmly out of the waiting room back into the night. He headed for one of the columns supporting the cover for the Emergency Entrance and he bent down and leant against the column; he stared into the night sky, his face a mask of pure anger and hatred. ‘Timaus, Damien, I think I will be joining the ranks of the Street Ghosts. Creator help the corporations when I have finished with them.’

*****

Sandra looked up from playing with the baby and looked for Nick, she saw he had disappeared. She got up and wandered out the main door into the night where she saw him leaning up against a column. He looked like he was looking into the night sky.
She walked the short distance to where he was crouched and asked, “You ok?”
“No,” Nick replied. “I’m actually very angry. Earlier today I remembered what my friends in Teabban showed me all those years ago, the corporate brainwashing the schools do had an effect on me. Until now that is. Does the girl know who the father is?” Nick requested and stood up. He turned to face Sandra and she could see the anger in his eyes and the determination what his face showed.
She looked into a face of someone who had made up his mind and The Creator help those who get in the way. “I wouldn’t have thought so. Most of the mothers are single mothers, and the fathers are corporate middle and upper management who want a bit on the side as well as a nice family life. Do you want to head back to the house? I think you’ve seen enough for one evening.”
“Thanks. Where were you going to take me next?” he asked.
Sandra walked with Nick back to the bike. “Just to the Tower Dome, it’s a place where the street people go to be in a quiet place away from the busy street and survival. It’s where we watch the Corporations conduct business and the world go by.”

“Let’s go there. Can I drive for a bit?” Nick asked and he really wanted to drive the bike.
“Yeah you can,” she replied and handed him the keys. She let him climb onto the driver’s position.
He slammed the kick start down and after the engine caught he let the engine settle to a purr.
Sandra climbed on behind him. “So can I take it you are going to stay on this side of the street with us Dirt Siders?”
He turned his head to look at her and smiled, ‘Yes I am’ at Sandra.
‘I think I have found my partner and equal,’ he thought.

*****

On the journey from the hospital to the Tower, Sandra directed Nick on a small tour of the city, so he could see the sights and places the Dirt Siders called home. She directed him to sites the corporations wanted, that hired thugs and gangs, from other districts were told to empty, forcibly if need be. It was highly usual for one or more likely a few tenements and apartment blocks to be cleared in this fashion in an evening. The Corporate Security Forces usually provided a barrier between the angry locals and the evicted inhabitants and the thugs throwing the furniture from upper storey windows so hard that when an item landed it shattered or broke. The city security forcing the people to clear up the mess or they would be arrested for littering. Nick could see groups of twos and threes from Echo Security standing around on the edges powerless to help, as the corporation had purchased the land from the city government or the previous freeholders. They just didn’t bother with the niceties of the housing laws; giving the occupants time to leave on their own. The following night after the contract was signed the thugs moved in and started the clearance. At the same time the corporate work crews put up the hoardings that would keep out the squatters.
“The sites are left as empty vacant buildings for months, sometimes years. I’ve seen a couple of sites that have been owned by one corporation lie empty for six years, and they still don’t look like they are going to do anything to the site,” Sandra said over the communication system.

*****

Nick pulled up outside the Needle Dome Tower and saw the car park was full of disused and burnt out vehicles ranging from the massive road train cabs to small sub compacts. In places he could see some of the vehicles had been involved in explosions, probably as a result of local gangs having turf battles. The lights that would have illuminated the car-park no longer worked because the lighting filaments had been stolen, busted or failed from usage long ago. His knowledge of the city told him that the Needle Dome Tower once upon a time was one of the main attractions of the City. The observation platform restaurant was world famous for its food; then sixty years ago Echo Tower Suraban was constructed and opened by the World President. The floating restaurant became the place to be seen and people flocked to it. The Needle Dome tower lost its appeal. It was 20 years after Echo Tower Suraban opened Suraban City Government closed the Needle Dome t as it was costing a couple of million a year to keep and they could not afford it.
Sandra climbed off and taking Nick's hand she led him to a busted window pane near where the lobby finished and the offices that made up the first five floors started. Once they where inside Nick saw an expansive area with four separate reception desks and above them were the signs of the last companies to use the office space in the dome. They found the only working lift was at the bottom of the shaft, which he guessed normally, indicated no one was on the observation platform or the top of the dome. They travelled up to the top of the dome, walking out onto the surface and they walked to where the dome started to go down and became dangerous.
The entire dome was made from galvanised setadar panels welded to a reinforced setadar frame work. He had seen tele programs that told the story of the construction of the dome and the supporting tower.
Nick and Sandra sat down and looked out across the city towards the Commercial and corporate centre of Central, South Docks and East Stevran Districts. The night sky above was clear except for the odd cloud. Nick looked up at the stars that made up the night’s sky and watched them twinkle and look down upon them both. Sandra placed her hand around his waist and she held him tight. He could feel that the hold was affectionate but it missed something, he could not work out what. In the sky short haul passenger planes, cargo planes and suborbitals flew above them. The speeds the suborbitals flew meant it would take considerably less time to fly from Suraban to Echo City than the old style jet planes which would have taken 22 hours.
The pair spent a good while there, just looking out at the sky scrapers of Central, watching the police, local news and radio station copters, as they went about their business. They slowly smoked an entire cambar cigarette and laughed at some of their adventures in Suraban. The sounds that drifted up to them were the sirens of Security vehicles speeding down the roads, the local emergency response units, and the sounds of vehicles moving around as part of city life.
Nick saw Sandra look up and she pointed at her favourite star shape, he saw it and smiled, neither of them wanting to destroy the special occasion this was.

Sandra looked into Nick's face and saw happiness, joy and what she thought was unconditional love for her.

‘Are you the one Sandra, are you the one I’m meant to spend my life with?’ Nick thought. He looked into Sandra’s face and saw happiness at being here with him.

‘Mum, dad I wish you were alive now to see me and also to welcome the Bitch Vixens’ newest member, I think,’ Sandra thought as she sat on the dome with the person she hopped would become her partner.
After half an hour had passed, but it could have be a couple of hours for all the pair cared, Sandra said, “One more place to go Nick, do you remember I said to let yourself go and say good bye to Nick?”
“Yeah I do.”
“Then do so and let me and the guys show you what you could look and feel like ... in reality, because if I am right then the Aces Gang is going to be in for a shock.”

“Ok,” Nick replied smiling evilly to himself. At this he knew ‘Nick’ was on his last few minutes of life. ‘Be warned, for the Black Fairy rises,’ he thought as they stood and headed back for the motorbike.