"Time's a wastin', buddy," I said to Gillette as I floated past him and grabbed ahold of the lever securing the hatch. Surprisingly, the latch did not budge. I applied more pressure and tried again. Same result.

"Step aside, young lad," Gillette said as he wedged himself between me and the hatch. He gripped the handle, and in what appeared to be an effortless motion, lowered the lever and pushed in.

"Yeah, whatever. I loosened it for you," I said as I followed him in and resealed the door.

Once inside the maintenance passage, we began to feel the pull from below, as the effects of the artificial gravity grew. The further into the passageway we got, the closer to Earth's gravity we felt.

When we reached the one-hundred-meter mark from the main junction corridor, Gillette and I were at a full speed run, hoping to make it inside the station before maintenance locked down the facility. If we were caught outside of Luna City's environment when that happened, our fate would be sealed. And that would be a death that neither of us wanted to experience.

A few minutes later, we slowed our pace and walked through the unlocked door and cycled through the rarely used pressure chamber. As we emerged out the other side, we quickly changed out of our environmental suits and donned outfits that we had placed in the vacant corridor weeks before.

"Okay, Jaxon. Stick to the plan," Gillette said as we worked our way out into the streets of Luna City. "We both have new identities, and we just disappear. No more contact."

I nodded, patting the lanyard around my neck with the name Martin Wheeler. "Got it. Do you know where you're going to end up?" I asked.

"Nothing against you, Jaxon, but I think it best that neither of us knows where we're going. If one of us gets nabbed after this, there's no use in both of us being tried for treason," he said, patting me on the back. "Listen, it's been great knowing you. I hope you have a great life. Now get out of here!"

Not being very fond of long goodbyes, I faked a sucker punch in his belly and walked past him, and into the crowd. I never looked back.

My first stop in Luna City was a barber to get a buzz cut and to lose my goatee. Next, I stopped at a tattoo parlor and got LOVE and HATE tattooed across my knuckles. After that, I found a small hostel and paid cash for the week. I only stayed a day. After that, I drifted away.

15.

Jaxon felt a tug on his shirt sleeve, and he turned to see what was the matter. He opened his eyes to the blurry image of DeWitt, the gray-haired codger, who was staring back at him.

"Boy, I tell ya. Yer the worst traveling companion ever. Don't you know that the navigator's job is to keep the driver awake?" DeWitt asked as he pivoted his seat back to the control panel, shaking his head in disbelief.

Jaxon peered out the front viewscreen and saw that the desolate moon surface had transformed into low-formed habitats and portal entrances in every direction. In the far distance, Jaxon spotted the remains of the once fully functional space elevator. He cringed at the actions of his past.

"Sorry about that, DeWitt. It's been a long day," Jaxon said as he straightened himself up in the copilot's chair. "I see that we've made it to Luna City."

"Yep. Pulled in just a few minutes ago. The trip was pretty much uneventful, as expected. I don't much get to these parts of the moon, so it's always nice to see the hustle and bustle of how the other side lives," DeWitt said, steering the moon buggy into the subsurface transportation dock.

As DeWitt maneuvered through the underground facility, Jaxon organized himself. With his satchel packed, and sure that he had everything he brought with him, he looked over at DeWitt.

"Hey, I really do appreciate the ride, DeWitt. Here's an extra twenty credits for your time," Jaxon said, slipping the credits into his hand.

"Well, you needn't do that, but much appreciated just the same. As freely as you throw your credits around, you must be loaded. What did you say you do again?" DeWitt asked as he stuffed the credits with into his pocket.

"I didn't. I'm kind of in between jobs right now," Jaxon said as he stood and headed for the exit door.

"Fair enough," DeWitt said, following Jaxon. "By the way, are you planning to have your escape pod picked up anytime soon? Don't get me wrong, there's no rush and all, but I'm just curious."

Jaxon stepped to the ground, then turned to face DeWitt. "Well, the ship was a complete loss, and I have no immediate plans on buying another, so ... why don't you salvage anything off it that you can?" Jaxon said.

DeWitt's eyes brightened up, and a grin crossed his face. "Thank you kindly, sir. I've been meaning to do a few upgrades around the habitat, and what I can get from some of those parts should come in handy. You take care now, Jaxon."

Jaxon bowed his head, turned and silently walked away. As he made his way into the heart of Luna City, he was surprised just how familiar the whole place seemed. It had been nearly a decade since he'd set foot in the first colonized station on the moon and it had held up fairly well.

Jaxon's first priority was to get some rest. Even though he'd dozed on and off during the trip from Carver Outpost, he still felt exhausted. And he knew that exhaustion led to mistakes. Right now, a mistake in pinpointing potential killers in the crowd before they identified him could mean certain death.

As he moved through the city streets, he noted several rooms for rent and various hotels intermixed with the multitude of shops and restaurants. But he knew that it was best to find someplace a little off the beaten path. Also, he couldn't help notice the strange looks that he was getting as he moved through the crowded streets, and it only took him a block or two before he realized that he was still wearing the bulky, outdated environmental suit.

"Shit," he mumbled. He had to get out of sight and change into something more appropriate before he drew the wrong attention to himself.

After a few more blocks, he found what he was looking for. It was an access corridor that led to the service thoroughfares that circulated beneath the city streets themselves. He ducked into the dimly lit alleyway, and once he was out of sight, he shed the environmental suit quickly. He attempted to stuff it into his satchel, but there was absolutely no room to fit the bulky suit. Jaxon cursed repeatedly under his breath for making the knee-jerk reaction of selling his custom-tailored suit back at Carver.

Frustrated, Jaxon rolled up the environmental suit and stashed it behind a refuse bin with the intention of coming back for it before leaving for the outer ring.

Emerging back into the pedestrian flow, he felt better about blending in, wearing his civilian clothes. As he walked along, hunger pangs rumbled throughout his core. Just then, he realized that it had been quite some time since he'd eaten anything. He instantly changed his priority: get something to eat.

Jaxon looked up and down the street, reading the various food signs, looking for something that sounded appealing, when his eyes fixated on a familiar sign. The Calypso Cantina was down a few blocks on the right. He remembered that the place had just opened up about the time of his and Gillette's Houdini act. It was as good a place as any.

As he moved toward his destination, Jaxon couldn't help but notice something that stood out. Probably one out of every ten pedestrians on the streets was dressed in clothing similar to what the assassins wore on Taloo Station. Was it a coincidence or was there something more to it? he wondered.

Casually, Jaxon pulled the hood up over his head and hunched his shoulders, attempting to disappear into obscurity. The closer he got to the cantina, the more out of place characters he found. When he was about a block away, he came upon a group of four individuals standing at the center of an intersection, each one peering off in different directions. They were clearly looking for something or someone, and Jaxon hoped that it wasn't him. Instinctively, Jaxon slid up his sleeve to access his suit's display but suddenly realized that that was no longer an option. It was sewn into his old environmental suit back at Carver.

New plan, Jaxon thought. He needed to locate a communication device and see if there were any news reports about the incident on Taloo. He could easily step into any one of the tech stores and buy what he needed, but most of those were monitored by video surveillance. He didn't want to be caught on camera just yet. His second option was to resurrect yet another skill from his past. Personal larceny. He needed to lift one from some unsuspecting civilian.

Just then, Jaxon noticed a crowded tourist shop, and he quickly stepped in. The shop carried all sorts of souvenir items, from moon rocks to T-shirts with Luna City plastered across the front. The shop was narrow and long, and from Jaxon's quick survey, it appeared there were no cameras in the facility.

Purposefully, Jaxon began to stumble and collide into a number of people in the shop, apologizing for his clumsiness. As he made his way toward the back of the store, he picked up a few items along the way, namely a new canvas jacket and a large duffel bag suitable fit his environmental suit. After paying for the items, he continued his bump and stumble maneuver back toward the front of the store and out onto the street.

Blended back into the crowd, he donned his new jacket and quickly stashed the half a dozen personal communication tablets that he'd pickpocketed from the store's customers. Jaxon grinned at his own astonishment that he hadn't missed a beat in his last eight years.

With his new duster on, he strolled past the four men at the center of the intersection without a second thought. Within moments, he was walking into the cantina and asking for a table in a dark corner.

An attractive waitress sat him in booth practically in the kitchen, but it was just what he'd asked for. He thanked her and ordered an Astro beer and asked for some time to decide on his food order.

As soon as the waitress had disappeared, Jaxon pulled the first of several comm devices from his pocket. He held the transparent device along its edges and tapped the activate button. It was password-protected, just as he'd feared. He tossed it to the table and pulled another from his pocket. He cycled through several of the stolen devices, each one arriving at the same conclusion. His fifth attempt was different, though. It was unlocked and fully charged. Jaxon drifted his fingers across the flat screen, deactivating several standard tracking features on the device until he was confident that his device usage couldn't be followed.

Moments later, the waitress delivered his beer and took his order for street tacos. As she walked away, Jaxon began searching for some form of transportation from the moon to the outer ring. With each new search, Jaxon felt the pit of his stomach tighten. He knew it was a dangerous proposition heading to the outer ring, but he saw no other option. Taloo Station was clearly no longer safe for him, and having only been on the moon's surface for a few hours, he felt nearly as unsafe as he did on station. No, he needed to flee further out. He had to disappear once again.

After several minutes of introspection about his future, the waitress returned with his food. The street tacos of the day were fish, and Jaxon was only mildly curious as to what the main ingredient really was. His starvation convinced him that that it was nothing to worry about.

As soon as the waitress returned to the kitchen, Jaxon started his next series of searches on habitation. He needed a place to stay for a day or two until he could arrange for transport. Based on his searches, there were no commercial passageways to the outer ring. He knew then that he'd have to locate private transportation on his own.

As he continued searching for a place to flop, the more uneasy he became. His mind continued to bring up the images of the numerous assassins that he'd encountered on Taloo Station as well as the streets here in Luna City. He knew that every eye on the street would be on the lookout for someone just like himself. That meant that staying in a public facility was out of the question. Feeling like he was at the end of his rope, he had one last-ditch effort for a place to stay. He mentally crossed his fingers as he typed in the name: Cliff Hartley. After several seconds of an ever-turning hourglass on the display, the screen froze up.

"Come on, come on. I know you're here," Jaxon said as he shook the device, hoping that the owner hadn't reported the device stolen already. Finally, after nearly a minute, the screen went blank before displaying the name and address of Gillette, under his disguised persona. Just as Jaxon had anticipated, Gillette stayed in Luna City and disappeared into the outskirts. According to the address, he was living in Sector 39, which was about a fifty-minute shuttle ride through the bellies of the city.

Ecstatic at finally coming around to seeing someone from his past reality, Jaxon proceeded to eat his imitation fish tacos and drink his beer. His excitement was so much that he'd consumed his entire meal inside of seven minutes and paid his check before walking out the door.

16.

Staying clear of the main thoroughfares, Jaxon found a subway access on the edge of Sector 1. Before entering, he circled the block twice then doubled back a block before approaching the subway entrance in earnest. He wanted to ensure that he wasn't being followed.

As he descended the three flights of stairs to the subway platform, he was pleased with himself for being able to resurrect aspects of his tradecraft after so many years of inactivity. At the same time, though, he was disappointed with his complacency on Taloo Station. He'd become lazy, and that had taken over his daily, monotonous life on Taloo Station. He realized that he might not even be in this situation if he'd been just a little more cautious and careful with his daily activities.

Stepping out onto the platform, Jaxon found a relatively small crowd waiting for the next train-maybe a dozen other passengers-most of whom were self-absorbed in their own lives. Most importantly, none of which were dressed as the assassins were that he'd encountered up until now.

The wait was minimal, and without great fanfare, the train arrived and departed like clockwork. Jaxon took a seat in the rear car of the train so that he could face forward the entire trip to Sector 39. It was a wise precaution, but the action was quite unnecessary in the end, as the thirty-minute ride passed by uneventful.

Having traveled through most of Luna City in his past life, Jaxon was familiar with virtually every sector of the station. That was only true for the commercialized areas, though. The residential sectors, 11 through 45, were virtual unknowns to him. But if you'd seen one, you'd seen them all, and Sector 39 looked quite similar to every other one that he'd seen.

Pulling his stolen communication tablet out, Jaxon brought up the sector map. It showed his current location on the platform at center screen. From there, there were a multitude of residential units in clusters of eight, fanning out from his location. He punched in his destination, and the map highlighted the most efficient route through the clusters. After a few minutes of reviewing the map, he waited for the immediate vicinity to clear of any wandering eyes before heading out.

If Jaxon had taken a direct route to Gillette's flat, he would've been knocking on his door inside of four minutes. But Jaxon's knowledge of diversion tactics dictated that he take a distant path and circle back through the far end of the sector.

After rounding Gillette's cluster twice to verify that he wasn't being followed, he arrived at unit 273, the number displayed in some futuristic font that made Jaxon chuckle.

Knock, knock, knock.

Jaxon stepped away from the door and nervously waited for his old friend to hopefully welcome him back into his life. After several uncomfortable minutes, Jaxon was about to knock again when the door sprang open, momentarily startling him.

The man that answered the door stared at him. He looked familiar but not at the same time. He'd certainly aged since the last time he'd seen him. And if it was possible, Gillette's hair had grown out longer than his own. Also, he had a beard that could challenge DeWitt's in a length contest.

"Well, if it isn't my old friend Saber," Gillette said with an enthusiastic grin. "How the hell are you, man?"

Gillette thrust his hand forward and took Jaxon's in his own. One quick pump of their hands and Gillette yanked Jaxon forward into a great bear hug.

"You know, it's strange. I was just thinking of you the other day," Gillette said. "I trust you weren't followed?" he asked nervously, trying to look past his surprise guest.

Jaxon winked as he stepped past Gillette into his apartment. "Absolutely. I walked through Sector 39 for nearly fifteen minutes just to be sure."

Gillette leaned out into the corridor to verify that they were alone. Satisfied, he stepped back in and shut the door and latched seven different locks. "Well, I wouldn't expect anything less than your absolute precision," Gillette said. "What brings you to these parts of the ... wait a minute, how did you find me?"

"Long story, my friend. I am in a bit of trouble, and I need some help."

Gillette took a seat at the large island separating his kitchen from the living area. "That sounds ominous. What kind of trouble are we talking?"

"Not sure. I'd been living on Taloo Station, and quite peacefully I might add, until about eight hours ago."

"And you decided a trip to the moon was in your best interest?" Gillette asked in his typical humorous fashion.

Jaxon ignored his friend's sarcasm. "That's when at least three separate assault teams were sent to take me out."

Gillette's whimsical grin vanished instantly. "You certain?"

"Yeah, unfortunately. The first attack came right as I was closing up my tea shop, and I was able to take out both of the assassins quietly. After that, another pair chased me down, and I was able to neutralize them with a little more effort. Finally, a much larger team ambushed me at my apartment. I was able to take most of them out before fleeing the station."

"Jesus! And they were all there for you? Are you certain?" Gillette asked again.

"Positive, buddy. We've been in this game for far too long to be mistaken. Whoever hired these mercenaries paid well. They were well-equipped and highly trained. If they'd been sent for anyone else, it would've been over quickly. I just thank the stars that I had the training to persevere."

Gillette stood and paced around his compact apartment. A look of doom spread across his face. "Jesus, you led them here!"

"Relax, man. Like I said, I was cautious."

"I'm not sure how much I can help. Besides, it looks like you're doing pretty fine on your own, escaping Taloo, getting through Luna City, and to my front door with hardly a scratch on you-"

"Trust me, pal. I have the injuries to show for it," Jaxon said as he adjusted his jacket. "What I need is help getting off of the moon."

"But you just got here. Can't you just hole up in a vacant apartment until the shit storm passes? It worked for me."

"Well, I'm not too certain that will be anytime soon. As I made my way through the city, I noticed several suspicious goons on the lookout. Not sure if it was for me or someone else."

"Sonofabitch. This is real."

"No shit, buddy. So? Can you help an old friend out?"

Gillette circled back into the kitchen and pulled an aluminum bottle from the refreshment center. "Beer?" he asked.

Jaxon nodded and accepted the cold beverage.

Gillette grabbed another beer and took a seat at the island. "Listen, Jaxon. What you've gone through sounds like complete hell. And trust me, I'm sympathetic. But-"

"But you're not willing to risk your ideal situation to help me," Jaxon said, finishing Gillette's statement.

"Yeah. Something like that. Where do you want to go? Not back to earth, I hope."

Jaxon took a long pull from his beer and wiped his lips. "No, I was thinking of one of the stations in the outer ring."

"Jesus, Jaxon. Did you hit your head during the attacks? That'd be suicide for you. There's some bad guys up there, and I'm sure they'd love to have you as a guest."

"Well, I'm not sure what else to do right now. You're right about not going back down to earth, and any of the stations in the inner ring are out of the question as well."

"How so?" Gillette asked.

"Surveillance. The inner ring has really tightened up ship since I settled down there, after ..."

Gillette nodded.