Raygun Heights

14

From where Karl lived, he could see some of the perimeter fencing of the storage depot along with the tops of some of the sheds. He noted that if he only lived a few doors down, he would have an unobstructed view of the entire lot without needing to leave his balcony. A high pitch whine drowned out the world as another ship passed overhead. Sunlight glinted off its backside and off the sides and cascaded a halo of light around him. Karl had put on a pair of sun reflectors when he left the office. He was standing outside of the shade from the transport terminal where a pair of Tigran were sitting under, either waiting for the first hovercraft to stop for them, or just utilizing shade that they did not have to pay for. One of the Tigrans had begun to rise when a hovercar turned the corner and drove towards the curb. Karl had at first ignored the approach until the car purposefully bypassed the terminal and slowed in front of him. The chassis of the car was painted strawberry red with a set of white lettering that displayed L.T.S. for 'Labelle Transporter Services.' The passenger door opened for Karl, on the other side was a woman with dirty blonde hair that was looking him over. The Tigran, whose fur color was a deep reddish orange with evenly spaced black stripes adorning his body. The Tigran narrowed his eyes when Karl stepped from the curb and started towards the car.

"I was sitting there first," The Tigran said.

"I called this one specially for me," Karl said, "Maybe next time." He ducked in just in case the Tigran wanted to make something of it. The Driver pulled from the curb, leaving the Tigran stamp in the ground before turning and stalking back to the terminal in a huff.

"I'm surprised an android or a drone isn't running this car."

"The public like a personal touch, plus somebody has to keep the local economy going. Drones have better things to do than shuffling passengers around town." The woman said.

"May I ask, are you Labelle?"

She shook her head, "My name is Rose. Labelle is an actual person, who is a woman to be fair, but I just work for her. If I know her, she's catting at Jezebel's with one of her favorites." Rose said. Karl did not push with whom did Labelle cat with, he recalled that the majority of Jezebel's employees were female, but she had one or two males who entertained any customer with the credits.

"What can I do you for, Mister?" Rose asked, "Kpax says you're good for the slips."

"You picked up a Hochar customer recently from the Starport. The customer would have been armed, probably taciturn-"

"Neither of those narrow the description, hon," Rose noted.

"He would be bearing a large case with him. He might have been a little cagey about it as well."

Rose said nothing at first, she concentrated on her driving. They had made a turn and circled around the first set of apartment towers, one of which had Karl's apartment, before turning north again. Karl studied Rose in profile. She wore a two toned crop top that was tight to her upper torso with a slim midriff that was well defined, with a small scar where she had taken a wound, probably from a monofilament knife or perhaps a Saurian claw. Shallow, but it left the distinction that Rose had seen action. She had a flick knife at her side and Karl guessed a blaster at her hip that was fitted for a crossdraw. Rose's shorts were close to her waist, Karl's eyes glanced at her legs, but did not linger in case that offended her.

"He wanted an apartment as close as possible to the Starport. He paid well, but kept to himself and his datapad in order to arrange a to the north here, right before you enter Gray Quarter."

"Right in the middle with Devil's Den," Karl noted dryly.

"That's right," Rose said, "From that frown and that duster I take it that's bad news."