The Edge

Tola: Part Three

It was easy to get overwhelmed when there was a lot happening. Things slipped through the cracks, problems went unnoticed, people went unnoticed. Tola knew this. She'd seen it happen. This was why she knew, within seconds of stepping off the ship, that no one would be able to help them find Cassandra.

There were so many people outside. Some looked like they'd been there for a long time. There were makeshift camps in corners, miserable dirty people asleep on floors. Inside the port's headquarters, every desk was manned, with a few makeshift ones set up as well, trying to help the masses of people. Tola overheard some conversations as they walked past.

...don't need to get far, even the next planet over is...

...sister is coming to get me. I just need to know when docking space will be available.

Please, there's five of us, we can't leave anyone behind...

Don't tell me you don't know when the next shipment is coming in. You people haven't known for weeks. I'm sick and tired of...

Someone accidentally bumped into Luca. He flinched violently, shrinking closer to Gideon as if he were trying to hide behind a wall. "Okay," he said squeakily. "I hate this."

"Yeah, this is a yikes," Arian agreed. He looked around with a sharply perceptive, almost catlike gaze. "I heard there was a lot going on. I wasn't expecting this."

"Do you know what happened?" Tola asked.

"Something about how there wasn't as much fuel as everyone thought and so now everything is broken down? If they're not trying to pull out of the planet, they're squabbling over what's left. I don't know much beyond that, but...damn, this is a shit show."

"I'm taking my ears out," Matteo said abruptly. "I'm picking up feedback from something and this is too much."

Tola winced in sympathy. She knew Matteo didn't mind his hearing loss, wouldn't trade being what I am for anything he'd said many times, but she knew it had its struggles. That his struggles could come from the things designed to help him would surprise some people, but she supposed that was the risk that came with them being so sensitive.

"Hey, are you good?" Adoette asked her.

Tola put on her best brave face. "I'm good," she said. That wasn't a complete lie. She might not have been good, per say, but she was trying to be. That meant something, right?

They had to wait in a line. They started in a shorter-looking line, but Helen moved them to a seemingly longer line when they realized the person at the counter wasn't going anywhere any time soon. Tola could feel his frustration even from several meters away. The new line was moving, at least, but it still felt so slow.

Just as Tola feared, when they finally reached the desk and asked about Cassandra, the person there couldn't help much. "Our manifests show the ship landed, was passed off to Solo Industries, and departed after that. Nothing about the pilot. It was out of our hands after that."

"Is there any way you can check passenger manifests for other ships?" Adoette asked. "She might not have left with them again."

"I can try, but I'm going to be honest with you..." The woman behind the desk looked over her shoulder briefly and lowered her voice. "A lot of people aren't accounted for. It's possible she got out on a different ship and was never registered as a passenger. We try to keep track, but with so many people and so much..." She gestured around the room. "...This, it's nearly impossible to account for everyone."