The Devil's Liner

[Galangal]

Chapter I: The Advertisement

“Looks like rain.” The newspaper man kept looking up, eyes fixed on the sky as the first drops were beginning to fall. Rain in Leeds wasn’t like on most other planets a refreshment.
The constant pollution of the atmosphere had made it slightly acid. Most buildings were covered in a special layer of paint, related to the kind they use on space vessels, protecting stone and steel from the biting menace.
Michael Richards wanted to congratulate the man on his fine sense of perception, but he held his thoughts to his own. Karen had warned him that his sarcasm left many people in discomfort. He would listen to her advice this time, the newspaper man looked like he had a bad day already.
Karen was a good wife and a nice looking one too, but lately their life had become a bit boring. Ever since they had to move to Leeds, things got worse. It wasn’t the most exciting planet, nor the safest and healthiest. They’ve lived on New London first, but when Michael got promoted and became manager of a small recruiting company for the BMM, he had no choice but to move. The kids weren’t too happy either, leaving friends and healthier rain behind… Luckily they were still young and rather adaptable to new surroundings.

As Michael and the newspaper man opened their acid repellent umbrellas, the rain suddenly stopped. As they looked above them, an enormous luxury liner came out of the clouds, hovering above them and shielding the entire block from the rain. It was a shiny, well maintained liner and looked like the ones the Orbital Spa & Cruise used. But somehow, it looked different like the ones in the ads. It had heavier turrets mounted on them and it was broader then normal liners. He couldn’t see the name of the ship, usually written on the side, as they were directly underneath it. Then, the ship began to accelerate slightly, heading to the landing pad further on. As the ship left, so did their shield against the rain and both men took up their umbrellas again in a hurry, before the rain splashed all around them, damaging their trousers.
“Ach, bloody hell!” Michael spat, looking at his trousers. He was imagining Karen yelling the next morning, finding his destroyed pricey pants.
“Have you ever heard of a luxury liner in Leeds?”. Michael had to shout towards the newspaper man, as the rain was coming down quite loudly now. “What?” the man shouted back.
“I asked if you ever heard of a liner in Leeds. What interest could the OS and C have in this hellhole of a planet?” Michael backed these words with an irritated voice.
“Oh, that ain’t an ordinary liner, lad. That’s the Devil’s liner.”
Michael rolled his eyes. Some people still held to the old ways, believing in gods and devils as they did on Earth. The devil was the archetype of all that was evil back then, but still people used it to refer to bad things, while some actually still believed in it.
The newspaper man, seeing Michaels expression, suddenly began to shout again.
“Oh no, I don’t mean it like that. It’s actually really called The Devil’s Liner.”
Michael grinned “Well, that explains why he’s taking his liner here then. He must be coming home!” The newspaper man narrowed his eyes a bit, trying to ignore the insult on his homeplanet.
“No, seriously, why is it called that?” Michael now asked with a friendly smile.
“Maybe because the things that happen on board aren’t … too virtuous. Wait, if you’re interested, I’ve got a flyer somewhere.” He began to search in his pockets, occasionally finding an old paper and throwing it on the ground.
“Ah, here it is!” he smiled, showing his set of missing teeth.
Michael reached in, making sure the paper, and his sleeves, didn’t make contact with the biting rain.
The flyer showed the big liner on a picture, while it was fending off pirates and what appeared to be Nomad vessels.
The printed text read as follows:
“Tired of those boring OS&C cruises? Looking for a vacation full of excitement, pure pleasure and above all, adventure? Join us aboard The Devil’s Liner. We take you to places you’ve never dreamt of going. Sigmas, Omegas, Omicrons? We’ll take you there aboard our extremely safe liner. Yes, that’s right, this liner is armed with the best turrets around and is fitted by the mysterious Order themselves, with a top notch Capital Armour upgrade.
We have numerous accommodations aboard, including a cinema, bars and restaurants, swimming pool, shops with exotic wares, adult pleasure and more! There is more, but that’s all part of the big surprise people are given aboard our liner.
We have regular rooms and luxurious suites for the wealthy man.
For more information, contact your local Devil’s Liner office.
See you soon, … “

Their was a strange form of material next to those last words, shaped like the top of a finger.
Michael studied it and put his thumb on the material. Suddenly the paper began to shine blue for a second. When it stopped, the picture of the ship became alive. It was firing on both nomads and pirates while flying through unknown space. Michael watched it, fascinated.
He looked again at the text and saw that the space behind those last words were no longer blank. It now read: “See you soon, Mr. Richards.” Underneath it, an address of a local office in Leeds appeared.
The newspaper man grinned at Michaels amazed expression. “That’s for that little joke about Leeds”, he thought.
“Yes, sir. Seems I forgot to mention that flyer was full of nanotech. My apologies if it gave you a little scare.”
Michael didn’t care. He looked at the address, knowing it wasn’t far. He decided to go take a look.


Next chapter: Boarding.