Destiny

[jammi]

An hour later I had cleared the hurdles of the Immigration forms and been escorted out by my police bodyguard. Outside I was once again met by the stinging cold; a bitterness that made my memories Cambridges climate feel almost tropical. I looked around, surveying the industrial monstrosity towering around me.

Tall chimneys belched pollutants into the atmosphere, while shuttles and land speeders roared back and forth. This was a planet unfettered by petty restrictions and industrial laws like on Cambridge. A grin warmed my cold body. New Berlin was going to be perfect.

A sharp beep from my left snapped my wandering eyes back from the sprawling cityscape to see a heavily bearded man leaning out of a cab. He waved a sign at me which had my name written on it. I walked over, my luggage following me on a floating hover board.

Hey kid, you Steven Aldridge? The Uni said youd be here. Despite the driver's attitude, I got in - the prospect of having to walk through the cold to get to the university did not appeal to me. Leaving the driver to drag my bags into a storage compartment to the rear of the vehicle I settled in on the back seat. A minuet later we were airborne and speeding away towards the centre of the city.

To the left and right I could see vast factories, belching smoke and steam. Posters demanding vigilance and the eternal worship of the Gottkanzlar from all of Rhienland's citizens were painted across entire faces of buildings. What little space remained was dotted with advertisements ranging from second hand furniture to top of the range space fighters. I leaned forward to ask the driver a question, straining my voice against the roar of engines.

What do those factories produce? he turned around and fixed me with a beady eye.

What do you think they make? I shrugged lethargically. Guns, ships, anything like that. I looked back at the buildings considering what was going on inside. It would appear Rhienland was arming for War.

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