About The Laws of Space
Post 184:
The Laws of Space
Episode Sixteen
Chapter Nine
Chapter 9: Strolling Through Graveyards
“You’re telling me you blew a million credits?” Lerner Merchant asked. He was baffled, mouth ajar. He couldn’t believe Alder had been so negligent with his gifts. Lerner wouldn’t admit to it but he didn’t even understand the concept of a million.
“Yeah, it took a lot of work, if you want the truth,” Alder said, strolling along. It was a thing now—his strolling—having come to the realization that walking was a gift, a pleasure. Tate strolled while Merchant and Webb walked beside him, through some abandoned section of City Five. They were shadowed by a teenager, a girl around fifteen who had become fascinated with the three men’s interactions. They didn’t know her name; in fact, she had never spoken a word to them. The girl had short brown hair, cut at strange angles. Like most in City Five, she was skinny and small. Unlike most, she had a glint of joy in her wide eyes.
Alder didn’t mind the girl a bit.
Lerner thought she was suitable for Continuation, but that was nothing new.
Travers appeared to loathe her. Whether it was bravado or real, Alder couldn’t quite tell.
They stopped for a minute and Alder got low and quiet.
“Oh no—he’s doing that thing again,” Webb moaned. “What exactly are you doing down there?”
He was studying a building, a unique structure for the area. It was once steel and concrete; now it more resembled punched out papier-mâché. “I’m imagining. You know, filling in the blanks, the glass, the glean—the thing it was intended to be.”
“Yeah well I guess that makes sense. You were an engineer, or whatever.” Webb shrugged and looked back at the girl with his thin, discerning eyes. “What’s she doing? It’s like a stray cat or something.”
Alder stood back up. He was still imposing next to his friends, but his robust frame was beginning to slacken due to the reduced diet.
That and the strolling everywhere.
