Versus (Parts I and II)

Chapter 3- Cosmic Opportunity

The Air-Car dropped Catalina off at her district's launcher; a teleporter that brought people to and from the many space stations in orbit around Earth. She checked her Mask, which disguised her as a Mearthian woman with a long, red braid.

Space stations were mostly hubs with apartments, bars, and AR classrooms, but some of them were the famously harsh prisons for Earthian and alien criminals— mostly the latter, since Earthians were usually sent to the on-planet prisons that weren't as harsh. Since the stations were so close to each other, they were deemed dangerous, with some convicts escaping and attacking hub stations. If Cat's parents knew she'd been going up there...

She plugged in her hacking chip, replacing the tracked route with a fake one to the Museum of Art and Design. Hacking an Air-Car's memory was child's play. Another skill she kept hidden from her parents.

She entered the launcher and got into one of the spheres inside. "Traveler's name?"

"Seema Crockett," she said, using her fake ID.

"Welcome, Ms. Crockett. Please select one of your saved destinations, or enter a new one."

She selected 'Genesis X' and leaned back for the launcher to activate. Her stomach dropped when the sphere zoomed into the sky, her body wracked with exciting chills. Clouds zipped past, then the blue sky changed to black, and the glowing rings of metal appeared, surrounding a glittering globe of silver.

The sphere gradually slowed until it reached the launcher nodes, connecting to the station. Catalina exited, walking down the hall until she reached the atrium, which buzzed with busy movement and chatter. The Genesis X station was the oldest of all the stations, and the closest to Earth. The prisons were the furthest, but the stations were close enough to serve as a bridge for escaped convicts. It was an issue the people had protested about for years, yet the authorities hadn't changed any of the stations' coordinates.

In the atrium, Catalina noticed a significant increase of armed guards and SECURE bots from the last time she visited. Her answer appeared on one of the many holo-screens around her: 'CAUTION: Escaped convict on the loose. Exercise vigilance.'

She went deeper into the station, entering the station library, and navigated to a hidden, unused shelf. Using her fake ID number, she disabled the hologram and entered the hidden Cosmos bar. Once inside, she disabled her Mask, no longer needing it.

She'd been working here for a year, but still carried that same anxiety and fear of her parents somehow finding out. Especially her mother. Her heyday had long since been over, with the Socializer population becoming more superficial with the new generation, and the beauty queen career getting launched out of orbit.

However, her mother still had a reputation as a two-time Miss Milky Way winner, and if anyone knew her daughter was secretly working at an illegal bar to save digits for her upper-level Design education, it would definitely be all over the Hub.

Her best virtual friend, Xara, would tell her, "Just get another job, girl." But on-planet jobs were hard to come by for a 16-year old without a degree, especially in her field of expertise. Designers usually thrived in the Versus world, but Lord knew Catalina's family couldn't afford sending her to Fistborn's Design school. They only had full scholarships for Versus fighters.

The thought brought her older sister back into her mind. She sighed at the thought of her suffering alongside those girls, longing for a life she'd given up on. Catalina knew she still had it in her. She could see it. Those evaluators that rejected her all those years ago missed out on having a great fighter on their team.

"Medium Cranberry Hell, please." One of her regular customers, Scaaskal, sat at the counter, his shock of spiked, neon green hair blinding Catalina, as always.