I was in Quantum flight to Crusader. Hurston quickly became smaller behind me. The Cutlass vibrated and creaked. I shifted on my pilot’s seat. The seat was hard and uncomfortable. I got up to stretch my legs. But I could not do more. There was no sofa with comfortable cushions, only bare cold steel. The Cutlass was pretty much the opposite of the Origin 600i. No luxury, no comfort, no billiard table, just functionality.

I decided to make a stopover at one of the rest stops.
The Rest & Relax were lonely places in the depths of space. The darkness was broken only by the bright neon signs that dipped everything in a shrill light. Whoever came here did it because he had to, not because he wanted it.

The people who stayed here longer led a sad life. The demand for drugs and alcohol was correspondingly high. You could get an even higher price here than on the outposts on the moons.

Also the shady figures who came and went here, took something for the further journey. The corporate bosses in the Stanton system did not like it, but where there was demand there was a market. After making some contacts, I was back in the cockpit to continue flying.

Lost in thought, I started the drive and let the ship rise vertically upwards. Then a deafening noise, a blow caused the whole ship to tremble. Suddenly I was awake. Irritated, I looked at the instruments. Then my eyes went up. Through the cockpit window I saw a steel structure above me. Well, I forgot that there was another landing pad directly above me. I crashed straight in and the Laser Reapeater broke away from my tower. I still saw him disappear slowly in the darkness of space. The repair would be expensive.

When I was back in GrimHex, I was glad. GrimHex was a mess, but manageable and no megacity like Lorville.