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My wrist vibrated. I turned around and pulled the red blanket over my shoulder. Another vibration—damn. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Dim light filled the room, and outside the window lay the gray-shrouded desert of the planet Monox. Muffled voices drifted through the door. A message from Pike flashed on my mobiglass.

I took a closer look at the list of fugitives. Some of them have been wanted for quite some time. Since this escape seems to be organized from Levski, I can’t find anything about it here in the Lorville network…. If Merrick is actually in Levski, he surely knows more about it, I’d bet my armor on it! However, I can’t reach him. You’ve both been there before… This mining facility can’t be that big, can it? Is there any way you could get a message out there?
“Filter to Gatekeeper, the vending machines in Gate 3 are still empty and the metal buckets have forgotten us!”

We found the list of names of people who wanted to flee Lorville in the Hurston Security database. I could empathize with them. When the controlling grip of oppression became too tight, many sought a new home. The Nyx system was independent of any overbearing authority. Nyx was home to Levski, a settlement founded on the belief in the equality of all sentient beings and a beacon of hope for all those who longed for freedom.

I sent my reply immediately.

I can take the message to Levski, I have a data runner. And I still know people from my time in Levski – I can contact them.

I slowly swung myself out of bed. No sooner had my feet touched the floor than a pain shot through me – I had stepped on an empty Rust can. It must have been left over from yesterday’s Rust Society initiation ceremony. Cursing, I got up and walked through the door.

In the common room, people I didn’t know were chatting at the breakfast table.

“What makes this place different?” asked a young girl.

An older man with gray hair and a face marked by experience replied.

“This place was created differently. We built it. People with a dream. Yes… a dream – simply to live freely. You know, no one is given a life like this. We worked for it, we fought for it. People with the will to strive for freedom and not let go of it. That’s what I mean when I say this place was created. I don’t mean the buildings or the rocks. It’s not perfect. It’s not even beautiful, but it’s real. It’s freedom, and it belongs to us.”

The man’s words moved me deeply. I stepped up to the table and said.

“Community, self-determination, and independence are what make this place what it is.”

“You can feel it too, right?” the man asked.

“Oh yes.”

“And you seem to know Levski.”

“Yes, I once lived there—a long time ago.”

“And now you’ve ended up in Pyro?”

“Yes, I’ve found peace here in the desert.”

The man furrowed his brow. “Is that so? Peace and Pyro don’t seem to go together to me.”

I pointed to the window. “Out here in the solitude of the desert, they do. Otherwise, there is indeed a constant threat. And you’re passing through on your way to Nyx?”

“Yes, we are.”

“I’ll be leaving soon too. Is there anything I can bring with me?”

“Fresh food, above all. But also cobalt and atlasium.”

*

A day later, the Pyro wormhole spat out the White Rabbit with its valuable cargo in the Nyx system. Turquoise nebulae enveloped the ship, the central star only vaguely visible—a sharp contrast to the gloomy brown of Pyro. I set course for Levski and activated the quantum drive.

In the distance, a red nebula glowed: the Virgil system, Vanduul territory. That’s where the lizard creatures came from for their raids on Nyx. Ahead of me, a narrow gray-white strip grew into a wide band—the Glaciem Ring, a dense asteroid belt encircling the star. Then I fell out of quantum flight and was right in the middle of it. Bluish light, endless dust bands merging in the distance, asteroids of all sizes—a chaotic mosaic. And right in front of me was the largest Broken: Delamar. On it was the old mining station Levski—home of the People’s Alliance. Goosebumps covered my body—the feeling was indescribable. It had been years since I had been here.

Slowly, the White Rabbit approached the asteroid. But Delamar seemed more angular than before. Large chunks of rock floated next to it, as if they had broken loose. Then the first structures appeared: chimneys with blazing flames, metal scaffolding, pipes, buildings – and finally the borehole. It was now so deep that it pierced the asteroid completely. Ships emerged from its depths, and round hangar doors lay to the side. I was assigned one of them. As I approached, I glided past the words “HOPE IS HERE.” Deep down, I agreed – right here, in this unique place. A promise to all who had fled oppression.

A large banner hung in the hangar: “Welcome to Levski.” I stopped and touched it – it was a sublime feeling to be back here. After a smooth customs clearance, I stood in awe before the memorial to Anthony Tanaka – a worker holding a dead child in his arms. The boy had been killed in 2757 by an Advocacy agent because he refused to continue working after a 16-hour shift. The memorial commemorated the atrocities of the Messer regime and underscored the People’s Alliance’s quest for freedom. I knelt down and reverently placed a teddy bear between the candles at the base.

The Grand Barter Bazaar was the best place to get information and spread news. A wild jumble of makeshift market stalls, full of life, voices, and smells. I plunged into the pulsating heart of Levski. At one stall, an article in a local newspaper caught my eye: remarkable progress in the terraforming of Nyx I—and the question of whether the planet could become a new home for the People’s Alliance. The Terra Gazette painted a different picture: the UEE could claim Nyx for itself because of the terraforming. The conflict looming on the horizon was clearly evident.

It didn’t take long before I ran into some old acquaintances. We agreed to meet in the evening at Café Müsain.

*

We lounged comfortably among cushions on a sofa set in a corner of the café. The bass from the music boomed through the room. Arid and Hanna were still wearing their work clothes, while Rebekka was in casual attire. We talked about old times when I had worked on Levski’s maintenance team. Then I steered the conversation to the present—and immediately sparked a heated discussion.

“Say, Levski has changed quite a bit. Is that a sign of progress?”

“Progress, my foot,” Arid snorted. “We’re selling our souls.”

“It’s not that bad,” Hanna disagreed. “Levski has become an interstellar hub. It’s grown up.”

A heated debate ensued, which I listened to with interest.

“Yeah, right, to feed the Synthworld project and as a stopover on the Castra-Stanton run. There’s a lot of credits flowing through here. It’s a magnet for greedy investors and other pirates.”

“Pirates don’t worry me. It’s the Vanduul I’m concerned about.”

“Oh, come on. We’ve always had Vanduul raids and we’ve dealt with them. The UEE is the bigger threat.”

“No, we need the UEE to make Nyx safe.”

“No way. Remember the words of committee member Thoreau Basque: ‘If our ideals cannot stand firm in the face of mortal danger, what are they worth?’”

“How many more deaths do you want? Think of the Albertson family who were killed.”

“You’re a UEE spy. That’s the only reason someone like you came to Nyx.”

Rebekka raised her hands and stepped between them. “In any case, we can agree that Nyx is a border—a buffer zone between the Vanduul and the UEE. But there’s no denying that the UEE needs Nyx as an interstellar hub.”

“And does the People’s Alliance need the UEE?” I asked.

“You heard it,” Rebekka replied. “Some say no, some say yes.”

Arid leaned forward. “I’ve heard there are secret talks about UEE patrols. That can’t happen. We can’t let them into Nyx.”

“Looks like the People’s Alliance has a double threat,” I analyzed. “The Vanduul on one side, the UEE on the other.”

“Exactly! And that’s why we have to fight back. We have to fight!” Arid said vehemently.

“The best way to win a fight is without fighting,” I replied.

Rebekka nodded. “Some want to prove that we can do it ourselves. Keep Nyx clean—scrap abandoned ships at jump points, advance mining, extract rare ores, supply the UEE and Stanton. Then the UEE won’t have to invest. QV Planet Services gave up mining because it wasn’t profitable. And hardly anyone flies the route through Pyro – it’s too dangerous. If we show that we can do it without UEE protection, it would send a strong signal.”

“I could help with that. I’m in the Rust Society now. Dangerous routes are our thing,” I said with a laugh. “I can also get information—I have my ways and means. I can offer salvage and mining services too. However, my equipment is in Stanton.”

I thought about the words of the man I had met at breakfast on Monox. “No one is given a life like this. We worked for it, we fought for it. People with the will to strive for freedom and not let go of it.”

Nyx—the border between the great powers of the Vanduul and the UEE—the beacon of freedom—I had the unconditional will not to let go of that freedom. Then I made a suggestion.

“That would be a first step. I transport goods between Nyx and Stanton.”

“That would be great,” said Rebekka, smiling.

“Then that’s my path. But can you do something for me? I have a message that needs to be circulated.”

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)