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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 4050802" data-attributes="member: 94">Cutter was moving them through the market as quickly as possible, zigging and zagging through the crowd. His eyes were on the data-slate map, yet nobody bumped into them despite his rushed and erratic path. Folks seemed inclined to move out of their way—not even the many street toughs they spotted wanted much to do with them.Cutter suddenly veered left, and just like that, the crowd parted and they broke clear of the market. They were alone in an alley. Cutter stole a quick glace over his shoulder to make sure that no one from the crowd was following.Satisfied, he trotted forward, and ere long the the alleyway opened up into another open space, where the “Workers’ Union” hove into view. It was, apparently, named rather misleadingly: The Workers’ Union was perhaps the seediest bar they had ever seen, covered in graffiti and riddled with bullet holes. Dregs and gangers slouched around the front door and windows, or disappeared into the shadows around the side for who-knows-what illicit transactions, where the disembodied red glow of lho-sticks appeared and disappeared amidst puffs of smoke. If the Workers’ Union was ever a hospitable place for the proles of the Tantalus Combine to gather and ease their worries, it certainly didn’t appear to be so any longer.“I’m eager to get to the girl,” said Grim. “Let’s… let’s avoid this place for now.”Cutter and Gunner nodded in eager agreement.At last the street signs showed that they had reaced Hab-Stack 7-17, a boxy, grey, ten-story block decorated with arched windows and carved Scarab blazons—the symbol of the Tantalus Combine. Many of the windows were dark, and many more were shattered.“Sh*t,” said Cutter. “Bigger’n I thought.”The main entrance doors had been broken open, and the foyer was vandalized and thoroughly scavenged.“Do we want to find someone to talk to first, or go straight to the sister’s?” Cutter looked around for any lone proles he could collar, but the hallways were empty. What people still lived here lurked behind locked doors.Gunner sighed. “Does anybody even live here any more? Where are all the people?”Cutter’s ear flicked forward. “It’s pretty quiet, but I hear sounds of habitation—muted, deeper inside.”“Let’s find the girl,” said Grim. “What floor is she on?”Cutter consulted the data-slate. “9th floor.”Together the three of them looked to the elevators. The doors were stuck open, displaying a black void where the lift should be. The only way up was through a wide stairwell decorated with defaced murals that had at one time depicted active and happy workers. Judging by the profanity scrawled across them, the active and happy workers were long gone—if such had ever existed at all in anything other than the Tantalus Combine’s wildest corporate fantasies.“Are we expecting any trouble?” Cutter asked. If someone wants that dead guy's death to stay a secret, they may guard the sis. If she's still alive."Gunner was looking at his own data-slate now. “Says here the brother lives here, too.”“Not anymore, he don’t,” said Cutter.“I think we should search the brother’s place first,” suggested Gunner.“Let’s talk to the sister first,” said Grim, “and stay in his abandoned place for the night. We’ll need to stay somewhere.”Cutter started climbing the staircase. “9th floor. Dammit.”The loudest noise in the building was the sound of Cutter’s hooves on the metal staircase.They reached the 9th floor and walked cautiously down the hallway to Lily Arbest’s hab.“Grim, knock on the door,” Gunner said.“We’ll cover you,” Cutter agreed.Grim shook his head and knocked on the door. It swung open at his touch.“It appears she was expecting us—or is no longer a tenant,” Grim said. Undeterred, he pushed his overcoat back over the butt of his laspistol and walked inside.</blockquote>

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