Tsss!
A mechanical hiss cut through the darkness, the sharp resonance left a cold chill in the night's atmosphere.
Kruuung!
Metal groaned as if in protest to the injustice it suffered.
The silhouette of an angular craft appeared as it touched down on the landing bay, a structure with a large flat metal surface, supported by hydraulic beams.
Spotlights flickered on. No alarm, no guards, turned out it was just a garbage ship. One might expect the spaceship to be an abominable clutter of metal held together by hope,
but the design was quite sleek and clean with pulsing neon lines tracing its edge. Considering its role, it was quite a beautiful ship.
With another hiss, the hydraulics descended and lowered the ship to the first level of the facility—honestly a dumpsite.
The pressure kept easing as the ship was aligned with a conveyor port embedded in an extension ramp. The ramp extended as it opened the conveyor port to receive the cargo.
Whum! Whum!
Mechanical systems roared to life as if in anticipation to devour the cargo.
With a crisp mechanical whine and a depressurized hiss, the cargo bay of the ship opened and transferred all its content to the conveyor port.
Everything felt normal, as it was a routine that occurred daily. The ship would always dump the garbage at various times daily, mostly at night.
After the first disturbance rang out, a hooded figure was already at the scene. The lighting revealed a portion of his face, a soot-caked mouth that barely gave a hint to his true skin colour.
"My goodies are here."
The figure muttered, a chilling smile as cold as glacier flashed across his face, teeth gleaming like pearls in the soft lighting.
"What am I going to get?"
"Some power relay unit would be quite nice."
He kept muttering to himself in excitement.
Then he thought of his unlucky streak the past three weeks, and his smile disappeared, replaced with a sharp gaze.
The dumpsite was a large facility enclosed by a modular fence. It was a rectangular structure that consisted of a bottom and top floor, with landing bays on the roof.
"Let's get to work."
He heaved a sigh and began walking towards the gate.
Aculux was a large city divided into two sectors—the upper and lower sector. This city featured tall futuristic buildings and different vehicles you would expect to see in sci-fi concepts. Hover vehicles glided gracefully through streets, warm neon glow accented most buildings, and holographic displays added to the allure and aesthetics of the city.
Everyone went about their daily lives in the upper sector. This was where human rights existed, because the lower sector was a different story entirely—at least from what the public knew. But who really cared? After all, the lower sector was seen as a dumpsite and a slum where shady deeds went on beyond the surface.
The government didn't usually talk about the lower sector unless something major happened. But, like everywhere else, life flourished; here it was more like the survival of the fittest than any decent living.
Avalon turned eighteen this year, but not like he cared. What has that got to do with anything if you can't feed?
He had survived on repurposing scraps and selling his gadgets to a tech shop in that district.
Family? He had never heard such a word associated with him, neither did he care about his origin. To him, he just popped out of nowhere and got kicked out of the orphanage when they felt like he could fend for himself.
Avalon was always the first to arrive at the dumpsite. It felt as if his ears were designed to capture the mechanical noise.
When the other scavengers saw how much he could make from selling his gadgets, the competition turned fierce.
They would pick up neat-looking pieces and sell to him at a rip-off price. He had to be cautious if he didn't want to get ripped off again. That's why he had to be the first person to get there and archive the best units before the others arrived.
He stepped towards the gate as an old man could be seen dozing off in the guard's quarter beside the gate.
With a start, the old man suddenly jerked awake and glared at the young man with an irritated face. He was obviously pissed his sleep got interrupted.
"As perceptive as ever, old thing."
"Why don't you just let your bag of bones rest?"
The young man clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The old man just gave him a lazy look and went back to sleep, not in the mood to tolerate his antics.
Avalon reached into his pocket and took out a key card. He walked towards the gate and located a security terminal shaped like a diamond with blinking red and blue LEDs; a card slot was situated in the middle.
He was about to scan the key card when a gruff voice interrupted him.
"Three minutes, that's all you've got."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Old man, do you believe I can take three days if I wish?"
He said with a chuckle.
"Do whatever you want, kid, but make sure you don't let your squad turn that place into a mess."
"My squad?"
"Jiejiejiejieeeeeeeee."
"I am a lone alpha."
"Wait, dumpsite—a mess."
"Kikiki!"
A bone-chilling cackle rang out, as the old man felt a chill run down his spine. A laughter that could leave ghosts trembling in their boots—if they had any.
Beep!!
With a mechanical click, the gate trembled and slowly slid in two different directions, leaving an entrance in the center.
Avalon walked in, and without
hesitating, he marched into the structure, featuring a large entrance wide enough to fit two mega dump trucks side by side.
He took an elevator to the bottom floor, an underground chamber, absolutely enormous to fit 10 capital vessels and still have enough space to spare.
Scraps, divided into plots, littered 30% of the space.
He walked to a compartment beside the elevator and took a complete set of biohazard gear and began equipping them.