Damien woke up to the sounds of repeated knocking and a muted voice calling out from somewhere. It had been a deep sleep, and it took a few seconds for his senses to fully return to him. When they did, he found himself lying on a wide bed with two bodies surrounding him, one on each side. They were both women, both fully asleep, and one was only half covered, her naked body partly exposed. Memories from a wild night rushed back to him.

Another round of knocks came from the door at the other side of the room. “Yo!” a muffled voice called out. “Get up already.”

Damien quietly slipped around the naked woman and picked his gray shirt and black pants off the ground. He put them on and opened the door to find Marcus on the other side, his bionic forearm resting on the head of the door frame.

“About time.” Marcus said. “I’ve built up an appetite just waiting.” He peeked around Damien and a wide smile grew on his face. “Way to go, man. I might have some competition for best game in the city. If you’re done in there, we should get some breakfast. Well, technically it’s lunch time. You down?”

Still partly asleep, Damien gave a lazy affirmative before picking up his sword from the lone table counter in the room.

“There’s a really good spot a few blocks down,” Marcus said as the duo stepped outside into another warm afternoon. “Just like the hotel room and the drinks, this one’s on me. But it’s the last time. Can’t set a bad precedent, you know?”

The beams of sunshine on Damien’s face slowly brought him to full wakefulness, and he gave a thanks to his new companion. The mention of food had awakened a gnawing sensation deep in his stomach, and he realized that this was his first time feeling hunger and thirst. This brought out more questions about this new reality.

This really isn’t a dream, huh? I’m really here…

He opened the T-deck as they walked to see if anything had changed. It seemed to him that this interface would hold the answers, so he scoured through every bit of information on every page, hopeful for some answers. Maybe a Log Out button. Anything to confirm that he could leave this reality behind. But there was nothing.

Conflicting feelings started to swell up inside, alongside the nagging hunger. On one hand, it really irritated him that he didn’t have answers to his questions. On the other hand, could he really complain after a day like yesterday? If nothing else, it was wildly awesome here, and the thrill of yesterday’s escapades were still lingering. The high speed chase, the shootouts and confrontations with gangs. It was all a blast. If he was truly stuck here, what else could he do besides make the most of it?

They continued walking a few blocks until they arrived at an eatery called The Flying Saucer, the entire theme being that of a disk-shaped spaceship. The patio at the entrance was encircled by a series of black slabs made to look like spaceship panels, and even the chairs and tables followed a similar flying saucer motif. It was impressive, if a little tacky, but it gave Damien the impression that it was all very expensive. Inside dining was available at the other side of the patio, but tinted glass kept the interior design a mystery.

“Let’s sit outside,” Marcus said. “It’s nice out and we can do some babe-watching as a bonus.”

Having no particular preference, Damien agreed and they sat at a circular table at the very edge of the patio. The majority of the tables were vacant, but Marcus insisted they sit at the ‘prime babe-watching location’. From here, they had a clear view of a bustling intersection surrounded by people flowing through the sidewalks. The cars on the road were only a few meters away, while the flying cars above stayed at their dizzying heights.

At the edge of the table, two displays came to life within the counter, one for each of them. Marcus explained that they were the menus, then started tapping on the counter to play with the interface. Damien did the same, browsing quickly through the options to see what was available. It seemed to be a general restaurant, serving all kinds of food from burgers to pasta.

As Damien mulled over the options, a thought popped up in his mind.

What do I even like to eat?

It was an absurd question, and it felt strange to even ask it in the first place. But this was the situation he was in. Without personal memories, he had no idea what his preferences even were. Rather than take a gamble, he decided to play it safe by choosing the Classic Lunch Burger Special— a combo featuring a massive burger, fries, and soft drink. It was a customer favorite according to both Marcus and the menu itself. After confirming his selection, the display listed the price and asked for payment.

Marcus reached across the table and tapped the display with his wrist, and a second later a payment confirmation notice appeared.

Damien gave another thanks but the brown-haired pirate waved it off, saying that it’s still payback for the help yesterday. He appreciated the sentiment, but relying on others was starting to irk Damien. He really needed to start makign funds, and he needed to start today.

Marcus finished ordering his own food then rested his half-metallic forearms on the table. “We should discuss business while we’re here. There’s something I’ve been meaning to bring up so I’m just gonna come out and say it. I think you’d make a hell of a pirate, and we could use a samurai in the crew. What do you think about joining us?”

The question caught Damien off guard. “Us? What about Kat?”

A large, circular slot opened up at the center of the table, and three cans popped up. Marcus palmed two of them and cracked them both open. “What about her?”

Damien followed suit, opening the remaining can with a satisfying click. “Does she want me to join?” He took a sip, and the soda bubbles popped aggressively in his mouth before vanishing into a pleasantly sweet but unknown flavor.

“Of course,” Marcus said after a massive gulp of his drink. “She said you were cool.”

“Really? Can’t say I got that impression from her.”

Marcus shrugged. “That’s just how she is. She doesn’t open up to people easily. Prefers to keep them at a distance. But she trusts you, at the very least. And trust is the most important thing among pirates.”

“You both trust me already?”

“Sure. You had more than one opportunity to ditch us yesterday. You could’ve left us both in a rough spot, but you didn’t. You toughed it out and held up your end of the bargain without complaining. Like I said, I don’t need much time for my gut feeling to kick in about someone.” He chugged the remainder of the first drink then the crushed the can in his hand. “Besides, when someone wakes up with no memories, that’s when you can see them for who they truly are.”

Damien took another sip as he pondered what he was hearing. He didn’t agree with the first part, seeing as he didn’t exactly have anywhere to run off to. But he couldn’t argue against the second point. “About these jobs…" he finally said, "Why did I have to tag along on them? Couldn’t I just get the funds to pay off the debt through a regular job?”

Marcus let out a light chuckle. “Now that’s how I know they really messed with you. First of all, honest work is virtually nonexistent in this city. Most government and corporate jobs mandate that you have to let them install their chips into your head so they can make sure you’re a good worker drone. Only they know the full extent of what kind of stuff is inside of those chips, and a lot of us don’t trust them. All of that risk just so you can irk out a safe little income for yourself... If you ask me, you can’t even call that living.”

He took a drink from the second can before continuing. “The second issue is one that’s unique to you. Because your information doesn’t exist in any official databases, no legitimate business is gonna risk hiring you. Without a valid background, you’re a liability to them, even for a bottom-tier starting position. That leaves illegal activities as your only option. Kat could’ve waited around for you to find illegal work on your own, but who knows how long that would take? Much quicker and easier to drag you along on her jobs.”

“I see…” Damien said as he gazed briefly at the small number of patrons on the patio. “I guess in a strange way, she did me a favor by letting me tag along.”

“Maybe. She told me you saved her during your first raid. You also helped me out of a tight spot, so as far as I’m concerned, you earned your pay. As a bonus for us, we found someone worth recruiting.”

The slot at the center of the table opened once again, revealing a plate topped with a delicious-looking burger and a hill of fries. With his stomach gurgling, Damien took the plate and the slot closed, only for it to reopen ten seconds later with two massive bowls of rice and beef. Marcus took the bowls and the utensils on the side of the table, and immediately started digging in.

Damien bit into his warm burger, the heavenly flavor immediately melting in his mouth. Across from him, Marcus managed to grumble out some words through a mouthful of food. “Good, huh?”

Damien nodded then took another massive, juicy bite. The burger was certainly amazing, but the mountain of a man before him seemed to almost vacuum the food into his gut. Guess he really likes to eat…

Marcus cleaned the bowl out in less than a minute, then washed it down with a big gulp of his remaining soda. “Well, back to my question. You interested in joining our crew? It pays to have allies in this city. But a fair warning, pirate life is a lot of fun, but it isn’t always glamorous. We’re outcasts, after all. Most gangs and corps don’t trust us, but we have a certain freedom they don’t have.”

Damien bit into a handful of fries and considered the offer. Would it be wise to commit to a crew already? Having allies would certainly be helpful, especially if they’re capable and trustworthy.

“You don’t have to answer right away,” Marcus said as he centered the second bowl before him. “The offer is on the table, so just think about it. In the meantime, there's something else I wanna confirm with you. You wanna get your memories back, right?”

The question brought Damien back to his train of thought from earlier. While it was certainly fun here, he still wanted to figure out exactly what's going on. “Yeah, I'd like to get them back. I’m guessing TrillTech holds the answers to what’s going on.”

“Then our goals are aligned, at least for now.”

“What do you mean?” Damien said as he took the final bite of his burger.

Marcus let out a long sigh. “Look, our crew wasn’t always like this. It fell apart a few months back when we lost two members. One of them died during a raid, and a week later, Jay went missing. Jay was our leader, the one who kept the ship steered straight. Without him, we became fractured and we couldn’t decide how to move forward. Kat and I stuck together, hoping to keep the crew alive, but the third and final member decided to go off on his own. We haven’t heard from him since.”

In terms of core members, Kat and I are the only ones left. As you probably figured out by now, we don’t see eye to eye very often, and it’s hard to decide which direction to go. The truth is, we’re a broken, dysfunctional family that’s not gonna last much longer. That’s why we’re trying to find Jay. Even if we fall apart, we need to find out what happened to our friend.”

“And you think TrillTech is behind his disappearance?”

“We’re sure of it, but I can’t tell you how we know. Not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that Kat made me promise not to tell anyone, and I never break my promises. Besides, she’d kill me if she found out I spilled.”

“It’s alright.” Damien said as he plopped a fry in his mouth and turned his attention to the cars cruising through the intersection. “I get it, you don’t have to tell me everything.”

“I’m glad you understand, Dame. Cops, gangs, corps, the government. None of them scare me, but that girl does. After all, hell hath no fury like…” he paused for a moment, “something, something, don’t piss off a woman. You know how it goes.”

Damien chuckled. “Yeah, I get it.”

Marcus returned to stuffing his face in the second bowl, when Damien noticed a silver car slowly creeping forward from the road up ahead. It had a symbol of a purple crown on the hood and it seemed to crawl towards them, as if unsure of its movement.

When he locked eyes with the driver, the car jolted to life, picking up speed before screeching to a halt on the road right beside them. Before Damien could react, the tinted windows came down, and two gun barrels emerged, pointing straight at them.