[November 330th, GPY 2. Talos. Choece, Ganymede. 0811. UGT.]

[Merit: -34]

After waking and enduring another episode of, 'Gelos stuffs his face.' The pair returned to the Talos Community center to float lazily in the corridor. Peering into the various trapdoors for an opportunity to arise.

Their moment came after reaching the end of the extensive hall. Where a door sat unsealed at the dead end. Granting a clear view into a capsule much larger than the one they'd occupied the days prior.

All along the curved panels, attached to the surface by their boots, were clumps of people. Pointing, cheering, jeering and screaming at those sparring in the center of their respective clusters.

Jordan followed Gelos and pushed off gently from the door frame to drift across the room. Turning his head in every direction at the various matches going underway like an excited child in a game store.

As if Gelos were still his teacher, Jordan's eyes followed everywhere the Martian's did. To their left, two Galileans stood a few meters apart on neutral ground. Approaching each other slowly. Guard high. Stepping cautiously as to not push themselves too far from the ground. Once within range, the blurred exchange of punches began in earnest.

A young redhead threw out a flurry of jabs and uppercuts that were aptly dodged or blocked by her opponent in quick succession before she countered with a front kick to the mid-thigh. Causing the pair to drift apart after only a split second and reset. Ready to repeat the process at a moments notice.

It was much of the same wherever else Jordan looked. Galilean men and women, all around his age, filled the air with curses and combat. Cheering and challenges. Were thrown from the meat made rings, only to be replaced by the next set of eager competitors without paue.

Occasionally, a pair would be seen floating across the room. Their combined mass rotating violently as their blows reverberated across the masses. Causing more heads to turn. More rings to form. More bets to be placed. And more individuals to throw challenges into the crowd.

"Study closely," Gelos said as they met the far wall. "This is how we'll have to fight until we get some type of propulsion."

After almost half an hour of watching; waiting for Gelos to explain his master plan, Jordan noticed a quartet of young Galilean's drifting towards them. Each of them with maniacal, sadistic grins twisting their faces.

Two girls and a guy were huddled behind their obvious ringleader. Giggling away as he looked down on the new blood. He was short, stocky and had the most an arrogant grin Jordan had seen in his short life thus far. A grin which wrinkled his forehead into crisp lines that folded around the grayed widow's speak of his hairline. He was dressed in dark blue coveralls that were pulled off the torso and tied around the waist. Exposing ash-white skin that bulged unnaturally from the muscles underneath.

"Out of curiosity." He sneered in a deep, yet smooth voice. "How does an Astros manage to find himself in the neg?" He clamped his feet to the surface. Taking an amiable step towards Jordan as his voice rose noticeably louder. "Stroke of bad luck?" He snickered.

"Stroke of humility." Jordan shrugged dismissively. "My name is J-"

"I'll care about your name when you have more Merit than me." He snarled.

'Oh.' Jordan laughed to himself. 'You want to play games?'

He was positive that no matter how long he lived, there'd be no bigger tool in the entire Solar System than the likes of his elder brother, Jago. Living with the 'Usurper' festered within Jordan a low tolerance for the petty games employed by those unfortunate enough to experience self-loathing. In the beginning, it manifested as emotional detachment. A seed that tempered his phlegmatic disposition. Which later evolved into a complete inability to follow along with such pettiness.

"Okay." Jordan amiably acknowledged the apparent stab at his pride. "Care to spar?"

The Galilean rocked backwards in hearty laughter at the mere sound of Jordan's words. "Yeah, right!" He bellowed. "A single slap from those'll break my jaw!"

"Oh, no." Jordan retorted by raising his hands in mock surrender. "I only use my legs during times like these." As suspected, the lie once again didn't subtract from his Merit. His heart suddenly rang out in dubious laughter as he grinned to himself.

The young Galilean, on the other hand, seemed to be lost deeply in thought. His eyes were focused intently on his feet while thick veins bulged in his neck and forehead.

'Don't hurt yourself.' Jordan chuckled to himself.

As the seconds dragged on, Jordan decided to be an upstanding Galilean and aid the young man in making his decision. "I can turn them off completely, if you want." He smiled as cheekily as he could. Of course it was a lie. The more Jordan could speak, however. The more the Galilean would be forced to save face. "One pair of base-level legs. Versus... whatever it is you have in there." He dismissively gestured towards him with the point of his boot. Grinning as wide as a demon. "Or, do you not think you can beat a handicapped, meritless, Astros?"

"Fine!"

Finally, he exploded. Rocking back in anger and howling in a high-pitched voice, the young Galilean caught the attention of the entire room with his declaration. In unified silence, the crowd stared at the seething mass of Galilean with wide eyes mixed with surprise and anticipation.

Within seconds, they were surrounded by a crowd of Galilean's, Ganymedean's specifically, who were cumulatively shouting an incoherent jargle at the soon to be duelists. Presumably recording everything through their eyes.

Growing tired of the situation already, Jordan registered everyone's voices except his opponent's and Gelos' as background noise and filtered them out. The silence seemed to welcome his ears like the grand bell's of a cathedral, welcoming a great someone into their halls. Blissful and radiant.

Up until the moment it was harshly cut out by his competitors silky, baritone voice. "First to be knocked out, or out of the ring, is the loser." He declared.

Without any other words, He began crouched low at the knees and raised his hands high in a guard. Slid forward inch by inch.

Jordan wasn't entirely certain he could beat him using only his legs. Still, he wasn't as much of a pushover to allow anyone to walk all over him. And losing would only put him deeper in the hole, making his situation worse.

Knowing this, he threw caution to the wind and relied on winning by ringout.

Once the Galilean was in range, a seemingly relaxed Jordan snapped his leg upwards. Driving the pointed toe of his boot straight into his opponents chin. From the impact, his grounded foot was pushed firmly into the ground, while his opponent jerked violently. Then slowly drifted overhead. Clutching a mouth surrounded by wet, red orbs.

Not wasting a second, Jordan pushed off the ground with the ball of his foot and swung his left leg upward, towards his crotch. Tucked his knee across his chest, towards his right shoulder, to impart a rotation on his body. His opponent reacted by jerking backwards at the knee to dodge the unexpected follow up, surprise stamped all over his face. As Jordan turned about, he ejected his heel out like a piston. Driving the heel of his boot straight into his opponents chest. Sending him hurtling through the crowd until he slid to a halt in the same fashion Jordan had against Gelos.

As for Jordan, the impact cancelled his rotation and sent him on a slow drift towards Gelos and the noiselessly cheering crowd.

After allowing Gelos to arrest his momentum and return him to the surface. The notifications quickly glitched into being at the top of his vision.

[Awarded: Duel Champion. +20 Points.]

[Merit: -14]

Just as the messages faded, a ferocious scream rumbled through the chamber. Following the sound, Jordan craned his neck overhead, where he saw his former opponent standing on the 'ceiling,' practically glowing red from rage.

After another bloodlust filled scream, he jumped from the surface, flipping himself feet-first towards Jordan.

The latter only stepped to the side, out of harm's way. Seemingly casually, but just in time to avoid having his skull caved in. Jordan fully engaged his mag-boots as his opponent landed in a wide squat to absorb the shock. Sending a dull thud to shockwave through the crowd. While the Galilean was recovering from his squat, Jordan raised his leg, high overhead, and swung his heel down with all his mass onto the crown of his opponents head.

The Galilean let out a disgraceful yelp upon delivery of the axe kick. His body squatted back down from the impact, seemingly on its own. Allowing Jordan a prime target for when he reeled his foot back, and delivered a front kick to the face.

With another distasteful groan, the Galilean lazily drifted backwards and slumped against the floor.

[Awarded: K.O. 25 Points.]

[Merit: 11]

***

Gelos could only grin as the crowd filled with gossip and slander about the boy, blinded from bloodlust, who shamefully attacked a Galilean, an Astros, outside of a duel. Questions quickly arose about how much Merit was lost from his part in that moment. If he'd awake to challenge Astros again. Or if his friends would challenge them in his stead. While Gelos couldn't ignore their words and his ensuing questions, he also couldn't ignore the digital, red dwarf-like orb floating next to Jordan's head. And the corresponding numbers beside it.

[Name: Jordan Astros]

[Merit: 11]

Gelos hurriedly approached Jordan and grabbed him by the shoulder. His body lunged from his pull, but his feet remained still as stone. Gelos looked down to the dim red lights glowing from his boots and sighed loudly in protest. "Jordan! We have to go."

"No." Jordan said sternly without averting his gaze. "We don't."

While Gelos' anxiety rose, Jordan continued to watch his opponent quivering on the ground. Convulsed violently as his body awoke itself. During those endless seconds, Gelos could only nervously watch the angry boy's companions from his peripherals.

In his experience, they were either cowards who'd retreat the moment their leader was wiped out. Or they'd attempt to avenge him with the zeal of a religious fanatic.

Jordan calmy approached the Galilean as the latter slowly regained consciousness. He gazed around for a few seconds, throwing curious and offended glances at all the faces contemptuously staring, before turning to Jordan. Face pursed in a vicious scowl and a single, thick finger pointed his way.

"You!" He growled. "I challenge you, Astros! Campaign. One week. On Ganymede."

For the first time since Gelos called out to the young Galilean approaching his new home, he saw his face open up into a cold, unsettling grin. "So be it." He growled almost as viciously as the Galilean.

As quick as it came however, the show of emotion disappeared just as quickly. Jordan turned, Nodding to Gelos to follow as he passed.

Gelos followed with a grin that matched his friends, out of the community center. Save, his grin was from anxiety, rather than the fruits of hard labor. He wouldn't fool himself into thinking he had Jordan figured out. Quite the opposite, actually. The sadistic, demonic grin briefly displayed by the young Astros only affirmed such way of thinking.

He was dangerous, Jordan. That much Gelos knew. But in the words of his father, those who are deemed dangerous, form the greatest alliances.

"Why were you so pressed to leave?" Jordan laughed softly, in his usual way. As the days passed, Gelos quickly learned that the audible tick meant many things. And also, simultaneously, nothing.

"I thought they'd jump us." Gelos laughed as he admitted his biased way of thinking. "Would've definitely happened around Mars."

"They will." Jordan shrugged nonchalantly. "I humiliated him in front of all his friends. And whomever else he was trying to impress." He snorted after adding the additional point. "Slaying an Astros is the perfect way to save face."

"Good work, my pupil." Gelos smiled proudly as he put on an old timers accent. "You got yourself out of the negative. And set yourself on a path to gather even more points." He finished by resting his palm on Jordan's shoulder and softly humming false enchantments to himself.

"Myself?" Jordan laughed mockingly. "Us! You think he's gonna come to the surface alone? There'll be a veritable bounty for you as well-" Jordan stood, open mouthed and pale faced. Staring above Gelos' shoulder in disbelief. "How'd you get so many points.?"

[Merit: 185]

"Well." Gelos tried to hold back his prideful laugh. "First, I got points for teaching you. Then, I got points for beating on you during our sparring sessions."

"So, that's why you only sparred with me for one day." Jordan nodded slowly as the puzzle pieces quite visibly fit into place within his mind. He then turned to Gelos with a warm smile. His fist held out in a greeting. "You're a good friend."

Gelos couldn't fight against the prideful grin betraying his dismissive gestures. As he met Jordan's knuckle with his own, a mass; akin to a clump of dirt, suddenly rose from his chest and lodged in his throat. Seemed to enlarge or shake profusely as the Jordan's comment resounded in Gelos' head. Over and over.

'Friend.'

***

"So." Jordan, emerging from the community center, stepped out into the void city of Talos with a new set of eyes. Before getting carried away by wanderlust, Jordan turned his attention to Gelos. "Now that we have points, we have money. You familiar with Terrestrial Credits? Tercs, I think they're called in the Inner-Worlds?"

He waited for Gelos to amiable nod before continuing. "We use rubies here." He explained. "The exchange rate for Merit points to rubies, is one to one-thousand. Rubies to Tercs are a one-to-one exchange. So, I have 11,000 rubies. And you have 185,000. Even with a fraction of that, we'd still be able to buy a decades worth of gear. So, anything you wanna buy?"

Gelos shook his head firmly and let out an exhausted sigh. "I wanna get the ground under my feet first. Go back to Bronio. Stock up on food. Sleep in a real bed. And go from there."

"Sounds good." With a dismissive shrug. Jordan turned on his heels and stepped off towards the city entrance.

From Talos, the two returned to the transport station and took a slightly faster lift back to the lower levels. After hailing a self-driving cab and selecting their destination, the two faced each other and enjoyed a celebratory local ale as the hills rolled by.

Driving into Bronio's limits, Jordan checked the time and noticed he had a new message from the habitat AI. After checking its inquiry, Jordan hurriedly nudged Gelos to ask if he received the message as well.

Their excitement quickly rose and soon, the cab filled with murmurs and agreements and wishes for the damned cab to hurry up!

The moment the cab halted in downtown Bronio, they sprang from the cab and hobbled down the wide walkways. Being excited only for what came later, Jordan let Gelos roam to his heart's content, followed after him like a dog owner letting their pet explore freely.

He was led to an underground market under the pretext of Gelos' need to stock his refrigerator with food.

Instead, they walked around the complex in relative silence. Highlighting trinkets, maneuvering vests, weapons, tools and of course, food, with their eyes until their carts were full. After verifying their payments via a console near the door, they stood in place for a moment to watch the robotic arms pull their inventory from the wall and into their cart, then deposit it into the Automated Transportation and Retrieval System's(ATAR's) chute.

"All that stuff and still less than a hundred rubies." Gelos sighed in satisfaction as he turned to Jordan. "Sure you don't need anything else? Armor, weapons, weights?"

"Maneuvering vest was all I needed." Jordan shook his head. "And food. Obviously."

After verifying their lists were complete, the two decided to have one final run home. Instead of continuing down the winding path to the solitary holes for the meritless, they ran to the entrance of one of the helixed apartment buildings that towered over their secluded fields. And halted at the entrance.

"It's almost like an arcology." Gelos gasped as he craned his neck to bring the penthouses into view.

Standing before the entrance, the apartment complex seemed monumentally larger than from the perspective of their unranked holes. The buildings were fifty by a hundred meters and covered corner to corner in apparently seamless glass. In random spots going up the front face, square sections glass were pocked. Folded out along the base to form private balconies and terraces.

Gelos turned to Jordan. Wide grin stamped on his face. "Neighbors?"

"Neighbors."

In recognition of their positive balance, the boys were granted the right to change their residence to any open residential unit within the lower levels. Despite this being a right given to each E-ranker from the moment they received their freedom, the grant, along with his climbing out of the hole, felt like things were starting to look up.

It felt like progress. A first step towards being truly free.

The vast ground floor was made of polished stone that resembled Ganymede's gray, icy surface. Arched ceilings were held up by pillars of the same fashion, spiraled with twisted wires of gold and silvery metals. At the center was a grand staircase, surrounded on each side by massive pillars that housed two elevator shafts on each side. Surrounding the walls were entrances to gymnasiums, dojos, conference and party rooms, libraries, snack shops, VR rooms and other services and amenities for the tenants. Downstairs were the commercial districts. A place, according to the maps, that looked like a miniature Bronio in itself. Or at least held everything the city had to offer. Excepting specialized or handmade goods. While below that, were the private farms and ranches owned by the building and intended as the primary source of basic sustenance for those above.

In synchronized excitement, the two sprinted up the stairs to the 44th floor. Where they took a sharp left and continued on the the middle of the hall. Instead of doors, the breaks in the hallway led to a hexagonal alcove. A communal sitting area for the two neighbors assigned to each alvoe. The onyx doors bordered the far wall, colored a honeycomb yellow, and featured their names proudly on their consoles. With Jordan on the right, Gelos on the left.

"Well, see you tomorrow." Gelos waved as he slipped inside his apartment.

Jordan's apartment; and Gelos', he suspected, were designed in an L-shape. The entrance led into a small antechamber with racks and shelves for coats and shoes. A wood paneled path led straight from the entrance towards the dining area in the back corner. Just to the right of the walkway was a small planter box that acted as a border for the seating area beyond. Where a sunken, U-shaped couch wrapped around a large coffee table that sat flush with floor. The wall before it consisted entirely of a screen that currently showing a landscape of Ganymede's plains. Jupiter was focused on the center with the other moons, Io and Europa, glowing like coin sized stars before the endless black. Jordan focused on Europa for a second, trying to conjure any type of particular feelings during the process, and let out a heavy sigh before continuing on.

Past the sitting area was a wraparound counter that started at the edge of the screen and ended just before the junction that acted as both the dining room and kitchen. Tucked neatly in the corner was the autochef, hands folded gently along the roof of its tiny home. The rest of the counter space was left blank for the assortment of appliances Jordan would never buy. Other than that, a small table with two chairs sat next to a pillar that separated the walkway from the kitchen proper.

Before his bedroom door, on the left, was a small storage closet and the ATAR's chute. While the right were his bathroom and laundry unit. Saving his purchases for later, Jordan entered his bedroom, which was around double the size of his old place by itself. A rather large, round bed sat in the corner, opposite a L-shaped desk with a screen set into the face, tilted upwards for visibility. A large wardrobe with a mirror sat next to his door. Next to that, his closet.

Besides that, the room was entirely barren. Void of personality. A large step up from his previous accommodations.

With a satisfied yelp, Jordan jumped in his bed and immediately drifted off to sleep.