Warden

container. Like all the others in this area, it too was riddled with graffiti.
“Well, we’re here.” He beckoned at the backpack she held.
Rhea reached for the shoulder straps and sloughed off the pack, handing it to Will.
He dipped his chin in thanks. “Wait for us here while we dispose of our salvage. Keep your hood pulled low. Giz, watch her.”
“Can’t I come inside?” she implored.
Will shook his head. “You don’t want a guy like Rosco seeing you. The dude’s a parts collector… and an opportunistic one at that. If he realizes we’ve brought an expensive cyborg onto the premises, things could turn sour for you, fast. Stay here. If you need anything, give us a call.”
Rhea stepped aside as Will opened the door and ducked to fit his bulky pack inside. Horatio followed, shutting the door behind him.
Well, though she was disappointed about not being able to go with them, on the bright side, she did actually feel a lot lighter now that the pack was gone.
She checked the augmented reality overlay while she waited. The place was called “Rosco’s Parts Emporium.” She realized that she could turn on labels on the HUD map, which told her the same thing. She could see the blue dots representing the positions of Will and Horatio inside, and that was comforting.
She glanced up. Gizmo hovered nearby. That also reassured her.
Her gaze drifted to a curio shop across the street, and she approached to examine the goods on display outside. The robot on duty nodded its featureless head as she perused a shelf lined with old power cells. The batteries were ancient, probably salvaged from some abandoned attic in the Outlands and sold to the curio shop by a salvager after Rosco’s rejected the parts.
The next shelf held a beautiful diadem crafted out of fake diamonds and emeralds. There was a small mirror connected to the shelf beside it so that prospective purchasers could admire the crown after trying it on.
She looked around to make sure no one other than the robot proprietor was watching, and then lowered her hood to try on the diadem. After donning it, she looked in the mirror, and smiled when she saw herself.
All hail Princess Rhea.
With a dreamy sigh she returned the crown to the shelf and raised her hood.
She continued to peruse the different curios, though she was distracted, her mind lingering on that diadem.
Someday I’ll have enough money to buy whatever I want. I’ll have a room full of diadems if I wish it.
The thought made her chuckle. Like she’d have any use for something so cheap and gaudy.
Without warning, a deep, gruff voice came from behind her. “My drone spotted you when you took your hood off back there. Doing the dirty work of Khrusos again, are you?”
Confused and afraid, Rhea tightened the hood around her face, and turned around.

5
Rhea stared at the man who stood before her.
He was tall, with a broad chest and a bulging waistline. He wore a black vest over tight-fitting brown pants, and dark boots belted just above the ankles. His gray hair was combed forward and did a poor job of hiding the bald region atop his forehead. His eyes were heavy-lidded, giving the impression of a man walking through this world half awake. He had scars crisscrossing his face, and his nose was uneven, hinting at a past marked by more than a few fist fights. Either he couldn’t afford the cosmetic procedures needed to have the nose properly set and the blemishes removed, or he preferred to show them off to the world, perhaps as a warning.
The man leaned forward slightly, as if trying to peer deeper under her hood, and his eyes drifted to her forehead. He frowned. “Sorry, I seem to have mistaken you for someone else.” He raised his palms and backed away.
Before she could answer, the man hurried away.
Bewildered, Rhea merely stared at him for several moments. She tried to access his public profile via her HUD as Will had taught her, but either the man was too far away, or he had disabled public access, because she got nothing.
“Hey, wait!” She darted after him.
The heavy-lidded man glanced over his shoulder at her and then ducked into a side alley.
She reached the alley a moment later and peered inside. The metallic walls of lean-tos and cargo containers formed a dim tunnel that proved otherwise empty. The man must have ducked into one of the containers that lined the route and shut the door behind him. Well, she wasn’t about to go inside and look for him…
“Gizmo, were you able to track where this guy went?” she sent over the shared comm band. She wasn’t actually certain if Gizmo was on the line.
Will was the one who answered. “Giz says you ran into someone. It tried to track him, but the man ducked into an alleyway and was gone before Giz could reposition. Want tell me what happened?”
Rhea hugged herself. “Nothing.”
She gazed into the empty alley one last time, and then returned to Rosco’s Parts Emporium to wait in front. She watched the streets warily, giving suspicious looks to the few passersby she saw.
She looked up “Khrusos” on the Net in the meantime. Apparently, Khrusos was the President of the United Settlements. A member of the High Council that ruled Earth. But that was also a common name and could have belonged to any street kingpin.
Finally Will and Horatio emerged and shut the door of the container behind them. Their backpacks were noticeably smaller.
“So, what did that dude say to you?” Will asked her.
“He confused me for someone else,” Rhea replied.
Will gave her a suspicious look. “You lowered your hood?”
“No,” she lied. “Apparently, he had a drone, and it caught a glimpse of my face when it was flying past.”
“I see,” Will said. “Well, you’re lucky he wasn’t some black-market parts dealer.”
“Maybe he was,” Horatio said. “And he’s off gathering his hood brothers as we speak.”
“All the more reason to get the hell