The glow of Helior Pri showed up long before the city itself did.
At first it was just a sar of light on the horizon, layered bands hovering above the terrain like stacked halos. As they got closer, the details filled in—floating traffic lanes braided together, towers rising in uneven clusters, energy shields curving overhead to keep Jupiter’s storms out. The city didn’t sprawl. It stacked, folded in on itself, and climbed.
Before they could reach it, the road narrowed.
Arlen slowed the van as warning markers lit up ahead, suspended in midair by invisible fields. A checkpoint unfolded out of the ground, not a single gate but a sequence of them. Vehicles peeled off into assigned lanes automatically, guided by traffic control drones that buzzed low and impatient.
Rin leaned forward, watching. "This is a lot."
"It’s Helior Pri," Arlen replied, easing them into position. "No one just drives in."
The first barrier scanned the van’s exterior, blue light crawling over armor plates and undercarriage. The second one focused on energy signatures, recalibrating when it hit the heavier weapon mounts. A third scanned life signs inside, pausing just long enough on Xavier to feel uncomfortable before moving on.
Xavier glanced at Arlen. "Why are we getting stopped? This is a law vehicle."
Arlen didn’t look away from the road. "Helior Pri doesn’t care."
She nodded toward the city ahead. "No governnt runs this place. No planetary authority either. Everything here is owned, regulated, and enforced by private organizations. Security firms, trade guilds, corporate blocs. Law vehicles an nothing unless the right people recognize them."
"So," Xavier said, "a city run by money."
"By contracts," Arlen corrected. "Money just keeps them binding."
Xavier smirked faintly. "Sounds like an upgraded version of Astraeus City."
"That’s not wrong," she said. "Just aner."
The van rolled forward again, stopping at the next checkpoint where guards waited in mixed armor styles, each piece branded differently. One was human. Another was tall and narrow with translucent skin that pulsed faintly. A stocky reptilian species stood behind them, optics blinking as it scanned passing vehicles. A floating drone hovered overhead, its lens never settling on one target for long.
"Occupants," one of the guards said. "Identify."
Arlen passed her credentials first. The guard’s scanner chirped once and cleared her without comnt.
Rin followed. The guard hesitated a fraction longer, then nodded as the ID flashed green.
When it ca to Klatos, the guard barely glanced at the display. "Registered," he said. "Native. Jupiter sector."
Then the scanner turned toward Xavier.
"Identification," the guard said again.
Xavier didn’t move. "I don’t have one."
The guard’s posture changed imdiately. Not aggressive, just alert. "Step out of the vehicle."
Before Xavier could reply, Arlen leaned slightly toward the console and tapped once. "Check again."
The scanner recalibrated. Data scrolled. A new profile populated the display, clean and official, stamped with Helior Pri’s internal validation marks. The guard frowned, then stepped back.
"Identity confird," he said, tone neutral again. "Proceed."
Xavier looked at Arlen as the barrier lifted. "You did that without telling ."
"You don’t want to know when it’s happening," she replied. "That’s how it stays real. I created a fake ID with a different identity for you. Of course, when I say it’s fake, it’s actually officially registered."
The van moved forward into the final scan, passing under a broad arch where energy washed over them one last ti. Then the road opened up, feeding directly into Helior Pri’s lower traffic grid.
Above them, the city lood—alive, crowded, layered with species and systems that didn’t care where anyone ca from, only what they could offer.
Xavier leaned back in his seat.
"Alright," he muttered. "Let’s see what kind of trouble lives here."
The mont they crossed the last barrier, Helior Pri swallowed them.
Traffic thickened instantly, not just vehicles but everything in between. Cargo platforms drifted alongside private transports. Personal skimrs zipped past at stupid speeds, close enough that Rin flinched the first ti one cut across their lane.
Above them, stacked roadways curved and overlapped, so solid, so projected, so only visible once you were already driving on them. Advertisents flickered in half a dozen languages, voices bleeding into each other as they competed for attention.
Arlen guided the van into a lower transit lane, letting the city’s flow take over. "We keep our heads down here," she said. "Helior doesn’t punish violence. It punishes inconvenience."
Klatos leaned toward the window, eyes tracking familiar shapes among the crowd. "This district is neutral ground," he added. "For now. Too many interests overlap here."
Rin frowned. "That doesn’t sound reassuring."
"It isn’t ant to be."
They drove another few minutes before the van’s dashboard chid softly. Arlen glanced down, then slowed. "Soone’s pinging us."
"Who," Rin asked.
"That’s the thing," she said. "They’re not using an open channel."
Xavier leaned forward slightly. "Put it through."
The windshield shifted, projecting a tight data window instead of a face. Text scrolled briefly, then stabilized into coordinates and a short ssage.
—YOU’RE BEING WATCHED.
—YOU’RE LOOKING FOR THE WRONG DOORS.
—TRY BELOW.
"That’s friendly," Rin muttered.
Klatos stared at the coordinates, sothing tightening in his posture. "Those aren’t street-level. That’s undercity mapping."
Arlen looked back at Xavier. "That area isn’t owned by anyone important. Which usually ans soone important wants it forgotten."
Xavier smiled faintly. "Bull always liked places people ignored."
The ssage updated once more before the connection cut.
—CO ALONE IF YOU WANT ANSWERS.
Rin turned sharply. "That’s not happening."
Xavier shook his head. "They didn’t say now."
He leaned back again, eyes on the fading projection. "They just told us where to start digging."
The van rged deeper into Helior Pri, towers closing in around them, while sowhere below the city, soone had decided it was ti Xavier stopped guessing.
"How do you think they tracked us?" Rin asked with a curious look on his face.
"It’s not surprising, so don’t worry about it. This is the safest city on the entire Jupiter. Which ans..." She turned to Xavier and continued, "You will have to calm your tits too."
"I could calm them if they were as big as yours."
That got everyone’s glances.
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