A Place For My Head

Posted on Mon Jun 8th, 2020 @ 9:16pm by Daiyu

Mission: The Milk Run
Location: The Hub | Hera
Timeline: Day 5

The crop delivery to the Hub had been uneventful. Merchants, distributors, and vendors were accustomed to seeing the monk robes of St. Nicholas. Daiyu wandered the back alleys where the poor eked out a living. Too much attention had been drawn from being out in the open, so she took shelter among the hovels and lean-to's away from the main market. Not before she had spent most of Father Johns' money on plants. Some were potted, others just starters, and the rest, best of all, were bags and bags of seeds. All she needed was a hydroponic setup, but she didn't have enough to buy materials and passage out of world. Not that she knew how to do that. The Father had been grossly negligent in telling her how to facilitate such a transaction.

And so she wandered, idly eating some of the veggies from her wagon.

"Ni hao! Wanna be in our video?"

Daiyu turned to face the man who spoke, her hood still obscuring her face. "No." She wanted to run, but the small wagon was not very maneuverable.

The man laughed. "Com'mon! I'll make it worth your while!"

"No thank you," she repeated more loudly.

The man who had spoken turned out to have friends. Six of them slowly approached her. "I think you'll like it," he said with a lurid grin that promised the opposite. "Good pay. Good work. Big, strong men. Who wouldn't like that?"

"I'll scream," Daiyu warned. She knew herself to be sheltered, but there was no mistaking the ill intent.

"Good. Our buyers like screamers."

Screams. Her dreams were filled with them. Memories, too. The only part of her life that wasn't a confusing jumble of pain and madness was her time at the monastery. But now that was over. She was a killer. She didn't deserve to live, much less keep her dignity.

"Okay," she said dejectedly. "I'll do it."

"Aw, now that's more like it," the man said in his oily accent. "Let us have a look at ya." He pulled her hood back and nearly screamed himself. "Gah! What the bloody hell happened to you? You gone fucked up what woulda' been a damn pretty face." His eyes trailed downward. "How's the rest of ya?"

Daiyu shook her head and tried to pull her wagon away. His words triggered her body shame and cut her to the quick. Tears were forming. Tears were for private times.

"No, no, now. We haven't struck a bargain." The lead man grabbed her by the hood while two of his cohorts ran up. Their greasy hands pawed at Daiyu's robe, pulling at it every which way to get a more revealing look. She cried out at the sounds of torn fabric.

Beneath the robe was a simple shift that showed her arms and legs. They revealed to be as scarred as her face.

"Shit! Not even the most desperate yín chóng would pay to watch a fàntong as fucked up as you." The leader pushed Daiyu down to the ground and led his 'boys' onward. One of the men even spat on her face down in the dirty alley.

Daiyu pushed herself up from the mud, but didn't immediately stand. This was her fate now. She deserved this for what she did. Like the cruel man had said, not even a fantong would want her. Maybe Brother Ames hadn't really tried to harm her. Maybe she should have let him. Maybe she would have been able to stay...

Her eyes wandered back to her wagon.

Her plants. She was responsible for them now. Somebody had to help them grow. The money bag inside her half-torn robe jostled with a bit of cash. These alleys had proven too dangerous. Even if Father Johns didn't want her around anymore, which was understandable, Daiyu knew his advice to be very sound and wise.

It was settled. Daiyu carefully and daintily got back to her feet, wiped the mud off her robe as best she could, and pulled her wagon back the transport area. The trek took the better part of the day, as she had to bypass the markets. By the time she arrived at the landing fields where all the freighter were arrayed, dusk was already beginning to settle.

Daiyu desperately did not want to spend another night on Hera, either in its streets or in its houses. She would take transport on the first ship that would have her. But how to choose?

"Last call!" shouted a man in a uniform. He was on the gangplank to a rather large ship that Daiyu couldn't even look bow to stern without turning her head. Lots of other people were getting on board. Some of them looked nice. Only a few looked like her.

Walking up to the large transport, she asked the man, "How much?"

The conductor narrowed his eyes at Daiyu, but softened when taking in the details. Disheveled appearance. Torn clothing. Meager belongings. Obvious abuse. She was running from something.

"I think we have room in the rear compartment," the man said. "Come on."

Daiyu reached for her money bag and offered the whole thing to the man. "This is all I have."

He only nodded. "Sure. Let's go, now."

Surprised but hopeful, Daiyu wheeled her wagon up the gangplank and followed the conductor's directions to the rear area where the dirty passengers were seated. There was no room, so she went even further back into the cargo area. There appeared to be small rooms, not much smaller than her old room at the monastery, so Daiyu chose one. It was cramped inside with her plants, but it would have to do.

Outside, the conductor signaled the guards to secure the escape pods. In his pocket was a cortex handset. Its screen flashed with the words Blue Skies Protocol and Daiyu's scarred visage. As the conductor closed the hatch, he called out to his passengers, "All aboard!"