06-18-2018, 05:40 PM
Streets gave way to another complex shortly enough. Centered around a series of elevators and stairs, descending down to the lower levels and tiers of the shining city. Many of them were smaller affairs, suited only for a few people at a time perhaps. Some of them were huge, sprawling things which looked large and sturdy enough to grind their way down supporting an entire building.
It was one of these larger elevators that Roger Smith was directed to, after a brief word with someone standing by in that distinctive white plastic-like armor that the soldiers of Coruscant's ever-present military force wore. A short discussion, several rapid-fire questions in a tone so filtered and full of crackling and muffling static it was impossible to tell if the speaker was man or woman -- or if they were flesh and blood or just some machine, spouting off recorded lines and responses.
After he had been cleared and directed to his desired lift, the negotiator eased the Griffon in and around, into a queue already waiting to roll into place.
Minutes passed by, with only the droning of news on the radio to keep it from relatively dead silence in the car's interior. Until, finally, he was directed forward. Carefully, he guided the car forward, and into the place in line on the elevator. Mundane, to be sure, but it was all so...unfamiliar to him.
There had rarely ever been traffic or congestion of this magnitude in Paradigm. Working cars were few and far between, and while not uncommon they were much more sporadic in both their usage and what area of the city there were in. Finding more than a handful of people willing to waste the energy and resources to fuel one to do anything less than crossing most of the city was a true rarity. Only those who were inordinately well off, or with more money than good sense or morals, would do any such thing.
People like Roger Smith, or like the upper echelons of the Paradigm Corporation.
A grimace twisted his face as that comparison settled into his mind. He wasn't like them. Nothing like them. His business was morally gray, of course; he would accept a job from almost anyone if they could pay his fees and provide a good enough reason. But he was perfectly upfront and plain about his costs and what he would and would not do. On the rare occasion he had failed a job, he had in good faith returned the advance portion of his fees to the client. Paradigm, however...
They did none of that. They would smile and treat you warmly, promising you this and that, tell you everything was going to be alright. Offer you a comforting hand to hold, and guide you to safety, not showing the knife tucked behind their backs in the other hand. As soon as they made you trust them, they would bleed you dry. When things inevitably turned out worse off, and all their promises were just so much dust in the wind, they would just laugh it off and say "Well, we tried!" and carry on, keeping everything they took from you to make it easier to gut the next poor soul who they set eyes on.
That he had ever worked for a group like that, in any capacity, still made him tremble with anger. At them, of course, but also at himself.
And yet...here he was again. Signing on for work in the name of a group that was both governing power, police and military all in one. And seemed to have its hands in many, many more fields all throughout the city. The city was its government, and the government was its city. A twisted utopia, maybe.
Treading ground he already had, once before. A group that sent revulsion crawling up and down his spine, and made that familiar uneasy feeling he'd had in his earliest days at Paradigm -- before he'd grown so certain of their irredeemable evil -- crawl and roil in his gut. He knew this was going to end badly, and yet he had still willingly signed up for this work.
Take a station, take their side, take their money...
Only as long as I have to, came the thought echoing in his mind.
Only if they let you decide how long you have to, came the stinging counter-thought.
A squeaking whine of leather as his hands tightened on the steering wheel silenced his bickering mind. The future would come at its own pace, and bring whatever revelations it saw fit. No point worrying and agonizing over it now.
It was one of these larger elevators that Roger Smith was directed to, after a brief word with someone standing by in that distinctive white plastic-like armor that the soldiers of Coruscant's ever-present military force wore. A short discussion, several rapid-fire questions in a tone so filtered and full of crackling and muffling static it was impossible to tell if the speaker was man or woman -- or if they were flesh and blood or just some machine, spouting off recorded lines and responses.
After he had been cleared and directed to his desired lift, the negotiator eased the Griffon in and around, into a queue already waiting to roll into place.
Minutes passed by, with only the droning of news on the radio to keep it from relatively dead silence in the car's interior. Until, finally, he was directed forward. Carefully, he guided the car forward, and into the place in line on the elevator. Mundane, to be sure, but it was all so...unfamiliar to him.
There had rarely ever been traffic or congestion of this magnitude in Paradigm. Working cars were few and far between, and while not uncommon they were much more sporadic in both their usage and what area of the city there were in. Finding more than a handful of people willing to waste the energy and resources to fuel one to do anything less than crossing most of the city was a true rarity. Only those who were inordinately well off, or with more money than good sense or morals, would do any such thing.
People like Roger Smith, or like the upper echelons of the Paradigm Corporation.
A grimace twisted his face as that comparison settled into his mind. He wasn't like them. Nothing like them. His business was morally gray, of course; he would accept a job from almost anyone if they could pay his fees and provide a good enough reason. But he was perfectly upfront and plain about his costs and what he would and would not do. On the rare occasion he had failed a job, he had in good faith returned the advance portion of his fees to the client. Paradigm, however...
They did none of that. They would smile and treat you warmly, promising you this and that, tell you everything was going to be alright. Offer you a comforting hand to hold, and guide you to safety, not showing the knife tucked behind their backs in the other hand. As soon as they made you trust them, they would bleed you dry. When things inevitably turned out worse off, and all their promises were just so much dust in the wind, they would just laugh it off and say "Well, we tried!" and carry on, keeping everything they took from you to make it easier to gut the next poor soul who they set eyes on.
That he had ever worked for a group like that, in any capacity, still made him tremble with anger. At them, of course, but also at himself.
And yet...here he was again. Signing on for work in the name of a group that was both governing power, police and military all in one. And seemed to have its hands in many, many more fields all throughout the city. The city was its government, and the government was its city. A twisted utopia, maybe.
Treading ground he already had, once before. A group that sent revulsion crawling up and down his spine, and made that familiar uneasy feeling he'd had in his earliest days at Paradigm -- before he'd grown so certain of their irredeemable evil -- crawl and roil in his gut. He knew this was going to end badly, and yet he had still willingly signed up for this work.
Take a station, take their side, take their money...
Only as long as I have to, came the thought echoing in his mind.
Only if they let you decide how long you have to, came the stinging counter-thought.
A squeaking whine of leather as his hands tightened on the steering wheel silenced his bickering mind. The future would come at its own pace, and bring whatever revelations it saw fit. No point worrying and agonizing over it now.
![[Image: kUpgBYg.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/kUpgBYg.gif)