“You can skip the council part for me, but the markets I’ll take. You know, this all sounds wonderful, but also sounds like a mess, and wonderful messes are something I don’t take part in.”
Yeong walked over to the cigar box, slowly took Nun’s cigar out of the box and set it aside. “I just need you to ensure that the other market barons do not interfere. I give you my blessing to do whatever you feel necessary to ensure that. You will have access to whatever you might need outside of your own resources to accomplish this.”
Nun thought for a moment. He knew Yeong was a brilliant tactician, but he was not a liar. There was no reason for Yeong to mislead him.
“Access to your feeds is all,” Nun threw out, expecting hesitation.
“Done.”
Yeong pulled up his access portal on the holo-desk, swiped through a couple of screens, and held his face close to the table. After the scan was finished, he stepped aside, opened his hand, and motioned for Nun to approach.
“Hold your face above this screen,” Yeong said as he backed away.
The desk scanned Nun’s features.
“You will now be able to access the city’s feeds, assuming that you understand the need for secrecy.”
“Easy enough,” Nun said as he pulled his sleeve back and linked the feeds to his own Pigeon.
“Then we have an agreement?” Yeong asked as he walked to Nun with his arms out.
“We do. Until the morning,” Nun said as he embraced Yeong.
“Until the morning,” Yeong answered.
Twenty
The pits were a hodgepodge of poorly welded metal buildings, and gapped walls, serving as ventilation. Some came looking for a chance to step up in life. Although it was no more than a glorified dumpster, hundreds came daily for the excitement.
Some came to the pits because they wanted to feel rebellious for the first time in their lives. Some came just because they wanted to show that if they lost money it didn’t matter, but most of all, if you wanted to get something for nothing, the pits was were you went. It was also the only place in Nucrea where the illegal consumption of alcohol and chemical injections, for the most part, were overlooked.
Two huge men guarded the main entrance where all of these people waited in a line that stretched for a city block. Seeing the line, Bean excitedly grabbed Lilly’s hand.
“C’mon, hurry up,” Bean said childishly, pulling a reluctant Lilly behind her. “Oh, look at that line of people,” she said with growing excitement.
“Looks like they’re full tonight. We’ll have to try again,” Lilly said in hopes of breaking down some of Bean’s determination.
“We don’t have to wait in line Lil,” Bean said with the biggest smile. “Come on! What are you draggin’ your feet for? It’ll be spectacular.”
“Can’t wait,” Lilly whispered to herself.
“Don’t have to wait. I told you,” Bean said as she looked at Lilly as if she wasn’t a very good listener.
“Not what I meant. Never mind,” Lilly surrendered.
Bean laughed at Lilly, then pulled her towards the front of the line where a man was trying to convince one of the bouncers to let him in. They both ignored his pleadings and motioned for him to get back in line.
“Busy night, T?” Bean asked with a pouty face, as if she was talking to a toddler.
“Ay, ma,” The bouncer replied.
“Good! Gotta feed you big boys.”
“Who’s the girl, Ma?”
“She’s with me, and don’t be gettin’ any ideas, now,” She said with a damning scowl.
“Doesn’t look like she wants to be here.”
He realized he should have kept his observation to himself as the look on Bean’s face turned from proud momma to a look Lilly could only describe as building rage.
“You should know when to shut your mouth,” Bean said motioning for him to lean in closer to her.
The shamed behemoth leaned in slowly, and squeezed his eyes shut. Lilly jumped, as an unexpected loud, hard slap shot across his face.
“Sorry Ma, didn’t mean it like that,” he said as he straightened.
“You know better,” Bean said as she grabbed Lilly’s arm again and pulled her to the entrance.
The man that was trying to get into the pits earlier pointed and laughed until he got the bouncer’s attention.
“Funny?” the bouncer asked the man loudly as he walked over to him.
“Kinda,” the little man replied smiling at a group of barely dressed women.
“Ah.”
The bouncer looked at the young man that was obviously confused about how things worked at the pits, and smiled at the women, too.
Without warning, the bouncer smashed the man’s face with a heavy punch that sent him backwards into the wall. The bouncer calmly walked back as the man’s limp body slid down and slumped over to one side.
“Let’s go see the bookie,” Bean said, still holding on to Lilly’s arm.
Inside the pits, every social class in Nucrea; wealthy, destitute, privileged, desperate, drunk and sober crammed into every square foot of space. Smoke and undecipherable voices of all volumes filled the air.
That was the smell, Lilly thought to herself.
In the Pits, everything could be made into a bet, from whom would get the next council seat to whether it would rain in the next ten minutes or not.
There were many rooms with social areas and table games but the main attractions were the fighting pits. Anything that might put up a fight was thrown in with anything else that might fight back. Some match-ups were carefully planned out, but most of the patrons couldn’t afford those fights, so they settled on whatever came out.
One of the pit crowds cheered as a deformed rooster and some kind of crab were thrown into a pit together. The cheering soon faded as the rooster and crab just avoided each other. Luckily, these arenas were set up in anticipation for just such a thing. A man wearing a red vest raised his arms to calm the crowd and pulled a lever, making the walls of the cage push together.
The fights ended with a celebration by the winners and a short moment of gratitude from everyone as the losing, and sometimes winning, animals were taken to the cook and served, ensuring that nothing went to waste.
Serving girls pushed their way through perverted crowds as some gamblers cheered at their wins and others looked away groaning in all levels of pain at their losses.
“I think I see him!” Bean screamed over the noise of the pits.
It made sense to Lilly why Bean was so loud all of the time. She realized that she must just be used to talking over hundreds of people all screaming and cheering at the same time.
In front of them, a fight between a well-dressed man and a scantily clad woman broke out. Employees with red vests tried to break it up, just as wagers were being made about who would win. The woman punched him in the throat and took him down with a twist of her body. The crowd cheered as she sat on top of him and kept swinging. To Lilly, it looked like the man might have actually been enjoying it. Bean made a single burst of laughter and turned.
“Bookie!” Bean yelled as she pushed her way through another line of people.
A pale, hairless man stood calmly in the middle of a swarm of brightly layered folds of cloth. His face was kind and his smile seemed as though it was most likely permanent.
“Madam Bean,” the bookie said with a glow.
“How do, Bookie?”
“Very well, thank you,” he said as he bowed his head slightly. “What would you like to wager on tonight Madam Bean?”
Bean looked past him to a large board where scribbled names filled every square. She squinted and twisted her face as she thought deeply.