The orbital elevator was a large platform made up of thousands of interwoven Kevlar steel cables reinforced by two points. From the ground at its base to the dockyard in high orbit. The lumbering anchor point on the ground expanded across a hundred miles. Meanwhile the orbital dockyard above anchored it from space. From his vantage point it looked like a string holding tight between two gravitational points. The platform was meanwhile broken into four parts each section either descending or ascending as necessary. When the section he was on finally began moving it was as if they were in a slow free fall. The artificial gravity slowly cycled to be replaced by the natural gravity from below.
Alexander would have much preferred simply landing there himself on his Malbec, he hated elevators. It would take twelve minutes to reach the ground, during that time he kept to himself. The memory of Sophia, the woman who was forever foremost on his mind, distracted him in times of boredom. It was almost like he could feel her in his arms as they laid back in the dark of night. His hands under her shirt, and she nipping at his neck as he slowly moved upward to- he shook himself from the memory.
The elevator wasn't fast, but it did provide a view. A trio of frigates flew overhead, their sights set on something in the vast distance. It made him want to abandon this venture and return to his shuttle again. But even if that inclination was overbearing there was nothing he could do. The elevator eventually met white clouds. The air pressure made his ears sting as he was brought to the surface. When it finally finished its descent hundreds of passengers, including himself, left the platform to plant their feet on earth and soil.
The world smelled of rotten eggs. The sulfur made him gag. He wished he had a rebreather or something to mask his face from it. Several others coughed and struggled under the sudden change. Still though he walked forward until they were inside the nearest visitors terminal. The air inside was clean, the limelight headache inducing.
A sign greeted him, welcome to Holliday where the day never ends. A rather awkward greeting he thought to himself. Within a few hours it made sense. The landscape was locked in a permanent dawn, the reddish orange hue hung over him as a haunting eyesore. The city of Morning surprised him by its size and scope. Most colonies paled in comparison to its level of architecture. Why a small world out in the fringes would need such defenses was beyond him.
"The emperor is coming," he froze as the voice whispered in his ear.
"The emperor is coming, the emperor is coming, the emperor is coming, the emperor is coming, the emperor is coming, the emperor is coming, the emperor is coming! The emperor is coming! The the emperor is coming! The emperor is coming!" The voice grew louder and louder making him pull the hair against his scalp. His feet twisted as the world began to spin. He grabbed hold of a wall just in time to stop his fall.
He took several deep breaths. The sound quieted. They were like nails digging into the back of his skull. A deep pain reverberated in his gums. It annoyed him.
Somehow not being noticed by any of the people around, Alex wondered how oblivious everyone was and after patting the dust off his pants continued walking. He didn't go to the nearest cantina, or brothel. Instead he walked slowly and purposely until finding a synth surgeon office. It wasn't hard to find, adds for them were easily spotted on every bill board. It was likely that there was at least one for each district.
The inside of the office smelled of cinnamon and copper metal. The air made his taste buds tingle. There were a few patrons, all of them local. They all sported metal augmented limbs or cyber enhancements. After placing two gold temples on the counter it didn't take long for someone to call him in to see the doctor.
A tall man with a slouched face took one look at him with a puzzled expression.
"What seems to be the problem today sir?" His voice was strained.
"It's my impulse connection, think someone's hacked it."
He studied him and was obviously confused, "what do you mean your impulse connection? I'm not seeing any cybernetics on you?"
There was a small part of Alex that enjoyed surprising people when he exposed his modifications. A series of thought commands ejected the back side of his neck, revealing seamless cybernetic enhancements disguised under false flesh. He was still human, mostly, but the exposed innards revealed advanced technologies fusing to his organic components. His bone structure had been hardened, his muscles threaded with Kevlar like weaves that confounded the doctor.
"What in seven hells!" It had been a while since he heard that phrase.
At the base inside of his neck laid a simple port connecting an impulse connector. "Could you please uninstall it and tell me what's wrong?" Within minutes the small component was extracted. The moment the doctors fingers had left the confines of his insides the back piece of his neck resealed itself. the sound of air escaping created a whistling affect as it locked into place. The fake flesh looked so real, and adjusted perfectly. No one outside of a seasoned synth weaver would ever notice. This level of synthetic cybernetic enhancement was beyond anything this doctor had seen before. It took a moment for him to catch his breath and focus on the task at hand.
"I can wait," Alex told him as he leaned back into the chair. The doctor backed away slowly and only after safely retreated to an adjacent office did he look at the small piece of machinery.
Alex counted the minutes until the old man finally returned. He paused as if still dumbstruck.
"Sir, there's nothing wrong with it. I haven't seen this model of an impulse connector before, but i can still run a full sweep of diagnostics and so far there's no indication of anything alarming."
Alexander Gunn thought about this before taking it back. He looked at it with guarded eyes.
"The emperor is coming..." he whispered quietly.
"I'm sorry what?" The doctor questioned him.
"Nothing," he ejected the hatch on his neck again and motioned for him to reinstall the component. Once sealed again he got up and took a breath in the room. "Tell me...where can I find a good AI matrix to buy?"
