A Room With a View

Posted on Sat 20th Jun, 2020 @ 5:12am by Yuliette Marayan Dr.
Edited on on Fri 24th Jul, 2020 @ 6:37am

1,072 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Brown Sector: Zodiac
Timeline: MD11

As they went along, Yuliette read from the old travel advertisement Tamrinch had supplied.

-The Zodiac was constructed by the visionary Alonzo Graff and is intended as an unexpected off-world destination. This resort hotel and casino promises to be an opulent and exciting destination.
-Inspired by the swirling arms of the milky way galaxy, the Arcade of the hotel structure consists of two sections, christened as the Centaurus and Perseus wings. The broad, curved lanes feature soaring classical archways designed in the post interstellar neo fusion style.
-The Arcade is lined with access to voluminous luxury suites on the upper three levels, each one lushly and individually decorated and furnished by renowned interior designers and including a broad balcony overlooking the Arcade below.
-Arrayed throughout the lower level of the Arcade, future guests may expect to discover exquisite shops and fine dining for the most discerning of tastes.
-Arrangements are underway for the Arcade to feature gallery displays of engaging new artworks from master craftsmen and celebrity designers rotated from the casino’s own collections or hosted from abroad.
-Where the two arms of the Arcade conjoin, the center forms the grand lobby of the Zodiac Hotel and Casino: the “Rota Fortuna”. The support of the incredible ceiling vaults rest on the shoulders of twelve mythical giants: pillars designed as figures four stories tall in heroic proportions, illustrating the Terran Zodiac. Each of the heroes have been platinum leafed and radiate light like gods of yore.
-An interpretive display of lights programmed by renowned scientists to visualize the frequencies of numerous wonders of the galaxy can be floated through in a low gravity center piece. The experience promises to enchant.
-Branching out from the Rota Fortuna, those who come to spin the Wheel of Fortune will discover lively lounges hosting games from across the galaxy. It’s an experience every traveller will want to add to their itinerary. Opening Soon!”

“Looks as if this place took quite a turn.” Yuliette muttered as she raised her eyes from the outdated travel brochure to look down the Arcade, better known now it seemed as the Drift, and compare the description to what it had become since the brochure’s writer had seen it, pre-opening. The style of the archways really was something to behold, with all kinds of cross beams that made it seem like an elegant spidery A.I. had strung them using webbing made from light which had frosted over. The materials were milky translucent which made them feel like a ghostly marble. Whatever it was, it was the dominant building material all over. Unfortunately, it had been badly scuffed and defaced with etchings. She wasn’t entirely sure about the graffiti, but she had the impression it wasn’t the high-end art referred to in the brochure.

“Come! Apartment on Centaur Arm of Drift. On other side of Rotunda.”

The Rotunda must have been the big open space which her much out of date brochure called “Rota Fortuna”. Which she knew to mean the Wheel of Fortune. They ducked between stalls and dodged people on pedal bicycles or motorized scooters zipping through the narrow gaps between street vendors. As they came into the huge open Rotunda, she could make out the twelve pillars in the once grand room. The pillars were humanoid in shape, but they had also been badly defaced. Their gilding must have been chiseled off. Still, the proportions were epic and Yuliette could imagine how they once had been very attractive. Each pillar posed as a guardian to a great doorway with names of constellations over the arches to them. But other signage had since been layered one on top of another until the pastiche was hardly legible at all. On the other side the Drift. They walked a little bit further, but still within eye shot of the Rotunda, and then ducked into a narrow alleyway. She followed him up to the top floor on a tiny flight of less than trustworthy stairs and through a tight hall. Ryvan unlatched a door using three keys, and pushed it open with some force as the door was sticking. Yuliette tried to avoid eye contact with a group of young men loitering down the hall.

“This is the place?”

“Yes. Ehpopaw say best suite, good view. Quiet neighbors. Much best suite.”

The kid was as good a sham as his father-- or was Tamrinch his grandfather? She stepped further inside. All of two strides brought her to the middle of the studio apartment.

She sniffed and immediately regretted the act. Covering her mouth with her shirt hem barely prevented her from gagging. Something smelled like it had died. Exhaling, or maybe more like deflating, Yuliette then turned slowly in a circle.

Maybe the walls were thin, because it was almost as noisy in the apartment as it had been in the bazaar outside of it. The walls were popup structures that had become permanent and settled unevenly but had been replastered into place. There was obvious damage to all of them, and more layers of chipped and peeling paint than she could name colors for. There was an old mattress on the floor. She supposed that counted as furnished.

The bathroom was easily visible from where she stood, especially since it had no door on it, just the painted-over hinges where a door formerly had been. It had a chipped pedestal sink and a toilet with no seat. There was a showerhead in the ceiling making the little space altogether a showerstall. Supposing the water worked, that was.

On the wall opposite of the apartment’s entry, there was a big heavy curtain made of a lot of different old blankets roughly sewn together and nailed to a sagging crossbar. She pushed it aside expecting to find that it concealed a damaged plaster wall, but it led to a balcony. Below was an overhead view of the bazaar along The Drift, spilling into the Wheel of Fortune. It was kind of colorful and exciting to look at.

“See? Is best.” The boy was holding out his hand.

Yuliette dug through her pocket for a couple slips of latinum which she traded to the kid for the three keys. She was too shocked to consider going back to argue for what she knew the hard man would never relinquish.

Besides. It wasn’t as if she would be staying long.

 

RSS Feed

Comments (2)