They were walking with a group of night shift stockyard workers who were heading home, or to a bar. They’d barely gotten out of the admin building before hundreds of workers flooded into it as their shift finally ended, hours later than normal, thanks to the train robbery. They watched from behind a heavy lift ground transport as the night shift clocked out and headed for the gate to the stockyard, falling in towards the end of the group.
The exit to the yard was only a hundred meters away. A small turnstile was all that separated Jax and Naomi from the relative freedom of Salma proper. Jax figured the employees clocked in and out at the admin building, and since Jebidiah was squarely in the nowhere part of the Empire, security wasn’t strict on who came or went into the stockyard itself. That might change after today, but that wasn’t Jax’s concern.
A man stood in line in front of them, a heavyset man of Earth African descent or maybe directly from Africa on Earth, given the open emigration policy currently in place for Jebidiah. He looked over his shoulder. “You got stuck playing detective, too?” The man pushed through the turnstile.
Jax looked at Naomi, then the man. “Yeah, had us inspecting up and down the line. I probably clocked three kilometers just walking along the train.”
“Tell me about it,” the man agreed. “I’m gonna have to soak my feet before I go to bed. Stupid assholes.” He grunted, “Who robs mom and pop coops just trying to get by?” Before Jax could reply, the worker waved and picked up his pace. “Damn, that’s my bus!” He trotted toward a bus that had pulled up outside the gate. “Hey, wait up!” he shouted.
Jax pushed through the turnstile and watched the man vanish onto the bus. He looked around and saw Naomi exiting the stockyard. “Where to?” she asked.
He removed his gPhone from a pocket and scrolled through a few screens. He looked up, pointed down a street leading away from the stockyard. “Popular place up the street.” He set off. She fell in next to him.
“I hope they have bacon,” Naomi said as they approached Bennie’s Diner .
Jax reached for the door, holding it open as Naomi entered. He looked around. Not very busy, but that was to be expected. It was still an hour or two before the lunch rush would likely happen, and the day shift crew was already at work.
A tall thin woman with gray hair held in a tight bun atop her head looked up from the counter top she was wiping down. “Hi, folks, take a seat wherever you like. I’ll be right over.”
Naomi smiled as she took in the scene. “Cute place. This planet just moved up a notch.”
Jax slid into a booth. “Oh, from what, the bottom of the scale?”
“More or less.”
The older woman arrived with a pot of coffee and two cups. The cups were a brown ceramic, polished to a high sheen. She set the cups down and filled them. “Have a chance to look at the menu?”
Naomi shook her head. “No, but if you’ve got bacon and eggs, I’m good.”
The woman smiled. “I have just the thing.” She looked at Jax. “Sweetie?”
Jax tapped his chin as he thought. “I’ll have the same, but can I get hash browns?”
“Of course.” She turned and left.
Naomi picked up her cup and took a sip. “This place is like one of your old-timey vids.” She examined the cup. “Think they make these with the mud here?”
Jax took a sip of his coffee, then looked at the mug. “Might be where the coffee comes from, too?” He took another sip, then reached for the sugar. He said, “So, after this, we gotta get back out to the ship. Thoughts?”
Naomi looked around, then settled on a small display set into the table near the wall. It was displaying an ad for some type of medical device to help with miner’s toe, whatever that was. She reached out and set her hand on the device. The screen immediately went blank before lines of computer code started scrolling. The now familiar blue lines began glowing along her arms and up her neck to encircle her right eye.
Jax looked around nervously but saw only the waitress back behind the counter cleaning more of the brown coffee mugs. He tried to look as casual as he could, sipping his coffee as Naomi remained motionless, pulses of blue light moving up and down her tattoos. He was taking another sip when she inhaled sharply, her hand jerking away from the device. Jax nearly spat out his coffee. The ad for the medical device resumed playing.