Sins and Stars

Not a single star shone in the night sky. Instead, a blue haze and a half-moon filled the void above the gleaming city. Nights in the city, Astula, seemed like they’d be pretty, but they weren’t. They were far from it. Despite the dazzling lights and fun attractions, the city obviously had an ugly side. Piles of garbage littered the sides of the road, people in ripped, dirty clothing wandered the sidewalks, and the air smelled like smoke and trash. Astula was an urban hell. Making everything worse, the summer night was hot, nearly thirty-two degrees Celsius, but that was normal in the year 2470. Even though advanced, planet-changing technology existed, it seemed as if Earth was just a lost cause that no one wanted to fix.

Not everyone complained about such seemingly awful circumstances, though.

Two women were walking down the streets. They looked like polar opposites: One wore a purple suit, and the other wore a yellow dress; the one in the suit had a smug, confident expression, but the other looked timid and shy. The woman in the suit made frequent glances at the other woman, frowning when she saw her nervous expression.

“Maeve,” the timid one began. “Are you sure we should be out here?” Her eyes darted around the area, staring at anyone who looked suspicious. “We’re walking in one of the shadiest parts of town. I’m not really liking this.”

The suited woman, Maeve, raised a brow and scoffed. “Did you forget the kind of work I do, love?” She asked while showing off her hand. There was a gold band that resembled Saturn’s rings on her finger.

Looking away and rubbing her arm, the timid woman looked embarrassed. She didn’t say a word.

Maeve secretly wanted her date to back out of the plans. She lost interest the second she met her in person. After studying the other’s expression for a moment, Maeve decided that she’d just send her home. “Here, I’ll call up a ride. No worries. You want me to wait until it gets here?”

“Yes, I’d like that,” her date muttered.

There was a strange glowing lens over Maeve’s eyes, and as she stared off into nothing, the lens seemed to be flashing and changing colors. A string of numbers and a name appeared in her vision, and then, a soft ringing played next to her ear. A few rings passed before a man’s voice started to speak, and the three discussed where and when to meet up. Maeve felt relieved. She also felt disappointed. Her weekend plans were definitely not going the way she wanted. Usually, her weekends consisted of drinking alcohol while gambling with a hot woman on her lap.

“Thanks for the nice night,” Maeve awkwardly said, trying to be kind. “Well, at least I thought it was nice.”

Her date just nodded her head.

Shifting her weight onto one leg, Maeve looked away, doing her best to avoid an awkward situation. It was too late for that, though. Every second of silence just made it more and more uncomfortable. However, she was used to her dates backing out, which was a sad but often occurrence. As a gang leader—the leader of the Satrin—Maeve completely understood why women always bailed on her. She never told them her exact position in the infamous gang, but she did let them know she was part of it when things seemed to get serious. If that information didn’t scare women off in text, it usually scared them off in person.

Eventually, a hovering car pulled up next to them, and the window slowly rolled down, revealing a nicely dressed man. The passenger side door automatically opened.

“Thanks,” Maeve’s date muttered while stepping into the car.

“Bye. Drive safe.”

Once the car drove off, Maeve gazed off into nothing again, doing something with her bionic eyes. She was removing the woman’s contact from her phone. Thinking of what to do now, she let out a soft hum and started her walk towards the bar again. There was still a slight chance that her weekend plans could be completed—Maeve just needed to get a little drunk and a little flirty. So, that was just what she was going to do.

As Maeve walked along the dirty, disgusting, polluted sidewalks of Astula, she wondered just how safe it was for her to be out alone. Being the leader of an infamous crime organization made her a prime target. Not only did she have to worry about the police, but she also had to worry about other organizations, especially her rival gang, the Androm. Both the Satrin and the Androm were similar in size, criminal activity, and infamy, and their rivalry had been going on for nearly seven decades. Thinking about that sparked a little anxiety in Maeve, but she had been working hard to hide her identity. Even though Maeve wanted to stand out from a crowd, she knew she had to blend in as much as possible. No one, besides her elite, high-ranking members, knew what she looked like. She planned to keep it that way.

Of course, there was a long line of people waiting to get into the bar. So many people were desperate for drugs, alcohol, sex—just something to take their minds off the horrors of Earth. That was why the Satrin was such a successful organization. Drugs were its main source of income. Nearly everyone in Astula, even the police, bought its products. Maeve didn’t feel very guilty about her business. She had to make money somehow, and the last thing she wanted to do was be a slave for some company, making barely enough to put a roof over her head. Most of the people in Astula would just die from starvation, heat, or cancer anyway, so it wasn’t like they were going to last much longer with or without her drugs. That was Maeve’s justification for it.

“Excuse me,” she uttered under her breath while cutting through the line.

“Hey! Wait in line, you fucking bitch!” someone called out.

Maeve just rolled her eyes, not looking back. “Oh, shut the fuck up.”

Chasing after her, the person scrambled on up the line, and he continued to shout. “You want to talk to me like that you dumbass who—”

The bouncer had already let Maeve through, and he was blocking the angry man from going any farther. He obviously knew that Maeve held some sort of power in the city. Plus, she was a popular customer at the bar. She could have some actual fun for the night now.