What Is Omega Station?

Omega Station, aka the Rock. A barren, airless asteroid on the outermost edge of the galaxy, home of the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor. Dotted with commercial, military and residential domes, the outer surface is the place to live for those who can afford it or are lucky enough to work there.
But the vast majority of the Rock's residents don't live in the surface domes; instead, they have tunneled downwards, moving ever further towards its fiery heart. The upper levels are safe, comfortable, secure—or as secure as anyone can be on
Omega Station. The lower levels, now; they are home to the detritus of a double dozen races and species, all living in uneasy juxtaposition, fighting, loving, eating—and being eaten.
The Rock's location in space, the last real port before exiting the galaxy, has made it a valuable commodity to many governments and private corporations, as has the addictive drug straz, which grows only in its recycling vats. Control has been taken and given in a hundred bloody battles over the years, but those who live in the lower levels—and further down, in the Depths—are often barely aware of whoever claims to be in charge.
No one, really, rules the Rock, whatever they may claim, however many weapons and warriors they throw against it.
For the Rock is eternal…and it has many secrets...and many stories...

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Part 9 of SCUM by J. A. Johnson

Eversyn stepped from his shower, clean of the sewage plant, though not feeling so.

Two dead Neeks. He couldn't honestly say that he cared, but he couldn't get the fact that no slightest trace of either had been found. The thought nagged at him as he donned a fresh uniform. Things just weren't adding up—the freak explosion, and the missing Neek bodies.

He couldn't make sense of it, and what he couldn't make sense of, he attributed to Malik Blayne. And whereas fifty dead Neeks, much less two, matter nothing at all to him, Malik Blayne was something else entirely.

But if Blayne was responsible for the sewage plant explosion, what he was up to and why was a mystery to Eversyn.

He glanced to his clock on his wall. Oh eight thirty. Perhaps it wasn't too late to have dinner with Rudof. Yes, an excellent idea. He could eat elegant food, discuss his most recent problem…and secretly marvel at the man who was rich enough to eat bov-steak at every meal if he wished.

With a newfound smile on his face, Eversyn left his apartment, and headed for the Starview Lounge.

 
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