I had just docked the Ledesma at the Meadowland Spaceport on Shepherd's Gate when my ship's AI noticed a disturbance on the planet's surface.
"Show me where."
Lily pulled up a map on the monitor showing a yellow blinking dot maneuvering swiftly through the crowded market streets to the spaceport and followed by half a dozen red dots scrambling like ants.
The yellow dot meant the woman was under contract and implanted with a tracking device. If she was on the run, it meant that she had illegally terminated her contract.
"Fuck."
I had been planning to settle in at one of the pleasure houses before getting to work, but since I was here at the request of the Sirena Court, I couldn't avoid investigating the runaway's case.
I had been sent to Shepherd's Gate to investigate a disagreement between the Shepherds and the Sirena, the indigenous Mer-women who had been forced out of water to protect their natural habitat when the Shepherds colonized the planet. As a humanoid species, the Sirena had a right to petition the Interplanetary Humanoid Council for arbitration. They claimed that the Shepherds were illegally exploiting their planet's resources and forcing the natives into the sex industry.
The IHC regulated the industry by imposing taxes, capping the percentage of income colonizers derived from the sex trade, and requiring all transactions be contracted, signed, and witnessed. The process was so streamlined now that transactions could be completed at public sex terminals on the spot.
The Shepherds were notoriously aggressive in expanding their enterprise. They had been on the IHC watchlist for some time, but they were also inordinately efficient at covering their tracks. If I closed this investigation, I'd be due a bonus. For months, when I was off duty Earthside, I'd eyed a rare vintage red Camaro, and if I made enough from this gig, I could buy the beauty upfront. So, I wasn't about to screw up this particular investigation.
I unstrapped myself from the pilot's seat and went to the back of the cabin. I went to my locker to find something more comfortable to wear for chasing down leads, suspects, and apparently runaway sex workers. I got out of my flight suit and hung it in the sanitation chamber, where it would be sprayed down and cleaned of contaminants.
Then, I changed into two-tone civilian camouflage fatigues reinforced with polyethylene fibers, rough-out tan combat boots, and a black kevlar vest. I packed at my thigh holster an ultra high frequency laser pistol that could be equipped with a sniper scope, an assault rifle on my back, a combat knife sheathed in my boot, and ammunition in my pockets.
The beauty of my disguise was its simplicity. I could be any number of professionals. I fit the profile of a bounty hunter, a mercenary, even a competitive gunslinger. I was tall, muscular, with the requisite tattoos, though I was clean shaven and wore my blond hair in a crew cut, which indicated I could be paramilitary as well. One of the reasons I loved my job was because I could hide out in the open.
I picked up my rucksack containing the rest of my belongings, and swung it over my shoulder. I told Lily to keep a watch on things and let me know if anything came up. Then, I left the airlock for the spaceport.
After showing my fake credentials to the human gatekeeper and scanning my thumb and retina for the AI, I proceeded to the main hangar. The Meadowland Spaceport reflected the planet's oceanic features. The escalators were designed with a rippling effect that felt like I was floating in water. The walls were painted sea blue and green with opaline mosaics depicting starfish and seahorses and slithery glowing electric eels.
The sex terminals were next to the gift shops in the long hall. They looked like beauty salons with black leather adjustable chairs and mirrors at each sex worker's station. There were also stations that provided massages, and there were straps and sex toys at each station, where customers could be seen receiving a variety of treatments in a variety of ways both imaginable and unimaginable.
I took out the monitoring device from my pocket so I could locate the blip on my screen. The runaway was near my location, which made sense since she was trying to escape. I hung back, leaned against the wall, and grabbed her by the waist as she was about to run past.
