Chapter 180: Learning the Neighborhood

The apartments were slightly more luxurious than the usual officer's quarters but not by much. They were still a single-room suite, with a washroom by the door, a small kitchen, and a double locker-sized closet. The main seating was a couch that folded down so that a bed mounted to the wall could be laid flat. There was a hologram projector on one wall and a low table, but that was the room.

"Nobody really spends time in their room. There are common areas just down the hall, movie theaters one floor up, and a large gym nearby. There is a lot more to see, the lab is basically a city, with over ten thousand residents, so I will let you find the rest on your own. There is a map available if you want." Uncle Lu informed them.

"As far as duty postings go, it's not bad. I see the city runs on ration points more than salary credits, so we should be alright." Max joked since Uncle Lu already knew they weren't short on money and almost everything in the lab could only be purchased with your ration allocation.

It was much like being on board an interstellar ship, but with a wider variety of amenities. This section of the city was normally for noncommissioned officers, the most senior enlisted men, but it was very close to the testing lab, so it was chosen for the two new Pilots.

Housing was deducted from their city ration, so this choice of apartments actually left them with more disposable income than the other Majors, who were staying on the upper floors.

As a long-term posting, and not a traveling one, the scientists lived well in the lab, though they were cut off from family except during their vacation days due to security measures. Even then, a good third of the staff wasn't from Comor originally, so they might as well be traveling, since inviting their families to come to the planet was out of the question.

Even with all the amenities and the city-like atmosphere, Military rank still determined your level of luxury to a large extent. The mess halls were marked as restaurants with varying menus, but the fancier ones could only be accessed by senior officers without spending ration points. Aboard Abraham Kepler, the good ones were simply unavailable to enlisted men.

You could also get uniform items on a regular schedule, but everyone wore casual clothing. The idea behind the policy was that if they did have an infiltration attempt, the lab could be played off as a civilian facility and the leaks discredited.

To Max, the view out the window more than made up for the smaller room. They were above the cloud level looking down on the planet. That meant every day here was a sunny day, and only the view below them changed with the weather.

It truly was a marvel of engineering and it would have been a waste to push for a premium suite, gaining him a larger space, but moving him to an inner ring of the dome and much higher up, above the center line where you couldn't easily look down without the other levels getting in the way.

Max spent the next hour getting everything set up in his room, hanging his small collection of photos on the wall by his couch, and organizing his closet with the assortment of civilian clothing he had been gifted.

It was a strange feeling putting away his uniform and knowing he probably wouldn't be wearing it for months. The Pilot Suit should at least still see regular use though if he was going to be testing Mecha, which was a relief.

Max was just beginning to get bored enough to consider turning on the news net when Nico sent him a message asking if he wanted to go explore the entertainment district. She had found a games room that was popular with the other test Pilots, and it had 3D billiards.

[Give me 20 minutes to shower and change. I'll come to get you.] Max responded after a moment's thought.

[Don't forget your board, it's a bit of a trip.]

Max washed up and changed into jeans and a black shirt with the top few buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up. Out of habit, he put on his regulation boots before grabbing his hoverboard and going next door to get Nico.

Max wasn't sure what to call her style, but it looked familiar for some reason. Nico had tucked tight red leather pants into black knee-high platform boots and topped them with a black military issue tank top. Her hair was in a single braid with a silver ornament at the end that he recognized as the focusing ring from a laser rifle.

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"Has anyone mentioned how strange your fashion sense is?" Max asked as Nico mounted her board and hovered in front of his face.

"Constantly. Now are you ready to go or what?" Nico laughed, casually spinning the highly modified board to head down the street.

Their apartment building was fifteen floors high, taking up almost the entire height of the level of the dive they were on, and Nico chose to race along near the roof of the dome level. From what Max could tell, that was the equivalent of a fast lane for traffic, and it was almost deserted, with most of the staff choosing a pedestrian route, or using much slower wheeled scooters.

Given that most scientists had lower-ranked or intelligence-focused system functions, and not a lot of physical enhancement, staying on the ground with the twenty-kilometer-an-hour speed limit made sense. But for Max and Nico, that was barely a jog, so flying above the buildings was much more fun. The hoverboards were only good to about fifty meters in the air before their gravity plating started to have issues holding altitude, but theirs had been modified for racing, so Max had high hopes that they could manage greater heights in addition to their blistering speed.

They weren't pushing them at all, since they wanted to learn the layout of the city as they passed by, but both Pilots were still passing the ground traffic like they were standing still.

"There it is. The Sonic Games Emporium. That's our destination for the night." Nico called out to Max as they approached their destination, ten kilometers and two floors away from their apartments.

It was on the lowest level of the Lieutenant's sector of the Testing Department neighborhood, making it a great mingling spot for all the pilots, but the arrival of Nico and Max on modified hoverboards still drew a lot of attention. Partially because of the speed they approached, since the user only stood on top of a hoverboard, and a high-speed crash could well be fatal, especially from a higher elevation, and partially because of the way Nico was dressed.

The red leather might as well have been painted on, and as Max looked around the area, he noticed that slacks and Cardigans or lab coats were the more popular casual wear here. Even he was overdressed for the occasion, and he had simply put on a clean and unwrinkled shirt and jeans.

"We got a couple of daredevils, do we? What department did they stick you two gems in?" One of the officers smoking outside the games room asked as they landed and hopped off the boards.

"We are the two new Crusader Class Pilots for the Testing Department," Max answered with a friendly smile, and the man suddenly looked a little less relaxed. Even off duty, they were still senior officers, and he didn't want to speak out of line before he knew their personalities.

"Relax a little. If I have to go in after that stick up your ass I'm going to make you pay for cleaning." Nico laughed, making the others outside chuckle, and the man they were talking to sigh in relief.

"Wait, I know you two. You're SlumDogRaider and Blood Goddess, from the Gaming Tournament. I heard you were both active duty Special Forces, the boss must be going all out to test the new mecha." One of the men outside said, walking over to check out their boards.

"Yeah. Uncle Lu found out that we could cap out the mechanical output speed of a Crusader Class Mecha, so he pulled us in here. It's a bit strange to be at work without anyone shooting at us though." Nico confirmed.

"Wait, you can do what now?" The same sentiment from a dozen different voices filled the air and Max smacked Nico on the back of the head.

"Good going, now we will never get a game in between questions."

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