Corpo Age

Chapter 106: Aegis

It turns out I wouldn’t have to wait until I got to a zero-g section in Aegis to experience the weightlessness of space. The shuttle accelerated smoothly up the space elevator and when we got into orbit; it began to ease up once it reached a certain velocity and altitude where I was then able to experience zero-g.

To be more precise, I was experiencing microgravity. The gravity of Earth was still acting on us, but the experience of floating around in space was the same in my books.

As soon as the light to have our seatbelts fastened dimmed, I immediately left my seat to experience the floatiness that was the exclusive right for astronauts back in my world.

I wish I had my new power armor here to start trying out how to maneuver with the new modified jetpack, but I had to make do with what I have now.

The suits they made us wear for safety didn’t have any fancy functions, but served as protection if we accidentally hit our heads as we rolled around. I couldn’t help but open the cup of water. I had to see the water droplets floating around.

“Rollo, you’re doing exactly what the kids are…” I heard Thorne’s voice ring out beside me.

I surveyed the shuttle and spotted several kids copying my actions, making me rein in my antics as I was starting to draw condescending looks from the corpos, who seemed to be frequent travelers to space. While I didn’t exactly care for what others thought too much, it wouldn’t do me any good if strange rumors got around when I was currently acting as the envoy for our entire alliance.

The shuttle soon approached its destination at the other end of the space elevator, where the city of Aegis was located. I was still astonished at the fact that cities in space were meant literally, with millions of residents.

Once we arrived, the sensation of gravity swiftly returned and the corpos around us began taking off their spacesuits. The corporation had artificial gravity and breathable air throughout the entire city, which made the experience similar to any old city I visited back on Earth.

Though it was unmistakable we had made it to space, as I was able to look back down onto Earth from the windows. Once we exited the shuttle, there was even a wide section in the spaceport with large panels of transparent glass where we could spot our home planet. It wasn’t obvious the planet was spinning as the space station spun around with the planet as it was attached to the space elevator, but it was a different story when we stared up at the stars.

Once I had my fill of the view of Earth, we smoothly fetched our luggage and made our way out of the spaceport. We had received a file that documented all the unique rules we had to abide by while we were up in space, which I skimmed over and would go over in more detail on our way into Aegis proper.

The spaceport on both ends of the space elevator was only frequented by corpos as they came with a high cost, but it wasn’t just the rich corpos up here. The common folks that the corporations exploited were just as present. Either they or their ancestors were brought up here to serve space miners or fill other mundane roles. Cheap labor was always in demand, no matter where humans went.

I’ve heard the common folk’s living conditions were even harsher up here in space as the corporations charged them for every single little thing. Food and water were a given, but the air they breathed wasn’t free either. Combined with the fact real estate up here wasn’t cheap either, the living conditions were quite harsh, with most living paycheck to paycheck.

The moment I stepped out of the spaceport, a column of taxis was awaiting any new arrivals. I couldn’t help but think the spaceports were exactly like the airports I was familiar with.

We had no connections up here in Aegis, and the taxis would serve us fine for now. We hailed a larger cab as the six of us boarded, with Thorne sitting at the front next to the driver while wearing one of the power armor we had just retrieved from our luggage. The car dipped down when he boarded, but held with no issue.

I had put mine on as well immediately upon leaving the spaceport as we were cautious of any surprises from the High Gate Group.

I watched as the driver flinched back at the imposing figure of the power armor right next to him before he gathered the courage to speak out. “Sir… where to?”

“Ariden Gardens… Do you have a terminal for me to send you the address?” Thorne asked.

I gave the driver another glance over at Thorne’s word. It appeared the driver didn’t have any cybernetics, which prompted Thorne’s question. He also seemed slightly dirty, with oily hair and chapped skin.

“Yes, yes. I know where that is, but I do have a terminal right here if you would like to send the address to be safe.” He pointed to the center console.

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The cab soon started making its way toward the more populous region of Aegis off in the distance, but the thing that drew my eyes the most was the false skies and greenery all around us.

As the spaceport was in the corner of the entire space station, I could easily see that we were inside a dome as we could see out into space through the transparent material off to the side. As the dome curved up, the glass began to change, taking the form of blue skies.

“Does the sky get dark around here?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Oh, first time up here? Welcome! Yes, it does.” The driver answered without delay.

It must cost a pretty penny to manage the day and night cycle up here, but the corporations did it anyway. Though it was understandable, as all these were a means to keep the people up here sane. Humans weren’t meant to live indoors forever. The day and night cycle, coupled with the greenery around, served an important role in the mental health of everyone up here.

Our car soon made good progress across the highway, reaching the city within ten minutes. There were buildings everywhere, like any good old metropolis, but the height of every building seemed to be capped at around fifty stories. However, the buildings were all made of metal, with a boring silver finish, and the people on the streets appeared to be more subdued as well.

There were no crazy hairstyles among the normal bunch, and all the colors seemed muted. Few people sported cybernetics until we reached downtown where most corpos stayed. The corpos were much the same as their brethren down on Earth, with them lifelessly commuting to work with dreary looks.

As I watched them go about their days, we arrived at the hotel we had arranged prior to the trip. The prices for any hotels up here had an extra digit compared to Earth, but it at least covered all the miscellaneous fees, such as air and energy, that everyone was subject to.

Immediately after we checked into our rooms, we swiftly set off for the branch of Ferrumus Corporation in this city.

The High Gate Group were likely not idiots and their intelligence network should have caught wind of my movements by now, seeing how easy it was to monitor with one way up. They may not have had the guts to attack me when I was in the spaceports that the larger corporations controlled, but now that I was in the city, they could show up at any moment.

That was why it was important to get in contact with the Ferrumus Corporation as quickly as possible to finish our negotiations. We had set an appointment with them, but the other party did not seem enthused to speak and we could only set up a meeting with one of their sales manager.

I went over the special rules we were subjected to while in this space station while we were on the way to their branch office. It was mainly some tutorials on what to do in case of emergencies where the life support systems went out. There were emergency devices, much like fire hydrants, spread around the city, and the info deck went over how to use them.

There was even a section on orange boards that could quickly expand ten times in size, used to seal any breaches. The rules made it apparent that they took any damage to the space station facilities very seriously.

For that reason, highly penetrative ammo was highly discouraged, especially when operating near the dome of the city. In fact, it was probably not available for purchase to the general public.

The corporations up here, however, were another story. If it were me, I would definitely push to develop ammunition that could fragment when it came within a certain range of the dome. For now, we would simply stick to the city center, where we could still freely use our weapons if we came under attack.

The Ferrumus Corporation had their own building here in downtown Aegis, and we soon spotted the building that had the logo of a sword that skewered the letters of their name. We could spot various defenses on the plaza in front of the building with automated turrets and sensors everywhere.

We got out of the vehicle a distance away so we could pass our power armors to Andrew’s team before I entered their office with just Thorne. Once we stepped inside, the receptionist at the front greeted us with a smile.

“Mr. Halls, I presume?” I nodded. “We are expecting you. Please head up to floor 12. We have someone to guide you once you are up there.”

We obediently followed the instructions of this large corporation and were soon brought to a meeting room where a lanky man sat, dressed in what seemed to be traditional Japanese robes, but they seemed to call it Eastern clothing in this world. What drew our eyes the most was the sword he had sheathed on his hips.

“Greetings, Mr. Halls. I am Tara Nosei, sales manager of Ferrumus Corporation. I can assist you today to go over any of our vibro blade products or custom commissions you may have. Please feel free to let me know what you’re looking for.” The man said with a business smile.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Nosei. We’re not here to make any orders. I’m actually here because I want to speak to your corporation about potential cooperation that involves your rivals, the Virtue Corporation.”

His smile disappeared for a moment before he wore a concerned expression, as if to empathize with me.

“I’m sorry to say that isn’t within my authority to discuss—”

“I understand. If you can please help us set up a meeting with your superior.”

“I can relay your request to my superior, but this really isn’t within the scope of what I can handle. Give us a few days to get back to you, sir.”

I tried several more times to get him to relay us to something more important, but continued getting the same reply. Left with no options to proceed, I could only leave as we weren’t getting anywhere.

When we returned to our hotel, I allowed our team to all take a break to refresh themselves in their rooms after I had sent out some Nyes for surveillance duty.

Thorne shared a room with me, and he was fully on guard, remaining inside the power armor even inside our room.

“Now what, Rollo? The longer we stay here, the more of a target we become.”

“I know…You don’t have to tell me. Every second allows our enemies to devise plans or set up an ambush.”

Now then, what should my next step be…?

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