[CupcakeDolly]

Repairing a wrecked ship on Limbus was no easy task. The little moon orbiting like beautifully tuned clockwork around the border planet of Hubur served as a port for all ships entering or leaving the Edge and Core territories. As such, there was very little emptiness to be found on its surface, only a sea of bodies and machinery filling the landscape with constant motion and activity. For a newcomer, navigation through the winding roads and massive crowds was made impossible without assistance from a portable Cortex device. Mechanics set up shop at every intersection, merchants peddled food and wares in loud shouts, and Edge Units patrolled languidly in groups of two or three in front of every row of docks. Most everyone did their business - whatever it may have been - with a gun in hand or hidden from sight.

For a ship such as Vera, parked precariously on her belly (after her landing gear had been stripped away by a hasty landing), getting airborne again among the cluster of people and activity would be a long and tedious process. If there were any outskirts of civilization to be found on Limbus, Vera had certainly found it - though huge crowds still filled the area, and the people within them were more questionable in their intentions and values, and the presence of Units was more noticeably scarce. Mechanics and parts brokers alike hovered near Vera and other nearby wrecks, pacing impatiently and waiting to swoop in at the slightest hint of vulnerability.

All the while, hidden from the physical world, the Cortex flashed with news and bulletins on local screens and handheld devices, faster than any human could reasonably see. Among the usual highbrow stories from the social elite, sales and advertisements from shopping networks, and the occasional nonsensical gibberish from cult groups, a network reserved specifically for law enforcement and bounty hunting showed a multitude of faces and statistics in quick succession. Among them were a thirty-something man with a scarred face and neck, and a gaunt young girl in a hospital gown.



Though all of this might have been crucial knowledge, Aria knew nothing about any of it.

Because Aria was inside of a box.