OCtober Day 9: Piper

Whilst drifting through the galaxies, at one point I came upon a planetary system that was brand new to me. Jackpot, I thought. Not just one, but multiple planets with a slew of brand new civilisations to explore.

Whilst circling the first closest one, I managed to hack my tech systems into something called the ‘echonet’. A shared system used around here, it seems. From that, I managed to crack the names of the planet below as being Promethea. The surface seemed mostly covered in technology advanced megacities, under control of a couple different weapons manufacturers known as Maliwan and Atlas. Whilst browsing through the map for a place to start however, my finger slipped, swiping to halfway across the world. Where it stopped, something piqued my interest. In the wild lands, near to one city, stood a small town. A hidden jewel free from the rapid urbanisation. I set the coordinates, landing my ship close to the town’s edge.

The first thing that hit me was the smell. My nose wrinkled from the blend of acid, smoke and static odours. As I go to take a step forward, a voice yells from further away.

“Stop, don’t move any closer!”

Instinctively taking it as a threat, I threw my hands up.

“I come in peace!” I yell back.

A door clangs open from one of the houses, and a woman walks out toting an SMG, though it’s pointed at the floor. She looks to be in her early twenties, a little over average with an athletic build. Her dark tan skin is splattered with scars and marks over some beautifully intricate tattoos. She’s wearing little clothing; just a dark green crop top, a dark blue skirt and some brown sandals, with a few handmade looking accessories. Curly dark red hair hangs over one side of her face, shaved one one side. She rolls her eyes when she sees me, gesturing to lower my hands.

“That’s not what I meant desconocido. Look, just stay there, I’ll come to you”

The gunslinging woman grabs something from inside the house. As she trudges her way through the dirt towards me, I notice layers of multicoloured sludge oozing from beneath. That tangy smell arises once again, and I realise I was lucky she stopped me. Though, I do wonder how she’s walking through it just fine. My curiosity is interrupted by the strange woman shoving a pair of gloves and boots in my face.

“Put these on. I’ll help you with the filter” she barks at me. I comply, putting them on as she circles behind me to attach a filter mask to the lower half of my face.

“Right, there, now you should be fine” she mumbles. Then, she attaches the SMG to a clasp on her skirt, extending a hand to shake. “My name’s Piper. What can I call you, desconocido?”

“Just M will do” I replied, accepting the handshake.

“Alright Just M, what brings you to my little town?” Piper asks. Her tone seems friendly, but her eyes glare with a sense of stern suspicion. It was then I noticed the colour...well, colours. The whole spectrum of the rainbow swirled within her irises, bleeding into the pupil and sclera. I get lost in it for a moment.

“Amigo, you there?”

“Ah, yes, apologies. I hope this doesn’t seem to forward, I just found myself fascinated by your eyes” I blurt out.

Piper looks surprised at the compliment, turning her face to hide her blushing cheeks.

“Uh...um...thanks”

“But yes, anyway I found Promethea recently whilst travelling, and I was fascinated to find out there were still small towns like this one hiding under the shadows of skyscrapers” I continue to explain.

She looks me up and down with the vigilant eye of a predator.

“You really unarmed?”

I spin around, turning out my pockets and such to show I’ve got nothing on hand.

“Alright then, follow me. I’ll show you around”

Pipers strides on with confidence. After a couple of cautious steps to test the waters, or in this case mud, I quickly follow suit. Upon further inspection, the town isn’t exactly in perfect shape. The strange ground ooze seems to run deep through the town and many of the buildings around look in dire need of repair. It seems almost everyone except Piper is wearing the same protective gear I was given.

“So...what happened here exactly?” I ask. There’s no response at first. But, then she stops quite abruptly, staring forward. Stopping as well, I look in the same direction to see some large, ugly pipes jutting out of a cliff not too far away. They’re vaguely leaking different coloured liquids. It’s then that Piper begins to explain.

“El Pequeño Jardín, it means ‘the little garden’. Before I was born, this place apparently used to be so green, so full of life...but then Maliwan arrived. Started occupying the place, building factories to pump out elemental tech, and…”

Piper stomps her foot into the mud, splashing ooze all over her leg. It sizzles for a moment but it comes sliding off. The skin underneath comes out quite smooth.

“Those bastardos didn’t care what happened to the runoff” she continued. “It poisoned the ground and killed the plant life. We live off the meat of the wildlife, and whatever we can grow indoors. Can’t even walk around with covering yourself up”

I see the red flecks of her eyes boiling. Fingers tense around the gun on her side.

“So, how come you don’t seem to be affected?” I point out, trying to diffuse the tension.

“Oh, yeah. Well, I was born around the time this started happening. Grew up with some kind of resistance to the stuff, a little mutated here and there. No-one remembers what happened to my parents, so we’ve got leads on why I’m like this” she carries on, wiping off the excess sludge on her leg like it was soap. “It’s fine though”

“I’ve got another question if you don’t mind. If it’s so dangerous, then why do people still live here?” Before she can answer, several bots come whooshing out the sky, crash landing with the town. Immediately, the townspeople take up arms and start shooting back, not letting them get anywhere near their homes.

“That’s easy mi amigo” Piper states.

One of the bots fires a corrosive bolt at her. She stumbles, but all of a sudden starts glowing with a green aura. Running full force at the source of the fire, Piper manages to land a clean hit that melts the bot within seconds. The elemental warrior stands tall, and proud, finishing her point.

“We can’t let them win”