Heading home

“Jack, as much as I'd like to spend the evening drinking enough to make Grindlebone regret giving us an open tab, I think I've had just about enough for one day. I'm going to go home and pray nothing else exciting happens on the way.”

Jack was of the mind that he needed to soak up some more of the high-end, oil-based drinks Grindlebone kept in stock for his metallic customers. He also wanted to talk to Grin. Our friend was no doubt overseeing the interview his people were conducting with the five unfortunate gunmen who had threatened us, to obtain answers to a number of questions, first and foremost of which was no doubt about what the hell they thought they were doing, exactly, by threatening his patrons.

I had some interest in hearing those answers as well, but it really had been a long and busy day. I asked Jack to give Grindlebone my thanks and to let him know that I would be returning before to long to speak to him and give him more of my cash. I secured my share of the days profits on my person, leaving just enough cash loose that, were I robbed, I would keep the thieves happy and avoid having to kill them. I try not to spill blood unless it's truly needed. Then I headed out of the bar.

I did want to go home, but carrying such a large amount of ready cash about, even in the peaceful environs I live in, isn't something I'm comfortable with. Things do happen, after all, even in the most serene of locales. So I headed out the Door Grin keeps connected to the landing port at the Free City of Omicron Axis, where my bank is.

Omicron Axis is one of the most interesting Places I've ever seen personally, although I know some people who find it distressing. A long, long time ago, it was probably a Planet, or a Firmament, but nobody really knows. As I exited the landing port's airy arrival section, I was treated to a panoramic view of an endless blue sky, filled with an uncountable number of floating islands, mostly concentrated in a band that circled the bright sun overhead. On the sunward sections of the closer islands, it was possible to see evidence of human habitation. And on the largest island of all, a circular city of almost a hundred mile diameter gleamed in the light.

As I walked down the stairs leading out of the port, I thought, as always, of the genius of the unknown person who had placed the one location where you could enter this dimension. The port had been canted a few degrees off of the normal orientation for an island of its size, so that the Free City seemed to be rising into the sky in front of you, spread out like the largest piece of art ever created. It always took my breath away.

I gawked like a tourist as my feet carried me down the walk to where one could embark on a sky barge for the short trip to the city. That was part of the genius of the port, too, and why so many people chose to store their money in the Free City. Having the only means of ingress into the dimension on a separate island that could be moved at will made it functionally impossible for anyone to invade Omicron Axis. The limit on arrivals to just the port was guaranteed by the Travelers Guild, which by itself was worth more than any amount of money, but the strength of their guarantee was increased immeasurably by their long-ago decision to locate one of their largest chapterhouses in the Free City.

So, in short order, I found myself inside the City itself, and then in the imposing lobby of the Bank of Mhine Kromarty. If you're going to let someone else handle your cash, it might as well be an old, established firm. I checked in at the desk, and was directed to go through one of the hundreds of doors that lined the grey stone walls. Inside, after securing the door, I placed my hand on the Lifestone, looked into the Eye, and recited the words, and was asked what transactions I wished. My winnings were dug out from various places, and in no time I had been credited with depositing 15,000 Gambling Hell Exchange Vouchers, and had converted another 1000 into satisfying wads of a couple of different currencies.

It felt good to have that done with. Now, there was nothing to be done but enjoy a bit of nice rest.

Being flush at the moment, I considered staying at one of the posh flop houses in the Free City, but prudence won out, and I made my way back to the landing port and through a Gate to a nearby dimension with a less iron-clad rules of entry and exit. I walked a short way, jumping across several different dimensions as I went, finally landing in a shaded alley a short way from my home.

Paedarc was a very nice city that I could get into a lot of trouble for being in. It was a contested locale, which means that both the Travelers and Jump Cops would take a very dim view of my regular sojourns there. But each d-jump I had made had taken me to successively less and less patrolled places, until I could comfortably step into Paedarc through a back door.

Which is pretty much exactly what I did. I arrived just inside a short corridor leading to a rusty metal door that led to an empty building, and which was rusty enough to make it possible that it hadn't been opened since before I had been born. I had determined that my arrival spot was far enough out of view that no one looking through the windows of the building next door would be able to see me appear, and had carefully surveyed how little traffic the alley received.

So it was with no concern at all that I stepped out of the shadowed hallway, leaped up a few steps, and sauntered the two blocks to my quarters.