36 – Crashing OutBritt’s car crept down the crowded lanes, pausing frequently to let pedestrians move out of its path. Hector scanned the merchant carts, his stomach rumbling. He was so hungry that he wanted to tell Britt to let him out so he could buy some food, but she was looking for the clinic, and he recognized how that was a priority. “There,” he said, pointing to the glimmer of blue-tinted neon behind a bunkhouse trailer.“Right,” Britt said, and her car began to creep that way.“You in comms with your car’s AI?”She shook her head. “No, he’s just a good listener.” As they waited for some people to move out of the road, she looked at Hector. “You really think getting into that tournament will get you access to him?”“Tacitianus? I don’t know. You’re the one who said he lives up there.” Hector peered through the window, looking past the nearby mine-tailing hills to the bright lights far in the distance, up atop the man-made mountain. “Seems smart that he’d hole up in his villa if he thought we were gunning for him.”“Well, I can probably find out.” She frowned, clearly having some sort of internal debate.Hector took a guess: “Your PK friend?”She nodded. “I could use a go-between.”“Mutual friend?”“Yeah.”“Someone you can talk to in person? Someone around here?”Again, she nodded. “I have a friend I trust. She works at one of the camp bars.” She squinted into the hazy reddish-orange glow that illuminated most of Tent Town. “I’ve been there once or twice, but I’ll need to look around to find it again.”As the car rounded a corner and the blue and white lights of the “Camp Clinic” came into view, Hector said, “Let’s get me some meds and then you can dump me off at—” He paused, frowning. “Where are we going to hole up?”“They rent little prefabs to the miners. I’m sure there are some available.”Hector inhaled through his nose, trying to (...)