lila cheney. (rockingstar) wrote in mutanthaven, @ 2009-11-19 00:51:00 |
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If Lila Cheney was going to leave the business, she had a few accounts to tie up. Unfortunately, she couldn't just cut her losses and move on, not when there were several zeroes in some off-planet bank accounts she couldn't ignore. The term independently wealthy could be somehow applied to Lila, and she didn't say anything ever about the little pay she may have received doing work at the hotel back on Earth which was more akin to lunch money if someone took a look at her bank accounts. Intergalactic parties tended to pay larger sums when there was a higher success rate at transporting goods and taking from the rich to give to themselves. With her boots propped up on a desk salvaged from another suite and a communicator latched to her right ear, she waited for the call to connect. After she heard the soft click, there is a delay before the translator spat out automatic English. She sat up straight and set her feet on the floor, eyeing the information currently on the screen.
"Booster, I need a favor," she paused to let the translator on the other end of the feed catch up before she continued. "I have some funds I need turned into my native currency. Can you do that for me?" She waited for the feed to be translated and for him to speak back, his language being faintly heard as the communicator processed it. Her face fell as she found out what he was saying, swiveling in her chair to face the rest of her apartment. "What do you mean you're not going to work with wanted criminals? That is a load of bullshit and you know it!" Usually Lila was much better at using phrases that were easily translated but right now she was just trying to get her way. "That's like all you work with. And anyway, I'm leaving the business and I don't want to leave that stash behind." As the communicator processed, she hopped out of her seat and neared the tinted windows, looking at the sunlight pouring out over the abandoned portion of the Dyson sphere. What was left of windows and where buildings' beams were exposed glinted light from the central star at the heart of the sphere. She focused on the metal as an idea settled in the back of her head and something Booster said on the other end caught her attention. "What? Ten percent? That is ludicrous. No I won't pay you additional ten per-- five, that's my final offer. Yes, yes plus you're usual cut. Look, not to cut this short but I have other accounts to deal with -- when can you get it to me?"
She moved across the suite, jerking open a closet door where several tools were deposited. It was all stuff she had either brought from Earth or had collected during her adventures outside this high-rise. She shifted through them as Booster explained the current troubles of money exchange on top of laundering and pulled out a bolt cutter. "Fine, if I agree to the ten percent, can I get it in two days?" She paused, hoisting the bolt cutter up to lean against her chest. "Yeah, fine. I'll put it in the usual account. No, no. They won't find you, I'm erasing my trail, don't worry. Has anything with my name popped -- oh, yes, thank you. That's good to know." She set the bolt cutters down near the foot of her bed, searching for her hoodie. She glanced at the progress bar flashing on her screen across the room. "Yeah, it'll be there soon. Thanks, Booster. I'll check in soon." Lila let her laundering contact mumble his goodbye before removing the communicator from her ear and tossing it aside. Her mind was already on something else now that the issue of the money was being handled.
Lila Cheney was cleaning up her affairs, which she felt necessary before she could approach Gaia. She still had some difficulty figuring out how to reconcile with her when Gaia didn't process things the same way humans did. She couldn't say she was leaving the business for good, but she could definitely leave for a little while. Her cash reserves were high and if what Booster had said about the exchange rate was true, then Lila would walk away with several shiny pennies. As she shrugged her jacket on, she pondered about opening an account in Gaia's name -- that'd be something to talk to Tessa about, using whatever falsified records they made for Gaia to create a savings account. Lila liked that idea and zipped up, heading over to the bottles of sunscreen that littered one counter. Since the artificial atmosphere had stopped producing clouds and the nighttime simulator crashed on the far side of the quadrant, it had been nothing but constant sunlight in Lila's region of the Dyson sphere. Sunlight radiated off every glass and metal surface, creating a furnace outside and not to mention a prime tanning bed. She can sunburn easily so she would rather not risk it. She unfolded her sunglasses and placed them on her face before checking the transfer. It was complete. Good. She disconnected the computer from the network and shut it down, not wanting anything to be traced back to her if she can help it. She doubted anyone would come looking for her here, on this abandoned intergalactic trade and convention center surrounding a sun not unlike Earth's, only smaller and slightly cooler. The Dyson sphere was constructed at a closer radius than it would be around a star like the sun. Lila exited the residential high-rise and wandered out on to the forever sunny streets.
It should be noted that everything on the Dyson sphere is stellar powered, which was handy considering it surrounded its very own star -- which explained why, whenever Lila walked by a store front, monitors would light up and try to grab her attention as they broadcast dated advertisements. The Dyson sphere seemed like nothing but a ghost colony, left behind when a newer megastructure was constructed around a more stable source of energy. She learned to ignore the store fronts, but couldn't help but always look over her shoulder as she crossed the streets littered with trash. The wind picked up and Lila pulled up her hood as she approached the office complex down the street. Even when the intergalactic staff moved on, they seemed to think bolting up the doors would do some good. Hence, Lila's trusty bolt cutters. The office complex was mostly cleared out, but she could always find an old computer when she needed one and her experience setting up computers and speakers and musical equipment came in handy when she tried to connect one of these seemingly ancient machines to the central network.
She waited for the boot up screen to come on, shedding her jacket for the time being. Maybe wearing black was an idea, but it seemed like Lila's favorite color. She didn't do this sort of research in her own building because she didn't want it linked back to her somehow. Lila had gotten paranoid but not nearly paranoid enough to keep her from returning here. When the signal was live, she searched the network for old schematics of the Dyson sphere, focusing on her quadrant to determine any sources of scrap metal or metal mills in the area. Despite its primary purpose being a hub for political, social, and cultural events, the sphere needed to be sufficient and repair its own outer shell or even the automobiles. A map indicating the places within about a five-mile radius popped up -- but she had no printer. She cursed to herself and tried committing the map to memory, drawing out a few spots on the inside of her arms with a pen she had stashed in her ponytail.
Hours later, after checking out warehouses and old stores, she came across an auto scrap metal yard. It was in another warehouse identical to the other ones she explored and her bolt cutters were her key. Her eyes had to readjust to the darkness inside the building, the windows having long been painted and boarded up. She stepped further into the warehouse before she saw all the old vehicle parts, scrap metal used for some prototypes, some construction materials and so on. She would sift through the metal, determining inorganic from organic, older from old, small from large. She ignored the nicks showing up on her forearms, knuckles, and fingers as she pulled out large pieces only to shove it aside. There was a lot of junk here but surely there was something salvageable. This was best determined by throwing some of the metal out in the sunlight to see how it reacted -- if it grew too hot, if it started to charge, anything. She also weighed it, considering how it would be if someone had to carry it. Lila started acquiring a nice size of metal she deemed perfectly acceptable to bring back to Earth. There was metal that was lighter but tougher, only Lila hoped it wasn't too tough that it couldn't be used. She thought back to the original plans she had seen and how he explained them. If the metal was too heavy or just plain weird by Earth standards, then Forge wouldn't be able to use it to construct his prosthetic leg.