Terra - Ottawantreal

A huge North American city, built in a mishmash of styles from many eras of architecture. the spaceport is bustling and filled with cruise ships, racing yachts, and transport craft. It's full of shops, clubs, gardens, and tourist attractions.

The weather is currently cool but sunny.

The freed slaves followed Lope and Eleven off Hytar's ship, looking hesitant.

"Ottawhatsit, I've heard of that city!" one said. "Everyone is free and wealthy there!"

Someone shushed him.

He went quiet.

"What accommodations did he arrange for us?" another freed slave asked warily.

Lope consulted the paperwork he'd been given. "uh.. motel rooms by the looks.. it's not far from here." Or so the map said.

Eleven seemed to know where they were going though and just kept walking.

"Hey wait up!" Lope called, hurrying to catch up. Eleven was tiny and easily lost in a crowd, but surprisingly quick.

"Have you been here before?" One of the bolder freed slaves asked Eleven.

The group all hurried after Lope and Eleven, not wanting to lose them.

The city streets here were wide and full of people, taxis, and cars, the newly freed slaves cringed at the noise and chaos. This was so different from their old lives.

Eleven nodded. "Grew up in Calgary, got my first job working a ship outta this city." That was a long time ago, xe was a lot older than xe looked.
Either way, talking about their past wasn't something Eleven seemed that keen to do.

Lope smiled. "I didn't know that!"

"you never asked." Eleven replied dully, continuing to walk. "It's just down here."

"Wow, then you really know where we're going," the Terran who had asked said, impressed. "Did it look different when you were here last?"

"What are these things racing between the buildings?" someone else asked. She was hiding near the middle of the group.

Eleven shrugged. "I suppose."

Lope looked up to see what the terran was asking about.

The Terran looked disappointed, they wanted a story! Oh well, can't pressure the people in charge for information.

A few slaves tried to figure out what the Terran woman was asking about.

She pointed to a car. "They're like the trolleys you transport goods on, but they don't have anything on them," she said. "And they're everywhere."

"A.. car?" Lope asked, frowning a little. how long HAD these people been locked up? "Where did you come from? Before... the station?" He asked cautiously.

The woman looked hesitant. "That's a car?" She hadn't expected it to have such visible wheels! "I grew up at the hold, I only ever heard of cars in stories."

A couple of the other freed slaves looked sympathetic. Some of their number were so isolated from the outside world, it was sad.

"so... you... were never free before?" Lope asked. Wow, that had to suck. He had no idea how these people were supposed to integrate, hopefully someone would help them, or those among them who knew more about the world would take care of the rest.

Eleven grunted and pointed. "there." the motel was just ahead. It wasn't a bad looking place, sort of non descript, middle of the road. Nothing fancy, but not a dive either.

"No, I've never been free," the Terran woman confirmed. "A lot of the others were though."

"A long time ago though, in some cases, but we'll figure it out," someone said.

"Maybe we should ask the Terran Empire for sanctuary?" Someone else asked.

The group looked at the motel. Oh dear, pretty much none of them knew anything about motels.

"What do we do?"

"i'll get your rooms sorted." Eleven mumbled, heading for the office with the paperwork Lope thrust their way.

Lope frowned. "Yes, that's a good idea! I don't... know who you ask for that though, there's gotta be some like... high up person you have to ask right? forms to fill out?" He had no idea. "but Terra should be safe, well, safer for you guys. Slavery is outlawed here." He knew that much.

The slaves watched Eleven leave, looking worried.

"Maybe if we went to the police? Or some important building?" the one who'd suggested sanctuary said. "They might know who to talk to at least?"

"Is slavery really outlawed here? Or is that just what they say to lure escapees in?" someone asked.

Lope hesitated. "I... i'm pretty sure it's actually illegal." He nodded, yes, he was sure of this.

"Okay," the suspicious slave said. "I really hope this place is okay for us."

"We'll have to ask Mr. Eleven where a police station is," another one said.

Lope looked to the motel office.

Eleven wasn't long, Hytar had organised a lot and a credit chip dumped onto the desk of the owner quickly spurred him to action.

The Gargoyle returned with a bowl of keys.

"Okay you're three to a room, group up and grab your keys." Xe told them all gruffly.

The freed slaves looked to each other, and hesitantly sorted themselves into groups. Everyone looked pretty nervous.

"He only needed to get one room, or maybe two," someone said. "We can all fit, unless they're really small rooms."

"But that wouldn't be comfortable!" Lope insisted. "you're people, not cattle!"

Eleven handed out keys. "Don't be ungrateful."

"We're grateful!" the one who had asked for fewer rooms said hastily. "We just don't want to take advantage of your captain's incredible generosity!" He flinched, looking nervous that he was about to be punished for questioning Hytar's judgement.

Eleven laughed. "Generous he is not. You all owe him now."

Lope shook his head. "Don't scare them!"

"but it's true. If he ever has need of any of this lot, he has a massive debt to call in." Eleven shrugged. "I figure that's the only reason he does this, he hates slavers and he gets a load of ex slaves indebted to him for the rest of their lives."

"He probably won't ever come asking." Lope tried to be reassuring.

"yeah well, the boss doesn't do anything outta the goodness of his heart." Eleven shrugged. "There's always an angle."

"you should get settled in yes?" Lope changed the subject rapidly.

The slaves collectively cringed.

"So you're saying we're still slaves, just not being kept on our master's ship," one of the bolder ones said cautiously.

Lope frowned. "no, you're free. You're definitely free. The boss absolutely hates slavery."

"I hear he was a slave once..." Eleven mused. "that's why he hates em so much."

"Who told you that?" Lope asked.

"What? you think i'm wrong?" Eleven challenged.

Lope shook his head and looked to the ex slaves apologetically. "look, in all likelihood, the boss will just leave you all alone. He's got more important things to do. But he did say he'd get all the slaves on that hold free... "

"he said he'd try to get them free." Eleven corrected.

"well he could have just shot you all but he didn't!"

"Maybe he wants to keep people alive to continue to speak of his legend, that one eyed man who bursts in and sets people free." Eleven wriggled their fingers dramatically.

Lope looked exasperated. "point is, whatever reason the boss had for freeing you, you guys aren't slaves anymore! You're free, so go, get settled in, find jobs, have lives. Be.. you know... free people or something." He had no idea what he was doing.

Eleven smirked. "you'll be fine, stay in terran space and you'll stay free. Well.. unless you break a law, then you're going to jail."

Lope shook his head. Why had he agreed to let Eleven help again?

"People use debts to acquire slaves all the time," the outspoken one whispered. "You're sure that's not what he's doing?"

"Freed slaves keep slaves sometimes," another said. "Maybe your captain is the same way. It's all right, we know how this goes, you don't have to try and sugar-coat it."

The one who had suggested sanctuary earlier raised her hand. "Do you know where the police station might be, Mr. Eleven?"

Eleven tilted xyr head. "Uh..." they shuffled through the paperwork to find the map and found where they were. "we're here." and then found the nearest police station which was on the map. "they're there." Xe handed the map to the guy asking.

"I'm sure they can help you." Lope's smile felt a little forced now. He didn't like to think of the boss as a slaver, even though he did trap people into working for him with debts and contracts... it wasn't that they couldn't leave, just, it was going to be a lot of trouble and pain if they did. He didn't like to think about it. He still felt a degree of loyalty to Hytar.