Chapter 3: The Spotlight

Situated at the point of equilibrium between the three star systems each housed by a force of its own, the Spotlight is indeed also balancing on the thin blades between conflicts and peace. The region have seen better times, but it appeared the common enemy of the Grey Wolf have united the two Aquarian forces, though the Sea Serpents despises the pretentious righteousness of the White Crows who isn't exactly unfamiliar with dirty back-alley dealings, and the White Crow's disdain for the gang culture infesting the Aquarian culture is a well known and studied case.

However, as the council of masters, which formed the biggest decision making parties in the Black Pegasus, established the Spotlight ten years ago in order to foster relations, build bonds between the regions and trade between business partners, they couldn't foresee the current state of the station. A collective of some of the wild region's most notorious and wildly banned goods from across space all put on the table and protected by the law of neutrality.

No weapons will be allowed on the station, and the most advanced riot droids in the galaxy made sure everyone behaves themselves. If somebody wished to try their luck further, then their magnetically locked ship will perish alongside their physical body.

It is truly a safe haven for scums and villains of the galaxy, and Zel found himself fitting right in.

The moment Sir Deva boarded the ship, he then began his search immediately. Zel didn't follow him, but instead found a quiet and un-monitored area to get out of the pocket domain and went into the real world for the first time in days.

Don't ever do that again, you have any idea how tedious it is to sustain a domain for that long? The artifact complained the moment Zel's foot hit the ground.

'Well, I know you can handle it no problem.' Zel shrugged, and the artifact complained with another inaudible rumble and fell back into his slumber. Zel instead went on the move.

The first thing he got was a simple face mask that projects a layer of cover, obscuring his face. It's a standard tool in places that did not run common facial recognition technologies. And seeing the ease of surgery and modifications nowadays, monitoring of individuals have long progressed to more biomechanical methods, like gait and movement screens. It's a lot easier to change you exterior than change how you walk. Though the accuracy of such technology becomes questionable once the streets get busy, which it already is.

The Spotlight's main hall is where all of the shuttles from the parked ships landed, and all of the passengers had to go through a security screen. Zel of course skipped the area. There are also constant weapons scans all throughout the area, and one of the riot control droids eventually came up to Zel and examined his prosthetic limb right as he is walking by a droid station located next to a water fountain. He is equipped with his general purpose limb, only with a handfun of tools and nothing that can be easily weaponised. The droid seemed satisfied with his examination and slapped a sticker on to the back side of his arm.

'Get off.' Zel shuffled the droid in the torso and it stumbled backwards. The nearby riot control droids all immediately raised their guns and pointed it towards Zel. He knew that they would open stunner fire if he showed any further hint of aggression, which he isn't going to. He just don't trust strangers that touch his body, and who knows what the droid could have done.

As he walked away from the fountain, Zel performed a full internal rotation of his arm and saw what the droid put on. It's a sticker with a printed message of APPROVED ITEM on it. Perhaps this would make sure no other droids would bother him. It would have been rather inconvenient if the sticker was put near his biceps, however it doesn't matter for his prosthetics, as all he needed to do is to rotate his upper all the day and face it forwards. The biceps mechanism became the triceps and vice versa.

Knowing that he can waste no more time after that little encounter, Zel quickly made his way to the information center and downloaded a copy of the current events going on at the Spotlight. There has to be a reason that the thief has decided to come here, at this time. There must be some event that is big.

He searched through the itinerary, looking specifically for high-tech equipment exchange, ship parts, energy cores and other related searches, and nothing in particular comes up. However, the advert constantly hovering at the top about the 'Olympia' seemed to have suggested that it's the reason so many have gathered. The Spotlight space station is arranged with tens of hundreds of exhibition halls and arenas, and this Olympia thing will be occupying the biggest stage over the next week or so.

Today is the first day of the exhibition, and the description reads:

'Welcome to the Olympia, the once every four year trading event with everything you ever wanted, never thought you wanted and didn't know you yet want. You may register to be a visitor, a bidder or challenger in the links below.'

The visitor, a bidder makes sense, but a challenger? Zel wondered what that could mean, and he looked further and tried to see if there is any further information.

There is conveniently none, almost as if someone is trying to build up some tension by withholding information. And it works.

Zel feels tense, as the air around him began to stiffen and become heavy. He swallowed hard and looked around. The simplicity of it all is what's deeply unsettling.

All of the people at the main hall seemed to be going towards the Olympia hall, which is just a few hundred meters away. The station lights dazzled the scene, and suddenly the surroundings are dimmed and a hologramic host enthusiastically declared the beginning of the bidding process!

The announcer's voices echoed in the hall, and the crowd pushing forward even more, the pressure coming from all around and almost pushing Zel back into the pocket domain. He quickly scanned around and moved to the side of the pack, hopping onto a bench and observed the surroundings. At this rate, there is no way he can get into the main hall without trouble.

Perhaps it's time to use his artifact again. Zel thought to himself, and he looked around for cover. That's when a bell chimes and the announcer broke the noisy background noises.

'We have our first bid AND our first challenge of the day for the main prize of this Olympia! For more information, head to the Arena of Gods at the back of the main hall! Remember, this is platinum member only!'

Zel checked the package he downloaded from the information center, and it looked like he is only classified as a normal member. Now it definitely looks like it's time to go into his artifact again.

'Are you up? Warp me in!' Zel gently rubbed his stomach area where the artifact has permanently fused with his body. However, there is no response, 'are you listening? I kind of need you now.'

Still nothing.

What is going on? Zel wondered, and he turned to face the walls while lifting up his shirt. The colors of the artifact isn't the usual shinny silver, and whatever color this is certainly isn't due to the lightning. He poked around the area, and faint pain spread from the point of touch.

Kid, there is always a price for using such power, and your body can't handle iti right now. Finally, the artifact has spoken, and the things it said isn't exaclty what Zel wants to hear, I managed to hold back the symptoms for the past few days for as long as I could, but after this point, any further use will be...

'Shit!' Zel tried to forcibly activate the artifact, and a sharp tearing pain exploded from his stomach and shot outwards like a lightning striking into the ground. His head rings, and he dropped to his knees. All he did was trying to awaken it, let alone begin any form of warping. Zel isn't one unfamiliar with pain, though this one has to rank near the top.

Nobody came to check on him, and he was thankful for it.

Like I said, any further use will take on a physical toll more severe than what you are currently experiencing. The artifact finally continued.

'When will I recover?'

If your muscles are sore, how long would it take to recover?

'But I don't have that much time!' Zel said with gritted teeth, the intensity of the pain finally calming down slightly, 'I need to get into the so-called Arena of Gods. If anything, something of the caliber of a pseudo-artifact must only belong in this overly dramatically named place!'

If you must go in, then you must go in.

'How?'

As you would, before you had me.

Zel froze in his pose, his mind no longer lingering on the pain in the front side. Over the past however many years, he had grown to rely on the artifacts. He was a thief on a pirate ship in the god damn wild regions, and he was a damn good one at that thanks to her. But ever since he got the power to slip through space, of what use is manipulation of machinery and people to sneak past defenses, creating diversions, false evidence and working with others any more?

Zel made the mistake of relying on his artifact way too much. Just like those who slept by the engines when they ran out of fuel at the dawn of industrial revolution, those who laid by their guns when it jammed in the dawn of the old world wars, those who died by their star ships when they got stranded on a unknown planet. The technology brought us forward, but also made us leave something behind.

He was Zel Frin, before he was the bearer of Pocket. And now, he will get into the Arena of Gods, through his own skill.

'Thanks for the pep talk.' Zel smiled slightly as he calculated his next moves and padded his stomach gently. There was no response, but there was none needed.

It's time to get to work.

He walked around the arena to a human helper that's stationed by a set of information stands and quietly slid away his name badge and ID card while replacing it with random cards he had stocked up around. Those temporary employees will have no idea what has just happened when the discount cards at the Galaxy Steakhouse couldn't grant them access into the staff dining room.

With the card and badge in hand, he made some quick modifications, took off his mask and made himself look presentable by the fountain.

'Hi! Welcome to the Arena of Gods, the main event has already begun, so may I scan in your identification?'

As a pair of well dressed Aquarian couple came across, Zel stopped them before they were near the Arena itself. They did as asked, and Zel scanned their pass with his very own personal interface.

'Ah, I am afraid there is some sort of issue here. Would just wait here please, I will go get it sorted as soon as possible!' Zel replied apologetically, gave them a bow and started jogging towards the Arena entrance.

'Wow, isn't he quite friendly?' The male commented while leaning over to his partner, 'the helpers here are really well trained.'

'Yes, he sure moved fast just for our sake.'

'Like I told you, this isn't a place of scumbags and thieves.'

Ten minutes later...

'Um, is he coming back?'

Now that Zel had a platinum sequence scanned into this personal interface, he could finally make some quick edits to its profile and made him for him, Flin Xel. Not exactly the most creative alias, he knew, but time's short.

'Fliln Xel, welcome to the arena of gods. Your seating is in the located region, for this round, you may only challenge, and not perform bids. Do you have any questions...' The droid looked up after scanning his identification, and let him in through the door.

'Yeah, tell me about what the challenge is?'

'...Any questions may be submitted to the helper droid. Thank you.'

The inside of the Arena is dark like the night compared to outside, and Zel's eyes took a little while to get adjusted. The dim red and blue LED lights gently shined on the red traditionally patterned soft carpets underneath his feet, and Zel imagined this is what a high-end social occasion on old earth must look like. Zel looked around, and floating screens showed the list of items that will be on sale and that had gone on sale, and just as he thought, many of the items here listed were no where to be found on his common package.

In order to find what he came to find, he do need to get into the inner circle first.

Somehow, Zel knew Sir Deva is also in this building, and he probably got in through a lot less scummy ways. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

The current theme of bidding is rare goods, and the vague and overly artistic naming doesn't exactly help with identifying what exactly is being sold here. So he guesses it's best to get in and see what's happening.

As he walked pass a server droid, he took a beverage contained in a glass. There is a floating blue sphere hovering above transparent layer at the bottom of the glass. From the moment Zel held the cup, teh blue sphere of fluid was released and splashed onto the liquid. The drink mixed and sizzled as bubbles rose in columns before twirling into each other in a dance and settling down.

The end result is a curious red liquid. Zel stared into it, and saw his own reflection, his prosthetic eye especially reflective of the dim lights around.

'Never seem an Aquarian Quacker Shocker before?' A rumbling Aquarian voice came from beside him, and a well dressed Aquarian elderly that looked a lot skinnier than the one he met on Athena 3 walked past him and opened the door for him.

'Is that like the next level up from the normal shocker?' Zel asked as he bowed slightly.

'Well, if you level up from a west ocean shrimp to a ice giant, that is.' He turned a gave Zel a good shiver, a gesture of joy the equivalent of human smiles, and headed back to his seat.

Zel took a sip of the Quacker Shocker, and the initial taste was similar to the sharpness typical of the everyday Aquarian shocker drink, however, the chemical reacted strangely with his palette, and the taste of sweet and sour joined in in a indescribable harmony from within his mouth before ending with a light bitterness as an after taste, and all of that was simply from a single sip.

So the chemical reactions happened in real time in his mouth too, bringing in dynamic flavors that are constantly varying, making the simple act of tasting alcohol an exciting process of exploring unknowns. It is indeed an impressive upgrade from the normal cleansing that Zel imagined what Aquarian Shockers do.

But enough alcohol tasting, Zel followed his direction and headed to his seat too. He isn't exactly one with a big frame, so a double seat for a nice Aquarian couple would be plenty for himself alone.

Right, so what's the programming again? Zel looked down at the newly downloaded list from the floating screens, and focuses his eyes on the second one, as he just missed out on the conclusion to the first item on the list.

Category: Rare Goods.

Item Name: Monstrana

'What the hell is Monstrana?' Zel wondered, and it's almost like the announcer read his mind, the lights within the arena were turned on gently, and a mystery box roughly 3 meters a side was revealed. All of the limelight were on the box, and the pair of human and Aquarian announcer began their broadcast.

'Brought to you from the outskirts of Mercuranium, the forsaken Aquarian region, rising from the depth of hell and the most horrid imaginations of gods possible, we present to you...Monstrana!'

The sides of the mystery box were raised up, and Zel couldn't believe what he saw in there.

Within the box was a cage, and within a cage was an Aquarian. However, this Aquarian female wasn't like any normal Aquarian. She had two 'legs' like most Aquarian, and only two arms. She is practically a humanoid, and she is simply sitting there as all of the lights focused on her bare body and the chatter in the room began before chiming of bells indicating bids began echoing in the room.

Suddenly, the Aquarian Quacker Shocker doesn't taste so good anymore.

This isn't any antique auction, Zel realised, this is blatant trafficking and slavery of individual Aquarians, and this 'rare goods' categories are for those that are severely deformed in one way or another! Zel clenched his fist as the fire within him soared, the metal in his prosthetic arm squeaks, and his breath is no longer regular.

He is one of those that everyone in the universe considered as deformed, so he felt an inherent connection to this poor Aquarian girl. She isn't looking anywhere but at her bloody feet.

She was alone, she was hopeless, and she was desperate.

Despite all that, there is nothing Zel can do to help her. He used the ID's of those Aquarian couples to get in, but he couldn't access their credit accounts or anything, and he barely carried enough with him. Within moments, the big went above what he can currently afford.

Is there truly nothing that can be done for this poor creature? Zel wondered and let out a long depressing breath. Is there truly nothing?