Bunking

Gallus stepped into a dusty old hallway. The building had the layout of an old apartment building, and he made his way down the hall and up the stairs. He found his room partway on the second floor. The electronic lock detected his UWD and the magnetic lock opened with a click. He pushed the heavy steel door open to reveal his temporary living space.

The room was very uninspiring, and looked more like a prison cell than a living quarters. On both sides of the small room were uncomfortable looking beds, each with a chest at the foot. To the right of the door was a small toilet and sink. There was no bathroom, but there was at least a small curtain that went around the toilet, to allow for a modicum of privacy.

Gallus' UWD chirped, acknowledging that he had found his room successfully. It prompted him to go to the bed on the left, and open up the small metal chest at its foot. The chest also had a magnetic lock, which responded quickly to his device. He opened the chest up and inspected its contents.

Two training uninforms were provided in vacuum packed plastic bags. Next to these uniforms was a small box of basic toiletries. A manual toothbrush, a comb, and a bar of soap. As far as Gallus could see, the room didn't even have a shower, so he wasn't sure how much good the soap would do. What interested him most was the box of food nestled into the corner of the chest.

According to the instructions on his UWD, he would be served food twice a day at the center of the penal district, but that the meal for his first night was located in the food box. Calling the cardboard box's contents a meal was extremely generous, but Gallus hadn't eaten since the night before, and he was grateful for anything he could get his hands on.

For solid food there were a few nutrient bars. They all had a vague meaty flavor to them, and Gallus would normally have found them disgusting. But in his current state of hunger, the chewy and revolting rectangles of vitamins and protein tasted like fine Terran cuisine. He was also pleased to find a few life extension pills as well, just as the judge had promised.

Life extension pills couldn't make you live forever, but could slow cellular damage and genetic dysfunction, causing the consumer to age far slower than they would naturally. They were a staple in the Empire, and most could expect to live 150-200 years if they took their pills religiously. If Gallus had spent ten years without them, he might have lost 30 effective years of youthful living.

That being said, superpowered multivitamins weren't effective against ballistics or rail slugs, and Gallus remembered that he may very well be close to the end of his existence. He washed the pills down with water from a very long metal sleeve at the bottom of the box. The sleeve was a foot long, and made of some kind of stainless steel. It was perplexingly narrow, but he was just glad to have some clean water.

While Gallus inspected all of his gear, he heard the bedroom door open behind him. A tall man stood in the doorway, staring at Gallus with large and piercing green eyes. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, as the man stood stiffly, turning his head slowly to inspect the room. Eventually, Gallus spoke, if only to make the situation a bit less awkward.

"Gallus. I'm being shipped off to the 211th. Are you looking for your room?" He reached out for a handshake, and the man returned the shake after a measured pause. "Colin." He said stiffly, gazing uncomfortably into Gallus' eyes. There was another brief pause, and Gallus involuntarily rubbed the back of his neck, tasting the strange tension in the air.

"Well." Gallus said. "I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other. Pleasure to meet you." Colin just nodded and strode forward to inspect his bed and chest of items. Not wanting to sit in the stale air with this strange character, Gallus went back outside to walk around some more. As he paced around the compound he fiddled with with his UWD to see if he could contact Donald.

He found he was able to contact the other trainees in the 211th, but not anyone else on the outside. Donald had already sent him several messages, nagging him and insulting him for not figuring out the messaging application sooner. "Alright, smartass." Gallus typed. "I figured it out. No need to send ten messages to me."

"Sorry." Donald sent back. "But I feel obligated to keep you alive for a while, and that means keeping you up to speed. I'm in building 14, room 41. I've got someone I'd like you to meet." Gallus moved quickly through the compound; it would be getting dark soon, and he didn't know the area well enough to navigate at night.

He eventually found Donald's building, a dilapidated concrete monstrosity much like his own. He made his way up and knocked on Donald's door. Donald pulled open the door quickly, greeting Gallus with a million dollar smile. His prior melancholy already seemed to be fading into the background, and Gallus was a bit jealous of his elevated mood.

He was already wearing his training uniform, decked out in Stellar Red. The training uninforms were much less impressive than the actual guard outfits, but it still looked impressive on Donald's lean and robust frame. "C'mon in. This is basically the party room in these parts." Gallus entered the tiny room and found it was exactly like his, with two beds, a fake bathroom, and two storage chests.

There was one startling difference however, in the form of a human being. Sitting on the left most bed was a woman with an insane looking appearance. She was small in stature, with extremely long black hair, reaching almost down to her waist. Her eyes were massive, like the eyes of a serial killer or a deranged criminal. She gave him a strange, thin smile that made his blood recoil with fear.

"Gallus, this is our new friend Irene. You two are going to get along like two slugs in rail mag!"