Sojourner-There_Chapter-3_Chariot-Interlude_draft-2

Chapter 3

	9:02 P.M. \ Cloudy \ Visibility: 19 km
	Lungmen Branch Office

	This is Operator Chariot, reporting in. At this time, I should be on leave in Lungmen, per orders from Captain Enka. Yeah, I- I know! I know Doctor Hedge recommended that I shouldn’t strain myself and all that. But... I still wanted to get something done. I ended up helping the Lungmen branch office carry Oripathy suppressants over to to a couple clinics. Just a bit of light manual labor, nothing too intensive. Oh, the Operators at the branch office were really nice guys, though! They guided me around town after, seeing as I hadn’t been around before.
	Even though I did my reading on the place, the little travel brochure still didn’t really prepare me for what Lungmen’d end up looking like. Compared to my Kawalerielki… Ah, well, there’s differences between the two. But, for better or for worse, a mobile city is what I’m most used to. Er, no offense to the facilities at Rhodes Island, of course!

	Right, uh, well, I should probably get to what happened today. I figured I’d take a stroll around Lungmen’s new shopping district in the late hours. I wanted to see what it’s like for the Infected in Lungmen. Back home, it’s… well, I’m sure it’s getting better now, just like how Lungmen’s trying to improve themselves, too, given what I’ve seen in the news and word of mouth. This new shopping district in the old slums is proof of that- the guys at the branch office said they even held Sauin there.
	So, anyways, I’m moving along with the crowd through the district, when I spot this hooded Elafia at a food stand in spitting distance of the finball stand I stopped at- they’re real tall, had one of those big instrument cases on their back. I mean, I’m not that tall- last check-up said I was… 153 cm? They’re at least a head taller, with some change to spare. I figure they’re probably from Leithania, what with the case and all.
	They seemed to be fumbling around with a few LMD bills, but it’s like they didn’t know what any of it meant. I mean, yeah, there’s Columbian gold certs and Victorian sterling, or whatever, but I reckon they’d trade it all for some cool-looking rock found on the barrenlands.
	Someone like that had to have a story to tell. Maybe they’d know about what it’s like around here, or elsewhere. I figure I could learn even something from them, even.
	Those skewers the guy was selling looked pretty good, gotta say. I ended up buying one, too, instead of finballs. It was really nice, gotta say, but I’ll probably try finball soup next time--

	[The audio is interrupted by a cough, and then intense wheezing along with several swears in Kazimierzi that will NOT be transcribed, followed by Chariot using his inhaler, taking his medicine in with a deep breath. Do NOT include the Oripathy attack in the final transcript.]

	Yeah, I trailed after that Elafia afterwards. They were on a window-shopping spree. It’s like if you took a little Victorian kid from the castle days, and flashbanged him with modern-day Kawalerielki. Everything from gas lamps to bikes is gonna be a wonder to that kid. Well, maybe not that bad for our Elafia here, but it was, like, pretty bad. They stopped to look at at least five different bikes before realizing that they were all the same.
	Real late into the night, I managed to get a look at their face from a reflection in the window- looked like a girl to me. Damn near fell over. Probably wouldn’t have gotten up, with how tired I was and the equipment case on my back. For a second, I… I thought I saw someone familiar to me. Well, okay, I KNEW it wasn’t *her*. I mean, for one thing, she’s an Elafia, not a Kuranta like me.
	I must’ve looked like an idiot, standing there with this dumb look on my face, because her reflection stared right back. Well, after everything she and I went through, I couldn’t just go back empty-handed, so like any good private eye guy you read about in those private eye books, I keep following her. Kuranta are infamous for being really good followers, and I’m proud to say that I’m no different! She was definitely onto me, though. She knew that I knew that she knew that I was following her. I figure that she’s trying to lead me into somewhere, so I keep up with her- also another Kuranta specialty, if I may brag. If it’s the only way I can get close with her, then… I’ll gladly let her take me someplace that she feels safe. She’ll get tired eventually! And that’s when I’ll ask her.
	That being said, uh, not one of my better running days, I’ll admit. Had a few close calls with some fences and walls along the way. I’ll apologize to Medical later for pushing myself like that, especially after the prior incident. It wasn’t a good idea-- The opposite, really. It was really bad! Anyways, I- well, I end up falling for her gambit in the end. She leads me into an old loading bay area, and I get the runaround from her again, and then I stumble into a dead end, distracting me long enough for her to cut off my only escape.
	Man. I looked like an idiot there. I was an idiot there, by the way. I remember me sounding really stupid there.