As Jill, Mick, and Celestia walked out to the landing pad, Jill had a question for the others. "Why is Alex 'legally not allowed' to come with us?"
Mick answered. "There is already one licensed Alex Smith. Another manager, Howie Gutman owns the rights to her. He's a nice guy, but kinda out of it most of the time. Always playing his video games." He held his hand in the air and waggled his fingers as if playing with some kind of interface.
Jill needed more information than that. "Why does the license matter Couldn't we just say she's someone else? Call her Jane Doe or something?"
Mick shook his head. "Nah, that's not enough. Corporate would tolerate it if we don't let her off the ship, since people would confuse her with the Alex that is in the tournament, but I've been poking into her dimension too often, moving too many Alex Smiths in and out because she keeps quitting and I have to get a new one. I've brought a few of them into Core before, to visit places with the last team, and I'm not the only one. She's pretty popular among traders who can get her. All combined, we've hit the legal import limit."
Mick continued as they stepped into the ship through the aft ramp. "This comes down from the Transdimensional Authority. What they're worried about is having too many copies of the same thing in one dimension. It threatens the stability of everything and every little bit adds up so it's all strictly regulated. Nobody wants to repeat what happened when the first core worlds disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Both Jill and Celestia asked in unison. That was not a story that Mick had told either of them.
Mick continued talking as they walked up the stairs and to the bridge. "Oh, yeah. Ancient history. One day all transports going into the original core dimensions never came back. All contact was lost. The theory is that the dimensions collapsed onto each other because of all of the activity. You know, when we first opened up traffic to other dimensions, the first thing we did was trade as much as we could. There were entire universes to strip-mine and colonize, and as people do, we put all our effort into moving whatever we wanted from point A to point B. So there was all of this traffic going on, all of this interference, and there must be some natural order of things that it messed with. So the worlds that were left after that established rules restricting any use of dimensional travel or time travel or anything like that."
Reaching the bridge, Mick said "Okay, let's get going. Tia, would you like to do the honors? Do you think you can do it without me looking over your shoulder this time?"
Celestia had been learning. "You might only tell me the name of the location."
Scene: Crash Championship dispatch center, overhead
Mick's ship descended toward a white X-shaped building with a large round central hub and vast parking lots for flying ships in all four corners. This building and the parking space sat on the flat rooftop of an even larger building that was the size of several city blocks. The larger ships like Mick's had to land in the outer parking lots.
A voice came in over the radio. "Doujin Egg 2201 registered to Miguel Legato, you are cleared to land in the northeast outer quadrant. Do you have any contraband to declare?"
Mick proudly called back. "Yes, I declare that I have contraband."
The operator sighed. "Keep it on your ship, Mick."
Scene: Internal hallway
As Mick led Jill and Celestia through a hallway of the building, they were met with a surprise.
"Mick!" His name was called by a young woman of Japanese appearance with two blue ribbons in her hair, carrying a Heisoku wand and wearing a dress styled after a Miko uniform but with a multicolored pattern that was predominantly light blue. She ran forward a few steps and floated down the hallway toward him until she embraced him in a hug, then dropped to the ground and kicked him in the shin with her Doc Martens boots.
"Sunny! -- Ow!" Mick greeted her and reacted to the kick.
"Is this a former lover of yours?" Celestia asked, expecting the answer to be 'no' but wondering if it wasn't. Sunny's face scrunched up in disgust.
Mick answered. "Oh, no. This is Shiny Pretty.“
“Shoni!” Shoni would have to introduce herself herself. “Shoni Puriti. Stop changing my name.” She playfully slapped him in the belly with her stick.
Mick continued her introduction. “She was on my team last year."
"You sold me!" The upset Shoni put her hands at her hips.
Mick shrugged. "I needed the money. How is Zexler treating you?"
Shoni crossed her arms and looked away. "He's mean."
Another man placed a black-gloved hand on Shoni’s shoulder. His deep voice resonated throughout the hallway. "I would not need to be mean if my fighters would train when they are supposed to. I had half of a mind to send you back to Danmaku."
"Zexler!" Mick greeted his old friend. Zexler was taller, older, still in good physical shape, and had a much more serious air about him.
Zexler smiled at Mick and his company. "I felt it was time to make Shoni legal. What are the chances that we'd be here at the same time? I see you managed to find yourself some new fighters."
"Yeah!" Mick beamed with pride. "Although," he gestured to Celestia, "she's just here for moral support. Go ahead and introduce yourselves."
Celestia took one step forward and stood at attention. "Celestia van Rijndael." She took one step backward.
Jill fumbled to hold her massive weapon with her left hand so that she could offer her right hand to shake. She decided to simply put it down on the ground, then stepped forward and extended her hand. "Jill Ross."
Shoni was first to take it. "Nice to meet you, Jirros." Shoni could usually make the distinction between the 'l' and the 'r' but Jill's full name was too much for her.
Zexler stepped forward to greet Jill. "Antonius Zexler." Shoni stuck out her tongue at him from behind. He turned to Mick after shaking Jill’s hand. "Maybe when you are done with registration, we can stop by your ship for a cup of coffee. You used to carry the real stuff, not the fake nonsense that they call coffee around here."
Mick nodded. "Still do. The real stuff goes for about five chains a cup."
Zexler put his arm around Mick's shoulders. "Are you seriously going to haggle with an old friend over a two-chain cup of coffee?"
Mick smiled guiltily. "I'm a businessman!"
Zexler patted him on the back. "You are an awful businessman. Whatever we decide on, I'll just take it off what you owe me."
Mick smiled. "It's a deal."
Shoni skipped up to Mick. "You got any smokes?"
"Not today, sorry," Mick answered.
"Oh, kuso." Shoni expressed her disappointment.
Zexler looked down at her. "You quit smoking."
Shoni disagreed. "I didn't quit, I just haven't been able to get any." She turned back to Mick with another question. "How about chocolate cake?"
Zexler talked down to her again. "You can get chocolate cake here."
Jill interceded with interest. "You can?"
Zexler explained. "There is a grocery less than an hour away that carries it, and we are not going out of our way to get it."
Celestia talked to Mick. "Perhaps, while we are here, it would be in our interest to purchase groceries."
Mick saw no sense in that. "We have groceries. We have plenty of groceries. We have two whole freezers full of groceries."
Jill interceded. "I think she means real food."
Celestia added another thought. "We may also wish to acquire harvesting equipment and find a baker who will provide us with starter. I do not know exactly when is the planting time on your world but it must be soon."
Mick almost laughed at her. "You actually want to grow food? That's way too much work!"
Celestia was confused. "Is that not what the bags of grain seed are for?"
Mick explained. "That's all for Jill's people. They're stuck doing that. They don't have a choice. We import our food. Listen. The worst of what we bring in is going to be far better than the best of whatever we could grow ourselves. I can guarantee that."
Zexler excused himself. "Speaking of food, Shoni and I will be getting something to eat. Shall we meet up at your ship for coffee afterwards?"
Mick smiled. "Sure."
Zexler started to walk off. Shoni had another question for Mick. "How is the ship doing? Is it still acting up?"
"Yeah, I'll get it fixed." Mick waved them away as Shoni floated behind Zexler. He then waved to beckon Jill and Celestia further into the building. "C'mon, let's go."
Shoni called back. "Nice meeting you!"
"Likewise." Celestia said with a nod.
Jill called back to her. "It was nice meeting you too!"
Scene: Tournament facility, main hallway
Mick, Jill, and Celestia finally arrived to see the person they had come to meet. She was a businesslike woman in her early thirties with straight red hair, wearing a red amaranth-colored tube skirt and an amethyst-colored vest with traces of a lime green t-shirt visible underneath. Like Mick and Zexler, she wore the symbol of an interdimensional trader on her neckline even though she was a Corporate officer and did little trading herself.
She was accompanied by a Chinese man in his late thirties with a large birthmark or tattoo of a five-pointed star on his shaved forehead. He wore a gray business-like suit that had a wide v-shaped cut in the neckline.
"Ah, Ms. James." Mick greeted the woman with the respect due to someone with the authority to ban him from the tournament. "We are here to register a new fighter."
Ms. James noted the presence of Celestia, who had already been disqualified. "Mick, you should know that Corporate decisions on fighter eligibility can only be overturned by Corporate management."
Mick understood. "Oh, no, she's just here for moral support. The new fighter is Jill here."
Ms. James nodded toward Jill and her gigantic gun. "Ah, yes. It should have been obvious. Jill, is it?"
Jill stepped forward to introduce herself. She supported the weight of her gun with her left shoulder, awkwardly leaning back slightly while holding her right arm out. "Jill Ross."
Ms. James took her hand and gave it a brief but firm shake. "I am the Corporate secretary. You may call me Ms. James. This is Hong Wu. He will be guiding you through the process."
Hong stepped forward and shook Jill's hand. "Good day, Missus Ross. I will try to make this as pleasant for you as possible. Come this way."
As Jill and Mick walked away with Hong and Ms. James, Celestia noticed that she now had company. Behind her right shoulder stood a very muscular man with a square jaw and curly black hair that flowed down over his shoulders. He wore a tight-fitting blue outfit with few features other than an 'H' symbol on his chest, a yellow cape, and a white belt to hold up his legless yellow shorts.
Behind her left shoulder stood a young woman radiating so much magic power that Celestia had felt her approaching. Her black hair flowed over her headband in lengthy bangs. She wore a light and flexible armor made of bands of black leather, with black steel shoulder guards scavenged from someone else's armor and lined at the edges with gold and otherwise decorated to better focus magical energies in both offense and defense. She wore a black cape with a red lining on the inside, two necklaces bearing large magical crystals, and a sword at her side. She held a short staff which was tipped by a small golden sphere.
Celestia felt that she had no reason to panic as long as the Corporate officer was nearby and not concerned by their presence. She followed Mick and Jill. The two others followed her.
The woman spoke unexpectedly. "Don't worry. We're just here to make sure you don't blow up the place."
"Cat!" The man tried to discourage her in a low voice, but it was too late.
The woman was nonchalant. "Oh, she's known we're here for a while. If I can feel her magic, I'm sure she can feel mine."
Celestia turned to address them directly. "I can assure you that I will not cause any problems."
The woman playfully slapped the man's broad chest with the back of her hand. "See? What'd I tell you? It's a waste of our time and we're not even getting paid extra for it."
The man was serious, especially where terms of contract were involved. "This is listed as part of our job description." He turned to Celestia. "It was not our intention to disturb you, but Corporate was concerned by your display of powers, and maintaining security is paramount."
Celestia was not upset at all. "I understand completely. I would have assigned a larger detail in this situation."
Cat threw up her hands. "Corporate is cheap!"
The musclebound man offered his large hand. "I suppose we should introduce ourselves. My name is Sam Hyman." However, few people called him by his given name. Almost everybody knew him as Highman.
Celestia took his hand. "Celestia van Rijndael."
"Now kiiiiiiss!" Cat playfully teased them. They quietly shook their heads at her.
Highman let go of Celestia's hand and presented her to Cat. "You can kiss her." Celestia quietly shook her head again.
Cat's cheeks flushed and her jaw dropped open in both embarrassment and mock surprise. "Hahaha, you told a joke?!"
A sign of a smile appeared at one corner of Highman's lips. "I am not completely humorless. Mostly, but not completely."
Cat quickly regained most of her composure and held out her hand with a flourish to introduce herself. "Well then. I am the notorious Cat Black, sorceress extraordinare!"
Celestia calmly took her hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Madam Black."
Cat was surprised by the lack of any attempt to one-up her. She turned to Highman. "She's as boring and straight-laced as you are! You two should skip the kissing and go straight to marriage. Of course, you would probably need someone to give you instructions."
Scene: Departure Hallway
A side hallway terminated in a round platform, a transporter pad for one person. Hong stepped onto the pad first. He knew that initiates would be more willing to jump out if they had seen someone else do it. "Follow me through the transporter and I will give you further instructions. The entire process will take about three hours." His body turned into bright light and he disappeared.
Jill turned to Mick. "What's it like?"
Mick shrugged. "Never been through it myself, but what I've heard? It's boring."
Jill hesitated. She stepped onto the platform, worried about what was going to happen next.
Mick held up a hand to wave her off. "I'll come back and get you in about three hours. Good luck!"
The brightness engulfed Jill, and she disappeared.
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