Chapter Two

When we disembarked our slowly aging spaceship, Marco and I were assaulted with countless sights and smells just as we always were. From the files I managed to pull from the extranet, Anhur had recently ended a civil war over slavery, and luckily for me on this batarian world, the abolitionists had won out. I had to do as much research as I could on the worlds we actually touched down on and visited, it was stupid of me not to. Seemingly, there was just enough of a human population for me to not stand out like a sore thumb, but not enough for me to be too worried about everybody secretly being a Cerberus agent.

Of course, I was always worried.

The two of us left the docking port that was crowded with people of all sorts of species moving in and out, having to push our way through a bit almost, bumping into batarians and humans mostly. The garden planet made it so just about everybody was comfortably able to inhabit it, meaning plenty of people were. I could feel someone's elbow jabbing at my shoulders through the light clothing I wore as we slowly made our way towards the large screening station for everybody coming in or leaving the planet.

Marco gently grasped my hand as we approached, and I managed to not cringe, though I bit the inside of my cheek. There were several uniformed batarians and humans who stood on guard, a dozen screens set up in a row where we were filed through one at a time, a green light flashing with each person cleared. "Gertrude." Whispered Marco cautiously in my ear.

"I know, don't worry." I whispered back, clutching the travel case I had in my other hand tightly, knuckles probably whitening as the tiniest bit of sweat started to make the handle slippery. No matter how many times we did this, I was always terrified by security checks. We'd learned the hard way after the first heavily populated planet we tried to land on started screaming at the sheer amount of cybernetics in my body. Some kind of anti-Geth program or something, once a high enough percentage of non-organic material was detected in a person, they were taken aside for questioning. On the batarian worlds, few came back from them too. I had lucked out though, when a turian went running right through the screening post and the guards decided I wasn't worth it and went straight after him instead.

But I couldn't rely on random luck, so I'd spent a lot of time trying to figure out a way around it, after all it wasn't like I could just turn off my cybernetics. I honestly had no idea just to what extent they ran throughout my body, just that there was a lot of them. So if I couldn't turn them off, maybe I could do something about the scan.

We were up next rather swiftly, and I sucked in a breath and stared up at the small machine projecting the clear blue hologram. Focusing on it, I kept sending message after message to the electrical device, all clear. There was a buzzing sound as I stood in the light, waiting for it to turn green, a rather long delay later and there was an upbeat sound and the blue turned to green. The guards didn't even give me a second glance as I scurried as casually as I could to where Marco waited a few paces away.

"How does that even work?" He asked, looking back once over his shoulder as we started to walk up a corridor leading towards where the signs on the walls pointed to local transit station.

"Do you really want to hear the technical jargon?" I chuckled.

With a roll of golden contacts, he shrugged. "How about on the trip to our next destination." Suggested the turian. "Probably would fill up plenty of travel time."

"Deal, but only if we pick up something other then nutrient paste this time." I laughed, watching as the crowd of people slowly diminished around us.

Marco's mandibles pulled apart in a small smile that I could faintly catch out of the corner of my eye, and then we had at last reached a platform where tram rails and benches awaited us. One sweep around and I found where the train times were posted, legs moving on their own over with my turian partner close behind as always. "Man, looks like we just missed it." I announced, skimming over orange holographic letters.

"You can read that?" Marco asked, I could hear the confusion on his subharmoics.

A frown pulled across my lips and I turned back to him. "Yeah, can't you?"

"No, I don't think any of the turian written languages are going to be here either." He shook his head.

"Well, it's human. Like I said most of the population is either human or batarian." I shrugged. "Next one is in about ten minutes, so we might as well take a seat." I continued with a motion of my hand to an empty row of benches along the metal walls. We were still inside the docking port, large windows on the ceiling letting in a view of a blue sky spotted with grey clouds. There were countless advertisements on the walls, either reminding us about what we needed to do to here on Anhur like the tourists they expected us to be, or laws we had to abide by. "We'll need to take the green train if we're gonna get to that marketplace."

He nodded his head. "Take the green to get the green." I snickered at the terrible joke, his mandibles pulling apart in an over the top grin.

"I'd give you credit, but I'm flat broke." I threw back over my shoulder, sticking my tongue out as we sat down on one of the row of benches. He chuckled, neither one of us were comedians that was for sure.

We sat there silently for a little bit, Marco fiddling with his omni-tool besides me until the tram pulled in to the station. The metal doors opened before us, and a stream of aliens and humans alike came pouring out, Marco and I getting to our feet and waiting at the banks before it cleared up and we stepped on board. The tram was actually rather nice, sheen metal walls with poles in the center, nicely padded seats lining the walls facing giving it a rather spacious feel.

Taking a pair of empty seats besides a pretty faced asari and a butt-ugly batarian, I pulled up my omni-tool and started reading over some of the files I'd recently started looking through. After our escape from the Cerberus station a year ago, Marco and I had had a decent number of run-ins with Cerberus operatives sent to capture or kill us.

Among them, was another hispanic woman codenamed the Huntress. Apparently she was supposed to be pretty good at catching people, but thus far she'd only been touch and go with us. I think her real name was Justine, from the files I'd stolen from her they seemed to indicate that. I'd gotten pretty good at planting bugs on those that came after us, though the Cerberus bitch always found them within an hour or two.

Still plenty of time to steal some more files from her to keep us a bit ahead of her. From what I'd taken last time she nearly caught up to us, she was getting frustrated with the hunt. A log of hers or something, either way she was probably coming close to the end of her rope, probably gonna stop using fancy secrecy to track us and get more blatant. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to shoot up the whole marketplace to get us.

My eyes flickered around the inside of the tram cart with boredom until they settled on the window across from me. I gazed out over the top of a young human girl's head at the city lights as we raced on by at a remarkable speed. It wasn't hard to fade off into a memory, since I'd gotten them back I'd discovered it was rather nice to slip off somewhere during long trips, and it would take around a half hour to get to the marketplace with all the stops between them.

I hated waiting out in the public's view, made me feel vulnerable. Trams, trains, all of the sort were just too open for an attack really. Honestly, if I was going to blow something up to cause damage to a city, then I'd take out public transportation. Lots of civilians, low security on the rails, and frankly it would look fantastic. Of course, I would never actually do that so what was the point in thinking about it?

Ah, there wasn't one huh?

"Gertrude...?" Marco said besides me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? What?"

"I was wondering, would you like to get some lunch at a restaurant?"

Since when did we have time for casual meals? I shook my head. "I don't think that's the best idea..."

If there was one thing Marco was, it was persistent. "Oh come on, we haven't had a hot meal planetside in such a long while Gertrude, I bet you'd love it." He goaded. "If we find a place that serves your favorite will you do it?"

I rolled my eyes. "If it serves asari food then it won't have anything for you Magnus." I laughed faintly. How is it that he got me to act like this? How could he make me relax when we were constantly in so much danger? Maybe he had magic. Space magic. Yeah, he had space magic, only logical explanation for how he did what he did to me.

"Oh don't be silly, I'm sure there will." He smiled wider, mandibles pulling apart and displaying fangs that had once terrified me.

Huffing, I crossed my arms and shrugged. "Fine, if it will calm you down I'll do it." I conceded. The turian grinned in triumph, and then turned back away from me to stare off into space. I wondered what he thought about when he was alone or waiting, what fluttered through his alien brain to fill his loneliness. I had Aria I still talked with, but he had cut off ties with that rude girlfriend he'd had back on Omega over a year ago. There certainly wasn't time for romance with someone new and foreign when we stayed in a place no longer than a day if we could help it. I didn't want to think about what he did actually, because slowly my wondering made my skin crawl.

How he dealt with it was his own business.

The tram lurched to a stop, still five stops away from our marketplace destination, and I looked up to watch the strangers board. Asari, salarian, even a drell got on interestingly enough, everybody silently taking a seat and virtually ignoring anyone they hadn't arrived on with. How could they stand the quiet?

I didn't really pay much attention to the rest of the ride, actually I'd fallen asleep. When it stopped with an extra lurch and Marco's hand was giving me a small shake, I jumped up out of the tram seat and nearly fell back down. When I glanced at Marco, a small smirk was pulling across his face, and I quickly huffed and disembarked the metal room. When he'd stepped off after me, about five other people from our cart getting off as well, he linked his elbow with my own and started walking towards the steps that led down the platform to the marketplace. "Magnus..." I stiffly growled. "What are you doing?"

"Leading my lady of course." He joked.

Muttering a few swears, I allowed him to guide me down the stairs to where a flat area opened up, cluttered with shots and booths of all sorts. Some where high-end, flashing lights and clean metal, actual buildings while the further you seemed to go from the tram station, the more worn down and shoddy the shops became. "We're getting something to eat first, 'kay?" I don't know why he asked, there was no way I was going to get out of it anyways. The turian started down one pathway, six options having been before us, golden contacts flickering from one place to another. There was probably something of everything here. I was seeing ship repair parts, food, guns and ammo, fish even! With everyone and everything there, it smelled rather nasty to be honest, almost making me think of Omega though nothing could quite compare with that rare filth.

Suddenly he stopped, and I hadn't realized until my arm was wrenching backwards, taking the rest of me with it. "Ow!" I hissed, Marco giving me one quick apologetic look before he gestured to the stand that had caught his attention. "Is this it? They've got the asari noodles?" I asked.

It was about the size of his old shop, a counter with bar stool chairs facing the walkway, and an exorbitant kitchen behind it. A slightly purple asari was waiting at the counter, and when she noticed us looking smiled warmly, a human and turian in the back cooking. Steam billowed out from the kitchen through a shaft I suppose, and the smell of the warm food quickly had my stomach growling.

His eyes were narrowed as he skimmed down the listed menu that was pressed against the overhang. "Yup!" Marco happily announced and we walked over, taking a seat each.

"Ah, welcome!" The asari smiled, handing us both a menu. "I don't think I've seen your faces around here before," she said, tilting her head to the side with thought, "nope, I don't believe I have."

I laughed dryly. "Just passing through, getting supplies."

"And lunch!" Marco chirped happily. "Spirits I'm ready for some non-rationed food." He muttered.

The asari laughed. "Oh, I know what you mean. Used to be a spacer myself, till my ship broke down beyond repair." She shrugged. "Now, what can I get for you two? A couple's combo?"

I burst into laughter before I could stop it. "Oh no, we're no couple lady." I said firmly, shaking my head. "He's like, a brother to me!" From the corner of my eye, for a split second, it looked like he had frowned. Why would he frown?

"Right, well, what would you like? I promise sir, we've got a dextro-friendly portion of the menu, prepared separately from the rest of the food." She said directly to Marco who smiled slightly when I had turned to look. "I'd suggest you try our home-made soup, perfect for trying what Anhur can offer in one go." The asari smiled to me.

"Actually, I was hoping you'd have this asari recipe I rather like. They're a type of noodles in a thick creamy sauce with a lot of herbal seasoning and some kind of fish in it." I really should find out what it was called, I probably looked like an idiot when I tried to describe.

She frowned, mouth twitching with thought for a few seconds before she straightened up. "Thessian noodles?" She suggested, leaning slightly over the counter with her elbow propped on it.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed before I could stop myself, voice raising with excitement. "That's what it's called."

Giving me a small wink and a laugh at my behavior, she typed it into the machine that was on the counter before looking up at Marco again. "Alrighty, and you sir?"

"The turian dish right here looks good." He said, pointing to a picture on the menu.

"Oh it is." She agreed, typing it in and granting us another smile. "Drinks?"

"Water." I simply decided.

"Same." He agreed.

Nodding her head, she typed a few more things into the machine on the holo-display. Over her shoulder I could see the two chefs already starting to cook, my stomach rumbling even louder as the food cooking began to freshly linger in the air. "See, I knew you'd still be hungry." Marco said triumphantly besides me, giving me a light nudge with his elbow. I promptly shoved him with a laugh.

"Alright alright, but only because our stocks on the ship are absolute shit." I joked.

"Maybe to you, but you never know the wonders of nutrient paste until it's all you have to eat after absolutely nothing for a few days. I could live off the stuff."

I shook my head, missing the feeling of my curls bouncing around me. Instead the tightly cropped ringlets stayed virtually motionless, like a sponge or something. "You know this from personal experience?"

"Oh yeah, I'll tell you back on the ship." He laughed. When turians did that, it sounded rather weird, the way their subharmonics acted. Like something scratchy but at the same time it sounded smoother than normal. Either way, I liked the way it sounded, weird as it was. Maybe that's why I liked it, it was different, intriguing even. A break from the hum drum of the ship's engines and the stark silence of space. "It's quite the tale."

"Sounds like the perfect bedtime story then." I snickered.

As he rolled his eyes, the asari strolled up to us and laid down a plate for the both of us on the counter. Instantly my eyes snapped onto the meal before me. It certainly looked and smelled like the right thing, and with a single bite I was sold. It was definitely Thessian noodles alright, and boy was it good. Every time I ate it, which wasn't as often as I would prefer of course, I felt almost like there was peace in that moment.

Maybe though, because it made me think of Aria.

By the time we'd wolfed down half of our food, Marco's some blue leaf looking things with some kind of meat on top, I was starting to miss the purple asari again. Something had happened to her, something bad, and it would be some time before I found out just what. If I didn't distract myself, I was going to go insane if I spiraled out of control thinking about what might have happened to her. I might have had a hunch, but it was just that, a hunch. No proof, not a single shred of evidence.

"Props to the chefs." I said to the asari who looked faintly similar to the pirate queen. Marco muttered approval between bites of food.

"I'll be sure to tell them." She smiled, waiting at a seat at the end of the counter for any more customers to swing by.

I peeked over to Marco, and laughed as he struggled to get a small bite of food on his fork. "Oh hush up Gertrude." He scowled.

"Alright, fine." I snickered. "So, we need food that'll last at least another three months..." I started to list the supplies.

"Yeah, fresh packet of thermal clips, a new filter for my enviro-suit, " Marco joined in, listing them off from memory, "also some lubricant for the landing gear, they're getting kinda... nasty." He shook a hand back and forth.

"What about, some meds?" I suggested after a bit of hesitation.

"Meds?" He repeated back. "For what? You're not feeling sick are you?"

"No, well yes, but I mean-" I struggled for words, "-for the nightmares." I whispered tightly. "Maybe there is something I could use to kinda, keep them in check you know?"

Marco frowned. "I don't like the idea of getting medicine for you from this place Gertrude. We'll go somewhere with better, more reliable stock next alright?"

Head lowered, I mutely nodded in agreement. He probably was right anyways, there was more then likely seedy drug dealers trying to take advantage of the desperate. Which apparently I thought I was one such. "Alright, deal." I agreed as I finished the noodles.

"Good, now anything we're forgetting?" He asked, scraping the last bit of the leafs to the corner of his plate to finish off.

"Some new clothes." I simply said. "Mine are all getting torn and ruined beyond repair."

Confusion was rather easy to read off a turian's faceplates after you spend a year with one. "What in the name of the Spirits are you doing that's ruining them so quickly? He asked sharply.

"Uh, well, I- I just need some new ones alright?" Fire was burning across my face.

He sighed. "Alright fine, but only if I get a new suit too."

I smiled. "Deal, ready to go?" I asked as I hopped off the stool. Marco handed over the credit chits to the asari who gave one last smile before he joined me a few feet away. Excitement suddenly rushed up my body and I found myself laughing. "Time to go shopping!"