By the time darkness appeared, I had long given up any hopes of being discreet.
I was now alternating between running and jogging. But for all my effort, almost an hour later I was still within the corporate district.
A while ago my debt collar had given a second vibration, which tore across my body.
That was the syndicate giving me my second warning.
I had frozen for a while, thinking they would trigger the explosion, believing that I had escaped.
For fuck's sake, they should have the GPS, or whatever they called it in this world.
My movement should show them where I was.
I forced myself to assume they would not trigger the kill switch right away. They had to give me the benefit of the doubt.
I walked into the last station in the corporate district and my eyes immediately went to the market district prices.
Shit.
I grabbed a bunch of my hair, almost pulling it out as I closed my eyes in frustration.
Please heavens, do not let me die today. I could not die today.
I did not even care about the fact that the late cycle was supposed to be full of thugs and harsh enforcement from syndicates.
All my fears were now focused on keeping my precious head on my neck.
The cheapest stage to the market district had moved from five credits to a whopping fifteen.
The most expensive one. Well, I did not give a fuck about that. There was no need anyway.
Suddenly my ten credits looked like a peasant's offering.
Think. Think. Fucking think.
What was I supposed to do?
It had taken me almost an hour and a half to cross the corporate district, and that was with smooth traffic and the perceived safety around it.
I had only stuck to the speeder lanes next to the mag rail, but it had still taken me that long.
Just how long would it take to cross the chaotic entertainment district?
There were partly shady, partly neat looking buildings. The shady ones were on the other side.
The corporate and the market districts were literally divided by one large street. The spillovers
'Well don't just stand there for a start'.
As I stepped outside the station gate, I could see that the holographic advertisements had become even more vibrant with the darkness.
There were even 3D ads of fully naked strippers dancing above the lanes.
There were bold advertisements shamelessly displaying various prices for escorts based on their species and race.
There were casinos advertising offers for upcoming events.
Despite my perilous situation, my eyes were glued for a little while to the strippers before I forced myself back to my problem.
My eyes then settled on the casino.
Do not even think about it. Do not fucking think about it.
A voice warned in my head.
There was no reason not to.
I mean I was already screwed here. What did I stand to lose?
As it was, unless I was willing to sleep the entire night here and wait for the low cycle for normal prices to resume, there was no way ten credits were going to get me back.
So I might as well risk it.
I trotted toward one such place that seemed more respectable compared to the others.
I had not yet crossed toward the spillovers of the proper entertainment district. I was just on the edge of the corporate district.
Security had faded as I moved further and further away from the center of the corporate district.
Right now there were barely any security droids visible and no uniformed police anywhere.
Forcing myself to look as calm as possible despite my pounding heart, I entered one of the casinos.
Nobody was there to welcome me and nobody was there to stop me.
Once inside I could see that it was partially crowded, but only on one side.
It was not hard to understand what was happening there.
Right above where a chain of tables were interlocked and a crowd of various species had gathered, there was a huge dazzling sign.
Sabacc qualifying tournaments.
My eyes stayed on it for a while as the word echoed in my memory.
Sabacc.
Sabacc was a popular Star Wars game. That much I was certain.
If I was not wrong it was the equivalent of a card game like Earth's version of poker.
I did know quite a few of its rules since I had seen it in a couple of episodes.
The freshest one being the game between Han Solo and Lando.
It was how Solo had won the Millennium Falcon.
I however turned toward the other edge.
I was a bit disheartened.
On the other side of the hall there was a series of huge colorful spinning wheels.
Most were not spinning, but a large sign above them showed the possible rewards if someone dared to take a chance.
I knew this was a death trap.
Still, I had nothing to lose.
I edged closer to one, reaching into my pocket and fetching my credits.
Above the machine was a huge shiny sign.
[Chance wheel. Believe. Only brave hearts deserve luck.]
Yeah.
Did that sign even work?
That was how they persuaded the poor population of this town to spend their scarce credits chasing nonexistent luck.
'Then what the fuck are you doing here?'
My inner voice questioned me.
'I have to believe. I have to believe' .
I said it quietly to myself.
It took me a few seconds to study the wheel.
It was color coded. Red, green, blue. All sorts of colors.
Each color held a different potential multiplier.
The only segment that showed the jackpot was the gold space.
It had a Twi'lek stripper with a big chest that looked ready to burst out of her top.
It was supposed to be a mini jackpot, but the value was a minimum of two hundred and fifty credits.
Right now, two hundred and fifty sounded like heaven.
I forced my hands to stay calm as I looked at my ten credits.
How was I going to do this?
I knew there was a good chance I would lose all of it here.
But there was no way the house would make it such an obvious con game.
They had to give at least a few winning chances depending on how you distributed your spins.
I decided I would do it in groups of four, four, and two.
That would give me three tries.
Well the last one was only because I did not have two more credits.
Looking around me, nobody seemed concerned with what I was doing.
So I pushed the first four credits into the slot and pressed the spin button.
The wheel whirred as it began to move slowly before gathering momentum.
Whirr. Whirr. Whirr.
I listened tensely as the colors danced before me.
Then it slowed.
Whirr.
Whirr.
Whirr.
It stopped on a grey slot.
One ugly word appeared on the mini display.
[Loss. Please try again. Only brave hearts deserve luck.]
Fuck.
I cursed even though I had expected it.
Quickly reaching for my second group of four credits, I hesitated.
Maybe I should leave.
I was going to lose everything.
I forced those thoughts out of my head and pushed the four credits into the slot again.
I pressed spin quickly, as if I was afraid I would change my mind and try to pull the credits back.
Again the colors swarmed before me.
Just like before it gathered speed before slowly coming down again.
Then the same ugly grey word appeared.
[Loss. Please try again. Only the brave deserve luck.]
I unconsciously slammed my fist against the machine and then immediately corrected myself.
'Be careful. You break something here and your trouble will be much worse than just your fare.'
I calmed myself before looking around.
Still nobody seemed concerned with me.
Two credits left.
I could not see how this was going to help me anyway.
I pushed them into the slot because there was no way I was walking away with just two credits.
Again I pressed the spin button.
[Loss. Please try again. Only the brave deserve luck]
Fucking hell!
I muttered angrily, almost turning to leave.
Except at that moment there was a cheeky laugh and I turned back.
The display had changed.
The Twi'lek stripper was now smiling at me.
Beneath her ample chest were the words.
[Hey brave one. You have received one free spin. Only the brave deserve luck.]
I did not get optimistic.
But there was no way I was leaving my free spin for the next person.
So without even fully turning back and with my body still partly facing the exit, I pressed the spin button.
I waited for the result I already believed I knew.
I do not know if it was just anticipation, but the wheel seemed to spin slower than before.
It was taking longer than the previous spins.
Soon however it began to slow down.
Blue, green, and red passed before me.
Then it slowly edged toward the grey.
Grey was on both sides of the gold.
For a second a part of me thought it might land on the gold.
But I knew better than to believe that.
It would not take my eight credits just to give me two hundred and fifty.
No chance.
True enough it slowed.
When the pointer hit the gold slot it still had enough momentum to roll over it and head toward the next grey.
Which would mark another loss.
But that speed died right there.
Like a miracle, the wheel slowly rolled backward.
It lacked the momentum to continue to the next color.
No fucking way.
No fucking...
But yes.
It had happened.
Suddenly there was jubilant sexy laughter.
The Twi'lek stripper appeared on the screen and dramatically tore open the top of her chest, exposing firm round breasts.
As distracting as the image was, my eyes locked only on the words beneath it.
[Congratulations brave one. You have hit the mini jackpot. Two hundred and fifty credits. Your bravery has paid.]
I turned around.
A few eyes from the Sabacc tables had been drawn by the stripper's laughter.
A second later something clicked and a small rain of credits began to fall from the machine.
I quickly gathered them without even counting, stuffing them into my pockets.
When I looked again I could see a pair of guys from the tables watching me closely.
They were pretending not to stare, but they were definitely paying attention.
I knew then that I had solved one problem.
Only for the solution to create another.
I was already deep into the late cycle.
And now I was marked.