Chapter Two – It Doesn’t Say No Parking

Chapter Two – It Doesn’t Say No Parking

“In the sprawling metropolises of 2152, the Parking Enforcement Authority wields power rivaling the megacorporations themselves. Equipped with drone fleets, AI surveillance, and jurisdiction over the most valuable commodity—space—they issue fines that bankrupt families and impound vehicles with surgical precision. No one dares contest their authority; to cross them is to risk social credit annihilation and permanent vehicular exile. In a world of endless expansion, their control over where you stop determines if you can ever go.

Starring AI recreations of Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Scarlett Johansson!”

–Trailer for Post-post-post Cyberpunk movie: the Car Cop, coming to theaters June 2057

***

There was a problem that I hadn’t considered when I bought the Bastion and that was that the damned thing was fucking enormous.

Being big was mostly a feature. It was a transport, and its largeness meant I could fill it with several tons of angry warmech. That was cool as fuck.

What wasn’t as cool was trying to find parking.

“C’mon, there’s not a single open space?” I complained as I flew a third slow circle around the parking building on the edge of the campus.

The CIAL campus was a city. A small one, but a city all the same. It was just to the west of New Montreal, with the Saint-Louis between the campus and the massive metal pillars holding up the plates that New Montreal sat on. There were a few bridges across, and some of New Montreal spilled out on this side of those bridges, but for the most part, the campus was its own thing.

That meant several hundred large buildings set up in neat, corded rows, then a larger, proper campus with a dozen more buildings that couldn’t stick to a single style. They were mostly all glass and steel, with gardens around them and lots of walking space, but some of them were a little more post-post modern, looking like abstract bunkers.

Very cool and all, and probably inspirational to the sheep that went to class in one of those every day, but not at all helpful with my current issue.

“Can we leave the Bastion hovering?” Lucy asked.

“I mean, I guess, but I don’t want to,” I said.

Then I shrugged and pulled up and away from the parking building. The roof was covered in cars, which left no room to park in, but mostly I was concerned that the Bastion was a smidge too heavy.

Turning the ship around, I drove it out towards the central campus, then reached out and pulled the lever to unfold the landing legs.

I lowered the ship down gently, and came to a careful landing.

I was pretty sure I’d just parked between a massive library and the school’s administrative building.

Part of me hoped that I wasn’t accidentally sending a message by placing an obviously dangerous vehicle right in front of the skyscraper that served as the school’s admin building, but if they decided to read into it, that was on them.

“Cat!” Lucy complained. “There are paving stones out there. You’ll crack them.”

“I mean… it’s a bit late to complain? We’ve landed already,” I said. “Besides, if they didn’t want me parking here, they could have put up a no-parking sign.”

Lucy shook her head, but unbuckled herself all the same. “Sec,” she said after standing up. A few seconds later, she nodded. “Sent a text to the vice principal. Not that I think he’ll need it.”

“Yeah, I bet,” I said. I paused to look at the screen. The space I parked in was a large plaza ringed by those fancy school buildings. It was pretty much clear of cars, though there was a tram going by. I double-checked to make sure I wasn’t parked on a tram-line, but it seemed like we were safe.

I was pretty sure that if it came to it, the Bastion would win in a head-on collision with a train, let alone a tram, but I didn’t wanna risk it anyway.

I shrugged, then picked up my jacket on the way out of the cockpit–or was it a bridge if it was large enough to stand in?–and slung it on before catching up to Lucy by the side entrance. “Ready?” I asked.

“Yup!” she said. “You know, you’re not allowed to bring guns onto campus.”

“I… parked a tank here, you think they’re gonna freak out about a couple of guns?” I asked. I wasn’t even going in with that much. I had my Laser Pointer, a compact bullpup SMG slung down by the small of my back, and my Trenchmaker was tucked in a thigh holster by my side.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Oh, and I had a few grenades in my coat pockets, but whatever.

The door opened and fresh, cold air swept into the Bastion. Lucy laughed as the wind whipped around us, but the pressure soon equalized and I hopped out ahead of her, then reached back to help her down the slight ramp.