The first thing I locked into my brain after leaving the speeder landing pad was a hovering statue close by without a head. Well, to be precise, it was without half the body, but it was distinctive enough.
I hoped that there were no other decapitated statues sprawling across the market district because this would now be my reference point.
After that I blended into the flowing populace of the market district.
It was quite packed because you could hardly find space to walk two paces before you were upon somebody. Just as expected because the marketplace was not like the other districts.
All the other districts literally fed into it. It was like the receiving point for the flowing rivers of the population that covered Ord Mantel.
From Star Wars lore Ord Mantel was supposed to be packed mostly by humans, but honestly now that I was here I could almost see a dozen different species every few paces I walked.
It was like every race in the galaxy had dumped a piece of itself in this galactic dump yard.
My destination was a mag train station near the landing pad where I had parked.
This section would not present a lot of problems. At least that was what the map I had internalized said.
It was supposed to be a neutral zone.
This would be my preferred beginning of a running route once I began running actively.
I took a few more minutes to explore around, always bearing at the back of my head my position in relation to the decapitated statue.
I pushed past a group of Jawas that were pulling their gigantic cart just outside a shop where a human was sharpening a knife while haggling with one of them.
The Jawa was holding what looked like a circular crystal orb.
Seeing the way the human was sharpening the knife while locking eyes with the Jawa, I knew it was something he really wanted to buy.
Although I caught the words that it was a worthless piece of junk from the human, what he was doing was just intimidation.
Jawas were one of the smallest species across the galaxy.
They barely came to one meter at their tallest and since they were scavengers, mainly living from salvaging what they took from scrapyards, they were often bullied into selling their loot at a throw away price.
That was why, often, just like what I was seeing now, they traveled in groups to draw more strength from their solidarity.
I wanted to stop and look for a few seconds, not just at the Jawas but at whatever they were selling.
Maybe there was something I could...
I wanted to say buy, but I had to push that out of my head.
This was an exploring budget and besides, even if I found something I wanted and bought it, where would I put it?
Definitely anything I bought here would be confiscated.
I forced myself to push along and just like the map said, I soon arrived at the mag train station.
There was no train yet, but there was already a crowd of people packed in booths.
I paid three credits at the kiosk and was allowed into one of the half full booths.
Shortly after, the train came rising like a serpent from the lower levels.
It did not slow down until it was vertically positioned across the rail that was literally entrenched on the side of a tall building.
It did not touch the surface. It was just hovering above the rail.
Honestly, as decadent as this place was, it still made me feel like I was coming from a primitive world.
Technology was so advanced here that even the display of the most basic tech in this world made you feel like Earth was millions of years away from such achievements.
Maybe that was not far from the truth, seeing that people here had found a way of traveling past the speed of light.
Back on Earth scientists would argue themselves crazy that nothing could travel faster than light.
I mean even the furthest human object, which was Apollo II, had not gone even one light day away from Earth.
How the fuck was Earth supposed to think about traveling across a galaxy hundreds of light years apart?
So yes, I had to agree I was coming from a primitive world.
As soon as we boarded, the train glided back up toward the next level .
My destination now was the entertainment district.
It felt like I had only sat down before it pulled into a stop, dumping us into yet another chaotic scene.
Well, the entertainment district was just that, and everything around it was built to look dazzling and compelling for someone to step inside the various buildings that lined the streets.
Just next to where the mag train had dropped us I could see a speeder lane cutting across the street, dividing it into two.
That was the main route I had imprinted in my brain.
That was the route that, if I followed it, would lead to the edge of the entertainment district to the west.
That was where the second zone, which I was likely supposed to operate in, would start. The entertainment spillovers.
Honestly I did not want to go there since I was not running yet.
I had done my research the previous night well enough. I knew that once I got to the main route the rest was easier to put in place.
Just find the main route, which was the main supply point between the mag train station and the spillovers.
That way it would be easier to navigate.
I took a couple of hours just going around the entertainment district and even stopped for a while at some food stalls.
There were some humans and other creatures dressed quite fashionably around most places in this district.
They made me feel a little bit like I did not belong here.
Despite the fact that we had been given decent civilian clothing that morning, they were slightly not my size and they did not look anything special at all.
I guessed that was the whole point. After all, we were not supposed to stand out.
On the other hand, people here were trying to look expensive.
I could tell from the way they were dressed, the forced smiles, and the fake swaggering way of moving.
All of it was designed to please, to give a sense of value, even though in reality some of them were probably industrial dock workers who had just received their meager pay and were looking to spend it on one of the various species of whores available in the pleasure hubs.
It had also occurred to me that some of them could be runners like me.
Maybe in their first route training. Maybe in their day's run.
There was literally no way of telling and I did not bother my brain with such a triviality.
After almost three or four hours of hopping from bar to bar and drowning two bottles of Corellian ale, I began to feel quite heated.
Since I was not running any product, I knew that I could do a lot of exploring freely without fearing crossing into rival syndicate areas.
This entertainment district was heavily controlled by Black Sun and pyke syndicate as per the map, but seeing that I looked like a civilian just like everyone else who had come to spend on their brothels, I thought I blended in well enough.
When I decided that I had seen enough and was heading toward the train station, I heard someone scream from the top level of a building.
Looking up, a dazzling human prostitute was perched on one of the upper level brothels.
She tore off her top clothes and swung her swollen breasts toward me, waving ecstatically for me to go to her.
I let myself stare for a while with a broad smile plastered on my face.
Literally no man, at least no man who was not castrated, would look at that pair of ripe tits and not be affected at all.
Still, I eventually forced myself to look away and heard a scream of disappointment and insult as I turned down her offer.
My spending in the entertainment district so far was at forty credits, which left me with slightly less than sixty if I removed my pay for the landing pad for my speeder and the mag train fare.
I paid five more credits and hopped into another train to the top level.
Five minutes later it felt like I had stepped into an entirely different world.
Even the air changed.
The environment was way cooler than the levels I had come from.
The air was so fresh that I felt like buying a bag of it, remembering that I had to return to the rotten levels below.
This was the corporate district and everything seemed just that. Shiny, sparkling, orderly.
There were well lit and colorful neon holo adverts for banks and companies.
My feet moved like they were protesting.
I was not entirely into the smuggling world yet but I felt completely that I did not belong here.
It felt like I was sinning just by stepping onto the surface of this world.
People who passed me here threw suspicious glances at me and they were dressed sharply.
Everything seemed orderly but beneath all that order was the source of the chaos in the lower levels.
This was where the people who made the rules lived.
The ones who oppressed their fellows beneath them.
They were the ones who owned those factories on the lower levels. The ones who owned the syndicates.
They pressed hard on those beneath them so that they above would always look like gods and live like them.
And right now I was seeing them just like that.
I had just come here out of curiosity.
Honestly it had not been in my day's plan.
Even though I was allowed to explore, I do not think the handler would have advised me to come into the corporate district.
I soon learned that almost every inch of the district was policed by security droids.
They looked harmless but I knew better.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
A few seconds of alert and the suspect would be lying dead.
If there was one thing these people valued after seeing the chaos of the lower levels, it was security.
After moving around for a couple of rounds I noticed that there was a uniformed guy following me from a distance.
I gave it a while and then did the textbook maneuver to learn whether you were being followed.
I did five right turns, always counting them in my head and factoring the direction of the train station.
After the sixth turn, when I spotted him still a distance behind me, I had no doubt he was following me.
Part of me wanted to run.
It had to be either Republic authorities or the Mantel government police and if they had marked me then there was nothing good about it.
They would definitely find some trouble to pin on me.
Still, running would not help. It would make them think they were right.
After another turn I found myself next to a food house.
I did not bother to think much. I stepped inside casually.
Almost immediately the waitress was upon me with a menu in her hand and the brightest fake smile you have ever seen.
"Welcome, what will you have?"
I hesitated for a while.
I had just eaten in the entertainment district and I was not feeling particularly hungry.
I skimmed through the menu.
There was something called nuna skewers.
There were spiced glow roots.
There was blue milk.
Another Corellian ale.
The problem was not the names even though I was not familiar with them.
The problem was the prices.
Everything here ran past one hundred credits.
My entire budget for the day, which I did not even have anymore since I had spent more than half of it.
The only thing I could take here was the blue milk which was priced at forty credits.
Forty fucking credits.
That would wipe me out, leaving me barely with just enough credits to get back to the market district.
I stood up, almost wanting to leave, until I saw that uniformed man casually stop just outside and peer inside.
He said hi to the waitress before looking briefly at me and stepping outside.
Fuck. I was screwed.
I did not lock eyes with him but I now knew my fate was sealed.
I calmly asked for the only thing I could buy. The blue milk.
I had seen blue milk in canon.
I did not remember exactly where. I do not know whether it was in A New Hope or in another part of the franchise.
Maybe The Book of Boba Fett.
But it came from some species native to either Tatooine or Naboo.
Most likely Naboo.
The waitress looked at me as if she was expecting me to order something else.
"Nothing else," I added.
She gave another smile of disappointment before gliding away.
My milk came shortly after and I sipped it with dreaded sternness.
In taste it was not like cow milk.
It had a strong taste but the flavors made it easier on the tongue.
I did not even care much about the taste and soon I had finished it.
I dropped the forty credits and then shamelessly counted the remaining ones.
I only had ten.
Five back to the entertainment district.
Then three back to the market district where my speeder would be waiting.