16 Slippery when wet I

What a meeting. I already was aware and warned by my middleman that the contact I was about to meet isn't one for the high society - so to say. Frederique Rostardes Allante. That name smears into your brain when giving that guy a handshake during the occasional introduction ceremony between half shaded people in half shaded rooms. A few floors down below the promenade deck inside a misused Moon-Mining-Station somewhere in the Haras-System. One of those illegal gambler paradises. Stuffed with a lot of strange looking machines I never had seen before. At least the face expressions of pure tautness - staring at the game in front of them in desperate hope of winning - at least that looked familiar to me.



The misshaped creature that was my host hustled thru the crowd hastily steering to the backdoors. I hate backdoors and I haven't had the best feeling especially about this one when I saw the guard in front of it. Not that he was bigger than me which is no real challenge. But the fact that he was as broad as he was long did leave an irritating impression behind. Mister Allante didn't seem to bother at all. And all to my curiosity the living box immediately opened the door on his approach, nodded hardly noticeable, pushed me inside and silently closed it one inch behind my back.

What I saw next looked really familiar to me. Groups of - lets say four up to ten people - sitting around greenish fitted tables, with big piles of chips in front of them, or small piles for the more unlucky ones and one person dressed in a black regular that was dealing cards.

"Welcome home baby!", I mumbled to myself. Quickly trying to catch up with the one being responsible for that slippery handshake earlier this evening. The last thing I saw was him approaching a small fat guy in an expensive looking suit. Both embracing each other exchanging hugs left and right. But even before I could get close enough to catch a single word of their welcoming scene my personal lights went out with an electrifying, zapping sound.

(Recovered blog-entry from 2009)