On Galaxy's Edge: Ascendance Read Free Page A

giving Nero an interested glance, but not stopping to question the young girl’s assessment. The big man turned around, and gestured for Nero and Talyah to follow him into the shop. “Do you have a last name, lad?” he asked.
    “Leydon. Nero Leydon.”
    As they reached the counter, and passed around it, Nero saw that the rear section, and part of the floor, had disappeared. In their place was a wide set of steps that descended into darkness, with just faint strips of light on the edges of the steps visible going down.
    “After you,” Mal said, as he gestured down the set of steps. Nero glanced nervously down the stairs, and let Talyah take the lead going down. He guessed that she was already quite familiar with them, but to him, the dark passage seemed very ominous. However, after a short distance, wall mounted lights appeared, casting the stairs in a less sinister light. The steps changed as well, becoming rougher, as if they had been carelessly hacked out of rock.
    “We think that shop used to be a weapons store of some sort,” Mal said as they walked, “since it had that secret set of stairs leading to a storage room below. But we built these steps we’re walking on now. You can tell by the lack of craftsmanship.” Nero could hear the jocular tone in Mal’s voice, but he wasn’t in a joking mood himself.
    After they had descended a surprising distance, they finally emerged into an underground cavern, stretching off for about a hundred metres to their left. There were perhaps ten people milling around, some chatting, some playing a game, and some poring over papers on a table. In the distance, Nero could see two smaller tunnels leading off the main chamber.
    “What is this place?” Nero asked.
    “This, my friend, is our home,” Mal said, gesturing expansively to the space.
    Nero could indeed see a number of flimsy beds set up at the edges of the cavern, along with a couple of cookers nearby. He wrinkled his nose when he saw some ancient, and not very clean, faeces compactors near to the cookers. Otherwise, the cavern was pretty bare.
    As he was staring about the place, one of the men from the table strode over on seeing them arrive. Nero glanced up to look at the man. He was much smaller than Mal, but was still a large man, with an intimidating presence. All the other people in the cavern stopped what they were doing, and watching Nero and the other man intently.
    “Talyah,” the man said in a deep, gravelly voice, when he stopped in front of them. “Who is this?” His eyes, icy blue, were fixed on Nero the whole time.
    “This is Nero, Ryate. I found him in Section 93. I think he could be useful.” The man called Ryate glanced over to Talyah, as if to determine what she meant. Evidently seeing some sort of confirmation in her eyes, he decided to accept her decision, just as Mal had before him. Nero couldn’t fathom why these two grown men would put so much stock in what Talyah thought, but he was grateful for her influence all the same.
    “Very well, Nero, you may stay with us. Talyah has obviously seen something in you, and if there’s one thing we’ve learnt, it’s never to ignore Talyah’s instincts. However, that doesn’t mean you have free run of this place. You will always be supervised, and you will do as ordered whenever anyone here addresses you. Is that clear?”
    “It is, signore,” Nero replied, surprised, and relieved, that he would be allowed to stay. It was far better to stay here than to try to live in an alley on the surface. He knew of too many people who had simply curled up and died of cold, or starvation, that way.
    “Good.” Ryate abruptly turned around, cutting off what little conversation they were having, and headed back to the table.
    “Alright, son,” Mal said, speaking in the silence that followed. “You heard the boss. You’re not to go wandering off, okay?” Nero nodded. “Now then, we need to find you a bed. I believe you’re in luck; we lost a man a