Triton – 01

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The stone market steps showed the passage of billions. Pandem was known as the twenty third world fully colonized by humans. Alaka and his family enjoyed living there.

As a nafalli he was something of an oddity, people liked to stare at his dark brown and orange coloured fur and most of the time he'd smile back. The people who knew him would generally take that as a sign to approach and be friendly, but if he didn't pay attention they'd leave him alone. He was a hunter, some called him an exterminator. Alaka killed rim weasels for a living. Long, furry rodents that would eat anything, breed faster than most catalogued mammals, destroy electronics, and stow away in ships, spreading to other ports.

The city of Damshir was carved into the side of a mountain of black and semi-transparent violet stone. The stairs he tread on led from one level of the market to the next and were cut deeper into the side of the mountain as he went. Looking down you could see one walkway beneath another, much like a larger version of the stone stair he climbed. The safety nets off to the side, there in case anyone fell off the edge of the stairs were becoming weather worn again, there would be work for the urchins soon, repairing them. He always thought anyone working on something made for safety should be paid more, they were tending devices made to save lives, after all.

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