The rockiness of the terrain did not let up, but the density of houses started to pick up some – now they could see one or two at any given time – then it picked up to three to five building bunched up into little tribes. To call them houses may be generous – tin-tinted siding with a tin-tinted roof made for quickly erected shanties found in many fringe settled worlds. Christopher noted that some of the shanties had a whole wall that was pulled up, sometimes on makeshift poles and sometimes by an unseen system – pulleys maybe? – making the shelters three sided which offered more shade and undoubtedly brought some necessary relief to the metal ovens that the buildings became. The lack of wealth in this region was readily apparent and Christopher absently hoped that the Captain had a plan as he shot up a quick prayer.
The unkempt dirt road became more established after a few minutes as the trappings of civilization slowly rose around them. Greater density brought regular sighting of people, most of whom scurried out of sight of the clearly marked brigands. Other vehicles, mostly motorized wheeled vehicles and animal drawn carts, broken up by the occasional hovercraft, forced the incoming party to slow to a more urbanized pace.
Traffic continued increasingly slowed their pace and as they passed the adobe-mixed-with-sheet-metal walls surrounding the moon’s only urban center they found themselves amidst a bustling population. The change was so sudden that a passive onlooker would be forgiven for not believing it was the same moon so profound was the change from the vast expanse of nothingness to a city with cramped quarters, tall buildings, and clear commerce. The motor’s whir and wind’s rush receded from Christopher’s ears, replaced with over air music that seemed to combine the wail of an arabic prayer and a melody that could have been a Johnny Cash original. The people on the street were shouting and the jerked this way and that, attempting to communicate over the din of each other and the music that didn’t seem to ever stop. It was dusty, loud, cramped, and oh so interesting.
The excruciating heat only seemed to increase as one moved into the heart of the city – which clearly did not help tempers any. Honking vehicles and rude gestures abounded though no road rage seemed to escalate beyond this. The main thoroughfare expanded to three lanes on either side with tall, pagoda inspired adobe buildings rising on the edges and smaller crisscrossing them, running in every direction. Roofs were angular and sheet metal and the metal of the crafts that brought the original settlers to this moon abounded in the construction. Smaller buildings made of rounded adobe connected some of the most central pagoda buildings and were popping up in other areas as the population continues to expand. Strange that there is such a concentration of people here and so little elsewhere on the planet, Christopher mused, I wonder why this is.
They passed through the dense center of town and came to a particular pagoda, large based as they all were, turned down a side street and parked the vehicles. Captain Jason said something softly into his commlink and the drivers stayed put, engines continuing to run. Captain apparently thinks there is reason for unease. There was nothing in the briefing they received before leaving to suggest anything would go wrong. Feathers started to pile in Christopher’s chest as they walked the side street en masse heading for the pagoda’s main and only entrance.