Space News: Ms. Shoelaces stole shoelaces from another cargo ship. This time it was heading to Callisto. She has issued a reply to Mr. Shoelaces' last comment, stating, "I was born a heartbreaker, babe."

J went to Mother's Clock—a city south of New Age—to deliver Monica's body to her grandparents. He wanted to honor Oli's word after she had promised them to do so, leaving Dennis and Esma at the Parking Lot in the State of The Founding Fathers. It stood at the center of the state's five cities.

The Lovey-Dovey District oozed with life. People in colorful clothes flooded the sidewalks, music played from establishments with uniformed doormen assisting patrons in and out of the properties, and holo-signs on buildings advertised businesses and products.

The multi-lane traffic came to a sudden halt. Horns honked while people swore and yelled. Two mechas—orange and violet colors—appeared with a whoosh in front of them, trading punches like trained boxers from Goldhand. Five large drones surrounded them, recording the battle from a safe distance.

Hyenas operated the giant, humanoid robots when hunting down bounties. They only fought each other when they were after the same one. The winner got the bragging rights and their face on the front page of The Executioners' website.

People stepped out of their vehicles, taking pictures and videos of the fight. The orange mecha punched the violet's head through a glass building. No one seemed bothered, even though they stood directly under the falling pieces. The drones stood in a circle and released a conjoined force field, stopping the glass from harming anyone below before destroying them with laser beams.

The violet mecha flew away, and the orange one chased after it—the drones not far behind.

Traffic resumed.

If The Kingdom wasn't so greedy, every law enforcement and bounty hunting organization would have that type of drone to help limit destruction and casualties.

After leaving Su's Cloning Station, J perused the first pages of HOW TO BE A DAD—an e-book he bought from Sahara.com. He learned that one way for a father to get close to their child was by getting invested in their child's interests. He connected his wristtab to the surround sound and put on the Andy and Andina Podcast, choosing their latest episode. Their voices boomed through the skimmer's speakers.

"Welcome to episode 2,746, dear listeners. I'm your host, Andy," he said, sounding like a talking frog. J hated frogs.

"And I'm the one and only, Andina," she said in a sultry tone. If birds could talk, they would sound like her. And if birds did speak, J would punch them in the face. "In our last episode, we spoke about the return of the explorers from The Universal Authority. They were sent to other galaxies to look for habitable planets. Do you guys remember that?"

"I remember," Andy said before the two laughed.

Argh! They're annoying. J knew little about the explorers' missions. Samson and Syla hadn't told him anything when he asked. He always wondered about the true aim of the mission. What would they do after they found habitable planets? Were they supposed to set a colony and return? What if they found natives on those planets? Were they given the go-ahead to kill them, or...?

"The explorers were supposed to be back by now," Andina said. "But we've received new information from our source."

"According to them," Andy continued. "The explorers are stuck at the edge of the system with no way to return."

J hadn't heard about this. He took everything Andy and Andina said with a grain of salt. But there was some truth to every lie and rumor. It also explained Samson's odd behavior lately.

When he went to TUA with Paulson, J had expected the Baron to act like a tight-ass. He had gone to Goldhand without letting him know and caused the death of a suspect. He should have been reprimanded. Instead, Samson patted his shoulder and praised him for doing a good job.

Samson never praised him.

Not even once.

There was more to this story; his insides tightened whenever he thought about it. He had to dig deeper—past The Baron and The Chief—to find the missing dots and connect them.

Arriving in Acidic Love—a poverty-stricken district—its dark and depressing scenery contrasted with the bright and cheerful one of its neighbors, Lovey-Dovey. It seemed the sun had an agenda against the slums, providing light and warmth to other places, leaving the area in the cold like discarded trash.

Apartment blocks popped out of the ground as J drove down the muddy road covered with potholes full of rainwater. The smell of urine and feces forced him to pull up the window. Sketchy business establishments sat between the apartment buildings, with holo-signs flashing on and off above them.

He arrived at a local parking space called Bondage Benny. Weeds and grass grew through the cracked pavement while tufts of dead grass choked with litter infested the ground, accompanied by discarded condoms, needles, and a bag of trash half-hidden in the weeds.

Getting out of the skimmer, a short man with a spiky green mohawk and rings all over his face and naked torso stood in front of him. Pink glasses hid his eyes, and his plastic pants had neon lights around the hem.

"You must be Bondage Benny," J said, towering over the man.

"Dat's me." Bondage Benny crossed his arms. He checked J from head to toe before scoffing. "Me may nah luk lakka much, buh me owna dis lot an' di brothel." He pointed at the two-floor building behind him with the words DELICIOUS TIME and the looped holograms of a naked man and woman having sex above it. Outside the brothel, kids played jumping rope or hopscotch. "Me charge by di awah."

"I'm not here for a prostitute," J said.

"Yuh here fah two?"

I'll kick him in the face. "No. I just want to park my car."

"Wah didn't yuh seh so?" Benny pulled out a datapad from his back pocket and typed something in it. "Me charge every fifteen minutes fah non-customers."

"How much?"

"Thirty."

J's eyes widened but he said nothing. The value of Martian credits was five times higher than the standard one. This was an extravagant cost, but J had no other choice. If he left the skimmer unattended, someone would steal it.

"Fine. But I'll pay after I return."

"No problem."

J pointed his forefinger at him. "Don't let anyone near it."

"Benny provides di bess service." The man smiled, revealing gold grills covering his teeth.

Acidic Love had six blocks linked together to form a star. J walked through the alley between Block B and D with his hand covering his nose and mouth, trying to get to Monica's grandparents who lived in Block F. Stacks of water-stained crates, cigarette butts, and empty liquor bottles filled the path. Winds scraped trash into the corners, rats rooted through the rust-pitted dumpster, and music came from the apartments above.

The people who lived here were the lucky ones. They didn't have a lot of money, but they had enough to not throw themselves into debt and become slaves for the rich.

Outside Block F, the words glowed above it in white and red. Monica's grandparents' apartment was on the top floor. Colorful graffiti tagged its walls with slurs, random numbers, pictures of the grim reaper, and messages of hope. People sat on the roof, staring and pointing at the spaceships flying above them, looking happier than ever.

"Eyo, eyo, Mister," a boy—looking no older than sixteen—called to J before snickering with his friends. Each had a bottle of alcohol in one hand, and an e-cigarette in the other. Behind them, another boy was having sex with a girl inside an empty dumpster while another recorded them from outside.

J's heart ached; he clenched his hands and bit his tongue as the sounds the two teens made echoed off the walls. If he tried to intervene, they'd fight him. He was powerless here, unable to help any of them. They were a product of their environment, and they would die in it like others before them.

Without saying a word to them, he walked up the dirt-streaked and trash-covered stairs while the boys cheered on their friend in the dumpster. Empty beer cans and garbage bags filled the sides of the stairs, exposed pipes and loops of loose wiring hung through holes on the ceiling, and rats and mice skittered past him, chasing each other like a game of tag.

Arriving on the top floor, he stumbled upon squatters who slept in the hallway with their hands and legs spread like snow angels, forcing J to walk over them. Cockroaches creeped out of the holes in the walls, and voices and footsteps came from inside the apartments.

Someone came out of Monica's grandparents' apartment. They locked the door behind them and turned around, bumping into J and falling down.

"Sorry about that." J extended his arm.

"Thank you," the person said in a feminine voice before grabbing the detective's hand.

He pulled her to her feet, and her jacket's hood fell backward, revealing her face. J gasped. "Monica Pauly?"