Bay's lids flicked open and the crates of the unofficial break room filled her sight. The Story was done. Her trance had ended. Call that a halfie? It felt more like ten minutes. Good Story, though. Too good, and too short. It left you fiending for more.

Which was probably a decent business tactic.

Before she felt awake enough to get off the ground, Bay realized she was hearing voices. "It doesn't matter the amount. Not if she can't track who made the withdrawal. She can't fire all of us." That was Ocean. Bay chose to stay down and hear some of this.

"She can if we take such an amount as to provoke her to fire all of us." Ah, the second speaker was Amber. Of course.

"Maybe we should just secure a big take and move on with life." The duo always left on break together.

"Go fuck yourself. Some of us need this job," said Amber. Bay hadn't recognized her before. "Like me, for example." Bay had assumed Ocean's companion was a chef. "I need this job." Amber was a server, just like the rest of them.

"Do you? Let's grab enough for tuition, finish our chef's degrees, and open up a place of our own."

"I don't think you can grab like 800k from the till in one go."

"Maybe, maybe not."

"Did it say anything about a transfer cap in the manual?" Amber's voice got quieter. They were walking away.

"Might have. I was skimming." Bay slid back up the wall and poked her head out. Ocean and Amber had moved into the elevator lobby.

Bay could hardly hear what Amber said.

But Ocean's reply came from closer. "I don't know, maybe. Look, if there's a transfer cap option . . . Yue probably forgot to set it. Just like she got lazy and forgot to. . ." The elevator arrived, and they got in.

Bay levitated upright.

As if walking on a cloud, she slipped back upstairs to the Cloud's main level. She practically ripped the Stellar from Impala's hands. Tapped with her finger to get to the ledger, a panel she had never tried to access, because if her boss had any kind of sense, she would have limited authorization.

"Whatcha looking at?" asked Impala.

"Withdrawals," said Bay, and she tapped. And there they were. A few tiny amounts were credible refunds to customers. Huge withdrawals at 2 a.m. were the daily till closeout. Everything else was completely suspect. The bald audacity struck her in the belly. "Stars fucking rise." Yue had never enabled tracking and identification. And they've been gauging her. And she's just figuring it out now. And she still hasn't enabled the stars damn tracking.

When Bay tapped on a 1,800 S withdrawal from yesterday morning, the Stellar asked, "Initiate withdrawal tracking?" There was even a prompt!

Bay waved away the message. It would be impossible to tell which withdrawals were legitimate cash refunds. Except that three days ago a charge of 16,000 S had been made in the middle of the afternoon. Amounts as high as 9,100 S were suspect too.

Impala's head zoomed in over Bay's shoulder. "Look how much they're getting away with. Tell Yue to initiate tracking. And tell her to fire Ocean and Amber."

Bay hadn't decided what to do yet, and had started to wish that Impala hadn't seen the screen while she made up her mind.

Impala went on, "We could easily get away with a big take tonight and blame it on Ocean and Amber. Then let Yue turn on tracking." Bay nodded along. If tracking was left off, however . . . Bay could make small transactions indefinitely.

And she wanted that surveillance job, too. She wanted to sit around doing nothing but Story for weeks, while getting paid double her normal wage. Over time she could nab enough to pay tuition. Go back to magic school, finish her surveillance degree.

"Let's not do anything yet, Ala," said Bay.

"Oh, I see. You want to keep stealing from the till and blaming those two. Except those two aren't being smart about it. I happen to like working here. I don't need more than this. It pays the bills, I can distribute for Breeze here. Free drinks for my friends. I want to keep working here."

"Me too. Just let me sleep on it, okay? Maybe there's a way to keep Yue from figuring out about the grift."

"First thing tomorrow, I'll tell her myself," said Impala. A customer signaled, and she ran off. But not without a glance back to see what Bay was doing with the Stellar.

It didn't matter. With the body language of complete innocence, as if unconcerned that Impala was watching, Bay tapped back to the Withdrawal tab.

She input the number 19,000 S. It was almost the amount Yue owed her in backpay, and she likely owed Impala a similar amount. 17 hours of OT. Tempting though it was to take the money, she had to think of the long game.

Bay had clocked out, but hadn't left the Cloud yet. When she took the elevator down, or a link portal home, it would leave a trace. If she withdrew cash, it would be her word against Ala's. Yet she had an idea for a test. If a transfer was made to a bank account, could Yue track the recipient? If she figured it out sometime soon, could she catch the thieves after the fact?

Glancing up to see Impala busily refilling water glasses, a whole table engaging her in flirtatious banter she wouldn't be able to break away from without risking her tip, Bay authorized the transfer to Impala's account.

For good measure, Bay took enough to cover two more doses of Story. She input the number 5000 S. Withdrew the sum in cash. Feather thin bills disrupted the air on her palm as they came into existence with a slight displacement of matter.

It wouldn't be hard to pin the theft on another plate slinger. Friend or foe.

Thank you for reading Bay's Star Episode I. This story was originally released as a standalone, and it has been a favorite Constellation of mine for a long time. Which means, Episode II is coming very soon!! If you're looking forward to more of the tangled web that follows Yue Nimbus around, and to finding out what comes next for the Cloud, you won't have long to wait! 

Thanks for reading, and to anyone re-reading, I'm so grateful for your comments on the previous book/draft. Your support means all the stars in the sky to me.

Speaking of stars, drop 'em if you got 'em! Thanks in advance!