Mirror Mirror, Pt 3

In one of the rougher areas somewhere on Helios, a group of men sat around a table as they chatted and played a game.

In their hands were a half dozen cards. There were complex symbols on each of them, and all were unique.

There were more cards in the middle of the table, and they were arranged in a grid. However, they were laid out similar to dominoes, where they chained into each other and made an interesting, sprawling pattern going in every direction.

Hovering above the cards was a transparent hologram that displayed the current size of the pot.

It was high.

It got even higher when one of the card players increased his bet a great amount.

“Pallas,” he said.

“Yeah, Andy?”

“You remember that little treat from a few cycles ago?”

Pallas looked up from his cards at Andy, and saw the scar on his cheek was warped by his grin.

“You mean the blond one from D-202? The one I lent you for a cycle?”