Wednesday, that was rest day. Part of the routine, until I’m used to it and can add something new. Some new exercise. Maybe another run. Maybe something else. For now, though, It’s a chance to sleep a little longer. A day that I let myself debate riding, or getting the transit.
Thursday, then, is definitely not a rest day. So when, at 0530 this morning, I sat on the edge of my sleep mat and stared at the blank white wall in front of me, I guess I knew I was about to fail.
I groaned, and lay back down. I called out to the voice assist, asking it to shut down the lights and reset the alarm. I plunged the hab back into darkness, and surrendered again to sleep.
Maybe it was the cold, outside. Maybe I just needed more rest. Maybe I just didn’t have the willpower. I’m not going to beat myself up about it, but I’m also not going to lie and make out that I’m hitting the mark every single day. No one does. Don’t let them pretend that they do.
I’ve found a cheap way to get to work, at least. Not as cheap as riding, but a way to get through the system as cheaply as possible. The Citadel is split into concentric Zones, centering with Zone 1 in the most dense, ‘desirable’ segment in the middle of the metro area. The bright lights of the city centre. A place where dreams go to be born, and a place where those same dreams get crushed.
Public transit in Citadel bases its costs on crossing those zones, traversing from outer to inner and back. The more you want to get to the center, and the further out you are, the more it will cost you.
In some ways, this is cruel, as the people further out are the ones who can’t afford to live in the centre. So for some, the further out you are pushed by the cost of living, the more it will cost to get to work. The more of the too-small salary that is sacrificed, just to earn it.
The system, though, doesn’t account much for, or particularly care about, crossing through the centre and back out again on the other side, which is interesting. I live on the edge of Zone 3/4, and can use a transit access point in either. I’ve found a route to work, which is in Zone 1, where I enter the system at Zone 3 and exit at Zone 2. Only changing one Zone on the transit, making the credit charge surprisingly low. I then walk from the Zone 2 exit point to work in Zone 1, instead of using one of the three other Zone 1 terminals that I could access, two of which are actually further from work than the Zone 2 exit point.
The marvels of geography.
Using the fastest possible route in, well that clocks up about 50-55 minutes travel. But costs 9 credits per day. When the traffic management systems and speeder levels are low (and I have the energy), I can ride it in 55 minutes, or up to 1 hour and 10 if luck is against me. 1 hour 15 – 1 hour 30 in a storm. It’s usually an hour, and it is free (barring impending maintenance costs). And a lot of effort. But using this new little route through the system, I can get there and back in 1 hour 10 minutes each way, for 3.4 credits. Nothing is perfect, but that’s also not bad, either.
Useful on a day when I’ve otherwise failed to stick to the routine. At last it isn’t hurting me so badly.
I stare out of the window at work, watching the light fade and the city’s lights flicker on. It’s not bitterly cold today, but there is still a sapping chill to the air. I think about the journey home, and know that I’ll spend it sat down in the warmth of a crowded transit carriage, reader out, catching up on some journals. I can’t say that I feel all that guilty, really.
Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about a girl I know.
Cyber Noir 2020 