Last Night on Novgorod: Limited Availability

Novgorod Station,
Deck E

The store was silent, whilst most of the chaos of the station descended on eateries and bars Elisabet Maciel found solace in one of the station's prime outlets for information, a book store. Her latest interests were European history in the Middle Ages and Celtic Britain, but there hadn't been a decent book about either of these topics published in the past seventy odd years. Her eyes crossed every spine in the history section, praying that something would stand out to her. After all she'd need something to keep her entertained on the Nomad. Of course Elisabet had countless texts backed up on her personal device, but there was something so comforting to her about turning a page or carefully sandwiching her bookmark between two pages. But nothing stood out.

She approached a sleepy looking man behind the counter, a pile of pre-owned hardbacks stacked beside him. "Excuse me," she said quietly, not trying to interrupt whatever daydream this shopkeeper had lost himself in.

"Yes, what can I do for you?" The man's eyes opened wide, he tried to quickly get his bearings in a cool manner.

"I took a look through the history section, there wasn't anything there I'm after. I was wondering if you have anything else in a storage room or something?"

"We have some more stuff but I don't think we have much more in the way of history-"

"Don't you have a system to check what you have available?" Elisabet quickly asked, she wasn't going to let him get away without checking first. The man grumbled and started to slowly check on a terminal built into the counter, his index finger moved slowly as he typed one key at a time.

As he finished he slammed down the Return key and waited for the system to list what was in storage. "There's not much here, I've got some books about the 21st century: conflicts, politics and the like."

"That's not what I'm after."

"Then I'm afraid that you'll just have to find something to your liking."

Elisabet scoffed at the man's tone, but she knew he was right. She had no choice but to pick something boring and ordinary, at least it would be a strange momento of this place. "Fine then, I suppose I will," she quickly turned away and returned to the history section. She found a book on the French Revolution, a topic she ultimately didn't have much interest in, but maybe it would surprise her. In silence she placed the paperback in front of the man.

He typed in the price and bluntly asked: "Will that be all?"

"That's it... Thanks." Miss Maciel payed, placing her card in a imprinter device. It made a loud click-clack sound as it recorded her payment information.

A led flashed showing the payment had authorized. "You have a nice day," the man pushed the paperback towards Elisabet. She left the shop, still feeling a little wound up by the shopkeer's behaviour. But it would be the last of any such interactions, all she would have now is the same people. The same interactions. Wandering over to one of the busy nearby bars, she ordered the first overpriced synthesized whiskey she spotted on the drinks menu. Then she started to wait, waiting to board the Nomad...