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You make your way back to the commercial district of Level 4. As the business day winds down, so do the people, with the nightlife beginning as the shops close. You have a few hours of walking left to do after the Cheryl excursion, so you're bone tired, but thankfully nobody will be around when you pull your bike down into the city's sewers and make your way back to your level. You miss your sleeping bag, and your rat...
Your bike is exactly where you left it, with a sigh of relief. You logically knew it wasn't likely to get stolen on this level at all, but Level 5 habits die hard. You go to the little parking meter and click the button absent minded, only for it to click back at you and print out a piece of paper. What is this...?
It's your fee. The parking space wasn't free. <span class="mu-i">AFTER TWO HOURS PARKED, AN ACCELERATED RATE IS IMPOSED.</span> You had your bike here all day. You guess you really didn't think about it. Finally, you read the total, and feel a sinking weight in your stomach.
This is... three months of your UBI payments. You couldn't pay this off even if you didn't eat for three entire months; because you already spent some of this month. Even if you broke into your savings hidden in that nook in the floorboard, you still are no where close to this. What are you supposed to do!? The ticket even has a little picture of your bike and your face when you went to claim the ticket; you guess these parking meters all have little cameras in them.
<span class="mu-i">PAYMENTS CAN BE MADE AT ANY PARKING'CO CENTER. UNPAID BILLS WILL BE SENT TO THE OPEN COLLECTIONS MARKET AFTER ONE MONTH</span>
You aren't sure what that means, but you do <span class="mu-i">not</span> want anyone to know about you having an outstanding parking bill. You're trying to keep your movements between levels a secret! You get the feeling if you pay the bill off before then, you'll be safe, but letting it fester could mean risking leaking your identity. What are you going to do to get this kind of money... You've got to get home and you'll have to sleep on it. Unhappily, you slip the parking stub in your pocket and get on your bike, making the journey back to the wash and back home. Thankfully, because water and waste flows downhill, your trip back home to Level 5 will be much less risky then going up...
