by Paris Singer
“What is this place?” I asked. “Why are all these people here?”
“They’re the reason he moves around a lot. Despite his genius, he’d rather be left in peace to practice his craft. Sadly for him, he is always in demand, and people from all over make it their business to know where he’ll pop up next. He can seldom escape his fans for long.”
Alana landed the ship as close to the oasis as she could. The scorching heat of the sun caused me to sweat as soon as I stepped onto the baking sand.
“Even in the most inhospitable of places people will seek him out, poor guy.”
We walked around the pool of water toward what I’d thought was a shack. Now I could see it was, in fact, a diner. Despite the lack of any signs to advertize it, old, rusty circular tables and chairs along the front were filled with customers. They munched on whatever meals they had chosen as salivating people of all races stood in line outside. Alana walked straight past the already ludicrously long queue and pushed past a seizable Pernuvan.
“Hey, no cuts,” he shouted, wobbling his overflowing purple paunch at her.
“Who’s cutting?” yelled back Alana, bumping her toned midriff into him. Despite his bulk and initial aggression, the Pernuvan backed off a couple steps, and grimaced as tears flowed down his sunken cheeks.
“I was just askin’ is all,” he mumbled, looking at the floor ahead of him.
“Yeah, well, don’t next time. Come on, Seven.” We walked past the Pernuvan and stood inside.
“That was really mean, Alana,” I whispered in her ear.
“If I hadn’t done that, he would likely have swallowed us whole. His race is contentious and perpetually hungry—they will eat anything. They can’t stand confrontations, though,” she whispered back.
The diner was brimming with customers. Every table was full, and people stood at the long counter, yelling food orders at the two flickering VAIAs, who quickly wrote them down, and pinned them to a metal hook on the other side of the rectangular hole that separated the front of the establishment and the kitchen. White steam rose from the sizzling food filling the diner with delicious aromas that made it impossible for me to stop salivating.
We pushed past the crowd to the bar, and Alana squeezed her head through enough to talk to one of the ancient-looking VAIAs. Popping her head back, she turned and said, “You might want to cover your ears. He’s not as laid back as he used to be.”
Sure enough, a moment later, from inside the kitchen there came an almighty bellow. “Everyone out. The kitchen is closed. Out. Come back in an hour. Out.”
At these words, every customer frantically tried to stuff as much food as they could into their mouths as they scrambled out of the diner, into their vehicles, where they stayed stationary. I supposed they were counting down the seconds.
“Ah. That’s better. I didn’t think I’d ever get rid of them.” From the kitchen came a gruff, yet friendly voice. A moment later, a tall, bulky, hairy Acedian stepped out. He wore a short-sleeved blue shirt with a Dagon fruit motif all over it, and a white apron over that. Despite him being much older, I recognized Pi immediately.
CHAPTER FIFTY ONE
“Hey, Pi,” said Alana.
“Alana. It really is you. I haven’t seen you since… Since… Well.”
“It’s been a long time.”
“And who’s this?” he asked, nodding in my direction.
It was so strange to see one of my oldest friends as a full-blown adult. While I knew it was him, I had trouble getting my head around that he was the same person I’d seen scoffing his face full of tineas in the canteen. As with Ms. Photuris though, I knew I’d never met the real Pi, only Alana’s memory of him. Still, despite it all, I felt like I’d known the adult Pi standing in front of me in his childhood, even if he had never met me.
“This is Seven,” said Alana.
“Seven, huh? Hey, wasn’t that your number at the Sky—”
“Yes, it was,” she replied. “Pi, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”
“No kiddin’,” said Pi, scratching his furry head. “Come on, let’s speak in my office.” He turned and led us into the kitchen. I couldn’t quite believe what I saw as I walked into the square room. Five Pis were standing around the kitchen, all chopping, washing up, or stirring pots. The Pi I’d met said, “Oh, right. Sorry,” and walked over to a small white rectangular dial on the wall. He tinkered around with it, and a moment later, the other Pis vanished on the spot. “Forgot they were still there. Come on in.” He walked into a room at the back of the kitchen. A variety of awards and trophies filled shelves on every wall, themselves covered with a transparent film that projected a bright seascape of Pi’s native Acedia. You could almost smell the warm sea air.
“It’s good to see you,” said Pi, laying on a hammock hanging from two opposite sides of the room.
“It’s been too long,” replied Alana, sitting herself down on a wicker sofa with green cushions.
“Can I get you dudes anything to eat or drink? The pampra shake’s not bad.”
“No, thank—”
“I’ll have one,” I interjected, feeling so thirsty it felt like my mouth was full of hot sand.
“Coming right up,” Pi smiled, clapping his hands, as Alana shot me a glare of disapproval. A VAIA stepped inside the office.
“One pampra shake for my new friend here,” said Pi, “and one for me.” The VAIA nodded and exited the office. “So,” began Pi, “What’s the trouble?”
“How did you know?” asked Alana.
Pi laughed. “It hasn’t been so long I can’t remember when you need something, Alana. And there’s no way you tracked me down to eat my food. So, tell me. What can I do to help?”
Alana told Pi what had happened on Simia, and about Perusak’s attack.
“Whoa, that’s not cool. I heard about the Morex trying to invade Simia, but not that they’d actually done it. And it’s your brother who helped them?” Pi asked me.
“That’s what I believe, yes,” replied Alana.
Pi looked from her, back to me. “And why would he do that?”
It was my turn to explain the long story of how One and I had lived in a simulated Sky Drifter aboard a Morex research ship, about how Alana had helped us escape, and how we’d thought One dead, only for me to spot him as we escaped Simia. Pi had moved from his hammock and was listening cross-legged on the floor, sipping from the pampra shake the VAIA had brought us.
“That is a lot of information, bro,” he said when I’d finished recounting the events. “So, hold on: you lived on the Sky Drifter, and we were friends?”
“Well, not really. Only I thought we were. But it was an illusion.”
“Based on my memories of real experiences,” added Alana.
“You’re blowing my mind,” said Pi, scratching the floppy fur on his head. “Okay, so, if that’s true, you know me pretty well, right?” he said to me.
“Well, yeah. I think so.”
“Right. So, if that’s true, what was my favorite food back then?”
“Easy. Tineas. Bowlfuls of them from the canteen.”
Pi glared at me for a moment without blinking, then said, “Whoa. That’s totally true. Man, it must be weird for you right now, huh? You come here and see me, but I don’t know who you are, ‘cos I’ve never seen you before, and stuff. That’s messed up.”
“Yeah, it hurts my head to think about it.”
“It hurts my head, too, dude.”
“Pi, I’m here to ask you something,” said Alana.
“Finally,” he replied. “Okay, shoot.”
“I need to know where she is.”
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became heavier, as Pi’s expression and demeanor became graver, darker.
“So that’s it, huh?” he said, frowning. “I’m not sure she’d want you to find her.”
“I need to. We need her help. We need to go back to rescue One.”
“The kid who helped the Morex out? Why would you
want to do that?”
“He’s my brother.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Pi, we’re going back, but we can’t do it without her.”
“Pfff.” Pi ran his long yellowed claws though the fur on his head. “She’d kill me if she found out I told you. You get that, right?”
Alana gave Pi a certain look that had before instilled a sense of guilt inside me. “Please,” she said.
“Man, I told you last time not to look at me like that. It’s not fair.”
“We need her, Pi. Please.”
“You really must be desperate if you used the ‘p’ word.”
“I am.”
Pi gazed at her as if deliberating what to do. “Tsk, fine,” he said, standing up. He walked out of his office into the kitchen.
After a moment, I whispered, “Has he gone to get food?” remembering how Pi would, at times, leave a conversation to get a quick snack or five.
No sooner had I spoken than he walked back into his office. “Here.” He handed Alana a small, rectangular blue card. “This’ll show you the coordinates. Man, she’d kill me. Don’t tell her I told you, okay?”
“I won't say a word,” replied Alana, taking the card.
“And I heard that,” he added, turning and narrowing his eyes.
“Just kidding,” I said, a little embarrassed.
“Uh huh.”
“We’d better go,” said Alana, standing up.
“So soon?” said Pi. “You haven’t even tried borami soup. Or my poached arranars. Can’t you stay a little longer?”
“Sorry, Pi. We have to see her urgently.”
“Sure, I understand,” he said, with an air of disappointment. “Come on, I’ll walk you back to your ship.”
The desert air seemed even hotter than it had before we had entered Pi’s diner. The horizon shimmered with translucent waves of heat, which made the distant sandy peaks appear as though they were floating above.
“Oh, man,” said Pi, taking a couple steps into the daylight. “Way too hot. This is where I stop.”
“Pick somewhere a little cooler next time, Pi,” said Alana, grinning.
“Yeah, yeah. It’s not like it makes a difference, anyway. They always find me, somehow,” he said, nodding at the immense crowd of people that surrounded the diner on all sides. “I’m gonna have to find somewhere pretty out there next time. Like, another dimension, or something.”
“There’s no such thing,” smirked Alana.
“Well, I’ll invent a way. Anything for a little peace.”
“It was good to see you,” said Alana, holding Pi’s hand with both of hers.
“Yeah, you too. Don’t leave it so long next time, okay?” He took a step toward her, and in a low tone, said, “Keep that card. I also uploaded a tracking system for the diner on it. That way you’ll be able to find me wherever I am.”
“Even if you’re in another dimension?” smiled Alana, raising an eyebrow.
Pi laughed. “Okay, well, maybe I won’t go there, then. But make sure you come back when you’re done with what you’re doin’, okay? Both of you.” Pi placed his large furry hand on my shoulder. “I wanna hear what you remember about me on the Sky Drifter,” he winked
“Count on it,” I said.
“Come on. We have to go,” said Alana.
We said our goodbyes and made our way to the ship as behind us Pi shouted at his customers he wouldn’t be ready for another hour.
Seeing Pi once again had filled me with a renewed sense of belonging, and I looked forward to finding him again, wherever he happened to be next time.
“You’re not going to tell me who we’re on our way to meet, are you?” I asked.
“No.”
“I thought so.”
As the cool ship blasted out of the scorching atmosphere, Alana inserted the small card Pi had given her. An orange holographic display appeared above the ship’s central control system, showing the coordinates to a small system within a nearby galaxy. I hoped that, whoever we were going to meet, would somehow help get me to One. Soon, I would be reunited with my brother.
CHAPTER FIFTY TWO
The Mulos system had three medium-sized planets that surrounded their red sun. Celeber was the nearest neighboring system. It was 213 million light years away and was its almost exact opposite. Thirteen planets of varying sizes encircled its much larger yellow sun. The planets in the lonely Mulos system were so far away from each other that their ecologies differed vastly: being so close to the sun, Ignis’s surface was covered in constantly oozing lava that came from its dense magma core. Cassus was the middle planet and had once been inhabited. Its atmosphere was stable, so flora and fauna alike flourished on its rugged terrains and jungles. Around two million years after its birth the lush planet succumbed to heavy industry and the inevitable smog, steel and technologies that came with it. Lush vegetation that housed countless inhabitants in its thick trunks were razed and replaced with steel, stone and glass. Winding life-sustaining rivers vanished, and various machine-made colorful liquids took their place. Obsessive greed and consequent wars caused its once placid races to dwindle, until none were left. Over the following centuries, Cassus swallowed almost every sign of the intelligent civilizations that had once inhabited it, and reclaimed its jungles. As if to protect itself from any further attacks, most of the fauna that now occupied it was as terrible and aggressive as it was fearsome and vicious to all visitants that dared enter the atmosphere.
The planet we were on our way to, however, was the furthermost planet from Mulos’ sun. Equally devastating as Ignis was Praes. -1080 degrees gales raged wild through its vast pointed icy dunes, ensuring that none but the thickest of skins would dare enter its blistering atmosphere.
“We’re not really going there, are we?” I said, after Alana gave me a brief history of Praes.
“No.”
At once, all the tension in my body ebbed at her answer. I sighed with relief. “Okay, so if not there, where?”
“Right above it. Somewhere. Won’t take us long to see.”
“Not very straightforward, are you?”
Alana turned, raised an eyebrow and squinted as if suspicious. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you never just give me a straight answer. It’s always mysterious or cryptic. You never just answer any of my questions. Even when we first met. You know what I called you?”
Alana’s eyes narrowed even further. “What?”
“The mysterious girl. I know your name now, but you might as well still be the mysterious girl.”
She looked at me a moment, as if deliberating how to respond, then she sighed, input commands into the ship’s console, and slumped back into her chair.
“Perhaps you’re right. I guess all those years with the Morex changed me. I learned how to keep information hidden from them, and everyone else. Call it survival. Though the Morex weren’t much different. It’s all very regimented with them. There’s no… down time. They’re always focused on one thing, and that’s whatever the leader—Perusak now—tells them, and nothing else. No laughter, no joy, just utter devotion to commands. I guess it rubbed off, in a way. Tell you what, I’ll try to be more open from now on, okay?”
“Okay,” I nodded. “So, where are we going?”
Alana sat back up on her chair and pressed buttons on the console. “You’ll see when we get there.”
“But—You said—”
“I said I’d try. Guess I just failed,” she grinned, keeping her eyes on the console. “Besides, once you show me you can act like an adult and not like a whining baby prone to tantrums, I’ll be more inclined to let you in on stuff.” She turned and smiled at me, though her eyes remained serious, like she meant business. “Deal?”
A quiet rage had instantly built within my chest but then, from somewhere in my mind, I heard a little voice of reason that told me she was right. If I wanted her to think of me as an adult, I needed to act like one. I unclenched my fists, and said,
“Deal.”
***
We spent the rest of the journey to Praes in silence. I’d agreed to Alana’s deal, but it didn’t mean I had to be happy about it and, if I’m honest, I was a little mad that she thought of me as a kid.
We got to the Mulos system and headed toward Praes. Perhaps because of its remote location, the system lacked the habitual glinting glow of distant stars. It was like we had plunged into a thick, dark haze that became even darker the further we got from Mulos’ sun. Despite the temperature regulator on the ship, a steady chill crept inside, frosting the edges of the front and side windows. There was something creepy and inhospitable about the atmosphere, like we shouldn’t be there.
After a long while, a planet came into view, the sun’s light barely illuminating it. From a distance, Praes had appeared to be completely gray, though revealed itself as having a white surface when we got closer. Alana switched to minimal thrusters and sat up, looking ahead with a sudden keen interest.
“What are we looking for?” I asked, breaking the long silence.
“Asteroids,” she replied. “I’ll take us around Praes till we see them. Keep your eyes peeled and tell me if you spot them before I do.”
“Gotcha.”
We drifted slowly around 65 degrees of the icy planet.
“There,” I exclaimed, pointing. A cluster of three asteroids were orbiting Praes, attached to each other by thick, black bonds tied around the length and width of each. Alana changed course toward them though didn’t increase the ship’s speed.
“This is one of the most inhospitable, dangerous systems around, perfect for those who wish not to be found,” said Alana, keeping her gaze on the asteroids ahead.
“There are plenty other places to hide in, though—safe places. What kind of person would choose a system this far out? Especially in an asteroid. That’s just plain weird. And crazy.”
“A criminal, Seven. Someone wanted in various systems around the galaxy, and probably beyond. A dangerous criminal.”
I took a second to absorb the information, understanding why Alana hadn’t mentioned it before. “And this is the person we’ve come to see? A criminal? And one who, for some reason, will help us go back, infiltrate the Morex army, and get One back? Have you completely lost your mind?”
