by Ayman Ghalit
Gael, who glanced at Mort with disapproving look, said, “am really so sorry.”
“No! No, sweet child, you don’t have to,” said Bridget.
Edward went on, “We tried every possible cure out there. We truly wanted the fruit that carries out our names. We wanted a soul that gives our life a furthering meaning. We tried every method, from the advanced medical treatment, to the ancient illogical ones, but nothing worked. *sighed* It seems that we will perish as branchless.”
“I hope you find the cure soon,” said Bob.
With a smile, Edward grabbed his white beard as if saying ‘After this age?’ Gael responded, “Thine Lord is most generous.”
“True you said …True you said.”
Time passed by, and when it reached 8AM, they excused the old couple for leaving. They told them they can stay for lunch, but Mort said that they want to make haste. They thanked them, and when reached the outer door, Edward halted them for a bit, and handed them something ... He gave Mort five thousand Rallods!
“No! we can’t take this,” said Gael.
Edward insists that he take the money, saying, “Listen, by god, if you don’t take it, I will throw it out to be blown by the wind. Please, I insist you to take it, you need it more than I do. Four thousand are for you and your sons, and the other thousand is for Bob. Edward never take back what he gives, that’s for sure.”
Mort paused for a moment at first, and took it while expressing his deepest gratitude. They thanked the old couples, and left to search for taxi to deliver them to the mysterious capital: Drag.
Vague Driver
By the high road, and after leaving Edward’s house, they waited for a passing car to pick them up. A number passed by, but none did stop for them. Mort then mumbled in discontent, “This is too stupid. My car is over there, and am here humiliating myself by waiting for a car to pick me up!” Carl reassured him that this is the best way as his car will drive too much attention. So, they sat chatting by the road while someone has to stand and signal the passing car to stop. Jack then said, “You know what, am full of hope right now, after Edward’s deeds, I truly feel our return.”
Gael replied, “Really! Even after the peculiar matters we’ve encountered?”
“Might be tradition or religious as Carl said.”
Bob averted the conversation, by asking, “What is our business in the capital exactly?”
“Well, my deformed human being,” said Mort, “we go to a bookstore, define this place, locate our solar system, head back to it, and everyone will happily return to his miserable life. Easy is that.”
“Let us hope it will be this easy,” said Kais.
Bob hummed, and asked again, “How is this hope thingy really works? What is it in general, and is it enough to depend on, though we are almost a lost cause in this never-ending labyrinth? Not trying to be pessimistic here, but I am just curious to know...”
Mort answered, “Well, someone told me that you have to close and squeeze your eyes hard while thinking about stuff that makes you feel good… and somehow! it will happen shortly after.”
“This is bullocks,” said Gael, who let out a faint sarcastic chuckle. “It’s thinking about a good outcome that might boost and further your spirit. Also, ignoring the bad ones that might lead you to a surrendering despair.”
“You are one literate man,” wowed Kais, who returned from his car-signaling shift.
“Well, thank you, Kaiser.”
“It’s my turn now,” said Bob.
Jack yawned, and said, “No one will stop for you, blob.”
Surprisingly, the first car to pass by -which was a taxi, primitive in design, but gold-plated from headlight to rear-stopped for Bob who looked at Jack, and said, “Amateur.”
“It’s luck this time, Thing,” Jack responded. “By the way, Morty, this is what your job looks like in reality.”
“Hmm? Not really. And don’t you ever call me Morty again, got that, you unmannered spoiled brat.”
The taxi driver rolled down his window, and asked “Where to fellas?”
“We want the capital,” said Kaiser.
“Sure thing, hop in.”
“Wait! how much do you charge?”
He mumbled in count, and answered, “A thousand Rallods.”
“A thousand!” Mort wowed, “look, I know all the taxi driver’s tricks, so you can’t pull this off on me, it will be a hundred.”
“Alright, search for someone else,” said the driver who switched his car gear to drive. Carl stopped him, and after a bothersome negotiation under the sun, they agreed on seven hundred Rallods. They packed their stuff, squeezed them self in the car, and headed off to the obscure capital while being surrounded by dry golden terrains.
The driver, who was a bit chubby, sat off to Darg. His speed was around 80 kilometers per hour, and rarely reaches the hundred. That exceedingly bothered the guys. Jack felt irritated, and said, “Slow down! we don’t want to die… For God’s sake, from lightspeed to this! Go faster! we would be away head of you if we are on foot.”
The driver, who had a weird funny laughter, chuckled, and said, “Sorry, I can’t go any faster. Don’t you know the rules here? They will fee me, and will try really hard to seize my car.”
“That’s just for breaking the speed limit?” Bob asked.
“Everybody knows this,” said the driver.
“How far Is the capital?” asked Carl.
“Around 200 miles.”
Kaiser read the driver’s name, which was written on a sticker on the back of his seat alongside with his phone number, and asked, “Your name is… How-Are-You?”
He let out a funny snicker that made some chuckle, and answered, “Yea, strange, isn’t it?”
“Why? names aren’t free around here?” asked Mort.”
Howareyou giggled, and said, “No, the name has its own story. I usually write it without spacing the words. This gives it a less-strange impact... My dad had a horrible car accident at the same day I was born, but he miraculously survived without severe injuries. In the hospital, there were an old lady with a high-pitched voice that irritatingly stuck in my father’s head as it constantly echoed “How are you?” His friends and family carved it deeper by repeating this question till he had enough of that. My Father then saw me as a bad-luck bringer. For that, he didn’t bother to search for a proper name for me, rather he just named me How-are-you as a lucky charm... it an old superstition that he believes in.”
“Do you like the name?” asked Gael.
“To be honest, at first, I hated my father for that, but with time, I figured out that it has its own positive sides. The name is weird; and for that, it became a conversation igniter, and it helped me cultivating my humorous personality. I am married now, and the first question my wife asked me was ‘your name is HowAreYou?’ Then, stuff got positively escalated… and eventually we got married.”
“And at second?” carelessly, Bob asked.
“Am the only person named Howareyou in Phugwakya.”
“Phugwakya?” Carl wondered.
“I have a friend who works in the Civil Status saying I am the only person named like that! That surly make something, right?”
Careless Mort answered, “Yea, yea. You are one special person… So, what is your son’s name, Amfine?”
He let out a funny giggle that forced them all to laugh, then he answered, “No, I have a daughter named Lili.”
“May God bless her soul,” said Gael.
“Thank you.”
“And how is the capital, Howareyou?” asked Kais.
“Well, it is indeed something. Huge shopping malls, fancy restaurants, and tall buildings. It got almost everything, even the Emperor lives there. But it became too crowded lately. I prefer the countryside.”
“Is there any space station?” asked Mort.
“Space station?” he confusingly asked.
“Stations that allows humans to go to space?”
“Humans?”
He obscurely wondered.
Carl poked Mort shutting him up, and hasted to change the subject by asking, “The emperor lives in the capital?”
“Yea, Emperor Draven.”
“We are in an Empire then,” Carl hummed in thoughts, then he asked, “How are the capital residents?”
“Well, the Phugwaks there are too obnoxious and extremely rude. I can’t stand them.”
“Phugwaks?” they all wondered.
Carl thanked him and sat silent as everybody else did, for it was the wisest act to do since everything became too shady and frettingly gloomy. And after an hour or so, sleep knocked their eyes. They all submitted to it, except for Carl and Kais whom were curiously observing the gleaming golden dunes and the shimmering crystal mountains of this planet. And as the dry infertile desert slowly fades with the horizon, a lively vast red-forest with white trunks and branches appeared at sight. Their eyes rapidly change its focus on this odd but beautiful terrain.
Moments later, Kaiser noticed a glittering crimson-line penetrating and parting away the forest. And after about 10 minutes, Howareyou mounted a golden arched bridge through which the crimson line stream flow. Kaiser couldn’t help but to wow loud in surprise, saying, “A river!?”
Howareyou smilingly responded, “What’s wrong? It seems that this is the first time you see a river?”
“No, but …this river is red?”
“Of course, it will be red, what do you want it to be, blue?”
“Yea, we I know,” said Carl, who doesn’t want to appear suspicions. “It’s the first time that we see a river up close and personal.”
“That is the river Zandt. Its blood is the freshest.”
“Blood?” Kais and Carl wondered in puzzlement.
“Speaking of blood, any one feels thirsty?” said Howareyou, who opened the car glove-box, and grabbed a sealed transparent plastic-can that contain a red liquid written on its blue cover, ‘Fresh Blood.’ Then, he drank it whole, and sealed it back as he let out a freshened sigh.
Kaiser and Carl swirled deeper in confusing as this planet started to really freak them out. Howareyou took another can and offered it to them, but they said they are not feeling thirst.
“Alright, I will put back in the box. By the way, there is a hole for cooling it there. Science is surly advanced now. What an age we live in, eh?”
“Indeed, what an age we live in,” said Carl, who whispered to Kais saying that he now understands what is the matter with this planet. Kais wanted to know, but he said that this is not the proper time nor the right place to discuss such matter.
Gilded Metropolis
After about 3 hours, they woke up on what they were dying to see. The capital’s tall and shadowy sky scrapers can easily be seeing from a distant. It didn’t take Howareyou much to enter Darg that was dazzlingly impressive and frettingly scary at the same time. It was huge, lively, and crowded. About 100 miles wide, and almost the same far. Its buildings shimmers as it were almost, entirely, made of gold and silver. Some of the building they’ve encountered were made of turquoise, shining agate with pillars of diamond, and doors of brushed green jade. Decorating its streets, trees with white trunks and red leaves.
“Where to?” asked Howareyou.
Mort yawned, and said, “To a cheap, but good hotel.”
“I don’t that think these two combines, but I think I know the one for you.”
After couple of minutes, they got stuck in a traffic jam for about an hour or so. They were exhausted, tired, and just want to get this over with as soon as possible. Their knees started to hurt when it surly needed flexing and stretching. Kaiser was leaning his head on the rolled-down window, glancing Darg’s features while being deafened by the noises coming from of nearby car’s engines and honks. He wanted to roll up the window, but something drew his attention. He noticed a gigantic billboard for what seemed to be a new mobile add. And the peculiar thing was that the person whom were in that advertising billboard was unsightly hideous, disheveled, and overweight man!
He wanted to tell the guys about this, but a big yellow poster on a stand near the traffic light kept him silent. It was a wanted men poster showing seven high-level terrorists, two of them were marked with red X, written on it:
By the Name of His Highness
Emperor Draven Son of Edmond
The rightful owner of what is high above, down under, and what’s in between.
Wanted
Dead or Alive
*Their pictures with names*
He who help them by any mean, shall face what will make the infant’s hair turns gray.
Signed and sealed, by his highness, Emperor:
Draven son of Edmond
Kais wanted to read the names, but the traffic light turned green, allowing Howareyou to leave. Kais managed only to read one name of a man with visible horizontal scar on his forehead, named Clark the Blind Son. He wanted to ask Howareyou about it, but he thought, “What’s the point?”
Minutes after, they stopped by Most Welcome Hotel. It was 32 stories tall building, facing what’s look like a historical square with a big golden statue in the middle. It was a statue of a military man whom is standing on crushed skulls, and pointing by his right hand at the East while holding a saber by his left. Curiosity drove Gael to ask, “For whom is that statue?”
“That’s Emperor Edmond son of Tempest, the father of the current emperor. How come that you don’t know him?”
“No, we do, but the statue was quite odd for us.”
“This is the Punctured Skulls Square,” Howareyou added. “Gruesome woes happened to Edmond’s foes right in this square …any way, you can check this hotel, and there is another if you didn’t like this.”
It was about 6PM when they dropped out of the car. The square was nice, breezy, and lively. There were he who is sitting on resting benches with her, and he who is sitting all alone. And there were those who were passing by, and those who were waiting. Decorating the square, tall and thick red trees with white trunks. Near the hotel, was a subway, and in the back, there were market street with various shops. And when Kais turned to glance the golden hotel, he whispered to Mort saying that they do not have any identification papers to allows them to reserve a room, and suggested to make the taxi driver do it for them. Howareyou strongly refused at first, saying ‘His neck might get chopped.’ But with a little bit of extra cash, he took the risk and agreed. He returned moments after with the suite keys, and gave it to Mort, saying, “Suite number 2022, on the twentieth floor, 120 Rallods a night.”
They took their stuff from the car’s trunk, and thanked Howareyou, who said before parting away, “I don’t know you if anything went wrong.”
They assured him that, and before they get in the hotel, they discussed what their plan will be? Carl said that they must go to the library, Mort said that he must seek spaceships workshops for replacement parts, and Bob said that he is way too hungry and they should start with food. Carl agreed with Bob, saying, “It is true. Nutrition is a priority in here. We must secure food and water first. The food we got will only make us survive for about 8 days, that is if we use it wisely.”
Blooded Bath
They got into the hotel which was ornamented in gold, silver, and minerals that will make the human drools for. But as frequent as it is, it became boring and less attractive for them. The suite Howareyou reserved for them has three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. Carl rushed to the bathroom to see blood flows after whirling open the basin’s taps. He then checked the toilet, the shower dish, and the kitchen’s faucet which all poured blood just as the same as Edward’s house! Kaiser went to the kitchen, checked the fridge, and found welcoming free-bottles that contains blood. After that, they gathered up in the living room where there was a long purple cushioned sofa facing a flat screen on a white desk. Carl hummed and concluded, “I think I know what’s going on in here. The People in here depends on blood in every aspect of life! I mean, plastic bottles c
ontain blood! Even in their personal hygiene they use it! …but what’s confusing me is that every creature, no matter what, must use water to live.”
“Blood is about 85% water.” said Gael.
“True, but I am talking about water itself, the raw limpid liquid. Wherever you find it, you find life. But… this!? Augh, my head starts to hurt. Anyway, no one must see the water with us, we have to use it with caution till things get clear.”
They kept silent for a bit of time thinking about this matter, then Jack worryingly asked, “Mort, do you memorize the ship’s location?”
“Darg to Narbiz, and from there to the car on foot, and the car will lead us to the ship. Worry not, kiddo, you are with Morton, The Void Companion.”
“Yea, worry not,” Gael mocked. “You are the one who dragged us into this miss from the first place.”
Later, they chose where to sleep. Mort took the king-size bed, Carl and Gael chose a room with two beds, while Kais, Bob, and Jack chose a room with three small beds. After that, Kais tried to charge up his phone, but the hotel plug was primitive, and didn’t work for his advanced smartphone. And later that night, wisely, as Carl constantly reminded, they ate their tasteless meals while ignoring Bob’s irritating complaining. After that, they went to sleep with worrisome minds and doubtful thoughts.
Noisy Morrow
Before sunrise, unpleasing noises woke up Mort. It was loud bothersome sounds of what it appeared to be dogs barking and howling. He left the bedroom with a grim face to find Carl and Gael woken up by the same reason.
“Dogs barking?” Gael wondered.
“So?” Mort replied.
“We are in the 20th floor, we shouldn’t be hearing it this loud,” said Carl who traced the noises. And when reached the living room window, he swiftly opened it, and some weird looking birds flew off while barking loud. The birds were slightly bigger than a city pigeon, with a head of a small Doberman dog and grey white-spotted feather. He checked the other windows to find the same thing. Then, he returned to them while amusingly wowing, “We learned something new, birds bark.”
