by Ayman Ghalit
“How wonderful,” sarcastically, said Mort. “Well, we should keep an eye for the ones that roars, no?”
Gael replied, “We shouldn’t be surprised any more after knowing that they drink blood.”
Moments after, they woke up those who didn’t, and on the noisy barking tunes, they ate their breakfast and agreed to split apart to save time. Kais and Bob will search for water, edible food, and have to buy cellphones to keep them connected. Carl and Jack agreed to go to the library and buy books that may leads them to their solar system.
Mort and Gael agreed to search for spaceship workshops, ignoring Carl who assured them that they will never find one. And before they part, Mort -from the money Edward gave him- handed Kaiser and Carl a thousand Rallods each.
Obscuring Nourishment
The sky was covered with dark gloomy clouds when Kaiser and Bob left the hotel at 7AM. But that didn’t hold them back after the gentle and freshening morning breeze touched their faces. The lively noises of the passing cars, and construction machinery mixed with echoing hammering which made them feel safe and alive. The sight of primary school toddlers crossing the street in discipline way while wearing their colorful school bags, planted a smile on Kais as it slightly eased his burdening concern.
Moments later, by foot, they left to the nearest super market after asking a bystander about it. On their way, they encountered one of the red street-decorating trees. Kais stopped examining it, hummed in confusing, and asked Bob, “Aren’t the trees in here are little bit odd?”
“Leave the trees alone, am really hungry.”
“Nay, we have to check it.”
Curiosity, drove Kaiser to the tree which was big, tall, and thick trunked. He touched its white trunk, and found it dry and soft. Then he plucked on of its leaves that stained his sleeve with a red droplet from its juice. The leaf was soft, thin, supple, and red in color. Shaped almost like a lemon leaf. He brought it closer to his eyes to notice what looked like branching veins. Slowly, his eyes widened in a shock, “Bob! this is not a plant leaf, this is flesh. This is meat!” he said.
“Bullshit,” he carelessly replied.
The leaf Kaiser split in two, dribbled red liquids, then he astonishingly concluded, “And this is blood!”
Bob plucked a leaf, checked, smelled, and took a bite to believe, “Hmm! It’s true… holy God, this is meat!”
“This trunk is not wooden, it is bone.” Kais added after gently touching it.
“Let’s head back and tell the guys about this.”
“No, not now. We have to search for water first. It is a top priority now.”
With perplexed look on their faces, they left the tree to complete their mission. Bob hummed in wonder, and asked, “If meat grows on trees… can we eat it?”
“An exceedingly bizarre tree like no other we’ve just found, yet the only thing concerning your mind is this?”
“It reminded me of bacon.”
“We shall pluck a lot later, and we will check it in the hotel. Things are getting creepier by the minute.”
After 5 minutes on foot, they reached a supermarket that sells various things, named Mallard Supermarket. They entered, and without asking for direction, they hasted toward the drinks section to swiftly check the wide transparent refrigerators filled with metal cans and glass bottles. They searched for water, but failed to find one. All of what they did find was blood and its derivatives! An elegant athletically-designed glass bottle contains blood, written on it, ‘Tathef Mountains Blood, 2.99 Rallods.’ Sugar-free blood, Iron-free blood, white-cell-free blood, hemoglobin-free blood, and soda blood. The blood varies in color from lite crimson, dark red, to jet black. And The most expensive they’ve found was a blue blood that cost 56.99 Rallods. They kept searching, and found bottles containing a yellow limpid liquid. It turned out to be blood serums and plasma. They went on, and found a colorless transparent liquid that reared up their hopes, but it didn’t last for long as it was cerebrospinal fluids. They searched far and wide, but nothing did they found. Every fluid their bodies contains, was shown in the refrigerator. Bob said to Kais they should ask about water, but he refused saying this might bring unexpected attention and urged him keep silent and be cautious. And as the hope of finding water totally perished, they left, disappointed and concerned. And when they passed by the last refrigerator, a sporty glass bottle containing a yellow plasma drew Bob’s attention. It was very cooled it brought him thirst when he grabbed hold of it. Hesitates at first, but took two bottles. Kais asked why? And he responded saying that he wants it for researching purposes. Kais didn’t bother pushing on, saying, “Do as you wish.”
In the Agricultural Products Section, a staggering sight trembled their hands. There were pyramidal structure of boxes beside and above each other, some of them were sealed with a thin transparent plastic, others were widely open. And what widened their eyes was its content. It wasn’t an agricultural product as written, rather it was something else. Boxes contains; hearts, livers, tongues, kidneys attached to each other with some kind of a branching organic cord, stomachs, spleens, lungs, human fingers, and clustery connected eyes that vary in sizes and colors! And what was so strange is that it doesn’t seem to be chopped nor detached? Not a single scratch or cut!? They kept checking the boxes, and found breasts similar to the Female-Human breasts with different sizes and colors! It wasn’t chopped, cut, maimed, or wounded? Above the box, a green sign that’s reads ‘Fresh! straight from Uncle Harry’s Farm, 3.99 apiece.’
“Fresh!? farms!?” Kais wondered.
Bob grabbed a big jiggly breast, and looked at Kaiser with a creepy smile on his face. Kaiser disgustingly sighed, and said, “You have what’s much bigger. Put it down, and let’s leave this creepy place.”
“Let me squeeze it to see if it going to lactate!”
“Are you stupid? Just put it down!”
Bob did, and before they leave, a very peaceful-looking old lady passed by while pushing a golden shopping cart. She smilingly greeted them, as they smilingly did so. She then took three hearts, spleen, a cord of kidneys, lung, three breasts, and a small plastic bag of dried thumbs. The old lady didn’t take them blindly, rather she was carefully checking, smelling, and selecting them. She put aside what she doesn’t find fresh, and take another. It was as normal as shopping for agricultural product in Earth.
“God bless you, mam,” said Bob.
With a nice tone, the old lady replied, “Thank you, son. Join us for lunch, I will be making thumbs soup.”
“Thank you, mam,” said Kaiser. “I am pretty sure it going to be lovely. But, we are in a rushing matter.”
In their way to the frozen food section, after leaving, three beautiful gals in their twenty passed by. What was odd for Kaiser is that he didn’t get a glance, nor a glimpse from them, rather it was Bob who took it all. He didn’t care, and moved on. Then, they stopped before a long vertical refrigerator that is filled with frozen animal’s body parts. They checked that, and found it strange and greenish in color. Front of them, inside a room with a glass door, a headless calf-like animal hanged by a hook. And sitting on golden stool front of it, a man wearing a white butcher apron, and hanged in hooks on the wall behind him, his golden knifes and machete. The sign above him reads ‘FRESH MEAT.’ Bob asked, “Isn’t this meat the same as Edward’s?”
“Exactly.” Kaiser replied.
After failing to find what is normal to eat, they left the supermarket after paying for Bob’s items. After that, they went to a cellphone shop which wasn’t far. In the phone store, Kais saw a poster of a cellphone add, the same one he saw on the giant billboard yesterday. Showing a hideous, pig-nosed, and a bald phat man with pimples all over his face. The man, whom was wearing some kind of fancy formal men suit, was advertising a cellphone by holding it while gazing, with thoughtful eyes, at the far horizon. It was odd for Kais, but he didn’t bother asking, saying it might be a new Politically-Correct marketing trick? After that, Kais showed the salesman his phon
e to search for a plug, but the salesman eyes widened in astonishment as he asked what kind, and where did you get such phone? Kais felt unsafe and swiftly took back and hid his phone saying it is a prototype, nothing less nothing more. Then, he asked for two cheap phones. The salesman provided him with two phones with small colorless screen and tiny buttons. The phones were too weird for them, but Kaiser recalled that it looked like the ancient and primitive cellphones showing in Planet Earth’s museums.
“That’s, 199.99 each,” said the salesman.
“Why don’t you say 200?” sarcastically, said Bob.
“Because they are not.”
“Alright, how is this thing work?” said Kais.
“You kidding, right?”
“I am not… now how is this thing work?
The salesman sarcastically wowed and rose up his eyebrows, saying, “Interesting!” Then, he showed them how it works, and told them that they need two SIM cards for calls, and charged them 199.99 each. They thanked him, and went back to the hotel after spending 814.96 on this mission.
Fear from going short in fund heaped Kaiser’s concern, who highly doubted the existence of the precious liquid in this planet. And in their way to the hotel, they passed by a restaurant that was showing a tall glass oven, with five vertical golden skewers piercing through chicken-like animals while slowly whirling them on a calm fire. The chickens were dark-green in color with slightly burnt spots, and was dripping some kind of oil. Its loathing sight wasn’t enough to stop Bob’s gluttony who said to Kaiser, “Let’s buy a chicken.”
“Are you serious!? Do you see this edible?”
“Trust me, I ate what was far more disgusting and weird than this. Let’s by one, am sure it won’t drop me down.”
Kaiser shrugged in carelessness as he went in the restaurant. The place was like any other building in this planet, made of golden. They bought a chicken and took some extra plastic bags with them to fill it with the fleshy tree leaves. They did their tasks, and hasted back to the hotel when the dark cloudy sky roared loud.
Disconcerting Enlightenment
Early that morning, Carl and Jack took a taxi and sat off to the nearest library. Jack, who rested in the back seat observing the view, felt bored already the moment he got in. In the other hand, curiosity was devouring Carl who couldn’t wait any longer to know this place. And after 30 minutes, they stopped before a three stories-building library, called, ‘Light Library.’ They got off after telling the driver to wait for them.
Front of the pedestrian-crossing, and while waiting for their time to ripe, they got startled by a sudden loud screeching wheel followed by an impact! ... It turned out that a pedestrian; who thought the road was clear after a long bus passed by, crossed the street from the wrong side to get hit by a small speeding car that sent him high enough to fatally land on his head. Jack, whom his hands were shaking in fright, mumbled, “God, I really hate this kind of sudden moments… Where are you going!?”
“I have to go to see if I can help,” Carl answered.
“Help! He need a gigantic miracle to survive this, am pretty sure he isn’t that fortunate.”
“I have to go… You go and wait for me in the library.”
Onlooker gathered around the body and made it hard to see. Carl jolted his way through to see something shocking. The man was dead, with cracked skull, badly-maimed chest, and almost chopped left thigh which was showing a brown bone-like stiff lancing out of it. But what puzzled him was the lack of blood. Not a single drop was there! Only colorless liquid was leaking out of the body. He wasn’t sure what is it at first, till he heard someone saying, “God, I really can’t stand seeing water.”
The other things he found obscure was the greenish shredded flesh showing from the dead man torn organs! And the lanced out brown stiff was clearly his bone! He tried to figure it out, but someone came with a blanket and covered the body. Moment later, ambulance sirens echoed nearer. He then left to the library, and before he goes far, he overheard someone says, “At least he won’t witness the accursed uprising… pity the sorry soul.”
Other replied, “Have some respect for the dude, man. And don’t cynically exaggerate …it just rumors.”
“You’ll see. We will be envying him in the near future.”
Carl then gathered with Jack who asked him about his dead-heart that allows him to bear seeing such view? Carl, who didn’t bother to answer, hasted to the library saying, “Listen! go to the astrology section and try to buy the most useful books you can find about space and cosmos in general, and this planet in particular.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“The clock is ticking away our time, and we don’t have much money. Do it, and I will tell you everything later.”
Jack did, and bought three books with 70% discount about space, called, ‘Space Atlas, Our Solar System, and Our Planet.’ Carl bought books regarding the recent empire history, and two general medical books. Then, they went to the cashier who charged them 832 Rallods. After that, they took the taxi back to the hotel as the black gloomy sky was about to pour down what it preserves.
Grasped Fortune
Early that morning, Gael and Mort took a cap to spaceship workshops, but the taxi driver didn’t know exactly what Mort was talking about.
“Spaceships that transport people!” Mort repeated.
“People?” the driver confusingly asked.
The driver turned dubious for Gael, who noticing his frettingly obscure ignorance in this matter. He poked Mort and whisperingly told him to use caution in his conversation.
“Where you want to go?” the bothered driver asked.
“Take us to a big mall, please.” said Gael.
“What! Why?” asked Mort.
“I want to know what is valuable and precious in this planet. Gold deserts and diamond mountains leads me to the question: what is valuable and worthless in here?”
“There is no need to know that. When we find our way back home, we will fill the ship with gold and precious material. I shall fill it up till it coughingly say, ‘enough.’ I will take the coordinate of this planet, Planet Morton, if I do say so myself. Then, I will go back and forth to fill the ship again. And this will be between us.”
“Wild dreams you got there!” sarcastically Gael replied.
“In a way that you can’t even imagine, kiddo. Just look around you! All these building made entirely of pure gold, and you don’t want my dreams to soar up and go wild? I will live a life much better than Leonard’s. And surly, my wealth shall surpass what The Crimsonton Family had amassed. I will be selling and buying planets, kiddo. *gnashed his teeth with greed and anger* Oh, I will make the women who rejected me eat their hearts out. I will assure them that they did the wrongful decision. I am their lost investment and their remorseful chance. I will make them point at me and say to their hapless peers, ‘That guy proposed to me.’ Just hope hard that we return.”
“I thought you The Void Companion.”
He confidently answered, “Every tide has its ebb, kid.”
“Misanthropic greedy geezer,” Gael thought.
The driver took them to McRalf Megamall. A gigantic shopping mall with neat architectural design. Gold, silver, and turquoise was the most notable materials used in its build. They entered the mall through its automatic glass door after telling the driver to wait for them. And while roaming inside, Gael noticed posters showing ugly men and women advertising perfumes, cloth, and phones. He was eager to talk to Mort about it, but his enthusiasms got swiftly curbed down after seeing him picking his nose. After a while, in the second floor, they reached the mall’s center. A wide circle-area whereas in the middle, was a vast octagramic blood-lake that has a giant red oak-like tree in the center. Above every edge of the octagramic-star lake, an optical illusion of eight sliver urns held by golden-sculpted winged children whom were disquieting the lake’s tranquility by pouring down blood into it. It was a dazzling view for Gael, who didn’t help but to observe the vi
ew while leaning on handrail that is made of stripped gold and turquoise. The bubbling of the poured liquid, the echoes of talk, and couples holding each other’s hands made him comfortably smile and says, “That so nice, no?”
Bothered Mort, sighed, and replied, “For God’s sake, let’s leave, you became worse than a careless wife.”
“Shut your mouth, you boring oaf. Don’t you find anything fascinating in here?”
“Nothing will be more fascinating than gold for me. So let’s hurry and leave.”
“Let’s roam for a little… god, you are so irritating”
They wandered through the mall and passed by electronics, watches, sunglasses, and clothing shops. That didn’t sway Gael, except for one bright and simply-designed small store that tilted his necks and forcibly drew his attention. Named, Va Jewelry. Followed by Mort, Gael went in the shop to be staggered by bafflement. Displayed in vertical and horizontal glass cases, where stones! Worthless stones on which Gael and Mort step upon on planet Earth! And what blew their mind, was its prices. A sedimentary small rock, the size of broad bean or slightly smaller, value 14000 Rallods. A pendant contains three small and colorful river stones value 23000. And a wide decorative tin-plated bracelet with a round metamorphic stone the size of a can-sealer costs 40000! The store was selling what the people on Earth doesn’t care about, worthless stones with which they carelessly throw, costs a fortune in this planet! Mort, who couldn’t believe this, was pasting his face on the glass-barrier with widened eyes while counting the digits on every price-tag. He got staggered when his eyes laid upon a red female ring, which was professionally frilled and highly detailed, that costs more than 120000!
