by Mars Dorian
“No, everyone is equally important. We have a roster that changes every night. It takes about a year to have almost every citizen dine with us, but we make sure everyone gets a shot.”
“Sounds like a lot of planning.”
“No. It's all intuitive.”
Norma wiped her hands and stood up. Her presence alone silenced the hall. She tuned deep her voice and filled every corner.
“Fellow compeers, before we feast, let us make an announcement. As you may be well aware of, we have a special guest. A stranger who has fallen from the sky and now enjoys his presence in our paradise.”
The crowd cheered. Norma continued.
“Even though our first encounter was rather…violent, we have finally found an understanding. The guest is not yet used to our customs, but with our hospitality, we’ll fix that quickly. So please, show our guest how Evergreens think of strangers.”
The hall erupted in clapping. The colonists stood up in unison and saluted toward RX’s direction. He straightened up next to Norma and bowed, which seemed to be the standard gesture of respect.
“Much appreciated, everyone.”
Norma sat down and a second later, everyone, as in, e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e, followed her moves. RX chuckled.
“You have quite an effect on your people.”
“These are not ‘my’ people, we’re all equal. I’m merely a spokesperson with the most life experience, that is all.”
“Right.”
He regretted his word choice. The experienced female unit just introduced him to the community and he teased her. This wasn’t the way to make allies.
“I have to say, your speech was really suave. I almost feel like a real citizen, heh.”
She stared into his eyeballs.
“That happens faster than you think.”
She raised her goblet and clanked it to his.
“Enjoy your meal. There’s enough for everyone.”
“I will, thanks again.”
He stabbed the dark crimson piece with his fork and took a bite. Unfortunately, it tasted as awful as the grub that Bloom served him a day earlier. Didn’t help that she sat right next to him and observed his cringe-worthy face.
“Oh, you don’t like it?”
“It’s good, but I’m not used to this…organic stuff. You know, where I come from, I only eat what Asap Yummy™ produces.”
“Asap Yummy?”
“Food printers, you know.”
She didn’t.
No surprise there.
“What’s that?”
“A food printer is basically a machine that forms an edible paste into any food and flavor you like."
He formed his hand into a funnel to visualize the food printing process.
"Let’s say you want to eat a fish that’s extinct, like salmon. You tell the machine to produce a salmon flavor and ta-daa, the dish prints out the replica in real-time. You can even have the AI add minerals and to evoke certain effects, such as concentration or calmness.”
“But that sounds so…”
“Artificial?”
She nodded.
“How do you produce your fish flavor then?”
“Produce? We fish it from the lake and spice it with herbs grown on the fields.”
“You still have real fish?”
Bloom chuckled.
“You’re funny.”
Wasn’t really a joke, but these folks clicked on a different level. RX stuffed his mouth with the salad and the picante bread pieces, or whatever the heck that substance was. He avoided the crimson meat that fouled his tastebuds. When half of his meal was devoured, Norma turned to him.
“To return to our earlier conversation—you said you had no way of communicating with your people, right?”
“I think the atmosphere on this planet prevents the signal from reaching my carrier. Planetary interference or something.”
Norma nodded.
“And can’t you just…fly back to your home in space?”
A delicate question, one that RX wasn’t fond of answering. Despite all the hospitality of the Evergreens, he couldn’t trust them yet.
“I would waste a lot of time and energy. I prefer to communicate and get the coordinates first.”
“Will your friends in space look for you?”
“I’m not sure, actually. But I hope.”
“Do they know where you are?”
“Why?”
Norma halted her question spree that was starting to sound like an interrogation, covered her mouth and chuckled like a little girl.
“Oh, I’m just curious. You know, it’s been a while since we had a guest from another place. And I’m pretty sure we never had any visitor from space.”
“Really? But this sector is frequented rather often. You have never made contact with the US Corps or the Separatists?”
“Who are these people?”
RX shrugged. This colony seemed to be enclosed in a bubble cut off from the rest of the universe.
“Human factions, more or less.”
Norma nodded with fading interest. Maybe she really had no idea what was going on in space.
“Doesn’t this bother you?”
“What?”
“Not knowing what’s going on beyond your planet? This colony might be in danger.”
Norma shrugged.
“Look around you, do you see anyone worrying?”
RX surveyed the hall in a 180° glance. Everyone gulped down their meals with mucho gusto, chatted up their neighbors and exchanged laughter.
“Being ignorant won’t keep them safe, Norma.”
“Oh, it’s not about being ignorant. It’s about dealing with life on our terms. You seem to come from a violent world, my friend, but when you get to know us, you’ll realize that peace is the only way forward.”
“That’s a positive outlook, but I doubt hostiles like the Separatists share your way of thinking.”
“I really don’t care what your Separatists are thinking.”
RX wanted to clarify but stopped himself before the sentence could stumble over his lips. He already recognized an edge in Norma’s voice and shut up out of respectfulness. The Evergreens welcomed him to their table, offered him free food and shelter. There was no need to challenge their lifestyle, no matter how naïve it looked to him.
RX picked up some of his left-over food and addressed Bloom who stopped chitchatting with her neighbor.
“I’m curious—your settlement isn’t registered in the database. Why do you think that is?”
“We’re are an independent and peaceful community.”
“But you have heard of the US Corps and Stryker, right?”
“No, we haven’t. We try to care only about our own matters.”
That was weird, RX thought. Of course there were independent colonies that refused to join the US Corps, but at least they knew the alliance existed. But these citizens seemed to be clueless about anything outside of their settlement. Bloom scooped closer to him and whispered.
“You still seem very tense, Rex. I can only imagine what you had to go through before we found you. But please, when you stay with us, relax and have a good time. Throw away your fear and ease into the flux of our community. You’ll soon realize that you’ve found paradise.”
27
The evening rushed by. RX ignited more questions about the colony’s background or the reason why it wasn’t listed in the databases, but neither Norma, Toyler, nor Bloom—or anyone else for that matter—opened up. The moment RX asked about a delicate detail, the Evergreens shifted topics and flashed their polite smiles. When the feast finished, RX returned to his cockpit and sank into his pilot seat. He connected with Aida and sighed.
“Please tell me some good news.”
“Sounds like you come from a world of pain. Were the locals that terrible?”
“It was worse, Aida, everyone was terribly friendly.”
“But?”
“I don’t get it. I fought the S
eparatists in space and crash-landed on some weird-ass colony that claims to be the paradise no one ever heard of. I still don’t know what to make of this.”
He stretched his neck.
“Could you connect to the carrier?”
“I’m sorry, the connection is dead.”
“Any other way to get back?”
“We could theoretically fly back the same route we came from, once I’ve got the main thruster repaired. But the energy to escape the planet’s gravity would deplete your thrust. And with no connection to the carrier, we’d be flying aimlessly in space.”
Aida was right again. Everything in space moved constantly. Who knew where the Stryker carrier’s location was by now. Maybe they already targeted another sector. Damn it. RX sunk into his seat.
“Does it mean we’re stuck here?”
“For now, yes we are.”
RX slammed the dashboard with the sole of his boot.
“One distraction and that shitty debris caught up with me.”
“I can sense your rising anger but you must not give up. Your training has prepared you for worst-case scenarios.”
“I know, I know.”
He collected his thoughts and breathed in three times.
“So here’s the plan. You keep trying to catch any signal and immediately tell me when you can establish a connection.”
“Roger.”
“I will learn more about these Evergreens. I’ll find out whether they have the tech for interplanetary communication. Something tells me Norma hasn’t told me the truth yet. She’s keeping something from me and I want to know what it is.”
Aida beeped an affirmative sound.
“Look at the bright side, RX. You’re healing, you’re safe and you will have food and shelter for weeks to come. You’re basically stuck in a holiday resort.”
“Yippie.”
Not really, but the AI was right, once again. RX was stranded under superb conditions, but he couldn’t relax. His sixth sense tingled and kept his nervous system on edge. He sealed the cockpit and stretched out in his seat.
“I’m going offline, Aida. Please be on standby and warn me if another idiot tries to take your hull apart.”
“Roger that.”
“But don’t shoot them, just wake me up. We don’t want to ruin our standing. I want to stay friendly with these weirdos until I can blast off for good.”
“Sleep well.”
“I will.”
zzzzz.
Knock, knock.
Say wha—?
“A female civ unit is knocking on the rear,” Aida said.
RX’s consciousness uploaded.
“Wha—what time is it?”
“I don’t know the local time, but it seems to be morning based on the incidence.”
Morning? RX wiped his face. Damn hyper-sleep.
Went by way too fast.
“Rex, are you inside that…thing?”
Bloom’s muffled voice sounded. She knocked on the APEX’s left wing and looked in the cockpit’s direction. Of course she couldn’t see him, but she probably didn’t know that RX could see her. Aida’s voice echoed through his ear channels.
“Looks like you’re already building your local entourage.”
“Space Idol-the new season,” RX said with a smile and sat straight.
He adjusted his uniform and opened the cockpit hatch. Bloom stepped back and welcomed him with a warm smile.
“There you are. I was wondering if you were inside. Oh my, did you sleep in that tight place? That must have been horrible.”
“What’s the matter?”
Bloom hesitated.
“I didn’t mean to disturb you, I was just wondering if you would like to see our colony. We would like to offer you a sightseeing tour. I bet we do a lot of things you haven’t seen before.”
The first thought was to wave her away, but then RX reconsidered.
This was an excellent opportunity to gather intel about the settlement without raising suspicion. He could make mental notes and take images with Aida’s eye connection while playing the perfect guest.
Brilliant.
“Bloom, I’d love to.”
She clapped her hands and leaped into the air with a shriek. RX wondered how old she was—she oozed the energy of an offspring unit, but her eyes looked older.
Maybe she’d tell him her organic age once they warmed up to each other.
Soon.
RX climbed out of his cockpit and joined Bloom outside the hall entrance. A bunch of offsprings gathered around, giggled and pointed fingers at him.
“What’s their problem?”
“They think you look funny.”
Look who’s talking.
Green-brownish midgets wearing skin-tight tech tunics and circuit ornaments cut into their skin. But hey, Bloom was right. In the land of the Evergreens, the pale male was the space freak. RX knelt next to a kid and softened his tone.
“What do you want?”
“We want to take a look at your machine.”
“Do you have authorization for that?”
“Author—what?” one of the midgets said.
“Do you have permission?” RX said for clarification.
Bloom pinched his arm.
“We don’t have that way of thinking. Everyone can do everything.”
“Without ever asking for—“
Ah, yeah, he forgot.
No higher-ups ‘round here.
“Ok, go have a look. But don’t touch.”
What was he talking about—these were offspring units. And the second you told ‘em to leave their hands off, the first thing they’d do is getting their hands on.
“Whatever. Go have your fun.”
In the worst case scenario, he’d command Aida to show off her beam and scare those half-sized suckers off.
“Rawsome.”
The offspring units shrieked, passed RX and bolted into the hall. They ran toward the APEX and climbed onto her wings. RX cringed and averted his eyes. Followed Bloom back into the streets.
“We want to show you how we live. I’m sure it’s different from where you come from.”
RX looked left.
Looked right.
A few folks walked in the distance, but in a radius of fifty meters, it was just him and her.
“Who do you mean by ‘we’?
“We, as in —we the community.”
“But you’re the only one giving me the tour.”
“I speak on behalf of the community.”
“Really?”
She twitched.
“Everyone does, because every voice is equal.”
Right.
“Please, start the tour, or whatever you had in mind.”
“A pleasure.”
Before she finished the word, the bike-ish vessel with two seats halted next to them.
“That’s a nifty little vehicle. How do you call it?”
“Porter,” Bloom said.
She climbed into the driver’s position and connected with the dashboard. RX sat behind her and felt the seat wrapping around his back. Bloom touched the display and accelerated the porter on the rail that emerged from the ground. RX felt the fresh wind brush against his face and coughed. The air still tasted strange.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m not used to the flavor. Kind of bitter.”
“Really? I think the air is fabulous.”
The turbulence swallowed up her words. RX raised his voice and tried to get more information out of her.
“So, Bloom is not your real name?”
“Names are meaningless in our community.”
“Then how do you call each other?”
“We usually don’t. We just know.”
“Know what?”
“Where we are and whom we want to talk to.”
Sounded like nonsensical civ speak, but RX found their ways interesting nonetheless.
“This is really a unique technology you
have here. I’ve noticed the organic circuit pattern that permeates the entire ground and buildings. The tattoos you wear on your body look similar. What’s that all about?”
“It’s an energy web that powers the infrastructure of Evergreen.”
“Who built it?”
“Our ancestors, I think.”
“You don’t know?”
She turned around and gave him that look.
“We live in the moment and forget about the past. All that matters is that we thrive and continue to live in peace.”
Looked like RX touched another no-go theme. He continued to add the taboo topics on his mental list. So far it included: anything military, space faring humans, and the colony’s past. RX concluded that the list was only going to grow from now on, but he switched to a less controversial method nevertheless: silence.
He watched the organic houses flash by. They came in different shapes and sizes, probably based on their functions. Citizens walked outside, half of them offspring. And everyone, even the older ones, looked like athletic models from a star commercial. Bloom made a note of his observations.
“We eat good food and enjoy a lot of exercise. Add the nutritional air and the nature, and you have one healthy lifestyle that allows us to blossom.”
“Paradise,” RX said with a smirk.
“That’s what we call it. It’s unfortunate that there are colonies who don’t live like us.”
“Maybe they don’t want to.”
“Who doesn’t want to live in peace and perfect health?”
RX let the turbulence swallow up the question.
Bloom switched topics.
“By the way, we’re almost there,” she said.
“Where are you taking me?”
“A place that doesn’t exist in space.”
28
Bloom drove the porter through the highways. Many lanes of concrete supported by giant pillars. She boosted the machine and roared along the central lane.
RX couldn’t stop gasping.
So. Much. Wide. Open. Space.
And in-between: endless emerald meadows peppered with ruins.
What a difference.
Inside the Stryker carrier, everything was narrow space to keep the ship’s mass down. But here, horizons melted with the sky.
The view alone relaxed RX’s muscles.
He enjoyed having the wind brush his face.
Enjoyed the sun smiling back at him.
