Chapter 8

Mrol Colony

Shannah woke up to sunlight. Slices of sunlight, in fact. The windows were tinted to look like blinds, keeping most of the light out but allowing some thin stripes to keep the interior visible. Shannah felt groggy and a little nauseous, so when she lifted her head, she did so slowly. Her head spun for a moment, but she felt the effects quickly weakening as her muscles sprung to life. She looked around the cabin to find everyone else asleep except Paula. She thought Paula had been sleeping, but when she turned her head to face Shannah, it was clear she’d been awake for longer than Shannah.

“I can’t see much outside these windows,” Paula muttered. “They’re nearly black.”

“Do you think Rosie will let us out?”

“I advise you all wake before going outside,” Rosie replied, its voice as calm and rational as always.

Shannah turned to Kim and reached for her.

“Don’t even try waking her up,” Paula advised. “I already tried.”

“The drugs should wear off quickly,” Rosie said. “I’ve adjusted the pressure and temperature of the cabin, and your body senses it.”

“So the drugs are controlled by pressure and temperature?” Shannah asked in slight awe.

“Yes, a bit. Most of it is simply time. These are highly sophisticated drugs, and they are measured with painstaking accuracy. They are programmed to last for a precise amount of time, and so the duration of the coma mostly depends on that.”

“Coma,” Shannah muttered. “Sounds serious.”

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Paula grumbled. “Can you let me out?”

“Don’t go outside without the group,” Rosie stated. Out of anyone else, it would have sounded like an order. But Rosie had a voice quality that made the strictest commands sound like gentle suggestions. Shannah had no doubt it was on purpose.

“Why? Is something going to eat me?”

“Bantock is much larger than any city you Earthlings have ever encountered. The population is one billion.”

Shannah blinked. “You—you said one billion?”

“Yes.”

“Holy shit,” Paula whispered.

“That’s nothing. Bendicta is about three billion.”

“Bendicta? What’s that?”

“It’s the capital of Shorack.”

“Shorack . . .?”

“In time I will explain. Or you will find out. It’s hard to live on Mrol Colony for more than a day without figuring out who Shorack is.”

“It’s a person?”

“A planet, in fact.”

Paula and Shannah looked at each other. Neither of them were as shocked by this revelation as they probably should have been. At this point, they wouldn’t have been surprised if Rosie informed them there was such a thing as Santa Claus.

“So Bantock is huge. That doesn’t mean going outside will get me lost.”

“I don’t hear anything,” Shannah murmured.

“This is a sound-proofed chamber. Another reason I’d prefer you to stay inside until you are all ready to emerge. It’s a loud, incredibly busy city, and there is no sympathy for newcomers. Colonians are not . . . friendly, by nature, so it would be best if you stuck together.”

“Oh, great.” Paula tossed up her arms. “So you dropped us down in the middle of a bunch of pricks.”

“I’m afraid the word ‘pricks’ is not in my vocabulary.”

Paula smirked. “Stick with me long enough, Rosie, and you’ll figure it out.”

There was a groan next to Shannah. Shannah turned to see Kim’s arm grasping at the seat. Her face twitched, and her eyelashes began to flutter. At the same time, Jacky was starting to stir in the back seat.

“So are we close to this recruitment center or whatever?”

“Two blocks from it. I could have parked in the building itself, but I thought it would be better to let you glimpse the city first. It’s a marvelous sight.”

“I don’t like cities much,” Shannah said. “They smell bad, they’re noisy, and everyone’s in a rush to get somewhere.”

“Bantock doesn’t smell bad. At least, I’ve heard no accounts of such so far. It may smell different. After all, this is a new planet.”

“So there’s oxygen in the atmosphere and stuff?” Paula asked.

“Oh, yes. You’ll find Mrol Colony very similar to your home planet. It’s a fraction larger than Earth, so you may have to adjust to the gravity difference. The days and years are a little longer, as well, but only by a few hours.”

“You’re serious?”

“Biological life is a very particular thing,” Rosie explained. “It doesn’t form unless the conditions are perfect. That is why for every planet with life, there are billions of planets without it. This particular solar system is truly magnificent, because not only is there one planet with life, but two.”

“That is kind of amazing,” Shannah agreed.

“So there’s rain and trees and rivers and everything?” Paula asked in awe.

“Yes. Different species, of course.”

“And what do the people look like? Are they . . . alien-like?”

Rosie was silent. Then: “You’ll see soon enough.”

Kim let out a rather loud moan and lifted her head, eyes shooting open at last.

“Ugh.” She raised a hand to her hair and winced. “Damn, what did I drink?”

Jacky sighed and opened her eyes. “Hey, you guys are awake.”

“That just leaves Lizzy here.” Paula jabbed a thumb at Elizebeth.

“It’s not Lizzy,” came the nonplussed reply. Elizebeth had been less obvious with her waking, but there was no doubt she’d emerged from her coma-like sleep. Her eyes popped open, only to glare at Paula. “It’s Elizebeth.”

“My apologies, my queen,” Paula grunted.

“That’s it. I’m off drugs forever,” Kim said, then chuckled. “Okay, wow. My head just cleared. Hi, Shannah. Is everyone okay?” Kim sat up and looked around.

“Define okay,” Elizebeth grumbled.

“Well, is anyong going to puke?” Kim clarified.

Paula yawned and raised her arms over her head to stretch. “I’m going to pee my pants if I don’t get to a bathroom.”

“Ditto.” Jacky brushed her hair out of her face. “How long were we asleep?”

“About two weeks.”

“Wow.” Kim leaned back to crack her spine. “I don’t feel particularly energetic though.”

“You will feel a little lethargic for the next two hours, but if you exercise, that should help. Anything to speed the flow of your blood.”

Kim spun around and tried to get a glimpse outside through the tiny clear lines in the black window. “These windows weren’t like this when we got in here.”

“I made them like that.”

“You can do that? Fancy.” Kim ran a finger down the black windshield. “Where are we?”

“Two blocks from the military recruitment office,” Shannah replied for Rosie. “In Bantock.”

“Right. That makes lots of sense.”

“Bantock is the capital city of Mrol Colony, remember? Rosie told us the population here is one billion.”

Elizebeth sputtered in the back. “One billion?”

“Yeah.”

“Shit,” Kim whispered under her breath. “Hey, I bet they have some awesome clubs.”

Paula tried to jump in with a remark, but Kim quickly retorted with, “It was a joke, Facksi. God.”

“Can we go out now?” Shannah asked. She just wanted to get out there and see it for herself. She was sick of talking about it. Who knew? Maybe this was all some crazy simulation and she was still on Earth.

“Grab your things. Stick together,” Rosie advised sternly. “And here. Take this.”

What looked like a glove compartment popped open. Kim yelped and jumped back in alarm. Shannah reached past her to take what the glove compartment gave her.

“Is that an iPhone?” Kim asked when Shannah extracted a simple black device that indeed looked much like an iPhone, except so thin that Shannah feared it would break like a tortilla chip.

“It’s called a caster,” Rosie explained. “I advise you use the money on there to buy four more for the rest of you. They’re crucial for pretty much everything.”

“Is it a cellphone?”

“That and more. They are your money, your communication, your ID, even your computer. If you need to know something, the caster can tell you. And it will only operate to the fingerprints of its owner, so don’t worry about others stealing it.”

Shannah touched the screen and it flickered on. The words “Welcome, Shannah” appeared, and she was then greeted with a menu featuring a plethora of categories.

“It knows my name,” Shannah whispered.

“Of course it does. It knows your voice and your fingerprints as well.”

Kim leaned over Shannah’s shoulder to look at it. So did Paula and Elizebeth. Jacky was still occupied with trying to see through the slits in the window.

“You said there’s money on here?”

“Yes. On Mrol Colony, there is no such thing as paper money. Everything is digital. There is a tiny scanner on the edge of the caster. All you need to do is pass it across the lens of any store counter and it will do the work for you. It keeps track of all your finances so you don’t have to.”

“That’s kind of cool.”

“Which is why the caster is absolutely crucial for survival. Your account is kept safe in whatever company you’ve bought the caster from, so if you lose the device, you can simply buy another and all your info will still be there. But it would be best to keep the original with you.”

“No kidding. So I buy more casters with this thing?”

“That’s the problem. None of you girls have identities on this planet. In summary, you don’t exist. You can’t simply buy casters because you’ve never had accounts or identities. Which is why you must visit the military recruitment center.”

“What, so the people who run the caster companies will care about our lack of identities, but the military won’t?” Paula asked.

“You must see Holo.”

“Who’s Holo?” Shannah felt her brain might hit overload if Rosie kept spitting out the new things she had to do and the new people she had to meet.

“He’s a very important military figurehead.”

“Wait. How do you know Holo will help?”

“My previous programming has told me to tell you this. Using the knowledge from my databases, I find this instruction strange. Holo is a very busy and powerful man, and I don’t see why he would take pity on you when others wouldn’t.”

“Great. It doesn’t even make sense to Rosie,” Elizebeth grumbled. Jacky scooted up next to her, having abandoned her mission to see outside.

“Okay. So we go out, go to the recruitment center, and see Holo.”

“I’m afraid it won’t be that easy. I’ve been instructed to tell you to see Holo, but I assume seeing him isn’t as easy as it sounds.”

Paula groaned and leaned back in her seat. “God. More complications.”

“I can’t give you much help,” Rosie admitted. “You’ll have to go to the center and see what you can do. All I know is that Holo is the key to this, and you must somehow get in touch with him.”

“How important is this guy, exactly?” Elizebeth asked suspiciously.

“He’s the Head General of the Mrol Colony Military. He is much like your president.”

“Oh, damn!” Kim gaped at the ceiling, which was as close to a face as they could find for Rosie. “So you want us to somehow get in touch with the president of this place?”

“It’s easier than it would be in your United States. Holo is a military man, and he doesn’t care for the slow crawl of the bureaucracy. While he has little say in the government, he can do pretty much anything with the military, save start a war. He’s feared and respected my almost everyone, and he doesn’t cower behind an entourage of body guards and red tape. He does what he wishes when he wishes. He also has a good relationship with his recruits. It is not beneath him to meet with them in person, which is why I think you’re capable of getting a hold of him if you are clever enough.”

They all looked at each other, then sighed.

“Okay, another complication,” Elizebeth said. “We don’t speak the language of these people.”

“Oh, but you do.”

“What?” Kim asked, gaping.

“It’s all history you can find in that caster of yours, Shannah. About two hundred and fifty years ago, Shorack and Mrol Colony made actual physical contact with each other. They’d known about each other for a long time before that, of course, but the technology didn’t exist to meet. Well, they finally did. They knew that due to some hostilities on both sides, it would be best to have a central language both planet centers could use, Bantock and Bendicta, for both are considered the capital cities. So they chose a language that neither knew, therefore reducing prejudice and favoritism of one language over another.”

“Hang on. That makes no sense. If you’re saying they know English, how the hell did they find out about it?”

“Unlike your own solar system, Elizebeth, the portal for this solar system is nearby. A few ships were sucked into it and spit out in Earth’s solar system. They crash landed in the the United States, where they were forced to learn the language and interact with the people. When reinforcements were sent to pick them up, they returned with knowledge of this language. Since the language was easier than both the main Colonian and the main Shorackan languages, they decided to chose this English and use it instead.”

“It probably would have been easier to just have everyone be bilingual.”

“Ah, but you see, each planet has a plethora of its own languages, just like your Earth. Instead of learning them all, it was simply easier to adopt a whole new universal one. Also, the Colonian language is an extremely difficult language, so difficult that sometimes it is impossible to learn for those who hadn’t grown up with it. English was a better idea.”

“Sounds like 1984,” Jacky muttered.

“Wait.” Shannah shook her head slowly. “You said that the people who crash landed on Earth lived with the people so that they could learn their language. But how did they fit in? Aren’t they aliens?”

Rosie didn’t answer. Instead, it only opened its doors.

Noise flooded in like a tidal wave. So did the sound of rain. Heavy rain. Shannah didn’t see much else, because it seemed they were on an abandoned floor of a car garage. That’s what it looked like anyway, though there were these funky parking meter things at every slot. Extremely high tech parking meters.

“Get out!” came Kim’s order. Shannah slipped out of the car, her feet

stumbling on the concrete. Her legs felt funny, and it was probably from not using them for two weeks. She eventually regained her balance, but she had to lean against Rosie to keep from falling over.

Like most parking garages, the building was open to the elements. The first things she saw were sheets of rain and heavy mist. With further inspection, she saw the vague outlines of buildings in the distance. She realized they weren’t near the ground, because she saw no tree in sight. She saw metal and glass. Lots of it. In every direction.

Shannah ignored the girls slipping out of the car behind her. She shuffled to the very edge of the parking garage, grabbing a pillar before looking out, just to make sure she didn’t fall. After catching a quick glimpse of what lied beneath her, she let out a yelp of fear and stepped backward.

She hadn’t seen anything. Only mist and rain. Which either meant that clouds had decided to sweep the ground or they were high enough to be emersed in one.

“Rosie?” Shannah called. “How far up are we?”

“Thirty floors,” Rosie replied over the din of the rain.

“Holy shit.” Shannah clutched the pillar tighter. She was no fan of heights. Another reason she wasn’t much attracted to the city scene.

The girls joined her at the edge. The view was almost mystical. Out of the fog rose glass and steel monsters, larger than any skyscrapers she had ever seen and four times as tall. They towered over the garage, and some of their peaks were invisible, because they vanished into more clouds.

“Wow. It’s kind of scary,” Jacky whispered.

Paula snorted. “Nice weather, right?”

“We should probably find an elevator,” Elizebeth said. She spun around and walked back into the belly of the garage. Shannah followed, because she’d had enough of this heartstopping view.

“Why did you park us up here?” Elizebeth stopped by Rosie.

“It’s safe up here. No traffic to bombard you.”

“No kidding. It’s empty.”

“Before you go, I should warn you. You may be stared at.”

Shannah hugged herself. Great. As if the people gawking at her in high school wasn’t bad enough. “Why?”

“Your species is rare, even on its native planet.”

“What aren’t you telling us?” Elizebeth’s hair seemed to be inflating, but whether it was out of anger or humidity, Shannah wasn’t sure.

“Our species?” Shannah gaped, then reached up to touch her ears. “You mean—you mean these ears . . . we’re an actual species?”

“Yes. A very rare one.”

“But it exists.”

“Yes.”

“So we’re not total freaks?”

“No. Now I think it would be best if you left now. The sooner you try to find Holo, the better.”

Elizebeth nodded. She turned to the three girls still looking out over the edge. “Come on, ladies! Time to go!”

“Use the map on your caster, Shannah,” Rosie suggested. “It will help.”

Shannah touched the map icon on her caster screen. Immediately it showed her a map, with a blinking red light to simulate where they stood. Shannah touched the zoom in button until she was looking at four block radius. It didn’t look too different from Earthling maps, though all the roads were numbered instead of named. It looked like the recruitment center was on the intersection of 103 and 188. She frowned. How could she possibly remember streets if they were numbers? She had a hard time remembering names.

The elevator was easy to find and operate. It didn’t seem very different from an Earthling elevator, except, of course, for the fact that the moment they were all inside, the door zipped shut in an instant. Kim actually let out a shriek as the breeze from the closing door made her hair flutter.

“What—holy shit! Did that—that just close?”

“Yeah.”

“It could have killed me!”

“Maybe you should be quicker,” Elizebeth retorted.

Kim opened her mouth to snap at her, but she seemed to lose the will immediately. She decided to simply pout and cross her arms. The elevator jerked, and with a quiet hum, dropped. Shannah knew they were going faster than a normal elevator, but seeing as she was dropping at the same rate as the elevator, it was hard to tell just how much faster.

“So this Holo guy,” Jacky thought out loud. “Is that just what you call him? Holo? First or last name?”

“Who cares?” Kim rubbed her arms. “I just know it’s pouring down rain out there, and I didn’t think to pack an umbrella.”

“A little water won’t hurt you. Might even wake you up.”

“Paula, just because you always look like you just survived a typhoon doesn’t mean I want to.”

“So you’re just afraid of it messing up your hair? God, Kim, we fly halfway across the universe and you’re still a shallow bitch.”

“And you’re still a plain old bitch.” Kim threw a glare at Paula over her shoulder.

“Girls, can we act our age?” Elizebeth suggested with a dainty sniff. “Please?”

“You saw the rain out there. It looks cold, and I don’t want to walk around drenched. And no, it has nothing to do with my hair. If I cared about my hair at this point, I’d be freaking out over how oily and gross it is. I mean, have you seen this? Ugh, I could cook a burger with the grease from this thing.”

Someone’s stomach growled. It must have been Jacky’s, because she was quick to apologize. “Sorry. But don’t talk about burgers, guys. I’m starving enough as it is.”

“First we’ve got to find this Holo guy,” Kim argued. “Then we’ll take care of food. Who knows what they eat in this place. Worms, maybe.”

Paula and Elizebeth simaltaneously rolled their eyes.

The elevator slowed to a halt and the doors snapped open with a hiss. They were released onto a floor that looked much like the one they’d left, except packed with cars. Well, using the term “cars” loosely. They looked car-like, but Shannah would describe them as more pod-like. Some had wheels, but others didn’t, and they all looked like the aerodynamic dreams of car manufacturers. Shannah walked close to one to inspect it, but she didn’t dare touch it. Who knew what kind of security systems they had in a futuristic society.

The noise outside had risen to a crescendo, and when they rounded the corner, they met up with the mouth of the garage entrance. They all stood still a moment, gathering up the courage to join the mob of people that milled acorss the—wait a minute.

“Is it just me, or are those people human?” Elizebeth whispered.

“They are.” Kim blinked in wonder. “But how is that—”

“Wow,” Jacky interrupted, smiling slightly. “Isn’t that convenient? They speak English and are human!”

“Too convenient.” Elizebeth pursed her lips. “I don’t see how it’s possible.”

“Maybe it’s magic,” Paula crooned, wiggling her fingers spookily. When Elizebeth glared at her, Paula laughed and stepped forward. “You guys can stand around debating this all you want. Me? I’m going to go find this Holo guy and figure out what the hell he wants with us. Shannah, I’ll need you. You’re the map.”

Shannah trotted forward, afraid of what Paula might do if Shannah didn’t obey. Eventually the girls slunk after them. Elizebeth looked downright mean. The rest of them were more upbeat; they had little trouble suspending the disbelief that Elizebeth couldn’t abandon. To Elizebeth, there was no wonder or magic in the world. It was all mathematical equations and computer codes which could be figured out and solved. Shannah saw things a bit differently.

“They are human,” Paula muttered at the entrance of the garage. Despite the rain, the pedestrian traffic was heavy and the actual street traffic even worse. There was a glass roof over the sidewalk, keeping the people on foot dry. The raindrops slid harmlessly off the sleek sides of the pod-like cars cruising down the street. Apparently this weather was nothing new. The temperature was a little chilly, but for the most part it was comfortable for Shannah to stand there in her T-shirt and jeans.

Shannah quickly took in her environment. The people were taller than she was used to, and perhaps a little paler as well. None of them looked particularly friendly. There was little ethnic diversity here, which Shannah had come to expect of cities. Everyone, even the women, cropped their hair short at the nape of the neck and wore dull, often dark colors. It was a throbbing mass of people who, for the most part, looked exactly alike.

No wonder Rosie warned them about staring.

Shannah inspected the people more closely. No one looked over the age of fifty, which struck her as odd. Then again, in an age when one could leap between solar systems, what was to keep them from plastic surgery? Did they worship youth here as well? Shannah wasn’t sure, because no one looked outwardly beautiful or striking. And she had a feeling that those who looked forty were forty. No, she didn’t see the effects of a youth-obsessed culture. Perhaps people just didn’t want to look too old. Or maybe all the truly old stayed inside on a day like this. Who knew.

She felt eyes on her, but when she looked, everyone was staring ahead like robots. No one paused, and no one gawked. But she knew they were looking at her. She could feel it.

“Shannah?”

Shannah snapped out of her reverie and faced Paula.

“Where is this recruitment center?” Paula asked.

Shannah cast a few more glances around. The street itself looked much like any other city street, except with taller buildings and roofed crosswalk ramps that made X’s over the intersections. She supposed they didn’t want people getting run over by the traffic, which was traveling at a faster pace than normal. It did seem like a better way to walk. Shannah always hated wating for the stoplights.

“Um.” Shannah looked down at the map and pointed to the left. “Just two blocks that way.”

“Alright, Miss Map. Lead the way.”

“Really? You want me to—?”

“Just go.” Paula grabbed Shannah’s arm roughly and shoved her in front of the group. After casting a timid look back, Shannah tucked the caster into her pocket and dove into the pedestrian traffic.

No one seemed to care that she was in their way. If they stepped around her, they didn’t make much of an effort, and a few shoulders rammed into her. Shannah fought down her flight instinct and tried remaining calm. She found a small space in the crowd and decided to walk there, looking over her shoulder to make sure the girls were behind her. They were, if not a little further behind than Shannah would have liked.

Some guy next to her began to talk, and for a moment Shannah thought he was talking to her. Then she figured he had some sort of Bluetooth phone, because it became clear his conversation wasn’t with her.

At first it was difficult to pick apart his accent and his words. It was a garbled English. Not a slang-filled English, like one might expect in Jamaica. Just extremely accented. And he talked very fast, which made Shannah feel a little ridiculous. She was a teenager. She was supposed to be of a very fast-talking breed. And yet his mouth was moving almost too quickly for her. She became so absorbed by his strange speak that she almost forgot to step onto the X-shaped crosswalk over top of the road. Two more steps and she would have put herself in the way of the oncoming car traffic.

Suddenly someone took her arm. Shannah jumped and turned, only to find that it was Paula.

“God, talk about an aggressive bunch of jerks,” Paula grumbled. She elbowed someone out of her way to make room for herself. The person didn’t seem to care; he only fell a step behind to make room.

“Have you heard them talk?” Shannah asked, her voice struggling with the volume of the city around them.

“Clips here and there.”

“I can barely understand them.”

“Well, yeah. Our American English came over two hundred and fity years ago. It had to have changed since then.”

“Still. It sounds . . . weird.”

“At least they speak English. I’m just thankful for that. I mean, what if they had landed in Spain and brought Spanish back? It would have been an Earthling language, but we would have been just as screwed.”

Shannah nodded. “Have you noticed anyone staring at us?”

“No.”

“I feel it . . .”

Paula pushed someone else out of her way, and Shannah was glad to have her. Paula was a pain in most circumstances, but her linebacker talents were much appreciated.

The military recruitment center wasn’t a quaint little office shoved in some two-floor building. It was in fact a monstrous skyscraper that vanished into the fog, its many windows glinting in the rain. It looked almost elegant, and Shannah was shocked that its purpose was more grisly than its apperance.

The glass doors slid open soundlessly when Shannah and Paula approached. Words rolled across their center, but Shannah didn’t have enough time to read them before Paula was yanking her forward into the lobby.

“Fancy place.” Paula craned back her head and looked up at the high domed ceiling of the lobby. “What is this, a hotel?”

It indeed did look like the lobby to a five star hotel, what with the potted plants, squat furniture, marble pillars, and expansive reception desk. The girls soon joined Shannah and Paula inside, though their awe kept them silent.

“You sure we’re in the right place?” Paula asked Shannah in a low voice.

“Yeah. It says it right on the map.”

People were milling around, none of them interested in the five slightly damp girls standing in the entrance. Shannah watched the people who passed her curiously, documenting each face in hopes of finding a trend. But she saw nothing past her original observations except that no one was fat either. In fact, everyone seemed to be in peak physical condition. And it wasn’t simply because they were in a military establishment, where good physical condition was crucial. Everyone outside had seemed to look the same.

That, of course, made Shannah want to grab a trench coat and hide under it. While she was glad she was no longer the pudgy twelve-year-old she’d once been, she was no athlete, and she feared someone would judge her pale, soft arms.

“Come on. Let’s ask that guy at the desk,” Jacky suggested.

Kim shook her head. “Rosie said Holo is, like, the president. You can’t just walk into his office with a hello and a wave.”

“What do you suggest we do then?” Elizebeth snapped. “Ask everyone who leaves if their name is Holo? We don’t even know what he looks like.”

“He’s gotta have medals on or something, right? He’s a general. I doubt he’d be wearing plainclothes if he’s at work,” Jacky said.

“Still. Did you see the size of this building? He could be anywhere.”

Paula squared her shoulders and took a step toward the desk. “We have to ask someone.”

“I have a bad feeling about this . . .” Yet Shannah trotted after her anyway, desperate to see how the inquisition went.

Paula cleared her throat as she strode up to the desk. The guy at the computer paused in his typing and looked up at her. Elizebeth peered over Paula’s shoulder, seemingly checking out what the man had been typing on. It looked computer-ish, but not. Instead of a screen, it looked like a glass plate that images were projected on. And the keyboard wasn’t keys at all, but simply another touch screen that looked like a keyboard. Shannah bet it was easier to clean, at least.

“Yes?” the man asked. At least Shannah understood that.

“We were wondering. Would you know of anyway to get a personal meeting with Holo?”

The man squinted at all of them. He probably found their accent as strange as they found his. But he must have figured it out eventually, because he answered the question.

“You can send in a form,” he replied, his tone clipped. “But it could take months.”

“We don’t have months,” Paula argued.

“You’re going to have to slow down. I can hardly understand you.” He lifted his eyebrows. “You must be Shorackan.”

He said it like an insult, and even though Shannah knew nothing about Shorack, she felt the desire to retaliate.

“We’re not from here, no,” Shannah interjected. “Which is why it’s absolutely necessary to talk to Holo as soon as possible. This is very important.”

“Important?” The man had a nerve to chuckle. “I’m afraid you don’t know the meaning of important. Holo has important needs, far more important than anything you girls could possibly—”

“Look, you little shit,” Paula growled, pounding a fist on the table. “You’re going to schedule us a meeting with Holo or I’ll—”

“And I’ll call security.” The man lifted his eyebrows.

“Paula, please?” Shannah pushed Paula to the side and took her place in front of the man. “I’m sorry. It’s just that we’re very desperate. So if you could find some way to get us a meeting with him soon . . .”

“There’s nothing I can do. I could patch you through to Holo’s department secretary, but I’m afraid there’s nothing he can do either. Holo is an important and busy man, and he can’t be bothered. It takes months to process a visitation with him.”

“Can you just patch us through to his department then?” Shannah pleaded.

The man stared at her a moment, giving her a quick once over. Half of his expression seemed to be that of disdain and the other half curiosity. He leaned forward and pressed a button on a panel of about three hundred buttons, all of which were unlabeled.

“H’aghan, I’ve got a 56-HG down here wanting to schedule an appointment.”

There was a buzz, then a reply back: “Send them up.”

The man at the desk sighed heavily and swiveled in his chair back to face them. “Alright. Go to room 7809. H’aghan can get you an application, but don’t expect anything, because most applications never come to fruition.” He gave Shannah a stern blue-eyed gaze and then turned back to his work.

“7809?” Elizebeth whispered as they headed for the elevator. “Does that mean the 78th floor?”

“I guess,” Shannah replied.

The elevator ride was uneventful, though it was packed. Shannah listened to more clips of conversation, trying to break down the accent so that it would be easier to understand. She wished they’d just slow down. If a native speaker couldn’t understand you, you knew it was fast.

Most of the crowd had left by the 78th floor, probably because the 78th floor appeared to be two floors away from being a penthouse. Shannah bet the view from the window would be both terrifying and gorgeous. Unfortunately, the elevator dropped them off in a windowless corridor. They headed for the door at the end of the hall, which was clear and showed a reception desk behind it. That had to be 7809.

“Shannah, you go,” Kim urged. “You make a good diplomat. Paula just pisses people off.”

“You gotta be tough with these people,” Paula grunted defensively.

“You don’t know that.”

Shannah left the two girls to their arguing and stepped in front. A surge of bravery rushed through her, and she strode right through the glass door that slid away to admit her.

The man at the reception struck her immediately. Not only because he threw her a genuine, friendly smile when she entered, but because he didn’t have the sheet-white skin of everyone she’d seen so far. In fact his skin was cinnamon colored, and his eyes were a chocolate brown.

“You were the woman wanting an appointment,” he said, and Shannah almost hugged him in relief. He spoke much slower than the rest, and while the accent was just as thick, it had a different ring to it, making it easier to understand. It was actually a very pleasant accent, sounding exotic and familiar at the same time.

“Yes. Thank you.” Shannah smiled at him warmly, because she believed that one smile could only deserve another in return. “Yes, I’m here about Holo.”

The man surveyed her for a second. “Are you . . . from here?”

“Out of town, actually.” Shannah nervously ran a finger along her knuckle and bit her lip. “Um, so here’s my dilemma. We—I—need to see Holo as soon as possible. It’s urgent.”

“I’m sorry,” the man said. “But that is rather impossible at the moment. Holo hasn’t any time to spare.”

“But—but he has to! If we don’t speak with him, we—we—”

“Excuse me, but . . . we?”

“Me and my friends.” Shannah stood aside and gestured to the group of her four friends still standing in the hall. They’d gone dead quiet, and gaped back Shannah and the receptionist.

“Oh.” He blinked. “You’re—you’re all Rindsineons?”

“Excuse me?”

The man only gave her a confused expression. Shannah was beginning to believe that ‘Rindsineon’ was a word she was expected to know. So she bluffed.

“Uh . . . yeah.”

“How odd. And you’re not from Shorack?”

“From—uh, no. No, we’re not.”

The man looked between Shannah and her friends again before sighing heavily. “Well, this seems to be a rather interesting situation. I haven’t seen Rindsineons in a long time. The military has only had a few, and only one permanent employee. Holo might want to see this development.”

“Yes. Of course he would!”

“Look, this is what I can do for you. I want you to give me your personal information and I’ll put in an application for you. I’ll be seeing Holo tomorrow, and I’ll let him know about it then. He can look over the application and decide whether or not to see you.”

“That would be—that would be great. Thank you so much.” Shannah couldn’t help a smile from crawling across her mouth.

“So do you want to give me your personal information?” The man raised his eyebrows.

“Give you . . .?” Shannah stared at him cluelessly a second. The man seemed confused by her confusion, and once again Shannah believed that this was information she was supposed to know.

Then she remembered the caster. Rosie had said it handled her bank account; it probably handled everything else too. She pulled it out from its resting place in her armpit and quickly scrolled down the menu. It took some fishing around, but she eventually found the page with her name, ID number, and physical description. It was like some sort of driver’s license or passport, and while Shannah didn’t understand how she could have all of this for a world she had never visited, she quickly handed her caster to the man. He ran it across a small plate of glass on his counter, which Shannah guessed was a scanner. Then he handed it back to her with a smile.

“Thank you.”

“No, thank you,” Shanneh repeated, feeling like a broken record. “Um, I really, really appreciate it.”

He smiled pleasantly, looking a bit surprised. By what, Shannah wasn’t sure. “It was no problem.”

Shannah nodded. “Thanks.” Blushing, she quickly exited the room and joined her friends in the hall.

“Well?” Elizebeth asked.

“Well,” Shannah replied, sighing, “I think there’s some hope. He was really nice. He said he’d give my information to Holo.”

“And then what?”

“I’m assuming he’ll call us on this.” Shannah held up her caster. “That was some of the information I gave him.”

“So it was that easy?”

“Yeah. Like I said. He was nice.”

“Wonder why.” Paula looked past Shannah. “Everyone else seems like a big prick.”

“I hate to be racist, but he does look different than the others.” Shannah headed toward the elevator. “I mean, I don’t think he’s from here. He’s a different race and his accent is different.”

“Maybe he’s from a different country.”

“Maybe.”

The elevator dinged, because it hadn’t left since they arrived.

“Okay, so what do we do until tomorrow?” Jacky asked.

All the girls looked at each other. They seemed to be doing everything step by step, and now that Rosie’s instructions had run out, what could they do? They were hungry, and there was still an entire city to explore.

Shannah had forced herself to stay positive, but she felt the weight of their journey push down on her. It felt like she’d left Earth just a few hours ago, and the loss of her family was still foremost in her mind. It was all too much, and Shannah feared she’d break down if given too much time to think.

“Well, let’s go back to Rosie,” she suggested. “It’ll know what to do.”

So that was what they did. They took the elevator and left the military recruitment center, stepping out into a world of heavy rain, thick fog, and a billion strangers.

Author’s Note: The previous draft wa totally different. XD That’s good, because the previous draft had a bunch of unnecessary crap. So here it is, cut down and shined up for your reading pleasure. :)

Seem far-fetched? Yeah, well. Suspend disbelief for a moment, if you don’t mind. XD

Sorry it’s been so long since I updated. This whole “re-writing” thing is tedious after you’ve done it four times (yes, I’ve done it over four times since the first draft in third grade). But I’m in the mood again, I think. ^_^