Fish Restaurant

POV is "green":

Once he got a temporary ID on him, he was ready to set out into the city, but should I warn him first. Nah, it shouldn't be a problem.

So I went out through the door, and he followed me. A new entry showed under his profile, but he new nothing of it, and I won't be telling him anytime soon. That is something no one from Earth understands unless they spend some time living on Halfir.

POV is "blue":

He moved toward the huge door that had another digital image on it. This time it was an autumn scenery with yellow, orange and red-colored leaves dancing in the air between the tall trees. It was much more lively and very different from the ocean-like interior of the building we were soon to leave.

The door opened and I saw many lights of magnificent colors shining in from outside. Within few seconds I stood out without moving, and my brain stopped thinking when I saw what the city looked like.

Now that I got a very good look at it, I believe that calling it a "wonderland" or "fantasy" would make it way too realistic. I was so fascinated by this world that I couldn't move from the spot right in front of the door behind me. I think I was standing there for few minutes but to me it felt like I was astonished for at least an hour.

The street or alley on which I was standing was made of glass. I literally could see everything that was under me. There were more street like that below and above me. Each one was full of people who used the elevators to get from one level to another.

There was no cars around, but variety of what I would call "bicycles" since they didn't use any gas. All of them were operated through the movement of body parts, but none of them looked like a traditional bicycles that we use on Earth.

There was one such "bicycle" that looked like an armchair with tiny wheels under it and two handles on each side that somehow were used to move it. Then there was one that was in a shape of a flower. Another one that was shaped like an acute angle, still even weirder one looked like a huge wheel. And that was just to give few examples, and there was no such thing as two of the same kind! Each one was unique and different from the others.

The buildings were completely covered in digital wallpapers, so that you could never know where one building ended and the other started, unless there was a space between them. I turned around to take a good look at the building I just left.

From outside I could see that it was huge. It went up and down by many levels, but even more amazing was how much it looked like a huge aquarium. If I didn't know it was a digital image created on the walls I would really think that this whole thing was an aquarium with all kinds of fishes, from the smallest ones to the biggest ones, freely swimming in the waters.

The door that I left just a moment ago completely disappeared, but whenever someone approached the place where it was supposed to be, then a huge fish swam toward the visitor, and as it opened its mouth the wall separated, the person would go inside, and as the door shut the fish closed its mouth and swam away. It was so well-made that if I wasn't watching carefully I would really believe that a person was eaten by that huge fish.

The buildings around me were no less amazing. There was a mountain with a snowy weather, a flower field with flower petals flying in the air, a cave filled with crystals, and others but not all of them were realistic. One was them had an image of a forest of pink trees growing on a cloud. Another one presented dancing cats with moves better than professional dancers.

Looking at this out-of-dream world, the people who seemed so extraordinary suddenly fit in this world perfectly. Every piece of here would stand out drastically on Earth, but together it all created a world that not only was amazingly beautiful but also had an outstanding level of harmony. It felt like everyone and everything here got along well on a level that was unimaginable on Earth.

What struck me the most was that even with such a gigantic amount of variety, nothing looked like it was out of place. Rather all that variety was the reason why this place was amazing. Just trying to remove something from this place would create an empty hole and a feeling that something was missing.

"Ready?"

I was awoken by Marychino's question. With a nod, I stopped daydreaming and followed him. Yet I still couldn't stop looking around, the farther we went the more alien but beautiful things I saw.

Eventually we got onto one of the elevators and moved forward. There was no glass in an elevator, only a cutely decorated railing that ended just before my elbows. The elevator was moving slowly as though there was no hurry to go anywhere. When it came to a new city-floor it would stop for a minute to allow people to get on or off and then it would as slowly move up again. It felt like the time was slowing by while the various buildings, machines and people passed before my eyes.

We got off three floors higher, then turned right and stopped in front of what looked like a picnic. The floor looked like a grassland, and in the middle of it was a stream of fresh water flowing by. There were round tables that looked like they were made from the trunk of a tree. People would sit around them and eat their meal.

"Except for the stream everything's here is fake, but enjoy the sight". Well, I was expecting as much. Everything I saw until now was just a digital image.

We stepped onto the floor, and I felt like walking on something soft. Then Marychino chose a table and we sat around it. At that moment I put my hands on the floor and felt like I was touching the grass - the real grass.

"Unbelievable, isn't it?" Marychino looked at me with a light smile. "It's not grass, it's not even a plant, but it feels so real, doesn't it?"

"Yeah..." I couldn't respond anything other than this for a moment. It really felt like real grass. I wondered if I could pull it out, but then Marychino's hand laid down on mine.

"That's called vandalism."

"Sorry," I immediately removed my hands from the grass and put it on the table. "I didn't mean to."

"It's fine, I should have warned you before, but to Halfirians vandalism means a lot. Earthians tend to build a wall and then abandon it, so kids with creative ideas end up drawing on it, but Halfirians won't build anything just to let it be. When they create something they take care of it daily. That's why you won't see any falling-down buildings on Halfir."

He looked to the side and his eyes looked lovingly at the surrounding buildings.

"There is nothing in Halfir that is unwanted. Everything that exists is needed by someone and it is taken care of. That's why this world blooms with such life force and continues to bloom without taking a single break."

He looked back at me.

"It may be something difficult for you to get used to, but you never throw anything away on this planet. Not even the trash. You recycle it. Whatever it is, you can always recycle or reuse it, and that's what Halfirians always do."

"You mean they're crazy with green ideas."

He laughed a bit.

"Maybe they are. After all this whole world around you is created by turning what Earthians call 'trash' into new 'materials'."

Well, if Earth could look like this just from recycling then I surely would vote for it, if I was still on Earth.

"By the way, is the waiter coming or not?" We've already waited quite a long time.

"You have your waiter right in front of you."

I looked at him and he pointed at the place on the table in front of me.

"Huh?"

"Touch it."

I did, and in less than a second a screen showed up, but...

"I cannot understand any of it."

"I guess, so how about telling me what kind of fish you'd like."

"Fish?"

"You said you liked Japanese cuisine, right? When you think Japanese, don't you think of fishes, like sushi? This is a restaurant with specialization in fish dishes, so what kind of fish do you want to eat?"

"Well, I... Do they have sushi?"

"Not exactly the same thing, but something very close."

"Then I think I'll go with sushi."

"Okay," he said, touched his side of the table and ordered the Halfiric sushi while murmuring something in their language.

POV is "red":

The white walls... the white ceiling... the white floor... why?

Why what? Why everything?

How long will I be here? Someone save me... and then the door opened again.