2-11
The planet was full of deserts and mountains with very little water on the surface. We were in the luxury ship flying down to it. Rowand was bouncing on her heels as we got closer. We had been in the solar system for a few hours and finally got permission to land. Owl was piloting us down while I stared at the planet looking for kaiju.
The closer we got to the surface let me see the moving cities. On the darker side of the planet they were big moving groups of light. We headed towards one on the lighter side of the planet. It was massive, it looked like seven Swivel Cities stacked on top of each other. There was a constant stream of haulers shooting out of it and heading to the other cites. It looked like a giant web.
The city we were going to land on had an elevated ring that surrounded it. Cargo haulers were parking and lifting off at a pace. We swooped low approaching the city and Owl guided us to one of the pads. Our ship hovered a bit before it sank down and landed. Rowand bolted for the back while I waited for Owl to finish powering down the ship.
Owl stepped away from the console and gave me a nod. I reached down and picked up the box that was at my feet. It was black and had latches on the side. I followed Owl out of the front of the ship towards the back where Lahrya and Guardian Wannaniki were waiting with Rowand. We stepped onto the platform and it gave a jerk then started lowering us down.
The air was hot and dry and it flowed past us. The sounds of ships taking off and landing constantly shook our surroundings. Our platform landed and we stepped off, another green person ran up to us with a tablet in hand wearing some kind of overalls. He held it out to Owl and she signed something on it. We had parking for the day.
Rowand stepped forward to lead us and Owl stepped beside me. I heard her suit humm and she pulled something from her increasingly short cloak. It was more of a half cape by the time she held out a little ball of black material, “Throw this off the city, give it some distance. I think there are shields that catch fallen stuff.”
I tucked the box under my arm and held out my hand. Owl placed the orb in my hand and I gave it a pretty hard toss to the side where the platform ended and the desert stretched out. The wind whipped around us at the movement and the orb disappeared into the distance. Owl nodded when she saw how far it went.
I rolled my eyes and caught up to Rowand where she was chatting with Guardian Wannaniki and Lahrya, “What do you guys do for water?”
Rowand gave me a grind and waved at a giant box that was hanging off the side of a building. I could hear it humming from where I stood. “Moisture farming. Those things capture the moisture in the air. It's mandatory across all cities.”
I looked from the box out to the desert. We were moving slowly, maybe a mile or two an hour. Turning back I looked at the city that we were approaching. Every single building was painted white. The city was covered in skyscrapers, the nearest building to us looked to be about fifty stories. I watched a freighter land on one of the platforms near us. Its back opened up and a large group of people entered it and formed a line. They started unloading it at speed, soon they stepped off it and it closed up then lifted off to go get more freight. Another one landed in its space on the platform and the motion repeated, keeping this city full of goods.
Rowand led us into the city, there were people everywhere. I looked at the places we past by and saw most of the places at this level were stores for groceries. We got farther into the city and I started to see holes in the plating below our feet, massive ones surrounded by fencing. There were a few people with weaponry and tools watching the holes. We walked past a few of them before the activity changed.
People had stopped and waited around the hole. The ones with the tools and weaponry were pulling something in. We stopped and watched with the crowd. They jerked and fought whatever they were pulling in and soon it crested the edge of the hole. It looked like a massive beetle the size of a cow. They used the tools to keep it pinned as it wiggled and twisted trying to get back into the hole. When it looked like they were ready one side lifted with their tools exposing its underbelly and a person with a spear took aim at something then struck forward with the spear. The beetle jerked once then quit moving and everyone around the hole let out a cheer, Rowand along with them.
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I stepped close to Guardian Wannaniki and asked him in a whisper, “Why are they cheering?”
He gave me a look and shrugged, “It's fresh meat. Everyone in the surrounding area will get a little fresh meat on their dishes tonight.”
“They subsist off of genetically engineered meat trees. They grow them in farms. This is just some variety in their life” ,Owl said from where stood with her arms crossed watching.
Rowand turned to us with a grin, “It's good. There are different flavors of it. We have whole competitions to see who can make the best meal with it. Those are fun to watch.”
“Where can we try some Rowand?” Lahrya asked.
Rowand gave Owl a look and Owl shrugged. Rowand took that as permission and started leading us through the crowd. We stepped off what had to be a main thoroughfare and into some back streets with alleys. The walls were still painted white and there were doorways every few feet. Rowand would lean into each doorway, look around, then pull back and keep walking. We were getting close when the smell of the city changed from people working to spices and a smoky flavoring.
Rowand stepped into a doorway and we followed her. Inside were hundreds of benches and the walls were covered in a plant. Off to one side there was a kitchen blocked by a chest high table. Rowand gave our group a look then pointed to one of the empty table,” I am just going to order a platter of things. Take a seat there and I will be right back.”
We took a seat, Owl and Lahrya next to me with Guardian Wannaniki across from us. I set the case I was carrying on the floor and slid it under my seat. Rowand came back and plopped down next to Guardian Wannaniki, “So I got us a platter with enough food on it that we will all get to try some of it.” She pointed to Owl, “Its gonna come with a bill though. We will have to pay for it before we can eat.”
“Thats fine. As long as the payment method is the same as when we parked.” Owl shrugged.
“Excellent! I cannot wait to taste your words food Rowand!” Guardian Wannaniki let everyone in the place know.
Someone came over and handed us little boxes that looked like glasses cases. We took them and I opened it to look inside while Owl was handed a tablet she wrote something on. Inside my little box was a little two prong fork and a spoon. I looked up and saw Rowand had set her little box to her side on the table and copied her.
The person left and returned with a giant circle plate with bowls and dishes stacked on top. She set it on the table and slid it forward so it was sitting between us then left. Rowand grabbed her fork thing and started pointing out dishes and naming them. Guardian Wannaniki started pulling random things off plates. Owl took sparingly after waving her little checker over them and Lahrya started filling her plate.
I watched Owl use her little fork to stab a long strip of meat then lift it to her mouth. She chewed on it before nodding, “It tastes like a form of bird on our home planet.”
Guardian Wannaniki was eating everything that he pulled from the platter. He would bring it up to his lips and slurp it into his mouth, he seemed to enjoy it all. Lahrya ate slowly, taking little bits of each dish and moving on to the next one. I looked at the platter then used my fork thing to take some of the stuff Owl said was good onto my plate. The meat was the greyish white. It looked like someone boiled it to cook it, I could smell some spices on it. I cut off a little chunk and brought it to my mouth. Owl was right. It tasted kind of like chicken with a small mix of spices.
Guardian Wannaniki and Rowand ate most of the platter. Guardian Wannaniki because he enjoyed the food and Rowand because she had missed the taste. I noticed there wasn't a lot of starch like rice in most of the food. Lahrya ate some of everything, enough that I would say was a full meal. I only ate when Owl said something tasted good, I was starting to miss the chips I shared with Amanda and her baby raccoon.
Soon the platter was empty and the person came around to collect the dishes. I grabbed the box Owl wanted me to carry and we left the place. Rowand led us all over the city, we saw museums that had a history of the planet. Owl pointed at a few things, “Pretty sure this is mostly fabricated.”
That kind of killed the museum trip. We were walking through a park, it was enclosed in a building but there was a purple grass beneath our feet. I looked from the grass to Rowand, “Where do you live? Do you even have a house in this city?”
She shook her head, “I have family a few cities over.”
“We can't leave until a Kaiju attacks” ,Owl said.
We stopped walking at Owls words and Guardian Wannaniki gave her a look. I took a step closer to her to deflect anything he wanted to throw at her and because she was my ride home. Rowand looked to Guardian Wannaniki then back to Owl, “Why not? You cannot stop me.”
Owl gave me a look then reached over and set her hand on top of the box. She rolled her fingers across the top of it, “Do you have any idea as to what is in this box?”
A light flashed from Guardian Wannaniki's belt over the box in my hands. He crossed his arms and huffed, “A nerve reading system.”
Lahrya’s head was bouncing between the two sides of the little stand off we were having. Owl shook her head at Guardian Wannaniki's answer, “If only it was that simple.” she lifted her hand and aimed her finger at Rowand, “I have been studying the alignment of her nerves. Inside this box is a suit with a row of censors that will align on her spine. It will read her movements and allow her to fight and kill a kaiju.”
Rowand looked at the box in my hands then she turned back to Owl, “How? We have power suits like the one you're wearing? We use them to kill some of the smaller kaiju.”
Owl gave a shrug, “You probably don't have suits like the one I am wearing. I had Suneya toss something off the city when we got here. A nanosphere.”
“Whats it do?” Lahrya asked.
Owl told us and I wanted to face palm.