Chapter 3: Mesmerize

“Not good enough, make it again,” said Larinda, contempt oozing out of her voice. She then tossed the dish Luke had made into the garbage. Shazo was a more advanced Evursan dish, and Luke felt that he and Grarek had done an admirable job; however, Luke had to hand the dish off to the waiter and Larinda intercepted him.

She then grabbed Luke’s necktie and looked it over, her eyes glaring with intensity. “This is crooked, go fix it,” she said, tugging it loose. Luke walked over to the entrance of the break room before turning around to see Stu giving him a sorry look. Luke walked into the break room, and noticed Naomi sitting on the sofa, reading something on her screen.

Luke smiled and walked over. “Hey,” he said, causing Naomi to look up at him. “Is my tie crooked?”

Rather than answer. Naomi simply stood up and began to fiddle with Luke’s tie. “Larinda?” she asked curtly. Luke nodded in reply. Once she was satisfied with her work, she sat back down on the sofa.

“Grarek warned me about her, so I’ve been avoiding her as best as I can, but she kinda ambushed me,” explained Luke. Right as he finished speaking, an unfamiliar Jurgund’ran male entered the break room from the dining area. He barreled past Luke and Naomi and into the male’s restroom. A look of panic was emblazoned on her face.

“Get back to the kitchen,” she ordered, as she hurriedly put her screen back in her pocket and stood up. “I’ll talk to Larinda, just go back to work.” She waved her arms to signal him to hurry along and at that, Luke power walked his way back into the kitchen and took his place next to Grarek.

“Kid, do ya mind dicing that tomato?” asked Grarek. Luke grabbed a knife and began chopping. “I’m sorry about earlier, I already remade the shazo. She didn’t even check it, which figures…”

Luke interrupted with a wave of his hand. “All good, man,” he said. “So, some Jurgund’ran walked into the break room and Naomi, uh, kinda freaked. What’s the deal with him?”

“Ugh, Grukker,” said Grarek. Luke could tell that Grarek had complicated feelings when it came to his fellow Jurgund’ran. “He’s the other person you should avoid. He’s misguided. I tried to steer him on the right path when he first started working here, but…”

Grarek sighed, flipping the slab of meat on the stove. “He’ll only listen to what he wants to hear, and what he wants to hear is how the typical racist bullshit that always pops up when a new race joins the Coalition. He also thinks there’s more wisdom in youth than experience. But, we live a long time, us Jurgund’ran, and I know he’ll eventually grow out of it. Until then, he’s just a disrespectful ass.” Luke could tell that discussing the younger Jurgund’ran had made Grarek unhappy as Grarek plated the meal before walking it over to the waiter waiting by the entrance to the dining area, an awkward silence hanging over their station.

***

Luke was sitting in the Pod Palace’s laundromat after work, waiting for his clothes to finish drying. Despite the amount of residents that lived in pods, he could count the amount of people washing their clothes on one hand, including himself. The thought of people just going around in dirty clothes was an unpleasant one. He could understand wearing a t-shirt two days in a row, maybe, but more than that just made Luke uncomfortable.

Once the dryer dinged in completion, Luke hopped off of the machine and opened it up. He then grabbed his clothes and folded them before placing them in a basket. As he walked back to his pod, he felt his screen vibrate in his pocket. Ignoring it for now, he rounded a corner and entered into the section with his pod. Once he entered it, he placed the basket on the ground and checked his phone. He had two notifications, both from Naomi.

spoke with Larinda. She’ll cool w/ you

*it

Luke cheered up at reading the messages. The thing with Larinda had put a damper on his day, but he wasn’t expecting it to be handled so quickly. He began typing out a reply.

That’s cool thanks

He then scratched his chin before deciding to send another one.

You wanna hang out?

Luke tossed his screen onto his bed and began folding his clothes. While folding his second pair of work pants, his screen buzzed. Luke excitedly stopped what he was doing and grabbed his screen. It was another message from Naomi.

sure

meet m e on the node n 1 hour

The Node was a bit of a trek from the neon that Luke lived on, but it was the only section of the Shell with a lighting system that simulated day and night and it had been awhile since he had seen anything similar to Earth-like sunlight.

Omw

Luke decided that folding his clothes could wait as he hastily put on a dark button up and put his screen in his pocket and leaving his pod.

***

When the elevator reached the Node and the sunny lights shined through the glass, Luke was nearly blinded. Living in one of the neons meant that he had gotten adjusted to living in nighttime twenty-four seven. It probably wasn’t healthy, and looking at his arm, Luke was startlingly pale. He winced at the sight.

Stepping off the elevator and into the Node proper, Luke took a moment to take in the sights. The Node was pristine and calm. While the walls were a glaring white, a variety of plants and trees from across the galaxy adorned each street adding a natural vibrancy and color to the area.

Luke then walked through the pathways and searched for Naomi, however, she found him first. “Amazing, ain’t it?” she asked, smiling as Luke turned to face her.

“Yeah,” he replied softly, still staring at her. “So, what have you got planned for us that requires us coming to the Node?”

Naomi flicked a long strand of hair out of her peripheral and walked over to Luke. It was the first time Luke had seen her with her hair down, and her light curls gave her hair a messy vibe in the same way her buns usually did. Luke briefly wondered if something that could be considered ‘messy’ could also be lovely and he found himself thinking that if it were certain people, then yes.

“There’s a free hologram concert-thing happening in Monolith Park. I figured we could walk and talk on our way there,” she replied, turning around and beckoning Luke to follow her.

Luke followed, using his long legs to quickly catch up with her. “So, uh, how long have you lived here?” he asked looking downwards towards Naomi.

“I was born here, actually. My mom is the head ambassador for Earth. She was pregnant with me when her and dad moved here,” she replied.

“Wait, your mom is Ambassador Dehwar?” asked Luke. Naomi nodded in reply. Luke could tell from the face that Naomi was making that she was not ready to elaborate beyond that, however.

As the obsidian monolith that Monolith Park was named for entered the pair’s view, Naomi asked her own question, “What about you? How long have you lived here?”

“A few months,” Luke answered with a chuckle. “My family’s from Earth, but my twin sister moved here for school and I came here for cooking.” Naomi looked up at Luke in astonishment. Luke eyes narrowed before asking, “What?”

“Nothing, nothing. I’ve just never met someone from Earth before.”

“Really?” Luke questioned before pausing. “Huh, have you ever been to Earth before?”

Naomi shook her head. “I was never allowed.” Naomi sat down on a bench and beckoned Luke to join her. “What’s it like? I’ve seen pictures, but… just tell me everything!” she begged.

“I don’t know. I lived there so long, I worry I’ll just make everything sound boring,” Luke said before pausing to contemplate his thoughts. “There’s a lot of humans there, but that’s pretty obvious. If you look in the right spots, you can find something beautiful everywhere.” Naomi was enraptured by Luke’s small explanation, her eyes widening with every word. “The war made things weird, though. On my ship out here, I was the only one not joining the war effort.”

Satisfied with Luke’s description, Naomi checked her screen for the time. “We gotta hurry if we wanna catch the show,” she said standing up from the bench and grabbing Luke by the hand to lead him to their destination.

***

Luke and Naomi sat in the park and listened to the music coming from the stage, where a hologram of an old and long gone Evursan band performed songs from their catalogue. The music was loose and jazzy, yet folksy. Luke recognized the music from his time living with Maro and Lisa, and thought about calling them once he got home. The accompanying light show surrounded the park in hues of green and pink, changing with every beat and melody.

As the band quieted down, Luke’s screen vibrated from inside his pocket and pulling it out, he saw that it was a message from Lisa.

Game night. Two weeks from now. Bring a friend. Loser.

“Aw, crap,” said Luke as he facepalmed.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” asked Naomi.

 “My sister is putting on another of her game nights, and I have to bring somebody.”

“When is it?”

“In two weeks.”

“Well, I’ll be free then.”

“Are you sure? I could always ask, like, Stu or one of my former coworkers from The Restless.”

“It’s fine, Luke,” said Naomi as she brushed his arm.

“Okay, cool. Thanks,” said Luke.

The music began to swell once more and Naomi leaned back on her elbows and sighed contently, closing her eyes. Luke smirked at her before looking down at his legs. Leaning close to her ear as the rest of the concertgoers began to applaud, he asked curiously, “Hey, why did you say you’d talk to Larinda? Like, don’t get me wrong, its super appreciated. But, what could you do about her?”

Naomi leaned up and let out a small, questioning ‘hmm’ in response. “Oh, she’s my ex,” she said with an awkward chuckle. “I don’t like speaking with her, but, I’ll do it if I need to. That’s why I bailed on you guys last week.”

“Ah,” said Luke nervously as he faced the stage, eyes wide, no longer paying attention to the music, but instead imagining all the ways he was screwed, ruining his day.

Next Chapter: Chapter 4: Game Night