“Is there a problem miss?,” asked the gruff d’moria man that managed the depot. “You do want the these, do y’not?”
Tamiyo had a decision to make. The supply depot did in fact have equipment in stock that would allow her to perform the three main scans she wanted to. But after purchasing the medicine earlier in the day, it would take almost all of the money she had left to get the scanners. If she chose to get them, she would be stranded without fuel until finding a way to acquire some. But if she didn’t get the scanners, she would have to deliver cargo with a 10-ton human paperweight rolling around under her kitchen table.
“Yes please,” she told him in a slightly frustrated tone.
He seemed to pay the tone no mind and rang her up while neatly replacing the scanners into their packages. Despite her annoyance, Tamiyo found it cute how his thick beard waggled slightly as he moved. She didn’t think he would appreciate being called cute by a stranger, however. D’moria had a tendency to be hard workers that took great pride in their crafts, and being found cute may come across as insulting, she thought.
Loading the boxes into her backpack, she paid him, thanked him for his assistance, and headed for the door. Stepping out into the street, she noted the position of the sun overhead. It had taken her about an hour to reach the supply depot from the drug store on account of heavy foot traffic. Owangara really was a bustling trade hub for the planet, Tamiyo was finding out. After the time it took to get to the depot and the time it took for the d’moria man to fetch the equipment she needed, it was already well into the afternoon. She needed to start thinking about returning to her ship.
Stepping off down the road, she headed back towards the eastern gate. The roads on this side of town reminded her of Batist. The city she had lived in on Batist was called Azon, an industrial megalopolis that gave birth to aristocrats and poverty alike. The streets there were all paved to ensure that the efficiency of the corporate business cycles was never impacted. The city of Azon never seemed to sleep, home to 50 million residents and their constant need to keep up the appearance of prosperity. They were all cogs in the wheel, some working during the days, some working during the nights, all helping pursue the bottom lines of their overlord shareholders. The wealthier ones could afford fancier things in life like personal CIPHER servants, and so Tamiyo was used to seeing others of her kind around the city. But none of them had any rights, none of them were seen as people, not like the freedom she seemed to have here on Nox.
The streets on this side of town were paved, wide, and had nice sidewalks to keep pedestrian traffic out of the way of the vehicles driving around. While the technology did exist to have vehicles levitate, in most cases it was an unneeded expenditure when there was literally no need to reinvent the wheel. Tamiyo noted that most of the vehicles she saw driving around Owangara were electric, although a few larger industrial vehicles did appear to burn some sort of fuel. Planets like Batist maintained a pretty stubborn viewpoint that any resources a planet possessed were meant to be utilized to ‘improve’ the lives of those that claimed to own them. Any potential detrimental side effects of mass consumption were either denied or ignored, as long as the aristocrats could pretend to not know about them.
The roads were beginning to become less industrial as she walked, and within several blocks she was no longer traversing on a sidewalk. She stuck to the side of the wide road which had transitioned into a construction of expertly laid cobblestones, and she found herself admiring the craftsmanship of the simple yet intricate pathway. The sight of a large sign caught the corner of Tamiyo’s eye as she walked, and she realized she had come back upon Soozy’s Saloon. She needed to get back to her ship, but her curiosity was pressing her to explore inside, if only for a moment. As she approached, she took a long admiring look at the front of the building.
The saloon sat on a corner lot, and was relatively large. Each wall ran about 100 feet long, with a deck running the length on both the first and second stories. The second story had a partial roof covering about half of the upper balcony, but the other half was completely open to the air save for the railing that wrapped all the way around. Tables and seats were placed on the upper balcony for patrons, and the lower deck seemed to be busy with patrons conversing, casually drinking, and smoking all manner of odd substances. The building itself was built out of metal, and the walls on both floors were lined with pleasantly crafted windows. The front doors were located right on the corner face of the building, which faced off both walls at a 45 degree angle. They were double swinging traditional saloon doors from Tamiyo’s understanding, but also appeared to have stronger full-sized doors that could be closed if needed. The place looked well-worn but not overly run down, and Tamiyo guessed it was one of the most popular locations in town after a hard day’s work. Chances are it had been here as long as the town had been.
With a slight smile of excitement on her face, Tamiyo approached and walked through the front doors. She was greeted by an exciting ambiance of conversations, dishes clinking, people walking, and live background music. She quickly stepped off to the right after entering so she could observe and not obstruct traffic. She was standing beneath an interior balcony that ran around the inside of the wall with the exterior balcony. The wall to her left had several seats with patrons enjoying themselves, and along the back wall was a long bar where alcohol was served. The shelves behind it glittered with countless different bottles in every color she could think of. To the back right of the building, Tamiyo saw a small stage with four musicians up on it playing casual music for the patrons. The music seemed to strike a perfect balance between relaxing and energizing. Many pleasant aromas filled the air as servers brought food to hungry customers and served them drinks. She saw that the servers zipped in and out of the kitchen doors to the left of the bar from where she was standing. She also noticed that at least two of the servers currently working were CIPHERs.
The front entrance door swung in towards her and lightly bumped into her shoulder.
“Whoops, excuse me!” She stated to whomever was walking in.
“Apologies, I didn’t see you ther— hey! You’re the girl from this morning! Good to see you again!” It was the lazarco that had given her directions at the gate.
“Oh, hello again, nice to see you.”
He quickly moved out of the way of traffic, “were you able to find what you were looking for?”
Tamiyo hesitated for a moment. She wasn’t used to people being as nice as everyone in this town seemed to be. “Y-yes, for the most part.”
“Good to hear!” He seemed quite jovial. “I didn’t catch your name before, my name is Inelius.” He held out the upper right of his four arms for a handshake.
She grasped it firmly, even though his hand was larger than hers. “I’m Tamiyo.”
“Beautiful name, young miss. Would you care to sit together? I’m just coming off my shift at the gate and would love some friendly conversation.”
Tamiyo paused for a moment. She had been on the run for several weeks, and she had to take care not to allow someone to take advantage of her fugitive status. Still, it’s not like she could go on alone forever, and this Inelius seemed friendly enough.
He must have sensed her hesitancy, because he spoke up again, “No pressure! I just figured I would offer, no harm if you would rather sit alone.” He started to turn to walk away from her, but stopped when he heard her begin to speak at last.
“I… thank you, I think some company would be nice,” Tamiyo said.
“Glad to hear it!” he responded energetically. He motioned for her to follow as he stepped off, “come, I have a regular table I like to sit at.”
As they walked, they passed a table where a group of d’moria were smoking long pipes and talking in jovial tones. They appeared to be playing cards and each had a large mug of alcohol. As she was looking, one took a large drink and some of the liquid poured over, running down into his beard. She and Inelius walked past them into a lounge area with dark blue lighting and aesthetics. A smoky haze hovered several inches above the floor that had a dull glow present from a violet neon light somewhere within the saloon. Right before they reached Inelius’ table, Tamiyo spotted a large beautiful woman several booths away sitting back behind a large table. Her face was stunning, with pale skin and long black hair pulled back out of her face. She had long ears that almost looked like fox ears. She was sitting alone and appeared to be people watching or perhaps lost in thought. What caught Tamiyo off guard the most about the woman was that, despite being very heavy-chested, the woman was wearing very little clothing.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Inelius caught her staring and said, “first time seeing a lacravida?” He grinned at her and motioned for her to sit at his favorite booth.
Tamiyo glanced over at the woman one last time before pulling her backpack off her shoulders and sliding it into the seat opposite Inelius. “Yes, I’ve never encountered someone like that before. You said they’re called lacravida?”
“Yes, they're all incredibly beautiful. They’re strong, energetic, hard-working, and fun to hang around. But they don't take well to insults, so be careful with your staring.” He didn’t seem to be chastising her, it more felt like he was teasing a bit.
“You seem to know a lot about them,” Tamiyo noted. “Wait, is there anyone that takes well to insults?”
He laughed in response. “Good point I guess. They have a large village not too far from here; Berilinsk. We coordinate a lot of their trade that goes off world so I’m surprised you didn’t see any lacravida during your errands today. Speaking of which,” he gestured towards her backpack, “That’s looking a might bit fuller than the last time I saw you.”
“Yes, I kept the scanners I bought in their boxes to keep them safe, but I admit they are a little bulky. I’ll manage though.”
A bouncy voice shot up beside Tamiyo. “What can I get you two to drink?” It was one of the CIPHER servers. She had a similar design as Tamiyo, but her skin was darker, and several design features looked like they had either been retrofitted onto her, or the designers had chosen to save some money. Her torso looked human, as did her head and face, but both of her arms looked completely robotic. They were just several simple rods and pistons built into her shoulders, running down into elbow rotors, and a similar structure for her forearms. She did have human like hands, however, which looked interesting with all of the robotic components in between her hands and shoulders. Her legs were almost the same, except her thighs looked human down to just above the knee. She had exposed metallic kneecaps and stylishly built lower legs that had permanently affixed heels built onto her feet. The exposed kneecaps and thicker build of the lower legs made it appear almost as if she was wearing knee-high armored heel boots made of metal. Her hair was purple and she wore a cute waitress outfit that exposed plenty of skin, which Tamiyo guessed was so she could siphon tips out of her guests.
Would you care for a drink?” Inelius asked while looking at Tamiyo.
“Um, I’m not sure. I’ve uh, this is my first time in any setting like this.”
“In a bar?” he asked.
“Yeah, or a restaurant, or any sort of establishment like this.”
Inelius looked confused, but the waitress seemed to understand. “Are you from the Conservatory?”
Tamiyo looked at her for a second before breaking her gaze to look down at her lap abashedly. She nodded and said, “Yes.” She didn’t want to mention exactly where she had come from, but the Sovereign Earth Conservatory was a large government in control of a great many worlds. Tamiyo felt no harm in answering honestly, as long as she omitted certain specifics.
“You poor thing,” the waitress said in a soft tone. Her voice sounded genuine, and her face showed empathy, not pity.
“Raine, can you bring us a couple Comet Tears?” Inelius asked the waitress.
“Coming right up, be gentle with her Inelius, that Conservatory is a nasty place.”
Raine left to go get their drinks. “You two know each other?” Tamiyo asked, regaining her composure.
“Yeah, I’m a bit of a regular here. Ownagara is a decent sized town but I live and work over near here so I like to come relax at Soozy’s most days after my shift ends.” They sat for a moment listening to the band play a particularly deep piece of synth-jazz that seemed to vibrate in the chest and bones. After enjoying the thick base-tones for a bit, he asked her, “So you’ve never been in any sort of restaurant before?”
Tamiyo shook her head no, but stayed silent.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Indelius spoke up again. “If you’ll forgive my ignorance, why not?” He looked genuinely curious, she didn’t think he was asking to be mean.
“It’s not allowed on— er, in the Conservatory. For CIPHERs, I mean. We’re nothing more than property to the people who own us, and they don’t like seeing their property parked next to where they’re eating or relaxing.”
“That’s, wow I’m sorry. I appreciate you telling me, that must have been painful to live through.”
Raine returned with their drinks. The glasses were tall and contained a fizzy yellow liquid with swirls of orange, and bubbles were popping up over the tops. “Here you are,” she said as she set them down. “Word of advice, always keep an eye on your drinks so someone doesn’t slip something into it when you’re not looking. You’re in good hands with Inelius though, he’s a big softie.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment any day Raine,” he grunted back gleefully at her.
Tamiyo took a sip of her drink, it was very fruity and the bubbles made her nose tickle. She felt warm as she swallowed the tangy substance. She noticed that both Inelius and Raine were grinning and watching her experience her first sip of alcohol. They giggled playfully at her a bit.
“How is it?” Raine asked.
Tamiyo smiled shyly, “it’s quite good. It’s delicious, thank you.”
“Glad to hear it, I mixed them myself.”
“Don’t drink it too fast, get some food in you first,” Inelius chimed in.
“We’re CIPHERs Inelius,” Raine said to him. “We don’t process it the same. She’ll still get some buzz off of it but she can’t really even get drunk.”
“That seems unfair,” he pouted back at her.
Tamiyo realized they were flirting with each other. It was very interesting to watch, she had never seen real romance up close before. She spent some time conversing with Raine and Inelius and snacking on some appetizers that Raine brought over. After learning that Nox was outside the reach of the Conservatory government, Tamiyo opened up a bit more about how she had stolen a ship and fled, but she still kept the name Batist to herself just to be safe. She told them that she had killed someone during her escape but didn’t get into much detail as to why, only that it was necessary during her escape. She also admitted to not caring for an elderly gentleman like she had told Inelius earlier, but that she had picked up someone who needed her help. She didn’t mention exactly how she found him, however, as it wasn’t the easiest story to believe.
“I need to be getting back to my ship before it gets dark so I can check on him. Thank you for all the kindness you two have shown me, really,” she started gathering up her things to leave.
“How far away is your ship?” Raine asked her.
“About 5 miles to the east.”
“That’s a bit of a walk, and you’ve already had a long day,” Raine said. “Plus, after dark it can be a bit dangerous. There are some large creatures out in our jungles and a couple small pockets of raiders have been known to show up from time to time.”
Tamiyo hadn’t thought about that. “Raiders? Really?” she asked nervously.
Inelius piped up, “Yeah, it’s not like I stand at that gate holding a rifle just to look pretty.”
“Even though you do look pretty pretty,” Raine cooed at him.
“Don’t worry,” Inelius continued with a smile. “They tend to only try popping their heads out if they're pretty sure they can get away with whatever they want to steal. So as long as you’re not out walking alone, you have a decent chance of being left alone.”
“That’s why Inelius will give you a ride out to your ship,” Raine said.
He almost choked on his drink. “I will?” he asked surprisedly.
“Yep, you will,” Raine said.
“Uh, I’m not sure how I feel about that,” Tamiyo said.
“Don’t worry honey,” Raine responded. “Inelius is a good guy, not all of them are but he’s one of the good ones. He’s strong and can help ward off any danger you might encounter, but he’s also a big softie.”
“Sometimes I don’t know if you’re complimenting or insulting me Raine.”
“And he’s loyal too. He’s been trying to get me to sleep with him for a couple months now.”
“You don’t have any proof of that Raine, at least nothing that will hold up in a court of law.”
“Hush you,” she teased him. “What do you say Tamiyo, please? Let him drive you out there, for me?”
Tamiyo thought for a moment. It didn’t seem wise to risk being attacked by raiders or by any large jungle creatures, so she responded, “Ok, thank you again.”
Raine bounced a little bit with joy. “Don’t be a stranger! Come back and see us soon, ok?”
“Ok, I will.” Tamiyo got up out of the booth with Inelius, slipped her backpack on and followed him out of the saloon. They walked a couple blocks back into the city and turned down a suburb street. A couple houses down and Inelius indicated towards a simple truck parked on the side of the street. It was nothing fancy, but had four doors for passengers, and one at the front of the vehicle where the driver sat. It had a small bed on the back that could be used to haul things. She climbed into the truck and Inelius climbed into the driver’s seat. She could tell that the driver’s cabin needed to be spacy to make room for his big frame and extra arms.
Starting up the vehicle, Inelius put it in gear and began driving. Within a couple minutes they had exited the east gate.
“You and Raine are cute,” Tamiyo teased him.
“Yeah, I like her. I’m not completely sure if she likes me, or if she’s just trailing me along.”
“I think she does, I think she’s just making you work a little bit. Selfless chivalrous service has to win you some points I would think.”
“Heh, hopefully,” he said. Tamiyo could tell he was grinning, even though she could only see the back of his blueish-green leathery head. Having spoken for a while at the saloon, they passed the remainder of the trip in mostly silence, except for Tamiyo giving the odd direction. It only took about 10 minutes for them to reach the ship, and as they were getting closer, Tamiyo instructed him to slow down a bit so she could spot the clearing she had landed in.
The sun had begun setting while they were at the saloon, and by the time they reached Inelius’s truck and drove out to the ship, most of the daylight had faded from the sky. The headlights of his vehicle shined on the metallic side of her freighter, and she pointed it out to him. Pulling into the clearing, she saw that the door at the top of the ship ramp was standing open, the lights from inside the ship shining out into the night.
“Oh no,” she said, and jumped out of the truck to run up the ramp. She ran inside to look around as Inelius stopped the truck and grabbed her backpack for her. Quickly walking up the ramp to the ship’s access hatch, he heard Tamiyo yell from inside, “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”
She reappeared in the doorway. “He’s gone!”
