Q-23 was the only city in the System that orbited Earth, being farther away than the Moon. The capital city was surrounded by large dark space stations, which worked to prevent observing figures on Earth from spotting the city’s glowing center.
Once Kepler was well enough to leave their hydroponics tank, they piloted the ship within the gaps between the looming space stations. Outside of their spacesuit, Kepler wore a sleeveless shirt to freely use their vines without the confinements they had in their suit. They could have several vines reaching different sections of the control panel all at once. They also wore long pants to completely hide their roots.
Between the dark space stations, the gleaming brightness from within the city beamed like a light at the end of the tunnel. Kepler’s ship traveled within the traffic of other entering ships and soon they were past the space stations, where the city’s core was revealed.
The first thing Evie noticed were the neon lights, which once they were past the city’s barrier were literally everywhere. Giant screens and holograms added to the bright lights, attached to clusters of spacecrafts that towered in every direction. The clusters formed the city’s districts, which were interconnected in every direction like a vast web. Between these clusters, large lanes were formed for passenger ships to travel through.
Evie was instantly overwhelmed by the vast scope of this alien city. Their ship was a speck compared to the visible amalgamation of structures that made up Q-23. It was Times Square on acid. A cyberpunk dumpster fire. An urban hellscape in the emptiness of space; Evie’s literal nightmare.
While Evie stared out the windshield in terror, Phoenix could barely breathe as he became overcome by excitement. He stared out the windows with wide eyes, trying to take in as much of the spectacle as he possibly could.
Kepler piloted the ship towards a part of the city where the structures appeared more worn and dated in appearance. Their ship docked at a repair shop, which had a blocky structure and visible gaps in the walls that revealed the mess of pipes and wires beneath them.
As Kepler finished docking the ship, Jet, who had been spending most of the time silently facing the windshield with her arms crossed, said, “I’m going to help pay for the ship’s repairs. I’ll also make sure that this place follows through with your maintenance requests and doesn’t rip you off in the process. Once that’s all done, I’ll be on my way.”
Kepler turned to Jet, feeling a bit stunned by that statement. “You don’t have to do that.”
“You’ve already done too much for me,” Jet objected. “I need to repay you.” She didn’t wait for Kepler to respond and instead she quickly left the bridge.
Phoenix leaned forward in his seat and asked, “Are we gonna get to leave the ship?”
“Yeah, no one can be in here while they’re doing repairs,” Kepler answered. “I have two extra spacesuits, and Jet has these dark screens that can be installed in a helmet and hide your faces. That way, no one will be able to tell that you’re humans.” When Phoenix opened his mouth to speak, they quickly added, “Or a shapeshifter that’s stuck looking exactly like a human.”
Before they left, Jet needed Kepler to help her hide a suitcase somewhere in the ship where no one would find it. Evie and Phoenix put on their spacesuits, and learned from the two aliens about gravity-regulators, which were built into each spacesuit with the same technology that was equipped in spaceships to regulate internal gravity. On any exterior surface, spacesuits with gravity-regulators allowed aliens to walk around in space like they were in Earth gravity. Each spacesuit also had a screen built into their forearm where they could regulate suit controls, send messages, and access the System’s common apps.
Once they all exited the ship, Kepler and Jet talked to the repair shop’s mechanics while Evie and Phoenix awkwardly stood behind them, with their dark helmets concealing their identities. Their helmets were also equipped with working headsets so that they could hear any nearby exchange, as long as they were using the public proximity channel.
After being told they’d have to wait a few hours until the ship was repaired, they waited together in the designated lobby. The waiting area was filled with aliens in spacesuits, most of which had the front of their helmets removed as the interior of the structure was sealed from space.
The four of them sat in a row of seats, facing other rows occupied by other waiting aliens. Evie sat across from a dragonfly alien with iridescent fur, who kept occasionally glancing towards Evie’s dark helmet. Her hands pooled with sweat as she grew more and more uncertain of how well she was fitting in. She sat at the end of the row next to Kepler, and felt slightly comforted being near the alien who helped her out of a panic attack.
Phoenix sat at the other end of their group next to Jet, and was busy ranting excitedly about Q-23. He spoke on a private channel within his headset, so that only their group could hear him. “Have you seen the Drone Fountain?” he asked as he turned towards Jet. “That’s where they have these tiny drones with lights mimic water flowing from a fountain, but in a massive scale and they have it form different designs. The pictures of it always looked amazing.”
Jet did not say anything in return, as she was busy staring forward with a scowl and tapping her boot on the tiled floor impatiently.
Phoenix scooted forward in his seat so that he could peer to the end of the row and see Evie. “Evie, did you know that Q-23’s government district is the only place where communications between aliens and humans can happen? That also means this is the only city that does trading with Earth. That doesn’t mean that humans come here though, this is just where they send their shipments. You are still the first human to enter Q-23.”
Evie sighed as she felt her muscles tense up more. “Great.”
A screen in the corner of the lobby playing commercials at one point displayed different shots of Q-23’s central shopping center, which resembled a skyscraper of a mall with endless bright floors selling only the newest items the System had to offer. It also showed off the capital’s conservatory, which was a large series of greenhouses filled with various plants from Earth. Phoenix eagerly pointed to these sights on the screen and nudged Jet. “Have you been to any of these places? Do you think with how long we have to wait that we could get on one of those trains and go? I really want to see-“
“I need you to stop.” Jet held up her hand to stop him from talking as her ear twitched irritably.
Phoenix tried to sit there in silence, but found it to be impossible and a few seconds later he took a breath to speak again.
Jet could hear him start to go off in her headset and before he could, she interjected, “You want to explore the city? I got a mission for you.” She pulled up the navigation map on the screen in her spacesuit and showed a route that was a short walk to one of the nearby convenience stores. “Get me a drink from here. Anything with caffeine in it will do fine.”
Kepler glanced over to Jet’s map. “Oh, are you going to the corner store? They sell these packs of UV lights, could you get me one? Feel free to use my account. They just need to scan the screen on your suit when you pull up the banking app and you should be good.” They turned to Evie and asked, “Do you want to go with him?”
“Uh…” Evie hesitated, feeling pessimistic about wandering out into this alien city.
“Or I could go with Phoenix and you stay with Jet,” Kepler offered. “That might be a better idea.”
The idea of being left alone with Jet sent a wave of nerves to rush through her. “No, I’ll go.”
Jet sent Phoenix the route so he could pull it up on his screen and then the two of them went through the repair shop’s airlock to venture out into the city.
When Evie had first seen Q-23 from the spaceship, the towering structures and vivid holograms made the city look like it was from a dystopian future where technology had completely taken over. This part of the city however resembled if that vision was made decades ago, and then deteriorated over time.
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Outside of the repair shop, they stood on a walkway between interconnected structures that were similarly dull and blocky in appearance. Dim lights did little to liven the street, and the promotional logos that lined the walls weren’t well illuminated either. Graffiti art that glowed in the dark took up some of the walls’ empty space. Aliens in spacesuits walked up and down the street, having to maneuver around the broken or missing tiles in the walkway. Evie also noticed some robots with no need for suits moving amongst the aliens, and high above their heads ovular drones traveled in the empty gaps they were permitted in.
That sense of overwhelming anxiety crept in again and Evie took a deep breath to remain in control. “You got this,” she whispered to herself. She then followed Phoenix’s lead down the street towards the convenience store.
Higher up Evie could see lanes for spaceship traffic and the distant glistening clusters of other city districts. She even saw the glowing track for a sleek train to zip by far above them, brightly passing over like a shooting star. At the top of the city, the dark space stations blocked out the constellations like clouds did on Earth. With how massive and bright the city was, Evie was unsure if she would be able to see the stars anyway.
Most of the aliens that populated the city streets wore humanoid spacesuits, physically exhibiting how similar they were to humans. Many spacesuits however had to be uniquely designed to accommodate for extra limbs, or body parts like horns or tails. Evie also noticed a few aliens that very much did not have a humanoid shape. One alien at a vendor promoting drone rentals resembled a snake, and had a spacesuit that accommodated for a long body with no limbs. Evie stiffened from the sight of so many creatures that were recognizable yet not. She couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that they had been living high above the Earth’s atmosphere for years.
“This district is not nearly as nice as other parts of Q-23,” Phoenix commented as they walked down the dingy streets. “Don’t let this ruin your impression of the city.”
“Not gonna lie, my impression was ruined the moment we entered,” she stated plainly.
After going through the corner store’s airlock, they were inside a tightly-packed space with aisles full of brightly colored packaging. Evie saw that this place had a slushie machine and she felt a weird sense of familiarity as it had been hours ago seeing a similar machine at the gas station on Earth.
Phoenix gasped as something else caught his attention. He rushed over to a boxy machine built into the wall that had a screen playing advertisements. The square screen promoted some sort of action game with robots and lasers.
Evie stared at the machine blankly. “What is this?”
“That’s Cyber Space!” He exclaimed while eagerly gesturing to the screen, as if Evie was supposed to get it from just that. “At one point it was the most popular videogame in the System. It’s been dropping in fame for a while now, but I’ve always been obsessed with it. I could never actually play the game on Earth, but I definitely will up here the first chance I get.”
The text on the screen promoted a chance to play the newest version of the game by entering a suit-ID number. A hologram then appeared below that displayed a keyboard to type on.
Phoenix took an electronic pen provided by the machine and started typing as Evie hastily stated, “That’s not personal information, is it?”
“It’s just the number that comes up on your screen.” Phoenix gestured to the device built into the forearm of his suit. “It’s basically like a phone number for messaging.” Phoenix then finished typing his number on the advertising screen to be admitted for the drawing.
The two of them headed over to the fridge aisle, where a variety of bottled and canned drinks were being kept. Evie was faced with soda flavors like galaxy punch and supernova blast. Her eyes glossed over the several options, none of them being recognizable to brands she knew.
A different nearby screen playing advertisements showed a commercial of a cactus alien stuck working on a factory assembly line. Then they popped open a can of what was called Earth Soda before they were transported to a forest, free to run into the wild. The caption read, “Earth Soda: Get back to your roots!”
Evie didn’t know who was a part of the research team that put a cactus in a temperate forest, but she soon realized that she didn’t care and just wanted the soda. She opened the fridge door when she found it and said, “I’m trying this.”
“Really?” Phoenix gestured to the rows of drinks. “Out of all of these you want Earth Soda?” His voice was full of judgement.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m suffering up here. I’ll take anything that can remind me of home.”
Phoenix didn’t object any further and grabbed one of the many space-themed sodas to try. He pointed to the store’s restroom and said, “We can try these in there so that no one will see us.”
She nodded in agreement and after they got what Jet and Kepler asked for, they both went up to the register to finish their purchase.
The alien behind the register resembled a large rat with spider eyes. As he scanned the items, he looked at their dark helmets and when he spoke, they could hear through their headsets, “Is there a reason why I can’t see your faces?”
Evie felt an intense sense of impending doom and she spoke before her brain could comprehend her own words. “We’re horribly scarred from a spaceship crash.”
Phoenix remained still, unable to react.
The cashier’s eight eyes narrowed at them. “Is that true?” he asked gruffly.
Feeling at a loss for words, Phoenix just nodded his helmet silently.
The pause that hung in the air felt agonizingly long before the cashier lowered his head and said, “I’m so sorry.”
They both hesitated awkwardly before Phoenix tried to say sincerely, “It’s okay, you didn’t know.”
“I should have. I share a similar struggle myself.” He kicked up one of his legs to rest it on the countertop, revealing that it was completely robotic. “Before this job, I worked in the engine compartment of one of our older space stations. An engine overheated and exploded, which took out both my legs.”
The cashier lowered his leg to the floor and said, “Now I spend my days trying to make enough money to keep up maintenance on my robot parts. It gets more difficult as the parts get older and become harder to repair, but I’m far from being able to afford replacing them with newer ones.”
The two of them had no idea how to react to his story as the cashier finished scanning their items. In a hurry to get out of this situation, Phoenix quickly raised the screen on his arm to end the transaction. “No need to pay,” the cashier interjected. “This one’s on me.”
Evie flinched in shock. “Are you sure?”
“It’s the least I could do. Victims like us got to stick together.” He handed them their purchases in a sealed box, so that items wouldn’t float away when they walked back out into space. The cashier gave them an encouraging nod then said, “Stay safe, you two.”
“Thanks, man.” Phoenix took the box before Evie could say anything else. As they stepped away, they were replaced by another customer. Phoenix then nudged her to hurry and they headed to the restroom in the back while the cashier was busy with the next customer.
The small restroom was for single use only, so they didn’t have to worry about anyone else walking in. A single fluorescent light revealed that the room was clean enough to try a soda in without feeling repulsed.
“Did you lock the door?” Evie asked.
“Yep.”
The glass front of their helmets slid back, revealing their faces. Evie took her soda from the box and gazed at it guiltily. “We basically stole these.”
“No, we didn’t,” Phoenix objected. “That guy just helped us out.”
“Because I lied.” She lowered the can with a sorrow expression. “The guy who paid for us can barely afford to keep his legs. I don’t even want this anymore.”
“Evie, you’re going to have to lie to get by here,” he said earnestly. “I don’t know what would happen if they found out a human was in the System, but most possibilities are bad. You have every right to be scared up here.” Phoenix glanced away in thought before adding, “No one can know that you’re a human. Keeping that fa?ade up is the only way you’re going to get back home.”
She took that all in and then finally managed to look back at Phoenix. “Are you not scared at all?”
“I am for you,” he admitted. “I’m sorry I dragged you up here with me.”
Evie shook her head. “I chased after you because I thought you were in trouble. Don’t blame yourself for that.” She thought for another moment before she added, “Actually, you can partially blame yourself for that because that was pretty rude of you to ditch me.”
“Yeah, sorry.” He anxiously ran a hand through his hair. “But anyway, I’m not too scared for my own safety. I’m confident I’ll be able to shapeshift out of my human form eventually.”
She studied him for a moment. “If you are an alien, how’d you end up on Earth in the first place?”
His eyes quickly darted away. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“That’s fine.” She decided to change the subject by trying a sip of Earth Soda. Evie immediately spit it back out, appalled by the bitter taste. She choked and cursed at the same time. “That tastes like actual dirt.”
“No way.” Phoenix was far too curious and he immediately took the drink from her to try. He did almost the exact same spit take and he wiped his mouth in disgust while reading the back of the can. “I’m almost a hundred percent sure that’s made for plant aliens only.”
Evie wiped her mouth as well, wishing she had something to get rid of the taste. “That would make sense.”
The door to the restroom suddenly opened and the two of them were forced to remain frozen in shock. The alien that opened the door also stared back in surprise, unable to move as much as they were.
The soda can fell out of Phoenix’s hand and the second it hit the floor, time started moving again.
Evie was fueled by adrenaline as she took Phoenix by the arm. She shoved her way past the alien, sprinting through the open store towards the exit. Everyone else in the store gaped at their appearance, and she realized in that moment that their helmets still weren’t sealed.
The doors to the airlock automatically closed behind them and a short countdown started before the doors to space would open. “Helmets!” is all Evie could yell as she pressed a button on her screen and the darkened glass front to her helmet returned. Phoenix did the same.
Evie then yelled into her headset, “I thought you locked the door!”
He raised his hands defensively. “I’m just as surprised as you are!” He then glanced back and asked, “Do you think they’re gonna come after us?”
“We’re not waiting to find out.”
The doors opened and they both raced down the street, back towards the repair shop.