Galaux Station has been hailed as a marvel of design and technology by The Galactic Architecture Association. Less than 100 Standards old, it sits near the center of the galaxy as a waystation for travelers from all walks of life. It’s two crsytal towers provide space for parks, residential areas, hotels, shops, and embassies. Its docks can hold more than 300 ships, with the capabilities to tether even the largest cruise ships and haulers directly to the station for easy refueling and resupplying. Designer Narlik’vid says inspiration for the stations stunning design came from the oceanic creatures of Jau 4, and the elegant crystalline structures of the Ancients vessels.
-From The Journal of Galactic Architecture, Issue 37
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Maggie woke up drenched in sweat, her heart racing. She was haunted by the lingering memory of a massive ship covered in snow, skeletons gazing out of hundreds of glass pods. Disoriented, Maggie stumbled out of bed and into the pods little bathroom. She dropped to her knees, gripping the edges of the small toilet as she threw up blood, mucus and the remnants of last nights pizza. Tears streamed down her face, and she let out a sob. There were so many skeletons, so many dead. She knew it had been a dream, but it had felt so damn real.
She fumbled for the handle of the toilet, flushing the disgusting mess down the drain. Where it went, she didn’t know, but at least the toilet seemed to work like Earth toilets. She was shaking as she climbed to her feet and looked into the mirror above the toilet. The whole bathroom was an exercise in compact efficiency: the room itself appeared to be the shower, and the sink was built directly into the top of the toilet. Water came out readily when she held her hands beneath the sleek faucet. It soaked the bandages, but she didn’t care right now. The cold water felt wonderful against her burning skin. Maggie splashed her face and rinsed out her mouth. It would take a toothbrush and some toothpaste to get the taste truly out of her mouth, but at least it was a start. Where was she going to get a toothbrush and toothpaste? Did aliens brush their teeth?
A chime rang through the pod, gentle clear.
She looked around, trying to pinpoint the origin of the sound, but if there was a speaker she couldn’t find it. The sound seemed to come from everywhere at once. Maybe it was a doorbell? Or a phone? Not her phone, she had left it on the couch back home, and even if she hadn’t she was way out of service range.
The chime rang again, a little bit more insistent this time.
Curious and grateful for a distraction from her nightmare, Maggie headed over to the door and pressed the button next to it. A miserable looking Theseus stood on the other side, holding a large box in his arm.
Maggie immediately jammed the button again in an attempt to slam the uncooperative door. She may have pissed him off last night, but he was the one who had abandoned her in strange place! He hadn’t even left her medicine behind. A fact that was becoming obvious as pain throbbed through her arm.
Theseus shifted the box so that it blocked the door from closing. He let out a grunt as the door hit his arm. “Wait! Ow! Shit, would you please wait?”
“Go away, asshole! You left me alone out there last night!” Maggie jammed the button again, but this time all it did was buzz peevishly at her. Apparently it was too polite a door to close on someone. Damn door.
“Would you take a chill pill already? I brought you some things to help you out!” Theseus let out a growl, and shoved his way into the pod. “Are you really stupid enough to spit in the face of someone trying to help you? Do you have any idea how much this shit cost?”
Maggie stumbled back, landing on the edge of the bed. “Help me? If you want to help me take me home!”
“I can’t do that.” Theseus dropped the box on the bed, where it bounced slightly before sinking into it. “You don’t like me? Fine. I don’t care much for you either. But I got you into this mess, and I’ll do what I can to help you. Right now that includes giving you some shit to get you settled, and getting a message to your family. Even that much may get me in trouble with Flame.”
Maggie paused on the verge of snapping something else at him. He was really going to send her message to her family?
Theseus sighed and raked a hand through his hair, the short locks standing on end. “Listen. I’m not going to stay to get bitched at. Robin has my contact information if you need anything. Record the video, and I’ll make sure it gets to them.”
He turned without giving her a chance to say anything in response, striding out the door. She watched him go, stunned into silence. The door slid closed behind him and sealed with a cheerful little beep.
Maggie glared at it. “You’re no help.”
“Well now that’s just rude.” The friendly voice nearly made Maggie jump out of her skin. She looked around wildly. Did even the pod talk? What the hell? “I would be more help if you let me out of the box.” It continued.
Maggie looked at the large box that Theseus had set on the bed. It was more square than a suitcase, but about the same size, made of some weird material that her mind wanted to call plastic but didn’t quite match up with what she knew as plastic. She reached out, pressing the single button on the side of the box. Instead of opening like a usual box though, the lid just disappeared, revealing the contents inside.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Right on top of the stack of random stuff was a miniature version of Robin, a charming grin on his face. “Maggie! You look like you’ve seen better days.”
“That’s because I have.” Maggie said. She sat down heavily, staring at the little hologram. “What the hell are you doing in there?”
“Mostly being bored. Thank you for opening the box, it was messing with my sensors.” The hologram floated up out of the box, and he looked around the room. “Huh, cozy.”
For a moment, Maggie considered throwing the box outside and being done with the brothers. With their crazy alien artifacts and their weird holographic ghosts. But at this point she had already ticked off one of the very few people she knew here, she didn’t want to alienate the other too.
Heh. Alienate.
God she wanted to go home.
“Don’t look so glum, we brought you brownies! Or are they cookies? I have to say I was a bit confused by them. We also brought other goodies, like a tablet full of anime!” Robins hologram shifted a little, until he was a chibi with a head at least as big as his body and giant anime eyes.
Maggie let out a ragged little laugh and sat on the bed. “They’re called brookies.”
“Brookies?”
“Brownie cookies, brookies.” Tears started to run down her face again, and she stared down at her bandaged hand. She was shaking, she could see it.
“Oh.” Robin watched her, his smile fading as he floated closer to her. “Hey, it’s going to be alright Maggie. Really.”
“How? How is any of this going to be alright? I have a weird alien thing in my arm, I’m who only knows how many millions of miles from home, and the only people I know are the ones who kidnapped me. Not to mention I’m totally going to fail Philosophy of World History 132.”
“I’m sure when you get back they’ll take being kidnapped into consideration for your grade.” Robin smiled again, and his form flickered, rapidly changing size and location. Suddenly he was full sized, kneeling in front of her with a smile. “Don’t you think?”
Maggie couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah. Sure, why not? Extenuating circumstances and all that.”
“See? That’s the spirit! Now, lets get your bandage changed, and some pain medicine in you. Pain makes everything harder to deal with. And then, you can open your presents!”
“Are these guilt presents?” Maggie asked and wiped at her face.
“Only mostly. Theseus really does feel guilty, so do I for that matter. But they’re also to help you be more comfortable here. The first gift is, of course, my stunning presence.” Robin stood up, gesturing to himself with a smile. “Sorry I can’t help you rebandage your hand. Incorporeal, you know?”
“It’s fine.” Maggie said around a laugh. She had to admit that talking to Robin made her feel better. He was so much less tense than his brother, and sure as hell less scary than Flame.
Luckily, there were bandages right at the top of the pile, along with the cream Doctor Tomas had put on her hand last night, and a bottle of something that looked like boba pearls. She reached down to pick up the bottle, giving it a shake. “Am I supposed to make bubble tea now?”
“Hah! No, those are your pain killers. If they’re anything like the ones Doc gave me when I broke my arm, they taste like grape bubble gum. They should be a similar mixture to what he gave you last night but not as strong.”
“You have grape bubble gum out here?” Maggie opened the bottle, picking up one of the squishy balls and popping it in her mouth. .With any luck it wouldn’t have anywhere near as much effect as the stuff last night. She didn’t want to be high, but she did want the pain in her arm to stop.
“Of course! Anything from Earth sells well, so there’s a lot of smuggling from the planet. Books, music, television, food and drink. Anything. People like to remember their roots, you know?” Robin shrank back down to chibi size. He stuck his thumb in his mouth and blew, his head blowing up like a balloon until it was once again the same size as his body. “Anime is popular too, and bobble heads.”
Maggie laughed again, the tension easing from her. The chewy little pearl really did taste like grape bubble gum. The pain started to fade as she peeled the wet bandage from her arm. The skin was still an angry red, but it didn’t look anywhere near as disgusting as it did yesterday. The blisters were already healing, the deep gouges the burn had left were now full of silver and crystal. But as she gently touched the marks, she found them to be just as soft as normal skin. “Weird. Do you know anything about these keys?”
She turned her hand over, looking over the back of her hand. Nothing unusual there, except that her nails looked like they were slightly prismatic. Apparently the key came with built in nail polish.
“Careful, it’s still healing. But it looks much better than I feared. I think you’re safe from turning into a crystal monster!” Robin beamed as Maggies head snapped up, her eyes wide.
“That was a possibility?!”
Robin winced, immediately looking uncomfortable. “A small possibility. It doesn’t normally happen to humans.”
“But it was a possibility. What were you two even doing with something like this?! Where did you even get it?”
Robin sighed and sat on the edge of the box, his overly simplified legs dangling down. “Delivering it to Flame. And it was our mothers.”
“What was your mother doing with it?” Maggie looked back down at her palm, the silver and crystal shimmering in the light of the pod.
“For a while it was a part of her, just like it’s a part of you. Listen, we were trying to keep it out of Silvarian hands. We had tried to hide it somewhere no one would find, but Flame found out about it and... well... she can be very persuasive.” Robins form seemed to deflate, looking more like a miniature or action figure than a chibi.
“But I found it, when your brother left it in the laundry.” Maggie said softly.
“Yes, you did.” Robin said miserably. “What will it take for you to forgive us?”
Maggie was silent, staring at the ghost. Could she forgive them at all? They had taken her whole life and turned it upside-down.
But they hadn’t done it on purpose. She wasn’t sure if that was better or worse int he long run. It had been a stupid mistake, but in the end she was glad that it wasn’t some little kid or little old lady that had found it. That would have been worse. Finally, Maggie sighed and shrugged. “I guess I can forgive you. Or at least try to. You did bring peace offerings after all.” She added the last in a joking manner, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
Robin perked up a bit, although he still seemed sad when he looked up at her. “Thank you. Theseus will be relieved too, it’s been tearing him up inside. Bandage your hand, and then unpack. We found a lot of cool stuff for you!”