From my studies I have found that people tend to do better after their abduction, if they have something to do in a life that is suddenly drastically different from what they are accustomed to. Whether that is helping take care of others, working a job similar to what they had before, or learning something completely new. The task is not as important as the structured schedule, comradery, and sense of purpose are the important aspects.

Of course, one must never underestimate the therapeutic power of keeping busy.

- From the journals of S’il Vala Tomas Martinez

___________________________________________

“You have got to be kidding.” Maggie said. She stared up at the large arched entrance to what could only be a laundromat in disbelief. It was huge, and people of all shapes and sizes flowed in and out like it was some kind of damn amusement park ride. Many of the things in the laundromat were recognizable: washers and dryers, a machine to load money onto a proprietary card, the bored looking man behind the counter. But more of it was completely alien to her: strange doorways without doors that people walked through, coming out refreshed and smelling of any number of scents, a weird contraption on a conveyor belt that piles of dirty clothes went through and came out neatly folded and clean. And that wasn’t even accounting for the people! She had thought that there were a wide variety of people in the docking bay downstairs, but up here, it was like someone had taken one of those monster breeding games and went wild.

There were humans, but only a few, mostly sticking to the washers and dryers that Maggie recognized, and then there were the weird otter creatures like her stuffed animal, a huge creature that looked like a bear with tusks and giant mouse ears, mermaids, cats, elves, someone that looked more robot than person, and dozens of others that she couldn’t keep track of if she tried.

To top it all off, the place even had a food bar! Most of what it sold was in the shape of orbs, a theme she was finding odd, especially since some of the items didn’t look like they should come in a round shape. Her stomach growled at the scent that wafted over through the haze of laundry detergent.

Even the laundry detergent smelled the same! How the hell did the laundry detergent smell the same?

“You’re telling me, with all your advanced technology, that you people haven’t figured out a better way to get clothes clean than spinning them in a barrel with soap?”

Robin laughed from his position above her shoulder. “They actually rely heavily on nanobots to remove dirt and oils from the clothes, along with some chemicals that are quite a bit more effective and gentle on clothes than what you would find on Earth.”

“Sure. Nanobots, like that weird toothpaste.” Maggie ran her tongue along her teeth. Granted her mouth did feel clean, but the toothpaste had felt like it had pop rocks in it, and that was just weird. As was the way it crawled up the sink and back into its bottle.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Exactly like that weird toothpaste. Don’t worry, you get used to it. Although if you really want to blow the money on the stuff from Earth, I’m sure we can find someone selling it.”

“Is it hard to get things from Earth? It didn’t seem to take us that long to get here from there.” Maggie stepped into the laundromat cautiously. She moved to the side to avoid blocking the flow of traffic.

“Well....” Robin hesitated, and then shrugged. “There’s a few factors that make it hard to get items from Earth. First is that most ships don’t have jump points logged for anywhere near the planet, it’s technically illegal to even enter Earths solar system without authorization from the Alliance. Secondly is the amount and quality of equipment Earth has developed to detect things in the galaxy. You’d be surprised how hard it is to get through all the satellites around the planet!”

“Oh.” Maggie supposed that was logical, there were satellites and surveillance everywhere on and around Earth, from the big government and corporation satellites, to home security systems. Privacy wasn’t much of a thing anymore, not real privacy anyways.

“Yeah. We’re pretty sure we got recorded lifting off... so it’s going to be a big risk getting that message through to your family. But we talked about it and he’s going to try to bounce it through the cell phone system.”

“Now that’ll be a hell of a long distance charge.” Maggie said.

Robin laughed, and pointed to the guy behind the counter. “Lets go get you a job now, you can help pay that long distance charge.” He teased.

“Alright, alright.” Maggie laughed. She felt like she had laughed a lot today. It was easier to relax around Robin, even if he was a weird holographic ghost. She checked her fingerless gloves, and then headed over to the guy behind the counter. She had to admit she was curious about working in an alien laundromat.

The guy looked up at her with a bored expression, his chair hovering back into a fully upright position at the counter. He looked over first her, then Robin, where his gaze lingered a moment. Finally he spoke, but his words sounded weird. They didn’t quite match up with the way his lips moved, and it was almost like he was saying two things at once: one in English, and the other in another language. “You’re the guy that wanted to get his newbie friend a job, right?”

“That’s right, this is Maggie, Maggie, this is Rexlor.” Robin said with a friendly wave. “Maggie worked on a laundromat back on Earth before being abducted, think you can help her settle in here?”

“Sure.” Rexlor shrugged as if this sort of thing happened every day. That was concerning, how often did people get abducted? How many disappearances were due to aliens instead of humans or accidents? “Come on back, I’ll show you around.”

He stood up from the hovering chair, which floated into a slot in the counter. “It’s really not that different than what you’re used to I bet. Bit busier than most laundromats, but that’s because most ships don’t have room for their own wash units. We also have units that can handle stuff like spacesuits and armor.”

Rexlor led her through the laundromat, taking his time as he explained the different machines, greeted regular customers, and explained what Maggie’s job would be. Basically, it was the same thing she had done back home: babysit the laundromat and peoples laundry. Occasionally people would drop stuff off for them to wash, but for the most part it was just helping them load the card and issuing refunds when the machines messed up.

It was a bit disappointing actually. She had expected an alien laundromat to be more exciting. She didn’t even have her textbook to study in the slow times!

“You need to study star charts.” A voice whispered from behind her.

“What?” Maggie looked over her shoulder, but didn’t see anyone that looked like they were talking to her.

“If someone needs a refund, you process it through this computer.” Rexlor repeated.

Maggie turned back to him, frowning a little. It must have just been her imagination.