Chapter 25: Up and Up

Paulie followed the six-armed alien woman down the last stretch of hall and to one of the doors that led to the stairwell landing. In front of it stood another alien in an adjudicator uniform, the dark blue attire covering the body of the snake-like alien guarding the exit. With a start he realised he recognised the alien, it was the same serpentine alien that he had met when he had been first arrested in the atrium.

Jakiikii walked up to the female officer and raised two hands in greeting. The alien hissed and flared her display petals, the colors upon them sifting through from green to a reddish orange.

She spoke, the meaning of her words seemingly manifesting in his mind despite the hisses and snaps she vocalised. “What are you doing with it out? It isn’t supposed to leave the domicile!”

Jakiikii ducked her head, her demeanour changing in an instant, gone was the loud boisterous manner in which she had displayed before and when she was around him. She ducked her head as her eyes drooped, “I was just going up to the roof. Giving him a little fresh air you know? Wouldn't want Mack’s key witness to go stir-crazy cooped up in that tiny room.”

The woman opened her mouth, an angry hiss building in her throat that died as he gently grabbed Jakiikii’s shoulder and moved her to the side as he stepped forwards. The snake woman’s trifurcated tentacle arms immediately flew to her belt as if she was about to draw a weapon. He held up his hands and spoke calmly. “Officer Sasfren, was it? We met on bad terms the first time, and for that you have my apologies. But Jakiikii was speaking the truth. We are only going up onto the roof for a spot of fresh air, it was my fault really. The simulation TV in the room is convincing, but it isn’t a match for the real thing.” She moved back slightly, her tentacle graspers still on her middle.

She seemed at once unconvinced of his words, like he was performing some manner of metal trickery upon her. Her eyes widened as she shifted from side to side slowly.

Paulie hung his head slightly and sighed. “C’mon. Just for a few minutes? At least long enough to eat our slushice? Then I will be right back down, I promise.”

Officer Sasfren seemed to mull it over before tapping her commie and speaking slowly. “Package requests a recess to the roof. Are we clear on the roof?”

Another voice issued from the speaker she wore near to the shoulder of her uniform. “Package has left the room? What is it doing out?”

She glanced at him, her large eyes rather expressive despite the simple features of her face. Her large flower-like petals flushed a muted lavender as she noted, “The, uh.. urrenian has asked for some fresh air.” She seemed to be embarrassed for some reason and he couldn't place why. But as he continued to look at her, her hand slowly moved from her belt and her petaled frill turned a more muted blue.

Paulie smiled. “Thank you officer.”

She gestured to Paulie and asked, “So uh, I guess you are not really the brainless savage that we were told to expect. Are you?”

He glanced at Jakiikii and saw her perk up slightly. Though she was still acting a little like a whipped puppy. “No, I’m not. Though I do have the capacity for it in me.” He chuckled as her petals flashed orange and she seemed to jerk back slightly. He waved a hand. “No no, don’t worry. I would have no reason to be violent with anyone that is here for my protection. You are doing a great job by the way, keep it up.” And he made a move towards the door.

The Censec officer put up one of her trifurcated tentacle arms. The smaller branching digits looking more akin to octopus tentacles than fingers. “H-hold up there! I haven't gotten confirmation of your status yet.” She stuttered a little, very obviously intimidated by his large stature or perhaps his reputation as a brainless murdering animal.

Paulie grunted in mild annoyance but the wait was short. Moments later her speaker buzzed again, “It should be fine to go to the roof with the termaxxi to guard. Let them go. But they need to be back before it gets dark.”

With that the snake-flower woman nodded to them. Her petals changed to a muted reddish hue as she opened the door and waved them through. She hissed quietly, “Be back before dark though. I really don’t want to have to go and retrieve you.” She glanced at Jakiikii, “You had better keep all of your eyes on it, termaxxi.”

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Paulie gave her a thumbs up and what he hoped looked like a friendly smile, though in reality he was more than a little annoyed by her behaviour. She grimaced as he went by and he saw she had three rows of tiny hook-like teeth that faced backwards towards her gullet. Maybe her species evolved from aquatic or semi-aquatic creatures. The only way to know would be to ask, and so as soon as they were out of earshot he did.

“Hey, Jakiikii.” She turned two eyes to face him while her body continued up the stairwell. “What is Officer Sasfren?”

She answered quickly, “She is a juror, second class. Censec peace officer corps.”

He shook his head. “You know that isn’t what I meant. What kind of alien is she?” he asked, a little more forcefully this time.

She seemed to bristle slightly and then slumped again as if she were fighting herself. “I just, she is a maggastium. Does that answer your question?”

He frowned and muttered a little petulantly. “Not really.”

They made the rest of the climb in comparative silence, clearly she would tell him why she had dragged him out here when she was good and ready and not a moment before. As they reached a final landing they were confronted with a small room and a door. The door looked about the same as any other, a green warning sign covered in alien script and a long bar-like handle that she pushed open with two of her unoccupied arms.

He followed her through the partition and realised pretty quickly that they were on the roof of the building. Another thing he realised pretty fast was the fact they seemed to be the tallest building in the area. He took a few more steps out onto the roof and shivered slightly as the cool evening breeze blew across the flat rooftop.

He looked around and saw Jakiikii already perched on one of the low walls that jutted from the roof to enclose it at nearly waist height. She was sitting on that ledge, feet dangling out into the open air as she happily sucked on more of her frozen confection. She saw him staring and waved at him.

“Come on Paulie, the view is quite a spectacular one. Join me.”

He obliged. Moving carefully to stand beside her next to the raised edge of the roof. She patted the spot beside her and he shook his head, “No thanks. I don’t think I have the same head for heights that you do. What if I..”

She cut him off by handing him his cup she had been carrying for him up until that point. “Here, drink.”

He swallowed and then nodded. He was getting the distinct impression that he was about to be told something he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear. So he might as well enjoy himself while the moment lasted. He used the spoon to take a large bite of the slightly melty slushice.

A burst of flavour sparked on his tongue like frozen starbursts of sweet and tangy delight. It tasted like peach and strawberry ice cream with hints of lime and maybe cinnamon. Definitely something more earthy than sour hit the back of his tongue as he savoured the bite. It was probably the best thing he could remember eating since before his adventure had begun.

He nodded, finding himself shoveling another few bites in quick succession. Jakiikii raised a hand suddenly as she watched him devour the treat, her mouth open and her long pink proboscis loolling out as she warned him loudly, “No, Paulie! Not that fast, you are going to get..”

Paulie groaned in agony as the entire lower section of his skull felt as though it had been beaten with mallets, frozen solid and then beaten again. The sensation exploded through his cranium as if he had just eaten a kilogram of dynamite.

“..a brain freeze!” Her words died as she watched him writhe and shimmy in pain. There was nothing she could say or do to ease the lingering arctic misery that had so engulfed his mind, his fists clenched and his toes curling from the raw sensation of brain shattering cold.

Paulie sucked in lungfuls of air and shook his head as the stars finally began to recede from his vision. He coughed and leaned heavily on the wall as he felt a pair of hands pat his upper back.

“Well, that was certainly entertaining to watch. You really are a bit of a dummy arn’t you?” She asked him in what he took as a teasing accent. Her slightly hissing chirps sounding largely alien without the context afforded to him by his parasite.

Paulie nodded through bleary eyes misted by the painful brain freeze. “Euugh..” Was all he said in response.

As he stood slowly, the recovery of his mental faculties allowed for him to finally appreciate the view she had been speaking of earlier. Out into the distance stretched the city, taller buildings in the far distance seemed to slowly reach higher and higher till they met at one distant bright line that stretched up into the sky seemingly without end. He looked up and up but lost it amid the shimmering stars that sat just out of sight through the planet's bright teal sky.

Jakiikii noticed his awed expression and chuckled deep in her chest. The raspy sound of it making him turn to look at the termaxxi seated atop the wall next to him. “Admiring the view eh?” She gestured to the line.

“Yeah, what is that? It looks like it goes straight up into space?” He was more than a little mystified by the whole idea.

She nodded, four of her bright orange eyes turning to look at it. “That’s Korscam’s space elevator.” She glanced at him and repeated the word.

Paulie nodded. “Yeah, I know that one.”

She seemed a little surprised. “You do? I was not aware your race’s technology was that advanced!”

He shook his head. “It isn’t.” She looked at him, confused. He shook his head again and let out an amused chuckle. “You can thank the minds of authors, movie makers and painters for the wide variety of things that don’t seem to amaze me. Humanity is a curious race, and we love to dream. We dream of things that could be, and things that may never be. But above all we love to dream of a future where we have touched the stars themselves.” He sighed.

Jakiikii seemed to mull it over. “So, you have ideas of all these things not even knowing if they are possible in the first place? That sounds kind of wonderful actually. I don’t think I have seen anything like that here, but I could be missing it..” She trailed off and then looked at him directly. All six of those intense orbs turned to transfix him.

Paulie opened his mouth to ask her what they were doing on the roof in the first place, but she cut him off with a small handwave from her lowest arms. “Paulie, there is something I need to tell you. I think that you can help me where Mack and others cannot.”

He straightened. “What is it? What do you need?” She turned sideways to hop off of the wall and then strode a few steps away, her back turned towards him. And Paulie got the feeling she wasn’t about to tell him the recipe for slushice