Two loud clangs rang out through the recently emptied street outside of the Candid Cantina as Sophia banged her fists on the metal plates. “How do we get it to work?” She shouted, her frustration at the machine manifesting as her voice went into a growl.
The two other boys stood close by watching as their friend desperately searched for some button to push or lever to pull to get the machine working again. They had done the same just minutes beforehand, but it would seem that Sophia wasn’t giving up. “I’ve looked all over the thing, Sophia.” Alex said as calmly as he could. “There’s no way that we can get it to work by ourselves, that’d be like trying to drive a car without a steering wheel.”
“Besides, if we did get it to work, we’d have no idea where we’d be going.” Neil added. “We could be dropped in the middle of a volcano for all we know!”
The girl reached up and put her hands on her face, her nails almost digging into her skin. “We can’t just leave him out there all his own! You’ve seen what he’s like, he’ll probably try introducing himself to something that has eight heads and a million damn teeth!”
Alex gave the machine another good long look. The metal plates took the form of several round discs connected to each other by a large slab beneath them. There was no sign or instructions on how they worked, the only clue seemed to be the vague outline of footprints on the top- an offer to ‘stand here’ that was rarely accepted despite the convenience. “Sophia I’m…”
“Just shut up!” She shouted with another bang of her fists. Sophia was quick to cover her face again, she didn’t want them to see her like this. “I need some space!”
Alex and Neil stepped away as their friend walked by, they could feel the heat coming off of her even from their safe distance. Sophia disappeared beyond the other side of the cantina, dipping into a dark corner where she could be sure she wasn’t seen. The street seemed uncharacteristically silent as the boys stood with their heads hung low, they almost wished that someone would come up and threaten them again- almost.
With a slight sigh, Neil shrugged his shoulders and knelt down at the plates. Gingerly he reached his hands over and started to feel around, the face he made reminded Alex of playing Operation as a kid and waiting for the shock to come. “What are you doing?” Asked Alex, crossing his arms out of habit.
“I don’t really know.” The boy replied, his voice as low as he was. “You know, I have no idea what we’re doing most of the time now anyways. Everything is just happening so fast and it’s all just so…”
“Exhausting?”
“Frighting.” Neil finished. “Like, man, are you seeing what I’m seeing? One second Tim is here with us and the next he could be anywhere! He could be dead or alive, who knows? Jesus, I can’t believe I’m about to say this but I’m starting to wish we were back on the Lavender living out our days in complete isolation and boredom. It would be a hell of a lot safer than this!”
Alex shook his head. “We would have gone mad if we stayed there, Neil. That was no way to live, throwing around cans and telling stories was only going to get us so far.”
The boy in the tattered coat gave a coy little smile. “You know, sometimes I think I did go mad on that ship. Sometimes I wonder if everything that’s happening now is just my mind slowly decaying as I’m trapped in that place.” He shivered a bit; the thought was clearly not a pleasant one.
“Don’t worry, man.” Said Alex, taking a place beside him and giving him a friendly punch on the arm. “I’m not a dream, at least as far as I’m aware.” Neil gave his friend a warm yet sad chuckle as he continued to feel about the machine, though Alex wished he could have returned it. “Do you think that Tim’s alright?”
Neil bit his lip. “You know better than to ask me that.”
“Right… of course, you don’t.” Alex sighed, wondering what happened to make his friend such a pessimist. “Do… do you think I was wrong back on that planet?”
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“What do you mean?”
“It’s just that, ever since I made the call to have Timothy get back into that chair Sophia’s been eyeing me like I’m some sort of traitor. I know what I did was the right decision, but I can’t help but feel a little guilty somehow.”
Neil shook his head. “You were absolutely right, Alex. Look, if Tim didn’t get back in the pilot’s seat, we would’ve been toast! Sophia… Sophia’s gone through a lot, okay. Putting people in danger, even if it’s the best call, isn’t something she’s alright with doing, you know.”
“No, I kinda don’t.”
The boy in the tattered coat raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean…” Alex trailed off, looking away. “I’ve never had that bond with her like you have, we’ve never really clicked.”
“Oh.” Neil replied, feeling a little caught off guard. “Well, we didn’t really click either when we first met. It took a long time for us to even talk, I was convinced she was some alien spy coming to finally kill me and she probably assumed that I was something worse. But after a while we kinda just started talking and we became friends.” Unconsciously, Neil reached over and squeezed his own hand. “She was the first person I had seen in so long and she helped me out so much… Jesus I must’ve been a complete wreck when she found me, all that time alone blurs together for me, it’s like a haze.”
Alex nodded, listening carefully, but he couldn’t help but feel a twinge deep in his soul. “I think she knew that I was a screw up the second she saw me.”
“What?” Neil exclaimed, doubly caught off guard this time around. “How are you a screw up, Alex?”
“Didn’t you see what happened back on Quiludia, or whatever the hell that planet was called? I messed up, I could’ve killed you! You, Sophia, Tim, you all would have died if we didn’t get spectacularly lucky!”
Neil cocked his head to the side with a bewildered expression. “Dude, you weren’t trained to be a spy and you never signed up to infiltrate an entire damn religion! You did everything you could to keep us alive, it wasn’t your fault that Zerat-whatchacallit saw through a lie!”
“It’s not just that, all through my life Neil I’ve been screwing up and screwing up! I wouldn’t even be here if I didn’t just… if I didn’t…” Alex slapped the thought away from his brain, now wasn’t the time to bring up the past. “I’m a failure Neil… that’s all there is to say about it.”
Over on the other side of the cantina, Sophia had her head buried in her hands. She had found a suitable enough seat on a barrel, now she was far enough away so that she could hide her tears. The girl wiped them away angrily as if she was mad at herself for crying. This wasn’t the person she wanted to be, crying in the corner of some dingy street, but then again, the girl she wanted to be was safe at home not having to worry about all this mess.
Her attention was drawn to the windows of the cantina, seeing the lights flicker for a minute before shutting off. After a few seconds they turned on again and the cycle repeated with the lights flickering again before going dark for a spell. Almost allured by them, Sophia stood and dusted herself off, making sure that her face wasn’t stained or puffy. She walked inside quickly, wanting the boys not to follow her in.
The place was dead empty, save for one or two guests and a familiar face at the bar. Pollum Mock was taking the free time to clean empty glasses as the crowd had died down, he gave the girl only a fleeting nod as she entered the bar again. At a loss for what to do, Sophia idly strolled and took a seat in one of the nearby booths. The comfort of her new chair far outmatched that of a random barrel. “What’s up with the lights?” She called to the bartender, almost uninterested.
“Shit generator.” Mock put simply. “Does that every so often.”
Over in the corner, Sophia could see that businessman from earlier pacing up and down. He was holding something to his ear that reminded her of a phone, only it was thin as paper and nearly see-through. The girl couldn’t make what he was saying out, but clearly, he was having a heated argument with whoever was on the other end.
“Hello,” said a voice. Sophia craned her head to see a man in a helmet and long pale coat standing next to her table, she hadn’t seen him approach- she didn’t like that. “I’m WaldAcker, I was talking to your friend Timothy earlier.”
“Okay?” She asked, eyeing him up and down.
“Well, I couldn’t help but notice that when he left, he was sort of… in distress? Did he die? Oh, I hope he didn’t get killed, that’d just be tragic!”
“No, he didn’t… well he could’ve but…” Sophia felt her face going red again and she wanted it to stop. “Look I don’t know alright! He got dragged off and we can’t get to him, so if you don’t know how to work those plates over there you can buzz off, got me?”
“Hmm, I can see Timothy didn’t get his conversation skills from you.” WaldAcker remarked as he listened and buzzed off back to his seat.
“AHH!”
Sophia jumped to her feet as she heard Neil scream, shit, no! Her legs could barely keep up with her as she flew outside, however she was pleasantly surprised to see that Timothy was back- and not dead for that matter.
He stood standing on the same metal plate he had left in, Neil had jumped back and screamed when the flash of light appeared and almost seared his hand off. Timothy was holding his arms up with his eyes closed as if preparing for an attack, his frame shook a bit as he shouted. “Wait! Would it make it better if I said sorry?”