The ice-cold water hit Ash's face like a ton of bricks. He shot awake on the hard ground like a man under fire. "What the hell!?"

"Well, excuse me. I would like my floor to get mopped every once and a while."

Ash slowly became aware of his surroundings, of the throbbing pain inside of his skull, and the soreness of his body. He looked up to see Zander shaking his head at him. "Are you going to get off my floor or what?"

The hungover Ash saw a table next to him and used it to pull himself up off the ground. He was in Zander's Café alright. He wasn't sure how he got here, he didn't have any memory of even thinking it was time to turn in last time. Zander poured more water onto the ground and activated the automatic moping machine to clean the floors. "You know I have a couch in the back?"

"Obviously, I didn't quite make it that far." Ash stumbled his way over to the bar at the back of the café. Zander walked behind the bar, grabbed a small towel, and tossed it over to Ash.

"Thanks." Ash wiped the water from his face. "New Arm?"

Zander looked at the robotic prosthetic he had on his right arm as he prepared a drink. "Yeah, upgraded a few months ago. The fingers are far less glitchy. Better for making drinks. Have fun last night?"

Ash shrugged. "I suppose that would be a word for it. I drank, I got into a couple of fights...I'm pretty sure I won. Oh, and I got thrown out of a bar last night. Quite clumsily might I add."

"How do you 'clumsily' throw someone out of a bar?"

"The idiots tossed me right into a couple of girls. Thankfully, they were smart enough to get out of the way."

"So, we know they're far too smart for your dumb ass. Hope they were pretty at least."

"I don't know, maybe." Ash struggled to think through his hangover. "They both had hair, I think. One had glasses, probably. One of them was tall, very long legs with a good ass."

"Of course, THAT detail you remember." Zander finished mixing up the drink and placed it on the bar in front of Ash. "How long has it been? A year?"

"A year and a half."

Zander nodded. "Didn't expect you back on Wakefield anytime soon."

"I needed a good place to lay low for the weekend."

"Well." Zander said with a laugh as he pointed up to the screen on the wall behind him. "I guess the joke is on you."

Ash looked up at the muted screen showing a news broadcast with a headline about Ryker's impending arrival. "Yeah, I didn't know he was going to be here. I'll just have to lay extra low."

"On a weekend like this, I'm sure that'll be a difficult task for you." Zander mixed up a drink for himself. "Have you ever met him?"

"Ryker?" Ash answered. "Not really. I mean, he performed an inspection on a ship I was stationed on once. We all stood in line as he performed a quick spot-check."

"Did you pass?"

"Yeah." Ash lifted up his drink as Zander shot him a glance. "What, I wasn't always such a disgrace."

"You think he'll recognize you if he saw you again?"

"Probably not, but I'm not going to take any chances with it." Ash took a sip and immediately gagged as he struggled to swallow it. "Ugh. What's in this?"

Stolen novel; please report.

"Vegetables, Ash." Zander explained. "This is a juice bar, remember? It's good for hangovers."

"What, you don't have coffee here anymore?"

"Nope. Don't have a staff anymore either, replaced them all with those damn machines."

Ash looked on the ground behind him to see the automatic mopping machine do its work. Zander continued. "Ingredients are getting too damn expensive, Ash. They say the seed deposits will run dry in about fifty years. After that, we'll all be eating that artificial stew."

"Everyone below the upper-station, you mean." Ash corrected as he forced himself to take another gulp of the juice. "And it's actually twenty-five years, they're just telling people it's fifty. How's that personal garden of yours going?"

"Not well enough to keep up with demand once the deposits run out. But, until then, I have to do my best to maintain healthy living for myself and my customers. Got to keep our spirits pure for the Goddess."

Ash had forgotten that Zander was a member of the Children of Gaia. "You witches and your Goddess. How is it that of all the religions that existed on Earth, yours is the one that's still kicking after all this time?"

"Others are still around."

"Yeah. And dogs technically aren't extinct yet. But you don't see many of them, do you?"

"No, I don't." Zander answered honestly. "We have become a faithless people since the 'Death of Earth', haven't we? I suppose I understand why. If there were never any gods, we don't have to feel quite as guilty about destroying the beautiful planet they made for us."

"There are worse ways to get rid of guilt." Ash spoke from experience.

"True. But burying our guilt doesn't erase the things we've done...as I'm sure you know."

Ash tried to take another drink but couldn't quite stomach the juice anymore. He put the glass down and stood up. "Well, I'll leave you to your philosophical musings. I'm going to find a place that serves coffee. I have a long, boozy weekend ahead of me and caffeine is essential to the process."

"If no harm done, do what you will."

Ash stopped, he had heard many witches say that to him. "That's such a stupid statement."

"How do you mean?"

"There's always harm to be done." Ash explained. "Even if you do nothing, someone, somewhere is being harmed."

Zander shrugged. "Some decisions cause less harm than others."

"Well played." Ash said with a smirk as he turned to leave the café, pulling out his vape as he did so.

"And besides." Zander stated as his drunkard of a friend stumbled towards the door. "When I say 'Do no harm', I'm not necessarily referring to the effect your decisions have on other people."

Ash stopped and looked back at Zander as he exhaled the vaper he had just taken in. Ash couldn't quite think of anything else to say. So he just pointed to the ground. "Thanks for lending me your floor, Zander."

"No problem."

Ash walked out of the Café and saw a city that was buzzing with even more life than usual. The great Basileus Ryker was coming in soon, everyone was scrambling to get their city ready for the arrival. It was a good sign that Ash needed to get his coffee and retreat to the lower levels of Central-Station before someone with authority recognized their chance to impress the commander with an important arrest. He took another dose of nicotine from his vape and stumbled off. He was sure there were bars down there as well.