With no clocks or windows to the outside it was impossible to tell what time it was. I asked the cloak if he knew, but he just spouted off some information about how time flows differently in Nova compared to Earth. So with nothing else to do, I just divided my time between playing pool, ordering a few non-alcoholic drinks from the bar and playing the pinball machine which was in a language I didn’t understand.

When my eyes finally started to feel heavy I thanked the cloak and headed out to the atrium. I wanted to ask Havarti which one of the rooms would have something close to a normal bed, but she wasn’t at her desk. Looking up at the pictures of heads, I decided to go with the dog person looking one. I mean dogs liked comfy spots to rest so maybe it would be similar.

I entered the room and realized I was completely wrong. The entire room was nothing but a square room with grass. It looked like an indoor soccer field minus the chalk lines. No way was I going to just lie on the floor, so I went into the next room without even looking at the picture above it. This one was a bit better. It was a forest with giant orange leaves and vines that curled into each other to form huge nest-like beds. Each one was situated in between a wall of small trees.

Part of me wanted to try the next room, but a long drawn out yawn told me to just lie down and get over it. I chose one a couple rooms down from the door and climbed in. The next bounced lightly as I settled in. I felt like I had just slid into a soup bowl. Vines began to cover me which caused me to panic for a moment before I realized they acted as a kind of cocoon sleeping bag. It was snug, but loose enough that I could still move around, and with one more yawn, I passed out.

—

“Get up.” My nest bed bounced. “You just had to fall asleep in my room.” The bed bounced more forcefully. “Get up.”

I opened my eyes to see Havarti standing over me. Her vine hair was rolled up like an old woman with curlers and she was wearing something close to moomoo. The sight made me recoil and yell.

“Real funny boy.” She pointed towards the back of the room. “Every room has facilities for cleaning up and other things. Hurry up and go, then go get breakfast. Harvey will be waiting for you.”

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and the vines that covered me reeled back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know which…”

Havarti interrupted me with a sigh. “It’s fine. Just get ready so I can get ready. I hate when I have to share with others. Oh and here.” She threw a bag at me which I barely caught. “It’s complimentary clothing. Everyone who makes it to the first garage gets them as a gift.”

I looked in the bag and found a black long sleeve shirt, a pair of cargo shorts and flip flops. “Thank you. But why didn’t you give these to me before?”

Havarti didn’t answer. She narrowed her eyes at me and walked away.

The back room was a bathtub large enough for royalty to gracefully walk in and out of. Spouts on the side of dispensed what I hoped were soap and shampoo.

After some experimenting and enjoying the warm water, I got out and air dried before putting on the new clothes and dumping the old ones into what looked like a trash can. I held a small moment of silence for my Poison Amy t-shirt before finally leaving.

Harvey was already sitting at one of the tables in the fancy restaurant when I came out. He had a pile of food in front of him. A slab of meat hung from his fork as he gingerly nibbled on it like a rabbit. The sight of it all made my stomach lion roar. When he saw me, he placed the fork down and dabbed his mouth with a napkin and gestured to the chair in front of him.

As soon as I did, another cloak appeared next to the table. This one wore an apron with a spatula on it. “What can I get for you?” It was a woman’s voice this time.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Can you make anything?” I asked.

“I can.”

I wanted to test out how far I could go and ordered something a little complicated. “Could I please get a scrambled egg bowl with green peppers, ham, white rice and smothered in ketchup?”

Harvey gave me a quizzical look, but the cloak waved itself and the bowl appeared in front of me. “If you need anything else, just call me.”

“Holy Torque kid, what did you order?”

I looked at the red, yellow and green concoction and smiled. The first time my mother had ever let me cook breakfast, this is what I had made. I thought it tasted delicious, but looking back I know she didn’t think so, but she ate it anyway and praised me.

“Just something from my childhood,” I said before chowing down.

When we both finished eating Harvey didn’t waste any time getting down to business. “So the good news is, I fixed your vehicle. It wasn’t as bad as I thought..”

“What about the door?” I asked.

“I managed to get it closed enough. I’ll fix that on my own time. I won’t charge you for that.”

“Charge, I thought things here were free.”

Harvey covered his mouth and let out a small burp. “I said within reason. Vehicle repairs and upgrades are not free. And while we’re on the subject, food, drink and entertainment will no longer be free once you’ve begun the main quest of this floor.”

I began to tap my finger nervously. “What happens if I can’t pay?”

“Then we keep your vehicle. And if you stay at a garage for more than three days, you get thrown out.” I gulped. “But lucky for you, we have another way you can pay. It’ll be your first side quest. Follow me.”

Harvey led me through the workshop and to a door I hadn’t noticed before. It was another garage that looked exactly the same as the other. The beetle sat in front of the garage door and looked just as new as when Solomon gave it to me, which is to say it was still ugly as sin, but at least the windows and tires had been replaced.

Walking over to the car Harvey opened the door for me like a valet and handed me the keys. When I got in, I had to adjust the seats to fit me again.

“Alright,” Harvey said, poking his head into the window. “When you turn on the vehicle, you’ll notice a new menu.” The menu wasn’t hard to notice. It sat right underneath Diagnostics. It was Quests. “Tooty, can you explain quests, please?”

“Of course Harvey. Mr. Walker, quests are tasks that are given to you by different non-combatant people or the floor itself. Each one you collect will be stored here in the quests menu. Every quest including the floor one, must be programmed by a quest giver. Please select the Quest menu now and then select the quest.” I scrolled down and selected it. The only quest there read ‘Paying My Debts: Harvey.’

“Looks like you have no money and you must pay if you wish to continue on your merry way. Never fear for Harvey has a way for you to pay him back for his hard work and dedication. All you must do is traverse the Mimic’s Dirt Track and retrieve a pair Mimiccycle’s Teeth. And just so you know it’s pronounced Mimic Cycle. If you don’t pronounce the k sound, no one will know what you're talking about. Back to you Harvey.”

“Thank you Tooty.” Harvey said. “So are you ready?”

“No,” I said quickly. “What should I expect? How…”

Harvey put his hand up. “Sorry, can’t help ya’. Need to figure things out on your own. All I want is the teeth. Anything else is yours. Good luck.”

As soon as that garage door had closed and I looked out to the landscape in front of me, that was the first time the realization of everything hit me. I knew I was in a different world, and that chances were I would probably never make it back home, but the day before had been filled with confusion and a bombardment of just everything. And although it’s a little embarrassing to admit, for a long while I did not move from that spot, and I cried. It wasn’t loud booger filled sobbing, but a more quiet acceptance that things were really fucked up.

When I finally managed to push away some of the tears I looked at the radio. “Tooty,” I said quietly. “What kind of music does that default station play?”

“You mean WRKS? It is different for every race, but for humans it is what you call Classical.”

I scrolled to the Social menu and selected the radio station. Soft violins began to play. I closed my eyes and allowed the music to surround me. Honestly, I was never into classical music, but somehow having this piece of Earth, even if it was just a small piece, allowed me to put the beetle into gear and put my foot on the gas pedal.