Chapter 4:
To The Green Lake
In the morning, I got woken up by the first rays of the sun, as well as Lottie’s high-pitched – and much too loud – “Good morning, Toma and Guest!”
I half-grumbled an answer, before I sat up in my still-warm bedsheets. I blinked, and stared directly in Emelyse’s face.
“Why does Lottie call me ‘Guest’?” she asked.
“Gah!”
I startled, and fell back into my pillow. Right. The memories of last night flooded back to me. Emelyse, the alien stranger. No, my friend. Wait, what had she just asked?
“Uh… I guess Lottie has trouble recognizing you, since you’re not, well, human.”
The air was much colder, and made me miss the warmth of the makeshift bed. But huddled in the blanket, I managed to get over to the control panel. “Let’s see if I can manually enter you.”
It took a bit of fiddling, but finally, Lottie confirmed Emelyse’s name. I smiled at my new friend.
“There we go.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“It’s nicer to be called by your name, right?”
“That is true.” She nodded as if it was a wise truth that had been revealed to her. “Names are important to humans, as well.”
“They are.” I smiled at her.
“I’m learning a lot from you, Toma,” she continued. “And I thank you for that.”
She opened her mouth as if to say something more, but then, my stomach interrupted her rudely by grumbling loudly. I felt my ears burn.
“Ah, sorry.”
“That is a normal bodily function, is it not?”
Emelyse tilted her head. She didn’t make fun of me, but watched me with a strange curiosity.
“You’re right. Are you hungry?”
“I am.”
I looked outside. The pod had been good enough to get some passable sleep in, though of course, it couldn’t compare to my bed back home. Now, the air felt stuffy, and everything was just a bit too small. I manually navigated Lottie off the power line and stopped there.
“Then, how about a morning coffee? I’m sure you’ll appreciate another human ritual,” I said.
“I do, really. Thank you, Toma.”
“No need to thank me,” I mumbled.
I stared at the bright orange machine which slowly (unbearably slowly) heated up the water, until finally, coffee poured out. The aroma wafted through the air, together with the translucent, white steam coming out of the giant mugs that were definitely hand-painted. Where did my parents find a place to hand-paint mugs? Why would they do that? There was no way to change to motif to fit your mood, and to be honest, the brush strokes were shaky and uneven. The chickens that grinned at me admist the flowers irritated me. Just who would come up with such an image?
My parents, duh.
I looked around the coffee station, but there were no other cups to be found. Of course. Only the ugly ones stayed behind. I sighed, but changing cups now (even if I could find some) would just mean a waste of coffee. At least the mugs were comfortable in my hands as I walked outside, where Emelyse sat on the ground.
"Is that not cold?"
"It is."
"Uh... and you're fine with that?"
"Not really." She shook her head. "But I wanted to see more of this place."
"Right..." I looked around.
It was nice, to be honest. The air was crisp and cool, with just a hint of last night's rain that still hung on the moss which crept over the ground and stones around us. I could see some bots crawling on the trees, pruning dead branches as their silver shells glittered in the morning light. The sunlight was golden, and got caught in the morning mist which lit up as if on fire between the dark lines of trees.
"Here, hold onto them. I'll look around for some chairs."
Inside was much warmer than the outside. I quickly adjusted my suit to keep my warm enough myself, but then, hesitated.
'A hot cup of coffee just tastes better when you're cold, right?' Mom had said to Dad, when I was smaller. I remember the day being rainy and grey, and how I shivered for what felt like an eternal walk. But when we came home, it was magical. Dad made us all hot chocolate - his secret family recipe, not the pre-installed station ones. It was probably the best drink I had ever tasted.
Just why was I thinking of that memory now? It had been long forgotten - but just like Lottie itself, it seemed like spending more time with the past gave it a strange, life-like energy. I bent down, and under the kitchen counter, I found some hover cushions, at least. Not as good as a proper chair, but better than us sitting on the cold ground.
"Emelyse, I found us something," I said as I exited the travel pod.
"Wonderful." She stood there, just like she had before I left here, with both cups in her hands. "Terra's nature is amazing, isn't it?"
"Hm. I guess?" I tilted my head.
It wasn't really something I had thought about before. The trees looked pretty, though. I sat down on one hover chair, with the other floating next to me. Soon enough, Emelyse joined me there. It was cold enough that our breath fogged, swirling and dancing up into the sky, tangled together with the coffee steam. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Emelyse breathed not only out of her mouth, but that breath fogged up from her neck and elbows as well. It was fascinating to watch, even though I tried not to stare.
Watching her was more fun than this whole trip could ever be.
"Why do you travel?" she continued to ask between sips of coffee.
"Because I have to," I grumbled back.
The coffee was nice, at least. Maybe I should have put more sugar in it, or flavored syrup, but even without all that it had a underlying taste of chocolate and hazelnuts.
"That doesn't sound enjoyable."
"It's not."
I tried really, really hard not to feel annoyed, but even with the golden morning light and the coffee in my hand, it was hard not to. Sure, this was nice, but my back hurt from the hard mattress, I certainly hadn't slept enough through the night, and I missed home. Emelyse was maybe the only reason why this whole trip didn't compeletely suck, but I couldn't say that out loud. Instead, I drank my coffee in big, hot gulps.
"But aren't humans always searching for pleasure?" She looked around. "Aren't these sights pleasureable?"
"No, we're not. And this sucks. It's cold, and wet, and... I'm done."
I didn't even know why I was so angry. Not that I wanted to look more into that. I was done. My cup was empty, and the look that Emelyse gave me didn't feel comforting.
"Fascinating," was all she had to say.
"Right. Great."
I jumped off the hover cushion and went back inside the pod. "Come on. We have a long distance to travel today."
Yes, I was still determined to get over with this as soon as possible. After I led the pod back to the power line, I put it back to auto mode, and watched as we left the city behind, until all that encompassed us were the woods. I watched as the trees swooshed by, and the sky above us turned from orange to blue. It was an odd feeling, something I couldn't describe. Thankfully, Emelyse didn't ask any more questions. I wasn't sure if I could answer them, or if they would lead me to parts of myself I definitely didn't want to look for.
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