Welcome to the Shop

They drove for a while longer. Audra watched the landscape shift from the empty fields of grass and gravel to a town-like cluster of buildings.

She propped her chin up against the door as she looked around.

The houses here were rather strange in comparison to the States—even the wacky North-West had nothing on this. They didn't seem to match in terms of architectural style, and there was an odd mishmash of old and new, nearly all of them looking like they were straight out of a sci-fi film.

"Do you live in the boonies or something?" she off-handedly asked, eying some of the structures they passed.

"Hm? How dare you," Zephyr gasped in mock indignation. "I'll have you know that the place I live in is a perfectly respectable neighborhood."

"Sure doesn't look like it. What even are these houses?"

His eyes followed hers.

"Oh, those? Most of them are prototype dome-houses. Got a bunch of them from some company trying to build moon habitats. Was about three or so decades ago."

"…Seriously? Moon habitats?"

"Yeah, they were all anyone could talk about back in 2081. Of course, there's only like ten of them up there in total, and even that's a stretch. Eight are for research, one is a tourist trap, and the last one is a private estate that's not open to the public. Not exactly the cities in space that everyone wanted."

Audra gave him a weird look over her shoulder. "You talk about this all like you were there in the 80s."

"…Yeah? Was about forty back then."

Audra's weird look turned into a squint. Forty?

He looked about the same age as an average college student, smooth-shaven and everything. The only thing dated about him was his sense of fashion—like seriously, a black leather jacket?

"You're lying."

He didn't so much as flinch. "I can assure you, I was born in 2040. You can call me an old man and everything."

She continued to stare at him, trying to see any signs of aging on his face, but there were none. He looked like he could maybe be in his thirties at most, but even that was a huge stretch. Forget being seventy-seven.

"If you really are, how come you look so young?"

"That's the thing with The Bygone. There's tons of weird stuff from all around the world that ends up here. Just count me as one of them."

She deadpanned at him, drumming her fingers on the armrest.

"That doesn't answer anything. I'll ask again, how are you so young-looking? You gotta be a millionaire at minimum to afford anti-aging treatments, and even then, all it does is stop aging and reverse it the tiniest bit."

His lips quirked.

"Technically, the results depend on the type of biogenetic therapy you get."

"Oh, you want to get into an argument with me? Well, jokes on you, I'm rather smart when it comes to these things."

"Really now?"

"Yeah, like those kinds of biogenetic therapies weren't even invented until 2100 or something. If you're telling me the truth, you would've had to look exactly like this when you were nearing retirement age!"

Audra gave him a smug look. Biogenetics wasn't something she was super knowledgeable of, but her curiosity had taught her more than enough to boggle most.

However, Zephyr just shook his head.

"Some corrections for you. First, the tech has been public since 2091. Second, you're assuming I was going to retire at 60, which is a bit of a reach in this day and age. Finally—tying back a bit to the first point—you're forgetting the fact that the development of tech usually predates its public release."

She blinked at him dumbly.

Bah. Stupid details.

"Yeah, okay, but still, no company would just give that away. How did you get access to it?"

"…Can't really say," he replied cryptically. "It's a secret."

Her lips turned up into a pout. Not fair. She needed to get at least one win over him.

"Of course, it's a secret. What? Were you some kind of criminal or something?"

"No, I wasn't. Now, how about we drop the questions? We're almost there."

Audra crossed her arms. This guy was too smart for her liking.

"I'm still not buying your explanation."

"You don't have to buy anything. You don't even have the money for it."

"…Did you just make a joke?"

A small smirk tugged at Zephyr's lips.

"Perhaps. Lighten up a bit, will you? Life's too short to be so serious all the time. Especially with how young you are."

She furrowed her brows and hmphed.

"Whatever."

She stewed in her defeat until, a building crept into view. It was a medium two-story, cube-like structure with a small garden out front. The walls were made of concrete and painted white, its windows were framed with a sleek, silverish metal, and the slightly slanted roof was covered in solar panels.

It looked like it'd seen better days.

The truck rolled to a stop in the building's driveway.

"This is it," Zephyr said. "My humble abode."

"…Humble is definitely the right word to describe this."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

"Well, in any case, can you help me unload the truck?"

She begrudgingly tore her gaze from the quaint building and nodded, grabbing one of her bags and slinging it over her shoulder.

From there, they worked together in silence, carrying her belongings and the handful of other things he had picked from the scrapyard into what she assumed was the house's workshop.

It was a spacious, well-lit room, with rows upon rows of shelves filled with various items. Multiple power tools and other equipment lined one wall, and a long wooden workbench dominated the center of the space with a large square of hazard-tape on the floor next to it.

At the far end of the room was a door that seemed to open into the rest of the house.

Overall, it was cluttered yet strangely organized.

Once they had finished moving everything inside, Audra stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do next until Zeph spoke up.

"Well, welcome home," he said, leaning against the wall. "Or at least for now."

"Yeah… thanks."

He got up, looking at the door that led further inside. "Don't mention it. Anyway, lemme just give you a quick tour. Come on." He gestured for her to follow him.

The way he just got straight to the point was definitely something, but Audra just nodded, cautiously looking around the place as she followed him.

At least it was better than the container so far.

She hoped it would stay that way.