This World

by Lee, TD

  It’s like this guy is reading my mind. I just stare at him blankly. No words escape my mouth. I don’t even know what to say. He’s calling me out without having me say much. How does he know me?

  “So, I ask you again Ridley. Who are you?”

  I can’t reply. I don’t know what to say.

  Before the silence between us can prolong, the Prospector perks up and stands. “Well! Moving on! I’m sure you’re interested in how I know Adele. We are quite friendly with each other after all,” he remarks as he focuses on the control panels in the middle of the room, “I was traveling alone several years back and landed on Earth, well realistically speaking the NEXUS forced me to go to Earth. There was a swarm of these interstellar parasites called Flora Germalia that invaded Earth’s atmosphere. What they did is take human bodies as hosts to grow from the inside. Essentially, these parasites kill their host to create evilly beautiful plants. Quite devious of them, as they take advantage of the trust people have towards flowers, considering they first attach themselves to all kinds of flora. This infestation of the Flora Germalia caused an unexpected spike in plant growth that people only found beautiful. And this is where they started spreading. You see, the beauty that grows from the Flora Germalia is so enticing that they get more of their victims simply by looking pretty. Ah, much like a siren. Beautiful, yet deadly.”

  How is this guy talking for so long and not seem out of breath? He just keeps talking.

  “So, Adele plays into this whole situation because she was researching about the Flora Germalia as these sudden deaths and spike in plant growth caused her to gain some curiosity. She was investigating the same time I was, we kept missing each other though. Once I passed by a place, she would investigate it. Strange isn’t it? Two investigators, not meeting even though they spend an exceptional amount of time in the same place. And might I add, those Flora Germalia are quite the devious beings when they have grown. Why, one tried to snare me by the ankle! Ah, what a time. Long story short.”

  Too late.

  “The Flora Germalia had both Adele and myself trapped within a labyrinth it created so it could use us as hosts! No amount of fire, and believe me Adele tried very hard, was able to free us. However, what actually ended up saving our lives is the off chance that Adele had packets of sugar that she just threw at them. Can you believe that!? Sugar defeated the Flora Germalia—bloats them up like balloons. It was quite fascinating really. Just sugar!”

  He laughs as he’s telling the story. At least someone is enjoying the story.

  “After that I asked Adele to travel with me. She was hesitant at first—it took her several moments to really decide—in the end, she agreed. We traveled all across time and space, witnessed so many things. She even saw the fall of a space tyrant that brought darkness upon Earth. She stopped him too. It was amazing! It was a sad time when she decided she wanted to leave. No longer did she just want to be my comrade, she wanted to be her own person, forging her own path. She wanted to become something more, she wanted to reach her full potential. She became the person she truly wanted to be. That’s how the Adele you know today came to be. A simple, curious woman who became the woman who brought back the light. Adele is quite the amazing woman. She’s no nonsense, determined, ambitious, and will counter any quip you have with one of her own. Everyone could learn a thing or two from a woman like her.” He stops pressing the many buttons on the control panels and stands relatively still, staring at the glass window.

  I slowly murmur, “You, uh, definitely have a lot to say about Adele.”

  “But of course! She’s one of a kind, much like everyone else, but even more so. She’s brilliant—a force to be reckoned with!” he exclaims with a childlike joy. His face beams when he’s talking about her, like his whole world is lit up just by talking about someone. This reminds me of Hiro. The way the Prospector talks about Adele is similar to how Hiro would talk about superheroes.

  “Say, Ridley, you’ve lost someone close to you haven’t you?” he asks as he sits down next to me again. He looks straight into my eyes again.

  How do I even answer this question? This personal question, how do I answer to this stranger? This guy that I just met? Why is he prying into my life? Just because he knows Adele doesn’t mean I should immediately let him know who I am.

  The Prospector sighs deeply. His legs start swinging playfully. “I know a thing or two about losing someone close to you. It’s not easy. So many people expect you to grieve, others expect you to immediately move on. Yet, it more feels like you’re stuck in this weird limbo where you’re just not sure what to do.” His words are striking me in the heart, because he’s right. I don’t know what to do. Do I grieve? Do I just move on? I don’t know any more.

  “Well, everyone has their own ways with dealing with it. You just have to find your own. But first, you have to know who you are,” he advises with the most serious tone I’ve heard him speak with. The way he’s talking right now reminds me of someone who is way beyond his years.

  “Prospector, do not go around making my client sad now,” Adele’s voice echoes throughout the room. She returns with Grania, both of which are holding stacks of books in their arms.

  Immediately, the Prospector’s face lights up into a smile. “I am not! Just simply giving advice is all.”

  “Advice about how to break hearts or flirting with royalty?” Adele chuckles. She flips through several pages of a book. I can’t tell if she’s actually reading it or just fidgeting around.

  The Prospector’s mouth widens, but quickly turns into a wide grin as he answers loudly, “Well that is just absolutely the rudest thing you have ever said to me! How dare you!” He laughs and gets off the floor. “So, have you looked through intergalactic law yet?” he asks, fidgeting with some of the buttons on the center console.

  “Yes, I remember most things with intergalactic law, but it is a great refresher,” Adele responds as she’s focusing on another book. “Of course, you will to most of the talking Prospector, I shall interject when necessary.”

  “Ah, so I should expect that often then,” the Prospector says, grinning a bit deviously.

  The entire room starts shaking violently. What the hell is happening? My hands instinctively grab onto one of the nearby bars so I don’t fall into the darkness below. Are we being attacked? Are spaceships aiming for us because we crossed some sort of space border that we shouldn’t have? I try to look through the glass wall and all I see are cosmic white and light blue lights and flares.

  A couple seconds later the shaking completely stops, but my whole body gets tossed a bit and next thing I know I’m on my back and I’m staring at the ceiling. The Prospector comes up to me and has that usual smile of his, “Oh! Sorry! Should have warned you about the rough landing. We’re still working on that.”

  “Um, great,” I quietly reply.

  The Prospector stretches his hand out to me and he effortlessly helps me back onto my feet. The entrance door opens and warm, humid air immediately fills the entirety of the room. All of us approach the door and step out onto a rocky, purple cliff.

  “Welcome to Veritas!” the Prospector announces loudly, taking several wide strides ahead of us all. He branches his arms out to show a large city in front of us filled with neon pink and blue lights.

  Buildings are tall and have abnormal shapes. One building that stands out is a white one that’s a floating orb with two large white rings rotating around it, every few seconds a neon pink glow will pulsate. Another one that stands out is a cylindrical shiny blue building that has each of its different floors hovering above each other. How are these buildings even usable? Like, what’s the use of having floating buildings? It doesn’t make sense to me.

  Other than the buildings, entire streets are illuminated by neon lights and colors. Cars are zooming quickly both on the road and in the air. The sky is an ominous dark green. There’s nothing lighting up the sky at all, no sun or moon or anything like that. How’s the temperature here so wa
rm and humid? I can feel moisture sticking onto me. What kind of alien bacteria is in the air? The air smells a bit off here, a bit minty?

  “They have developed a lot than I recall,” Adele says, taking a deep breath.

  “Lots of things happen over a hundred years,” the Prospector replies, “but let’s be on our way to the courthouse. We can sightsee afterwards.” The Prospector grabs Adele’s hand and starts running off.

  “Is he always like this?” I ask Grania.

  She looks at me and nods with a cheerful smile. “Yup, he always has the energy. Come on let’s go, they’re leaving us behind.” She takes off running which prompts me to follow. Why do we have to run though?

  During the quick scramble to get to where we need to be, we pass through several streets and parks. Weird thing with the trees here are that they float above the ground, and have a weird technological look to them. The streets are so busy with people that we bump into several aliens without slowing down. The buildings are all so tall being next to them. Everything here seem so unnecessarily high tech, even the street lights float too. Are all alien civilizations just about floating things?

  Speaking of aliens. There’s tons of them here and they all look so different from each other. Some are gigantic, almost as tall as a normal house. Some are tiny and weird looking, kind of like goblins in video games. There are some that are just floating brains, appendages, or tentacles, all of which are freaking me out. Others look like ordinary humans. A ton look just like some Earthly animals, except they’re on two legs. This city is filled with a bunch of different looking aliens all of different colors and sizes. It’s just so weird to look at.

  We finally make it to the so-called courthouse. Before I can admire it, I’m wheezing. I’m so out of shape. I can hardly breathe. Wow, how far did we run? Why did we have to run? Wait, this guy has a time machine that can land wherever he wants it!

  “Why didn’t you just land the NEXUS closer to where we needed it to be?” I manage to say in between breaths. I’m wheezing.

  “Well, I wanted everyone to get a good look of what Veritas has! A wonderful

  “Because running was going to let me see what this place has,” I manage to say in between wheezes.

  The Prospector smiles and replies, “Ah, well, we’ll get a good look on the way back to the NEXUS. If she decides to stay still this time around.”

  I feel a light pat on my back and look up. What I see at first is Hiro’s smiling face before it fades into a smiling Grania. My eyes widen and she notices. “Are you going to be okay?” she asks.

  I stand up straight, taking several deep breaths to still recover from all the running. “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I manage to say.

  “Good, because the Prospector and Adele are going to go on without us again,” Grania chuckles quietly.

  Grania leads me up one of many white stairs. Further ahead are the Prospector and Adele. Each stair glows when someone stepping on it, becoming an interesting blend of colors with multiple people moving on these stairs. The stairs lead up to a giant building with giant doors to boot, the doors are literally as tall as the building. There are pillars with, as close as I can describe it, angelic and serpentine features on them.

  “How are we supposed to open these doors? They’re huge,” I say, more out of breath because of the mass amount of stairs I just had to trek up on.

  “Oh, it’s easy,” the Prospector says as he approaches the large doors. When he gets close enough to them, the doors open automatically.

  There’s a wave of cool air that wafts over all of us when the doors open. Inside are large and tall hallways decorated with otherworldly paintings and statues. There are several aliens roaming these halls, each of them wearing professional looking suits.

  “This way!” the Prospector commands and starts running again with Adele.

  Running. Again with the running! Grania grabs me and we start following after the energetic duo ahead of us.

  The Prospector leads us through the large hallways while dodging the mass amounts of aliens that look really upset with the fact that we’re running—don’t worry aliens, I’m upset about the running too. The Prospector takes us in front of a large door and promptly opens it.

  This room is huge, much like everything else on this planet. Lined up all on the wall are several spectating aliens sitting in hovering seats. A giant screen showing several of the spectators is projected onto the wall. There’s a group of aliens that are hovered together on a glowing platform. Sitting large an in charge in front of the screen is a large alien. This alien has no eyes and is dressed in a silver gown. Their mouth is large and exposes all of their teeth. Their hands only have three large fingers that look like they can squash any human.

  The large alien’s voice booms, “You’re late!”

  “Ah, yes, yes, sorry about that your Honor! But I am ready!” the Prospector grins proudly, as he normally does.

  I lean over to Grania and whisper, “How can we understand that thing?”

  Grania quickly whispers back, “The NEXUS emits a signal that lets us understand and communicate to alien species. Space technology basically.”

  And now that I think about it, I add, “And I can breathe because.”

  “Space technology,” Grania smiles at me.

  Alright, so I’m on some alien planet filled with a bunch of alien species. I can understand and talk to them if I want to. I can breathe whatever this air is. And not just that we’re in an alien courthouse filled with floating platforms and things. This is bizarre. Nothing I’m used to. Hiro would’ve loved this.

  The floor below us shakes a bit and lifts into the air. Coming up with us is a large desk that Adele set her briefcase onto. I almost fall over because of the sudden shift on the ground I’m standing on, Adele grabs my arm so I don’t fall off the side. We’re raised higher and higher until we match the height of the group of aliens on the other floating platform.

  “Are you finally ready then, Defense?” the large alien asks.

  “Yes, yes! Quite, actually. The Defense is ready your Honor!” the Prospector answers proudly with that usual grin of his. He’s so filled with confidence, it’s hard not to just gaze at the guy.

  But, Defense?

  “And the Prosecution?”

  Prosecution?

  One of the aliens on the other platform, dressed in a cream colored suit, answers with a slight gurgle to his voice, “The Prosecution has been, indeed, ready for the last five minutes.” This alien is impatient, his fingers are tapping irritably. The most stand out thing about this alien is that he looks a bit like a boar, he even has the small tusks. His hair is a weird lavender that doesn’t exactly go with his brownish-pink complexion.

  “Very well, the case between the Sefirots and Earth will now officially begin,” the Judge announces which causes a bunch of floating screens to pop into the air. Nothing is on them, but the fact that there’s so many is overwhelming as it is. “Kapros Andromedus, will you make your opening statement?”

  “Gladly, your Honor,” the boar alien says. “The inhabitants of Earth have brutally murdered many citizens of the Sefirot planet-”

  “Murdered? What the lying hell? Those aliens came to kill us!” I angrily interrupt without meaning to. How could this boar alien guy say we murdered the Sefirots when they were the ones that came to our planet and destroyed so many things? That’s ridiculous!

  Most of the people in this room gasp, offended.

  “Their xenophobic tendencies know no bounds your Honor, as you can tell from the outburst of that Earthling standing with the Defense. The Earthling even used the dreaded word, alien, to describe the benevolent nature of the Sefirots. The most xenophobic term you can use in the entire universe, yet Earthlings will throw the word around as if it was currency. Damnable creatures really,” Kapros

  As soon as I was about to say something again, Adele quickly whispers to me, “Settle down Ridley. This is a court of law, any angry outbursts will be used against
us and we need to win this case.”

  “But-”

  “I understand your distaste and anger, but right now we must keep our best composure. Kapros excels at inciting anger and provocation, if you let him, he will get in your head,” Adele interrupts me.

  In your head?

  In. My. Head?

  A slight ache pulses in my head. My vision briefly goes blurry. I blink violently and what I see in front of me is Hiro’s dead body and eyes.

  Give into your anger.

  That voice. That dreaded, horrible voice. Even here? How?

  I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look over and Grania is staring straight into my eyes with worry. “Ridley, are you going to be okay? You’re breathing really hard,” she says quietly.

  I didn’t notice, but my breaths are deep. I look forward again and don’t see Hiro at all and the voice is gone. I look at the Prospector and he’s concerned, yet annoyed with my outburst.

  “Earthling, I will not tolerate any more outbursts in my court. This is your only warning,” the Judge says. Even without eyes, I can feel an intense stare on me.

  “Y-yes, sorry,” I quietly reply.

  “May I get back to my opening statement?” Kapros asks, impatiently.

  “Yes, sorry about that, please continue,” the Prospector answers.

  Kapros snorts a bit and speaks gruffly, “So, after brutally murdering many Sefirot citizens, Earth is looking toward total annihilation in consequence for murdering the mass population of the Sefirots. The Sefirot population has dropped from a sprouting one-hundred thousand by about ninety percent, which is leaving their remaining citizens in a dastardly state. They are bordering on extinction and are now an endangered species. The Sefirots seek compensation on Earth and as consequence, the Prosecution would like for the Defense to give Earth’s plea for total annihilation.” The mass amounts of screens all project images of the Sefirots dying on Earth. Conveniently, it left out the Sefirots actually destroying buildings and killing people.