Between songs, he'd regale us with stories about his life – one of the most fascinating lives I'd ever heard of, to be honest. He was a brilliant musician and an even better person. I'd had the pleasure of seeing him in concert a number of times and he never, ever failed to satisfy.
“Did Milo take the money?” I asked when Josie came out of the office.
“Of course he didn't,” she said with a grin. “Stubborn old coot.”
I laughed. “It's probably a good thing,” I said. “We normally wouldn't be able to afford an artist of his caliber. The guy is a legend.”
“And he's still pretty spry for a seventy-year old man,” Josie said. “I had to tell him three times that I was a married woman and to keep his hands off my ass.”
“What, you couldn't take one for the team?” I grinned. “Knowing he walked out happy would have made me feel better about not paying him.”
Josie smirked. “Please. If I'd given him a roll in the hay, he wouldn't have walked out of here,” she said. “You would have needed to call an ambulance.”
I laughed and poured myself a beer. “Somebody's feeling pretty good about herself tonight.”
“Honey, I feel this good about myself every night.”
I raised my glass and nodded. Josie was a confident woman. She was my best friend and my manager at the Tavern. She was also one of the most confident women I'd ever met. Of course, the fact that she was a knockout might have had something to do with that. She never really had to feel all that insecure about her looks. Not like the rest of us.
“Heading up for a smoke,” she said. “Join me?”
I nodded and carried my beer over to the staircase next to our office door. I unhooked the chain and let it fall, giving us access to the stairway up to the roof of the building. I unlocked the door at the top of the stairs and stepped out into the cool night air, relishing the feel of the breeze upon my skin. Josie stepped out and walked over to her normal spot near the edge of the building and lit her cigarette.
This was our informal office. It was not only the place where we could discuss business without being overheard, but it was also our unofficial clubhouse as well. We were the only two with keys to the door, which meant that we were the only two who had access to the roof. We'd sometimes come up here for a smoke, a drink, or just to get away. We'd talked, laughed, and cried more times than I could count on that rooftop.
Josie handed me her cigarette and lit herself another. I took a sip of my beer and followed that up with a long drag of the cigarette. I looked up into the night sky as I exhaled a thick, white plume of smoke and watched it drift upward.
“How are you doing, hon?” Josie asked me.
“I'm good,” I said.
She looked at me closely, obviously trying to discern whether or not I was being honest. Josie was always concerned about my mental and emotional well-being. And even more disturbingly, she was also overly concerned with my sexual well-being. She was almost like some perverted house mother.
“You sure, hon?”
I smiled and nodded. “Yes, mother,” I said. “I'm doing just fine.”
She took a drag of her cigarette and blew out a cloud of smoke. “I've just been worried,” she said. “You know, after the other night and that thing with your dad.”
I shrugged. “It is what it is,” I said. “I just have to find some way to be okay with the fact that they're never going to give me their approval for the Tavern. They'll never understand it or really support it. They're just a different breed of people, I suppose. So, it's up to me to find a way to be okay with that.”
“Makes you wonder how you came out of that particular gene pool, doesn't it?” she said and laughed.
“Sometimes,” I laughed with her. “I'm not gonna lie.”
There was a moment of silence between us as I drank from my glass of beer and then took another drag of my cigarette, lost in thought. Josie looked out at the bay our town got its name from – Sapphire Bay. Even at night, it was beautiful. I never tired of watching the way the moonlight glittered brightly off the surface of the water, making it look like it had been crusted with diamonds or silver. It was as breathtaking today as it had been when I was a young girl back in the day.
Most people dream of getting out of small town life and heading for the big city. And although Sapphire Bay might not exactly qualify as ‘small town life,’ given that we had several hundred thousand residents, it was certainly smaller than a place like San Francisco or L.A. But I'd always loved it here. And besides, I'd had my taste of big city life and found it incredibly lacking. Sapphire Bay was quaint, it was charming, and it was home.
“So you know,” Josie said, and I could tell by the tone of her voice what was coming next, “there was a guy in the Tavern tonight. Totally infatuated with you. Couldn't take his eyes off you.”
“Pass,” I said. “But thanks.”
“Oh, come on, Paige,” she protested. “He's a firefighter. You know how hot those guys are.”
I grinned but shook my head. “Not interested. But thanks for thinking of me.”
She opened her mouth to speak again, so I raised an eyebrow at her. It was a conversation we'd had a million times before, and I was not going to make it a million and one. She closed her mouth again and pouted.
“Look at that,” I said, pointing to the sky. “A shooting star.”
Chapter Seven: Baz
Anjol guided me to a safe spot to land under the cover of a thick forest. According to Anjol, I was on a planet called Earth. The secondary thruster that had been damaged had finally given out, forcing us to land in a place called Sapphire Bay. If I had to be forced down by a damaged ship, it seemed to be an ideal spot. It was near an ocean which, according to Anjol, had optimal salinity.
The biggest drawback to being forced down was that it was going to take some time to repair the ship, which meant that I was going to have to spend some time in this city and among its people. I knew nothing about them. ‘Humans,’ is what Anjol had called them. He'd said they were somewhat similar to my people, though obviously far less advanced as a civilization.
I sighed. This wasn't the ideal place for me to stop, although I had a feeling that none of Kapoc's assassins would think to look for me here. At least, I hoped they wouldn't. I just needed a little time.
“Anjol,” I said. “I need everything you can give me on these – humans,” I said. “I must learn to adapt and blend in while I'm grounded here.”
“Processing,” the computer said. “Please link your neuro-bracelet to your biosuit for maximum information retrieval efficiency.”
I put my bracelet around my wrist and secured it. The neuro-bracelet was a wonder even by the standards of my people. It not only linked to our mind and bodies organically, it could also interface with computer systems. Anjol could communicate with me almost telepathically through the bracelet, and I could also use it to manipulate electronics.
I punched the button that opened the ship's canopy and climbed out. Breathing in the night air, I cocked my head, the aroma an oddity to me. I'd never smelled anything remotely like it, but it wasn't unpleasant. It was musky and earthy, and there was a tint of salt from the ocean in the air around me as well. It was an aroma I liked – a lot.
“You are smelling the scent of pine trees,” Anjol informed me.
“Pine trees,” I muttered to myself. “I like it.”
“You're on the west coast of the continent of North America, in the state of California,” Anjol informed me.
North America? California?
Anjol jumped right in with a geography lesson, explaining how continents and countries and even states worked on this place called Earth. It was probably way too much information, but too much was probably better than not enough. Closing my eyes, I saw the map, and Anjol pinpointed exactly where we were at, right off the Pacific Ocean.
“Earth is populated with a number of species, including countless animals, but humans are the dominant lifeform,�
� Anjol spoke, showing me photos of humans – male, female, children – in my mind's eye.
Humans resembled my own species for the most part. That was something of a relief.
“Tell me, Anjol, how do I fit in with these humans? What do I need to wear?”
“Your physical form is on par with what humans expect, one reason this planet was satisfactory. However, your biosuit is unlike anything they've ever seen before, so a disguise will be necessary. Try this on for size.”
I rolled my eyes. Anjol and his puns. I opened my eyes and looked down as my biosuit transformed into brightly colored pants that were cut off above my knee. My chest was bare and glowed white in the moonlight.
“This is how humans dress?” I asked him, to be sure. “This?”
“Apparently, beings from California dress that way, yes,” Anjol said. “Members of what is called the surfing culture wear what are called board shorts in their season known as summer–”
“How about when they're not – surfing? Or when it's not this season called summer?” I asked. “Because I'm not a member of this culture, I shouldn't be dressed in the required uniform.”
“You may have a point,” Anjol said.
“How about something with some dignity,” I said. “Maybe more fitting of my station?”
Anjol changed my outfit again. This time, it was a completely black material that covered most of my body. A bright blue piece of fabric was tied around my neck. I was appalled by my appearance.
“These humans wear nooses around their neck?”
Anjol responded. “This is what's known as a bow tie. And yes, humans wear these bow ties on formal occasions. Male humans, at least. Females only sometimes.”
Satisfied with that answer, I nodded approvingly. As I looked at myself a little longer, I had to admit that I did look nice. It was a strange outfit, to be sure. But it wasn't bad looking at all. At least dressed this way I'd fit in with the upper classes. Perhaps, I would be able to walk among them unnoticed after all.
“Thank you, Anjol,” I said, slicking my hair back and looking around. “Where do I go from here?”
“Loading coordinates to your biosuit now. Follow the directions and you will find lodgings for the night. You will need to remove their local currency from what is called an ATM. With that, you can secure a room at a lodging house on 46th Street and Woodruff Ave, as noted on the map.”
“I see that. But what is this ATM you speak of?”
“It dispenses human currency, which they call money. You will need money for everything on this planet. It's the currency of the people.”
“Understood.” I thought I had all the information I required. “Cloak the ship and stay out of sight. Also, send word to Tarkonil. Tell him what happened, and have him bring what is needed to repair the ship.”
“It shall be done.”
As I left the comforts of my ship and followed the coordinates Anjol had given me, I became aware of how different this world was from my own. The trees were enormous and made everything look so – primitive. The walk from where I'd landed my ship to the edge of the forest wasn't a long one. I used the time to review the information Anjol had uploaded to my biosuit. I wanted to be prepared and learn as much as possible.
It wasn't all that long before I entered the human city. With wide eyes, I stared at the humans walking to and from various establishments. It was something that was probably all too common for them, but something that felt extraordinary to me, mostly because nothing looked like my home. I was, quite obviously, a stranger in a strange land. I had to hope that I was not detected – not if I wanted to study these humans, which I did.
As I walked along the streets, taking care to walk on the raised stone platforms like the rest of the humans, I inhaled deeply. The smells were intoxicating – even the ones that weren't as pleasant. They were intoxicating because they were so different. This was why my heart had always been in exploration rather than sitting on a throne. I can't recall ever feeling more alive than I felt walking among the humans.
“What is that smell, Anjol?” I asked out loud.
“I should mention that humans are a primitive species and do not have this technology, Baz,” Anjol said primly. “It is advisable to avoid looking like, in human parlance, a lunatic by talking to yourself. I would advise you to keep these conversations limited to our biolink.”
Of course. Anjol's voice was in my head, where only I could hear him. The woman standing next to me obviously could not and the expression on her face told me that she probably did consider me a lunatic. Whatever that was.
The smell in question though, was a powerfully musky smell. One that smelled nothing like the pine trees earlier, but of chemicals not found in nature. And it reeked
“It's perfume,” Anjol said. “It is something that women, and some men, wear to smell better. They apparently believe it attracts the other sex.”
I caught myself mumbling to myself, “Smells awful to me.”
The woman turned toward me, looking me up and down before raising an eyebrow. “Excuse me? Did you say something?”
“No,” I said, speaking my first words to one of these strange creatures and feeling my heart pound inside of me as I did. “Well, I mean, yes, but I didn't say anything to you.”
“Then who?” she said, looking around.
There was no one else there, just her and me, and I saw the concern in her eye.
“To myself,” I said quickly. “I was talking to myself.”
We were standing on a corner at an intersection. Vehicles – Anjol told me they were cars – drove past, and the smelly woman and I were waiting for something. I wasn't sure what, but Anjol told me to follow her lead. I stared at the back of her head, admiring the color of her hair. Such a dull brown, a color of trees or dirt from what I could tell.
The lighted pole in front of us changed from red to green, and the woman started walking. I followed, noticing the vehicles had stopped and seemed to be waiting for us to cross. I kept my head down as I rushed across the street, not exactly sure what would happen when the lights changed back again. I had an idea, and it wouldn't be pretty.
“There is an establishment called a bank ahead of you, on your left,” Anjol directed. “The ATM is directly out front. You can access the machine via your wristlet.”
There was a man standing at the machine and one standing behind a line that had been painted several feet behind the machine. So I waited, because I figured that was what I was supposed to do. I turned and looked around at the scenery – the trees, the lights, the buildings. It all felt so strange. So exotic. And so – quaint? But lovely, just the same. It might not be the gorgeous palaces I was used to, but there was something about this small city that felt nice. The cool, salty air was more than pleasant as well. The sea was nearby, calling to me even as I waited in line for this ATM.
The first man stepped away and the second man stepped forward to take his place. I had obviously assessed the need to wait my turn correctly, which pleased me. I was learning the cultural norms of the place quickly.
As I waited, one of the human vehicles came down the street, the sound of what I was guessing they called music blaring through its open windows. I found this human music very, very disagreeable. The second man stepped away from the ATM and I stepped forward as it was finally my turn.
Glancing around me to ensure that I would not be observed, I held my wristlet over the computer screen and tapped a few commands. The ATM made a series of loud beeping noises and I stood there as one final beep sounded, which was followed by a whirring sound. I looked down just as a small door opened and the next thing I knew, a stack of paper came out of the machine.
“That is what the humans call money,” Anjol said. “Take that currency, and you will be able to eat and have a place to sleep.”
Grabbing the stack of bills, I pocketed the currency and continued on my way.
The hotel where I'd be staying at wasn't much farther away. It was, according
to Anjol, on the edge of Sapphire Bay, out of the way from the hustle and bustle of the city.
“But what if I like hustle and bustle?” I asked, not knowing if I actually liked hustle and bustle.
Anjol was adapting to human culture, customs, and norms far faster than I was. As a biologically-based computer entity, he was able to process incredible volumes of information in the blink of an eye. As a biologically-based entity with no computer enhancements, I did not have that luxury.
“It is, as they say, better to be safe than sorry, Baz,” Anjol said. “Especially if you're trying to avoid drawing attention to yourself. Forgive me for saying so, but you do tend to stand out.”
“If I am to study these beings, I need to be out among them,” I said. “And why do you say I stand out? I'm wearing a bow tie, aren't I?”
“Mostly because once again, you're talking out loud and people are staring.”
I looked around, feeling somewhat self-conscious. He was right. A group of people were sitting on a bench outside the hotel, all three of them watching me.
“Maybe you have a point,” I thought in my head. “But I'll learn their ways, Anjol. Trust me, I will.”
I pushed on the door, only to find it was locked. But Anjol said this was a hotel – a public lodgings house. Why would the door be locked?
“You have to pull,” a lady behind me spoke up.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“Pull on the door. Don't push, sweetie.”
Her voice was soft, sweet, and friendly. If she thought I was a lunatic, she didn't make it obvious. That was a start in the right direction as far as I was concerned.
“Thank you,” I said, smiling as I pulled and found the door opened with ease.
“No problem. I do it all the time myself, too.”
I gave her a smile and stepped inside of the public lodge – the hotel – and secured my room for the night.
Chapter Eight
I paced the room of the hotel I had checked myself into – with plenty of help from Anjol, of course. He'd had to walk me through the procedures and teach me how to use their currency to avoid causing any sort of scene or raise any suspicions.
Mated to a Bear (Legends of Black Salmon Falls Book 3) Page 17