I woke up to find myself lying on an incredibly old couch in a strange room that I’d never seen before, at least not in full daylight. Where on Earth was I? For a few seconds I was completely disoriented. Was I still sleeping and dreaming? Only then I recognised Evelith, still asleep on her bed, with her long dark hair all messed up and a faint dreamy smile on her lips.

But even the woman herself was only a small part of the strangeness of the place. I peered around in confusion. My head was dazzling from everything that had happened last night or, more likely, from a hangover. How much beer had I been drinking? I had no idea. I could remember that I had bought the first 2 beers from the machine, but after that I had gotten the rest straight from her ‘on the house’. Not having to watch my funds I had stopped bothering counting, which I probably shouldn’t have done. Drinking more than one beer was another thing that I hadn’t done in ages, I realised only now. And maybe not without a good reason…

The stillness of this room was a bit intimidating. Everything here was silent and still except for her breath and the small movements of her body connected to it. I didn’t dare to disrupt anything in this strange new environment, so I all I could do now was to wait patiently until she woke up. With a lot of courage I put my clothes back on, and then sat motionlessly on the couch, trying to keep everything completely soundless. Deep in thought I pondered everything that had happened last night, and the world in which I had been living, which I saw in a completely different light now.

I didn’t have to wait very long. My new friend broke the train of thoughts by waking up abruptly. Completely ignoring me she literally jumped out of her bed to open the curtains and to let the sunlight in. The light and the sounds from the outside world seemed to suddenly pull me in a completely different world. The rain had gone, but half of the sky was still filled with grey clouds, and a thin smog laid over the whole City as far as the eye could see.

I kept on looking outside again while she dressed herself, still waiting patiently for her to say something, unable as I was to start a conversation and break the silence in which I had woken up.Finally turned at me, smiled and broke the silence.

“Good morning Adaman. Did you sleep well?”

I must have stared at her like an unpowered robot for quite a while before I was able to answer her. “More or less.” I mumbled after a while, but she didn’t seem to care about my lack of enthusiasm. “Well, the old couch isn’t ideal for your back probably, but I couldn’t let you go home in your state.” Her expression got more serious, a bit guilty even. “This is all my fault. I probably shouldn’t have given you so much beer, but I got a bit carried away. Beer also is a good lie detector anyway, which is always handy with strange men. Especially here in the light district.”

More silence was my only answer, until if became uncomfortable for both of us.

“Did I go too far?” She finally asked. And I still didn’t answer. “I’m probably way too pushy for someone who hasn’t been interacting with another human for years. Especially when I get carried away…”

I looked at her, unable to say much until I finally found the power to look back into her light-brown eyes. “So, do you do this often, getting guys you’ve never met before half drunk and keeping them in your room for the night?” It must have sounded like an accusation to her, and she turned her eyes away.

“Well, don’t let that ruin your first impression of me. I’ve never done it before, I think. It’s an extremely stupid thing to do as a woman actually, especially here. Very dumb and dangerous. But it felt okay with you, mister asexual robo-man.” She paused, still looking away.

“And we are getting rarer. Homo sapiens that is. A real man is hard to find these days.” She was the only one to laugh at that joke. “To be honest, I might need you. We might need you. Homo sapiens might need you. We need everyone we can find.” Her eyes met mine again, and they were much more serious now.

“But we’ll talk about that later. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable and for claiming you like this. The world has been slipping away around me lately, and I might have been a bit too aggressive in holding on to you.” Without warning she looked me straight in the eyes again, leaving me captured as animals did when they were caught in a headlight. “But don’t get any weird ideas. I picked you as a friend and because you are a human, and not for something else.”

I shrugged. The absurdity of the situation wasn’t lost on me.

“Weird ideas? Me? Weirder than all of this? Won’t happen. This light district of yours is so much fun… and so much excitement.”

She made a little hand-gesture of defeat.

“You know, you’re quite easy to read. I knew that you were serious about not being interested in women or sex in general, at least currently in your state. Otherwise you’d have been behaving completely differently here in the light district. And when I was undressing last night you affirmed that completely. My radar for these things isn’t bad. You completely passed the test. But be warned again to not get stupid ideas or try stupid things.”

“That’s noted.” I grumbled. She was quite right about my disinterest in relationships, sex or romance. It seemed like all those things had been drained out of me long ago, and that there were other things on my mind now, even though I didn’t even know what they were. On the other hand I wondered if there still might have been something flirty behind her words, or was I imagining things and already having the ‘weird ideas’ I wasn’t supposed to have? She was quite confusing actually. But still she made me feel strangely at home, and something made me trust that we could indeed be friends. Even though I’d never really had much actual friends in my life.

Was I being naive?