[From May Sencan: Next Visit?]

[Hey! How’re ya doin Tom? I know that you’ve got something good goin on over at that Gerald’s place, but when’re ya gonna come and visit? I got another nice thing for you here! Same place as last time. And once you’re done, we can spend a little time together <3. Anyway, see ya then!]

The two stared at the message confusedly. “Well…” Kain began. “Reading that made my eyes hurt. No one wants to read about someone's love life from a computer,” he declared.

“I agree that we shouldn’t be picking through someone’s love life, if what you told me about human relationships is anything to go by, but why is it making your eyes hurt? Is it too bright? Too dark?” she urged.

“No, no, it’s a figure of speech. Either that or it’s a slang phrase. Or hyperbole. Either way, it’s a way of saying that you didn’t enjoy looking at something,” he explained, smiling. “But it seems like a bulk standard, flirty message to me. You?”

“Hmm… I want to agree, but something feels off,” she guessed.

He quirked his brow a bit. “And that would be?”

“Well… Maybe it’s just a bit of messing up social signals, but this feels like it has a second meaning,” she explained. “I try not to look at the worst possible outcome, but it feels off.”

“I agree that you’re not pessimistic, but nothing here seems out of order. The only thing I can think of is that word ‘done.’ But it could be explained by the ‘something nice’ she was talking about,” he concluded.

“Well, I’m just saying, the whole thing feels kinda off. I don’t know how to explain it, but it just is. Anyway, next message?” she offered. He nodded and switched to the first message.

[From Gerald Conners: New Shipment Expected]

[Thomas, we’ve got a new shipment of salted mangoes coming in next week. So make sure that your lazy, stupid ass is over there when the shipment comes in.]

After another round of contemplative silence, Kain spoke again. “That was… colorful,” he remarked.

“It was blue.”

“It’s an expression.”

“Meaning?”

“That this Gereald had a unique way of speaking,” he replied.

“I agree. Anyway, we at least know that May lied,” she stated. Kain eyed her confusedly. “She lied by saying that he had a good job. That was obviously not true,” she explained.

“Hey, we don’t know. Maybe there was a saturation of labor and getting a job at all was virtually impossible,” he theorized.

“Or, she was using code and there really is something going on here!” she declared. Kain just laughed with her performance.

“Well, besides that, who in their right minds would eat salted mangoes? Just thinking about it is utterly disgusting,” he said, almost shuddering at the thought.

Luna laughed for a moment before turning back to him. “So what’s the part that makes you shudder? The fact that they were salted or the fact that they were mangoes?” she asked.

“The former,” he said. “They’re soft, juicy, and sweet fruits. I have no clue why someone would think that putting salt in it is a good idea. Also, they actually have mangoes in this place. Another oddity.”

“Well, either way, let’s move on to the next one,” she decided.

“Okay, but which one is that?” he asked.

Pausing, she looked back at him. “Umm… the fourth one?” laughing, Kain brought the to-do list up on the screen.

[To-do’s]

[1. Pick up the thing from the drop-box (Done)]

[2. Pick up the salted mangoes from the drop point (Wait until next week)]

[3. Kill the agent May tells me to (Not done)]

[4. Go home after point 3]

[5. Spend a week or two with May]

“Told you so,” Luna bragged.

Kain took a deep sigh and calmed himself. “Yeah, you told me so,” he admitted. “But what kind of idiot was this guy?”

“Which part made you think so? The part where he kept coded messages on his computer, the part where he kept a note saying that he would kill someone on that same computer, or the part where he kept the password to said computer in the desk it was lying on? I may be a rabbit, but I know that doing something like that is really dumb.”

“All of it. But that just makes me wonder what kind of person May was. I mean, she was smart enough to get the name of some agent, and likely a description as well, but put the job of killing the guy into the hands of this colossal moron. I don’t know if she’s smart or stupid either.”

“Well, this isn’t the first person she had him kill,” Luna pointed out.

“Yeah, she said ‘another nice thing’ so we can assume that she has done this before,” he concluded. “You know, I wonder why we’re even putting this much thought into this. I mean, it’s not like we’re going to be catching this May character for her crimes, so why bother?” he wondered.

She shrugged. “Because it’s fun?”

“Hmm… yeah, I agree. While reading books on the basics of Ether manipulation or whatever is interesting, it gets boring faster than I’d like. That, and I suppose this is just us trying to understand the people who once lived here. Whatever. We have time to burn anyway. We just have to get to Earth and we’ll be free from this nightmare. But to do that, we have to wait for the collector to store enough energy,” he said. Pulling the collector out of his amulet, he set it down on the floor near the red pillar that was in the room. He checked the Ether density of the device. “Hmm… I’d say that it’s at about 12 percent. If my assumptions pan out, we’re probably going to need about 30 percent to do this.”

“And then we’ll be able to go to Earth?” she asked.

“And then we’ll be able to go to Earth,” he answered.

“Anyway,” she said. “Should we go onto the next bit of the computer?” He nodded, and brought up the next entry in the computer.

[Orders]

[1. Salted Mangoes (I)]

[2. Spirit Consuming Moss (O)]

[3. Toilet Paper (O)]

[4. Standard Sized Paper (I)]

Kain pressed the button for the first entry.

[Salted Mangoes (Incoming)]

[A shipment of salted mangoes will be dropped off at the public transport terminal on February 8th. Pick it up before the day ends, Thomas. I know I’ll have to send an email to remind you, so make damn sure you get the shipment.]

Seeing nothing of note, they moved on.

[Spirit Consuming Moss (Outgoing)]

[The Dubai Department of Defense has ordered a shipment of spirit consuming moss for June 21st. Make sure to deliver it to the Nexus on the same day it arrives.]

“Spirit consuming moss… Is that the moss we burned to a crisp earlier?” Luna asked.

“It’s likely. If they called Ether spirit, then it’s likely. Though, I wonder how a shipment of ever-growing moss ended up occupying the lower levels of a hotel. For that matter, if it consumed Ether, then why did it not take control of the entire hotel, if not the city?” he wondered.

She shrugged. “Maybe there’s some sort of dormant state for the moss where, while it doesn’t sense any real danger, it doesn’t grow, but when it does it grows rapidly,” Luna concluded.

“Maybe. Either way, we know that the stuff was imported for a reason. If the two are the same thing, anyway,” Kain summarized. They moved on to the third and fourth entries.

[Toilet Paper (Outgoing)]

[The Vermillion Nightclub needs a new shipment of toilet paper sent over as soon as possible. Pick it up on May 30th, along with the shipment of paper. And to sate your sick curiosity, Jacob, there were some punks who stole the entire supply and used them to ‘decorate’ every back alley in a 6 block radius of the club.]

[Standard Sized Paper (Incoming)]

[A new shipment of paper will be coming in with the toilet paper shipment on May 30th, so pick it up. Make sure to deliver the toilet paper first before you bring the normal paper back to the shop.]

“Standard stuff for a business. Though, I do wonder what the public transport terminal and the Nexus are. Maybe they’ll be our next stops,” Kain mused.

“Hmm… the Vermillion Nightclub seems more interesting to me. I want to see what a ‘nightclub’ is.” Luna replied.

“So, Vermillion first, then the Nexus, then the Terminal?”

“Yep! Though, we still have a few more things to go through on the computer, so let’s get through those first,” she proposed.

“Way ahead of you,” Kain said, pulling up the second entry of the first screen.

[Current procedures.]

[If you are reading this, then congratulations! You have been accepted as a temporary worker for the Dubai Corporation! While we here at Dubai Corporation know how hazardous the world can be these days, we pride ourselves on maintaining a safe, neutral zone of commerce and entertainment. While working in the city of Dubai, you are expected to show the utmost levels of civility and respect to both the customers and to the other staff present. Also note that you are unable to enter certain areas of the city without a permit from the Nexus, and some areas are never open for staff. Here is a list of rules for you to follow:

Do not, under any circumstances, harm or kill a staff member or customer* Do not, under any circumstances, damage or steal Dubai Corporation property; this includes biomachines, biotech engineered livestock, wares sold in the various stores, Dubai Corporation owned structures, etc.* Do not, under any circumstances, perform any action that consciously lowers the likelihood of a product being sold; your payment will be taken as seen fit* Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to learn the secrets of the Dubai Corporation; this includes small secrets, like the specific DNA sequence of the public transport biomachines, or large secrets, like the design of the Nexus*

* = exceptions may apply]

[By following the rules above, there is no reason you should be falling into conflict with the Dubai Corporation. Thank you for your cooperation and we hope you enjoy your stay in Dubai.]

“That was a fair bit to unpack,” Kain said after a moment of silence. “Where to start?”

Luna poked his thigh for a moment, grabbing his attention. “I want to change our plans. Can we find the Nexus first?” she asked.

“Sure, we can go there first. Did the specific mention of it spark your interest?” he asked.

She nodded vigorously, before standing. “Yeah. I want to figure out some of this more human stuff, but I think that this Nexus place will have what I’m looking for. I honestly don’t care about this place specifically, or at least for now, but I want to know what it’s like in general. I’ve always been a rabbit, but now I have a real consciousness, a real will! I want to know what I have been missing! I want to see it with my own eyes, and if that isn’t realistic, then at least dig through the remnants of it. I… just don’t want to live like a rabbit anymore.”

He chuckled and rubbed her head before picking her up and hugging her. “Hey, that’s fine. Good even. It means that you’re willing to take the time to search for what you want. That’s important!” he emphasized, staring at her. “If you’re willing to look for what it’s like to think, then I’ll help you. That’s what brothers are for,” he soothed. After a moment, he gave another chuckle. “But where’d this come from? You got all philosophical and deep for a bit.”

She looked away for a moment. “I… uh… lost control of my mouth for a bit there. And it wasn’t that deep.”

“Alright, little Plato.”

“Little who?”

Kain just gave a short laugh and rubbed her head.