Dimension 11 — Rokon City Municipal Hospital (RCMH)
09:21.
Sage called Eberkerson urgently as zei stood on the large balcony of Rokon’s Interdimensional Hospital overlooking a view of the busiest part of Rokon City—a hub of tight-knit, tall buildings surrounding two gigantic portals. The portals were invisible, with some hints of distortion within their circles. The only indication they were there was the oval metal structures built around their circumferences, sitting atop hefty towers. Surrounding the portal towers were many layers of city—tiered buildings split by large balconies and platforms interconnected by translucent glass-like bridges. Neon holographic lines weaved in between the buildings, indicating sky roads. They hosted a steady stream of vehicle traffic, most of which was trains, while personal vehicles were relegated to their own roads.
Zei tapped huir foot impatiently until Eber picked up the call. Zei didn’t even wait for vir to say “hello” before zei whisper-screamed, “EBBOT! Did you set me up to pick up a living being from an ENTIRELY NEW PLANET?!”
“Set you up?” Neir voice sounded amused. “What’s going on?”
“You tell me! I thought we were meeting on Urthaian Island for a portal sighting.”
“Urthaian? Did I text you wrong? Oh, I meant Unaius Island. I got caught up in some emergency SEU work at the portal and didn’t get a chance to look at my holo. I was wondering why you hadn’t shown up.”
Sage’s expression flattened in annoyance. “Uh, Unaius is literally at the opposite side of the realm… Anyways, so about this new friend I just met, it turns out that zei just arrived in the SSR from a new planet that portals haven’t led to until now! And zei needs to get home as soon as possible. As you’re an authority who deals with these kinds of things, please advise.”
Eber sounded a drawn-out, disinterested “oooh” before changing the subject. “So, where are you now?”
“The hospital to get en scanned and vaxxed—WAIT, NO! No, no, no. Answer me first: was this an intentional setup or not?”
“How could it be? Are you seeing the news? The SEU is all over Unaius Island. Although it looks like there’s even more recent news about a portal somewhat near Urthaian Island. It’s just as surprising to me as it is to you.”
Sage crossed huir arms over huir chest and leaned back against the balcony rail. Raised huir eyebrows skeptically. “And you could’ve just ‘accidentally’ told me to go to the Urthaian portal…” Zei finger-quoted “accidentally” as if nei could see.
Eber said, “Technically impossible. I was just informed about scanners picking up on the Urthaian portal around the same time you arrived on the island. I am guessing because it’s so far away from the usual scanners, it must’ve been detected when it had grown large enough, presumably long after it had actually appeared. I reckon that’s the only reason the SEU hasn’t found your new friend. Zei emerged through the portal before the portal was large enough to be traced.”
Sage continued to look forcefully skeptical, like zei didn’t want to relinquish huir position, but finally conceded and sighed. “Okay, fine. You win. It just seems like something you’d do, that’s all.”
“Well, it is big news that there’s a life form from a new planet,” Eber remarked. “What would you have done if zei didn’t confide in you about that? Would you have taken en across the Rokon border, no knowing that zei was a senergian? The patrols are no joke.”
Sage froze in realization. “Shit. You’re right. I didn’t even consider that. Thankfully, zei told me zei was an otherworlder just in time.”
“So you mentioned you wanted my help to get en home, right?”
“Right, that too! You being part of the SEU and all… is that possible?”
Eber didn’t answer right away, and Sage raised an eyebrow. Zei eventually agreed, “Yes, indeed. But you must realize that it will need to be in secret.”
“What? Why?” Nei glanced around, nervous that someone might overhear this conversation, but thankfully, no one else hung out on the balcony.
Eber answered, “This wouldn’t be an SEU project since I’m not authorized to actually open new portals or handle life forms. I simply work with the tech that detects, reads, and maintains them.”
Sage looked disappointed. “I see. So, I guess you’ll refer Kiri to the authorities after all? I mean, that’s not bad, even if they discover zei’s a new life form… right?”
“If you agree to keep the project a secret, then perhaps we won’t have to.”
“What do you mean? Are you saying the authorities are untrustworthy?”
“Quite frankly, I get the impression that even the SEU will exploit some loopholes in the AG7-16 law. You already know what I’m referring to since you clearly trust the hospital, but we all know about that recent news regarding how the SEU handled the aecus in their so-called ‘hospital.’”
“Please tell me you’re kidding… That was SEU, not some illegal lab?!”
“Yup. Anyways, not like our plans would even matter if your friend ends up being a biohazard or huir biology differs too much from ours. The authorities will get the truth in that case. We’re basically riding on a gamble now.”
Sage looked on the verge of a panic attack. “Shit, what have I done? I brought en to the hospital because I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal if huir biology ended up different. I thought they’d maybe just keep a watchful eye or—”
“You’ve done the best you can, Sage. It would be the same outcome even if you immediately called the authorities. If you’d just left en there, zei might’ve been in other danger. Look, even if zei is exposed as a new life form, I will try to pull some strings just to ensure the authorities zei gets aren’t the bad ones.”
Sage looked spooked when zei spotted Kiri emerging through the hospital’s sliding doors and tepidly stepped onto the balcony. Sie was so far away that nei couldn’t have heard their conversation, but Sage held back and grimaced. “Look, Ebby, I have to go. Looks like our otherworlder friend is not a biohazard. I’ll call you later, okay?”
Zei didn’t wait to say or hear “goodbye” before ending the call. Zei swiped huir floating hologram screen away and met Kiri at the center of the balcony. “So? How’d it go?” zei asked nem.
Neir hands trembled slightly. Despite that, nei looked relieved. “Well, I have made it,” nei answered. “I guess I am so similar to a humans on this world that they don’t even suspect a thing.”
Sage let out a sigh, which turned into a short laugh. “Thank Cade! At least that’s one less major thing to worry about.”
A view of the city distracted Kiri. Zei approached the rail of the balcony and looked out distantly, like zei had fallen into a trance. Sage folded huir arms over huir chest and smiled. “Can’t get over that view, can you?”
“It is like dream. It’s nothing like any city in world of mine. It’s like…” Kiri trailed off.
Sage tapped neir shoulder. “Before you get too enthralled, we should head back to my place. You’re pretty hungry, right?”
“Oh, yes! I am starved. Maybe not for Isdren mushrooms, though. They had a say that my gut bacterias may not be acclimated enough…”
They returned to Sage’s car in the slowly rising heat of the morning. Rolled down the windows to let in a warm breeze while they took off and resumed their journey along the holographic sky roads. They traveled deeper into the city, where Kiri noticed the little details—the elevators floating up and down along the sides of the tall buildings, connecting the layers of the city. The diverse set of “marrun” (which Kiri figured it wouldn’t hurt to translate to “humans”) mainly walked along the ground but also back and forth across the glassy sky bridges connecting the large balconies in a crystal-like latticework. Zei stared, mesmerized at how the trains ran along the grassy tracks on the ground level to the holographic sky roads near the tops of the tallest buildings.
Every layer of the city was like its own ecosystem—connected, and it was like someone could live at the literal top of the city and never need to go to the ground. Every layer appeared to have stores, restaurants, parks, and housing. There was no shortage of greenery. Most of it existed on the ground level, but plenty was on the balconies. Some even adorned the sides of the buildings, acting as deflectors to the heated sunlight bouncing off the silvery buildings. Holographic projections of advertisements lined the walls of some buildings, adding a bit of flashy color to the overall green and silver color scheme. There seemed to be advertisements with anti-senergie sentiments strewn about, which could easily be missed or ignored because of how integrated they were into the infrastructure. Bunches of orbs floated between the roads and the bridges, their little mechanical eyes searching for something Kiri didn’t yet know.
~ ~ ~
With Kiri in tow, Sage quickly dropped by huir university to drop off the portable seafood freezers before heading home. It wasn’t far from Sage’s apartment, and it was only 11:00 in the middle of a bright, cloudless morning by the time they arrived. Kiri’s stomach was rumbling madder than ever, despite the quick protein bar Sage had kindly given en.
Sage parked the car on the roof of the apartment. “By the way, you’re not in any pain, are you? From the vaccines, I mean? I’m guessing you had to get one, at least.”
“Ah—no, I am well enough.”
“I mean, better than dying randomly, though. Or killing the entire Rokon population.” Sage said with a smirk.
“Correct, I believe.”
“Imagine if you brought some plague here, though. The headlines being like, ‘alien comes into Sooted Star and kills the entire human population with killer bacteria.’” Sage laughed heartily.
“They didn’t seem surprised that I am traveling interdimensionally for the first time. But I am just glad that I wasn’t found to be carrying some deadly thing. If I was, I would be—uh, ‘hammered,’ if that is the word to use?”
Sage snorted a laugh. “Screwed. You’d be screwed. You’re so similar to humans that they didn’t think you could be from a different planet than the usual five. I guess that’s good. Makes them question less.”
Kiri looked panicked. “But what if I do get found out of my origin?”
Sage tried to hide huir discomfort with the question behind a smile. After hearing that even Eberkerson distrusted the SEU authorities, zei wasn’t sure how to approach this. Zei reassured with forced confidence, “You’d probably be fine, even with authorities. They’re some of the only folks who could get you home, after all.”
Kiri looked a little defeated. “Right, of course. I know I probably don’t have to be so scared.”
Sage looked sympathetic, then sighed. “That being said, your fears aren’t totally unfounded. I hear that some questionable things are going on behind the scenes, so I think you’ll be relieved to hear that I have a genius friend who can help you out instead. We’ll meet en pretty soon to talk about it, so rest assured!”
The two of them exited the car and headed toward the roof entrance of the apartment. It stood out as a single sheltered door leading down into a staircase. The second door down was the entrance to Sage’s apartment.
In the apartment, they landed in a hallway with dark wooden floors and faded white walls, which led to a few open rooms on either side. Boxes, clothes, and knick-knacks stood against the walls disorganizedly as if the residents were ready to move out.
A girl who looked around 12, wearing a dress-like lavender sweater over leggings and medium-length dreadlocked hair, emerged from one of the rooms. “Sis, did you hear about the new portals that opened up?”
The kid flinched and skidded to a halt when zei spotted Kiri.
Sage was about to reply, but looked back and forth between the kid and Kiri. “Oh, Kiri, this is my sibling, Ileris,” zei said.
Kiri looked blankly at Ileris, attempting to muster a “hello.” When was the last time zei was introduced to someone new in an everyday context?
Ileris wore that awkward preteen smile that made it obvious huir comfort level was little more than a thin piece of glass that could crack under the slightest pressure. Zei looked almost like Kiri had just before meeting Sage—unsure whether to risk meeting a stranger or turn and retreat. If zei was anything like Kiri, zei certainly wasn’t about to make the first attempt to break the silence.
Kiri smiled politely. “Nice to meet you, Ileris.”
“And this is my new friend, Kiri,” Sage continued.
Ileris shyly smiled and dimples appeared—just like huir sister’s smile dimples, but less pronounced. “Mmh… nice to meet you.” Zei bowed slightly before quickly disappearing into the next room.
Sage yelled after nem. “Hey! Aren’t you gonna tell me about these new portals?”
Ileris called back, muffled in the next room. “I dunno. Find out yourself!”
Sage chuckled. Said to Kiri, “Don’t worry. Zei’s shy around everyone at first meeting. Zei’s 12 after all, you know how it is at that age—” Zei lowered huir volume to a whisper. “—I mean, unless kids are different on your planet.”
Kiri matched neir volume. “Same, very much so.”
“Oh, goodie!” Sage excitedly gestured for Kiri to follow en as zei headed to a room resembling a regular kitchen from Kiri’s world, despite the fancy induction stovetop. “Hey, so I’m cooking tonight. I have a lot to make extras for you. Care to help? Might help you feel more a part of this world for now until we get you home.”
Kiri nodded absently. What else would zei do, anyway?