Page 8 of Uprooted
Elowen
An update flashes across my yuriOS, briefly turning my room red from the bright light.
My alarm woke me up a while ago and I’m still trying to muster up the motivation to get out of bed.
Any other day, I would have just slept in, but not today.
Today is special. We get to refuel and get off this shuttle for a few hours.
I can’t wait to feel solid ground under my feet and breathe fresh air.
“Travel itinerary: Update” scrolls past the screen on repeat. I swipe through the voyage log on my yuriOS. We have been rerouted from our scheduled stop on planet Nebulon to a nearby fueling station instead.
The pit stop on Nebulon is all we have been talking about for days. We were so excited to get off this shuttle. Instead of a day with our feet on solid ground and fresh air in our lungs, we get a few miserable hours of subjecting ourselves to the worst sort of degenerates on a space station.
Fueling stations are bottom-of-the-barrel pit stops—categorically dirty, neglected, and hardly functioning.
Most people avoid them at all costs. The really nice ones have a bar or diner with a wide range of food from across the galaxy, delicacies that the obscenely wealthy travel light-years for.
The station we are going to today will likely only serve something that expired before I was born and will result in intestinal distress for at least forty-eight hours.
Dr. Kahn is heading down the narrow hallway when I step out of my room. She’s got her arms out to steady herself, doing everything to keep her balance. After all these weeks she still hasn’t gotten her sea legs .
“Did you see the update?” I ask.
“I did. I really could have used a few hours off this shuttle,” she says. “I might regret this, but I’m still going to walk around. I need a chance of scenery.”
“On the bright side, at least we’ll get to j’Tilak a day ahead of schedule.”
“I’m sure Bri is excited to see her first fueling station,” Dr. Kahn says.
“Dr. Kahn, she’s going to be very disappointed.”
“We are millions of miles away from Earth—call me Andi. It feels weird to be so formal while we are hurtling through space,” she says.
“Okay then, Andi, I suggest you hold onto your valuables while exploring the station. You’re about to get a lesson in the underbelly of space travel.”
Our shuttle circles around the wagon-wheel-shaped station looking for an empty dock. All but one are already occupied. Fantastic—it's going to be busy and overcrowded in the hub. As we slow down and approach the last available spot, my stomach lurches from the sudden change in speed.
We hover here for almost an hour trying to dock.
The delay doesn’t bother me at all. It means less time Bri is going to drag me around on the station.
My tiny window has a perfect view of the countless failed attempts at connecting.
I can tell from the aging tech that this is a particularly old fueling station.
In a universe of gross fueling stops, we might have found the worst one.
I’m going to be a good friend and go with her. I’ll brave the grimy station, but I draw the line at eating station meat. It might be my last chance to eat something other than noodles, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I don’t want to spend the rest of the trip hunched over a toilet.
Green lights flash overhead, giving us the go-ahead to exit the shuttle. That’s my signal—let’s get this over with. I’m hoping Bri will take one look around and come running back to our shuttle. She is about to realize there are worse things than cabin fever.
“Finally! Let’s go. I’m so excited.” She’s bouncing when she finds me in the hall.
I can smell the station before we even step onboard. It’s a combination of malfunctioning air filters, something fermenting, and decades of grime, deposited by the thousands of different species who pass through.
“Wow! Okay. You weren’t lying,” Bri says and covers her nose.
“Let’s just take a quick walk-through—then we come back.
” I’m well aware of my shitty attitude, and I have no plans to act any differently.
Right now, I could be walking under a clear sky, fresh air, and solid ground.
Instead, I’m holding my breath as we step over the threshold.
I wonder if Bri realizes that the deteriorating tunnel we’ve entered is the only thing standing between us and being vacced out into space.
“Is this place going to have any redeeming qualities?” she asks, dodging a pile of garbage propped against the wall.
Half-empty noodle containers teeter on top of each other, waiting for someone to tip the whole disgusting tower over.
The wall it's relying on doesn't look good either.
The metal has started to rust at the seams, and empty holes dot the length where screws should be to hold it in place.
At one point in the distant past, the wall was probably smooth and shiny.
Now it's rusted, dented, and looks like it could fail at any moment.
“Probably not. This place is disgusting. I’m going to need a round of antibiotics after this,” I say and step over a heap of metal that appears to have been a mechanic bot.
“Someone’s in a bad mood today,” Bri points out.
“I really needed fresh air.”
A long line of aliens is at the fueling window in the center of the hub, each waiting for their turn to purchase fuel.
They all seem as eager as I do to get off this heap of metal floating in space.
Many are hunched over so their heads don't hit the low roof.
This station was not built to accommodate its current clientele of giant aliens.
Across the hub, a neon sign flickers over a doorway. Its bright lights attempt to spell out “dive bar” with an R that ran out of neon decades ago.
Bri looks at me. “After you.” I motion for her to go in first. She can confront whatever terrifying scene we are walking into.
Bri walks through the door without hesitation and I reluctantly follow her in. I’m not able to see much as my eyes adjust to the darkness.
A wall of colored glass bottles comes into focus along with a tentacled Pyrrion pouring drinks and wiping down the bar top.
All nine of their long arms work independently to serve the crowded bar.
The fermenting smell is absolutely coming from here and there is no way I am eating or drinking anything from this place.
“Elowen? Elowen Carson, is that you?” I hear my name come from a dark alcove at the other end of the bar.
Whoever said it sounds like they’ve already been in the bar for a while.
Frantically, I try to decide between bolting from this place and figuring out who could possibly know me here.
As if she can read my mind, Bri steps closer to my side and hugs my arm to her body, locking me in place.
Or maybe she’s finally starting to appreciate the reality of where we are and doesn’t want to get left behind.
A short figure with a hairless head, large wide-set black eyes, and a small mouth bracketed by two small tusks comes into view.
In this dark room it’s hard to see exactly who is coming my way, but I can tell it’s a Na’Lorskan female.
Her clothes are a little worse for wear, and she’s missing the traditional headscarf worn on her planet. Who is that?
I cling to Bri just as tightly. Whatever is happening, we are in this together.
In fact, I partially blame her. I hear my name again and still don’t recognize the voice it’s coming from.
Our soon-to-be attacker roughly knocks over a chair in her rush to get to us.
I turn towards the door to flee when I’m wrapped into a tight hug from two boney arms.
“Get back here, Elowen—it’s me! It’s Priya!” she says.
“Priya? No way!” I’m shocked to see her.
It takes a second, but I finally recognize her familiar face.
She hasn’t changed much at all since I last saw her more than a decade ago.
But in this awful place far from her home planet and in these clothes, I could have walked by and never realized I had missed my closest childhood friend.
“Bri, this is Priya. She is one of my oldest friends.”
They exchange introductions and Priya wraps me in another tight hug, the top of her head only coming up to my chest. I step back and look at her, still in complete shock.
“What are you doing here?” she asks.
“We’re on our way to j'Tilak. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be on some gilded throne writing decrees?” Priya is the Na’Lorskan chancellor’s daughter. When we were young I loved to tease her about her royal lineage .
“You know we don’t have any thrones.” A dozen heads turn towards us at her booming laugh. She’s always been loud for such a small thing. “I’m an ambassador now. Our system is formalizing some trade procedures, and the duty fell to me,” she says.
Even though so much has changed, it feels like no time has passed since we last saw each other.
“Why aren’t you at one of those luxury fueling stations? The ones with, you know… stuff?” I ask.
“Don’t insult me. I am a woman of the people. Come have a drink. It’s going to be a while before any of us get any fuel.”
The three of us squeeze between tightly packed tables, earning a few grunts from the other patrons when we bump our way through.
At Priya’s table, I take the seat facing the room.
There is no way I am turning my back on this place.
The seat cushion is cracked and the broken chair pitches me forward awkwardly.
It seems like I’m the only one bothered by the dilapidated state of the bar.
Bri and Priya look like they are having the time of their lives.
Priya swipes in an order of drinks for us on the menu screen.
Seconds later, a long Pyrrion tentacle extends and drops the drinks off on our table.
I’m surprised by how quickly we get served.
Priya must have already generously tipped the bartender.
I skeptically watch mine, not sure I want to chance fate by drinking it.
“Priya, please tell me you’re not going to drink that,” I say.
“It’s not so bad. There are worse places in the universe—trust me,” she says. This is not the Priya I remember. She grew up in the height of luxury, with no shortage of bots ready to meet her every demand.
“Wow. A lot has changed in the last ten years. I never thought I’d see the chancellor's daughter defending a place like this.”
“To old friends!” Priya raises her glass of murky alcohol. Our glasses clink together and after everyone else has taken a long gulp, I grudgingly take a sip. The fizzy, slightly bitter drink goes down easily, and a warm rush hits my blood stream.
Bri takes another long drink before setting her half-empty glass down. She turns to Priya. “Start at the beginning. I want to hear every single embarrassing thing Elowen has ever done. ”
Priya looks between us with a smirk. I steel myself, preparing to be the entertainment for the evening. I give her a look, begging her to go easy on me.
“The first time I saw Elowen, she walked into class midway through the term with her clothes inside out and backwards.” She gets halfway through the sentence before she’s gasping for breath laughing. More heads turn in our direction.
“Oh no!” Bri covers her mouth to hide her smile.
“I had never seen those clothes before, and my mom was very confident when she helped me get dressed that morning.”
“Don’t worry. I didn’t let her walk around like that all day. I got her straightened out and from that moment forward, we were inseparable.” Priya is right—she helped me adjust to life on Na’Lorska and quickly became my closest friend.
Our families joked that we were twins, even though our appearances were opposite in almost every way.
Even as a kid I was tall, and Priya’s people never grow past four feet.
I kept my long dark hair pulled back in a single braid, and Priya’s smooth hairless head was always wrapped up in a colorful headscarf.
“Elowen was awkward, but that didn’t stop my brother from falling deeply in love with her,” Priya says. She drains her drink and orders another round.
“How is your brother these days?” I ask.
“He’s great! He has a baby on the way.” Priya beams with pride.
“Looks like we’re gonna be here for a while. Next round is on me,” Bri says with a raised glass.
“I’ll drink to that!” Priya cheers. The three of us clink our drinks together, and I tip my glass high, swallowing down the rest. My aversion to the station slips away while we reminisce and catch up. I almost manage to forget how grimy and terrifying it is here.