Many of the other cities on Genese envied the bustling city of Tashe, Haran due to its beautiful architecture and advancements in commerce. At the top of the Hurnex, overlooking the beautiful skyline, was a tiny restaurant and bar. Here a man and a woman sat as they passed the time, flirting and laughing with each other as they enjoyed their exotic liquor and the synthetic music that accented the delightful atmosphere.
The name of the restaurant was Ciy Iyn, which translated to mean, “White Flowers”. It was the standard drinking hole for the city’s elite, and its location was accessible only to those who could afford a hover-lift, a taxi with a lift-pass, or a Geyun key for the elevator. Ciy Iyn was on the rooftop of a 125 floor building, and its owners did not want guests who could not afford the means to get to the restaurant.
“You have the loveliest skin”, said the gentleman to his female companion. He was human, possibly from the lost planet of Vestalia, and he had met her at the bar when he posted up there, intending to wash away the memory of a bad meeting that was likely to cost him his job when he returned home to Louine.
The woman was beautiful, but her skin was unlike anything he had ever seen before. She was exotic compared to the women he knew on Louine, and she was extremely accommodating. When he agreed to attend the meeting on Genese, he did so with the idea that consorting with alien women would be an added bonus to brag about to all of his fellows. In preparation, he had packed a holo capture cam in his suitcase, tiny enough to be planted in a place that the poor unsuspecting girl (or girls if he would be so lucky) would not know of its existence.
“Why, thank you!” The golden skinned woman cooed as she adjusted herself on the egg shaped chair and took another sip of her wine.
“So, are you here on business or do you live in one of the hotels?”
He winked at her as he finished his Martini, and bit into the olive with a wolfish smile on his face.
“Let’s just say I’m here for pleasure.”
“Well that is very timely…”
“Jarek”
“Well that is very timely ‘Jarek’, but I do see your suitcase, and the fact that nobody knows you, and your terrible attempt at seducing me, all screams off-worlder on business here to me. Tell me, am I wrong, or are you too embarrassed to admit it?”
“Got me all figured out huh? Well, I’m here on business, but that was early today; I am really just trying to enjoy your company…”
“I take it this is the part where I volunteer my name, is that it?”
“Well, you know my name. Are you always this much of a ball-breaker?”
“Ha! My name is Xara-Nine, but all of my friends call me Xar”
“That is a pretty odd name, why is there a number at the end of it? Is that the custom with all of the women in your race?”
“Race? How are you certain that I am not a Vestalian like you?”
The man put his hands on his knees and began rubbing them uncomfortably as he looked over his companion. She was human in every way, but there was something different. He saw that it was her skin. While she had a lovely complexion, her arms and slender legs looked plastic like a mannequin’s. He wanted to touch her to see if it felt like human skin, but thought better of it when he saw the realization reflected in her eyes that he had picked up on it.
“Where I’m from we don’t grow hair on our bodies Jarek. We are smooth, and soft to the touch, but the light on this planet tends to make us seem like dolls. See, look there!” She pointed to one of the waiters serving drinks. The waiter was wearing shorts like the other employees of Ciy Lyn did, but his legs seemed almost prosthetic, having the same odd texture to them.
“So you aren’t going to tell me what you are then, are you?” Jarek asked as the evening gave way to a star-filled night. The workers at the bar put fire to a number of sconces, and the beautiful furniture seemed to dance with the whipping of the flames creating awesome patterns across their surfaces. Jarek was on his third Martini, despite his self-imposed discipline of always sticking to two. His cool act had be decoded by this beautiful woman calling herself Xar, and somewhere in his mind he was hoping for some liquid courage as the key to getting him back within her good graces.
“Does it matter ‘what’ I am Jarek? Or are you some sort of specist that worries about that type of thing?”
Jarek decided to shut his mouth. It seemed that everything he said so far was working against him, so he decided to stay quiet in the hopes that she would stick around. He glanced at the other patrons that were observing him, and he liked what he saw reflected on their faces. Xar was a beauty. She was dressed in exquisite clothes and sparkling jewelry, but most important to Jarek, just by spending time with him, she was making him look like an important man.
He took a long look at her. She had thick eyebrows that were trimmed into curious arcs above her cat-like eyes that never fully opened, giving her a seductive gaze. Though her long lashes hid her pupils for the most part, he could see that they were a pretty light-brown color. Her nose was large, but cute in its own way, and her full lips hid a row of perfect teeth, broken only by pronounced eye teeth that gave her an animal-like presence.
Xara-Nine had her hair up like most of the women on Genese. The women on Louine—his adopted country—wore their heads shaved in the custom of the current fad, so seeing hair like Xara’s was really different. Her hair was braided, bound, and contorted into such an intricate pattern that appeared to take hours to accomplish. It was the Genese fashion and all the women regardless of shade, race, or species wore the same fashionably.
As he watched her quietly, she adjusted once more and it was right around the time the alcohol settled into his system. He stood up suddenly and offered his hand, and in the customary stance males took to let Genesian women know that they wanted a dance, he cocked his head to the side. Xar smiled and accepted, so the couple took to the open space between the tiny tables of the restaurant, and danced to the Loutheynian Drec. This slow, melodical tune was the most played song in the city for the last month.
As they waltzed to the music, Xar exclaimed “This is nice!” as she moved in close and surrendered herself to Jarek. She looked out across the cityscape, admiring the architecture of Genese for the hundredth time. She noticed a military cruiser flying low through the tall buildings. She wondered silently as to what would cause a military cruiser to drop in like that, but she neither reacted nor spoke of it to Jarek.
The live band played all the latest hits, and after they had danced to their third song, a drunk and emboldened Jarek asked, “Will you spend the night with me?” Surprisingly, Xara-Nine responded, “I don’t see why not.” The pair paid their bill and began walking towards the exit in order to take the elevator down to Jarek’s room.
“There is one thing I need to tell you before we do, Jarek.”
She said it in a silent, nonchalant manner as she placed her hand over the panel that would summon the elevator.
What is it?”
“I am a Cel-toc”
“A what now?” Jarek’s slicked black hair had lost its gel and was whipping freely in the wind. In his mind, he desperately tried to recall exactly what a Cel-toc was. His grey eyes were moving rapidly now nervously believing that a Cel-toc was some sort of government sanctioned spy sent out to murder Louine businessmen or worse.
“Relax human, I am what you would call an android. While I was not ‘created’ as you humans all seem to assume us to be, I do have a very different genetic make-up than you do. Will that serve as a problem for you?”
The elevator opened and a couple of happy Meluvians hopped out and ran past them.
“So, you’re telling me that you’re a machine?”
“Yes”
“Get out… no you’re not!”
“Why would I lie Jarek?”
He reached forward, took her head gently in his palms and pulled her in for a deep passionate kiss. She tasted like wine, and she smelled of expensive Haranian perfume.
“I think that you are lying to me Xar. I’ve seen androids and you are not one. But either way, I don’t care. Let us take this elevator and become good friends.”
