The Crystal Shard Chapter 1 Pt. 2

“Welcome to the Voiture Automatique 4327, my name is Stacy. How may I be of assistance this morning?” my car asked with its flawless metallic voice.
“Do you have to do that every time I get in?”
“I am programmed to, yes.”
“Take me to 56th street, 12th level.” I sighed.
“Going to see Mindy?”
“Yes, you, meddlesome excuse for a car, that’s where I want you to take me. Can we avoid this conversation and go now?”
“No.”
“What?!”
“You have to open the garage door.”
“Open it automatically, you pile of hardware.”
The garage door slid into the slot in the concrete below and Stacy took off, flying through the air. I glanced out the window, watching the other teens my age exerting themselves on their rocket powered skates, as I flew three miles above them. I loved my new car. It had been made on Azure and delivered only a month ago. I was the only one that I knew of having one in this particular area. Everyone else still drove on the ground. Mindy hadn’t seen it yet and I was eager to see her reaction.
A few seconds later Stacy stopped outside Mindy’s window. I could see her on her bed her red hair covering her eyes, still in her sleep clothes, absently flipping hologram channels. I rapped smartly on the window. Her head flipped my way surprised. Her mouth fell open and she rushed to the window, throwing the latch.
“Oh, my gosh, Mila were we like supposed to go somewhere today? And your car#SYMBOL \f "Symbol"188I want the whole story!”
“Duh, why aren’t you like ready?” I always mocked Mindy’s primitive bobble head speech style while I was around her, but she never seemed to notice.
“I am so sorry. How could I have like forgotten something like this?”
“Calm down, I’m like totally joking. We didn’t have plans but we do now so like hurry up and dress. I have news.” She ran from the room, and returned only minutes later with a pair of pumps and a brush in her hand. She hopped inside and closed her window behind her.
“So where are we, like, going?” She asked.
“First we’re going to Raul s Café and we’ll figure out where else from there.”
“All right.”
“You heard your orders, Stacy. Raul’s Café please.”
“Yes ma’am,” she replied before flying directly upward. Mindy turned to me and finally asked the question that she had wanted to ask ever since she saw me outside her window a few moments ago.
“So tell me about the car. It’s like so rad. I mean I’ve never even seen one like it. It’s like your own miniature airplane.”
“Yeah I know I ordered it a few months ago. I like totally love it. No more traffic and, no more using a cab because it like needs to charge.”
“This is the kind of car that I’m going to get when I get my license. That is if I ever get it. My mom is so anal, I swear.”
“And that’s why I live alone.” I replied.
“Mademoiselles, we have arrived,” Stacy informed us. I looked out the window before opening the door and I was glad that I did. We were still flying at level twelve, instead of parking near the entrance.
“Stacy, we kind of have to be on the ground to get out of the car.” Without answering, she floated down to ground level. I grumbled to myself about cars with personalities. Mindy and I walked inside. Raul had the place redecorated since we were here last. The floors were stenciled with inscriptions in Spanish, and the walls were filled with small fish swimming around and looking at the few customers curiously. We sat down where our favorite table had been; it had been replaced with an octagonal glass case, which also contained fish floating around the top and legs they stared up at us creepily. We were seen to immediately by Raul himself, who always waited on his favorite customers.
“Hello, ladies,” he greeted, his robust figure keeping him from being as close to the table as other waiters.
“Hey Raul, I like what you did with the place but you do know that Spanish is a dead language right?” I joked softly.
He laughed jovially, his hand resting on his rotund stomach.“You re the only one so far who knew which language it was, but yes that’s why I used it.”
“Good philosophy, make everyone think they are in some sort of foreign restaurant and yet they don’t know from which planet it is,” I mused, tapping my fingernails onto the table top.
“I thought so too. How may I help you, this morning ladies?”
“We’ll take the usual.” We said in unison. He laughed jovially.
“As you wish.” As he bounded off, Mindy turned to me.
“Okay, I’ve been patient. Now tell me your news,” she insisted.
“I was like robbed the other day,” I said, putting in the perfect emphasis to get her going.
“No way!”
“Yeah, the guys took everything in my house, all of the furniture and everything. Just about the only thing left was my library. Nobody appreciates good literature anymore.” I shook my head in mock sadness.
“So what did you do? Did you, like, call the police?”
“Nah, there was no point; the guys didn’t leave any evidence. I just went ahead and replaced everything, along with a new security system.” As I said this, Raul self delivered our orders a simpering smile in place.
“Here you are ladies, two lemon lattés with sprinkles and a plate of the finest Auzurean sweet rolls on Makiff III.”
In spite of his bragging I knew that they weren’t the best ever but they were the best I could get until Azure decided that they would take me up on my request to have them delivered daily. Anything made on Azure is always better than when it’s made anywhere else. I think it must have something to do with the atmosphere, it makes everything taste better.
“Thanks Raul you’re the greatest,” I told him, bringing a muffin to my lips. They were delicious, even if they were made here. Coated with aged caramel and filled with white chocolate, they possibly were the best that I would have for a while. Raul flounced back to the kitchen and I turned back to Mindy, who was chewing on her straw, lost in her own little world.
“That’s not the only thing that I wanted you to know though, Mindy.” I told her washing down the roll with a drink.
“Really like what else has gone on since I heard from you last?”
“Nothing much, but I am leaving like tonight.”
“To go where?”
“Earth,” I replied, distastefully.
“Isn’t that like some sort of new spa in that vacation resort two towns over. I heard the newscaster talking about an infestation of Arainian beetles in their hot tubs.”
“No,” I laughed. “Earth is a planet that is twenty-seven light-years away from here. Not a spa.”
“Oh . . . why are you going?”
I hadn’t expected her to ask questions but she had to know where I was going because I left for two hours last week and she flipped. I returned to police about to check out my house.
“My brothers called. They need me there for something or another. I thought about not going but they said that it was extremely important.”
I hope that doesn’t jinx me . . . I hadn’t seen my brothers in almost four years and I certainly didn’t plan on it in this lifetime.
“I thought you hated your brothers.”
“So did I, but they want me to go so I thought I would give them one more chance.”
“Well, what do you plan on wearing while you re there?” I spread my arms to show her my clothes. She laughed.
“Girlfriend, we need to go to the mall, like soon. There is no way that you are going to wear that.”
“What do you suggest?” I asked her, critically.
“I don’t know something bizarre . . .”
“Anything that I wear is going to be out of place on that planet”.
“What do you mean?” she asked putting her straw to her lips.
“You’ve never seen the so called styles that they wear? They look like something for Day of the Dead.”
“You have to be joking.”
“Nope. While I’m there I’ll pick you up a costume for next month.”
“Cool. Well since there are no suitable clothes on that planet, we should go get you some now. Are you finished eating?”
“I’m ready.” I left a few bills on the table for Raul’s tip and stood followed shortly by Mindy.
Stacy was waiting for us outside, doors open, after seeing us rise from the table. “Universal Shopping Mall in Marion Square,” I told her as my seatbelt snapped over me. She rose a few feet before replying.
“Arrival time: thirty minutes.”
“What!” Mindy tapped me on the shoulder and pointed toward the battery meter. Stacy had been running on auxiliary power. “Main power systems please Stacy,” I muttered with a touch of my old annoyance.
“Calculating new arrival time,” she said as I watched her panels switch over. “Four minute arrival time.”
“That’s much better,” I said turning toward Mindy who had her sketch pad out, drawing furiously.
I blocked out most of the mall trip, it was annoying to watch Mindy shopping. She never seemed to get the hang of not pointing out everything That she saw, whether it was supposedly cute or hideous in her opinion, she had to show it to me and make at least three comments before moving onto the next item for conversation.
When I got back to my apartment that night, I put on my outfit along with the chains that we had bought to go along with it and searched around for my pet Zachriel. He had to go with me to Earth he was impossible to live without. Machist was special to me. I never could get close to any sort of humanoid type being, but animals were different to me. They seemed to understand. Machist was a rare purple Zachriel with a nose for any type of trouble. It was because of his intuitions that I was such a nice little girl. I finally found him sulking underneath my bed, his head stuck inside an empty bag of crystals. When I pulled him out, he was asleep. I put him safely in my purse and grabbed my suitcase. My suitcase contained just one change of clothes, just in case something went awry. I checked that I had everything including some Makivian gold for the purchase of my crystals.
When I was finally certain that I had everything that I would need over the next few hours, I closed my eyes and prepared to transport.