Entry 55

“There is the exit,” John pointed ahead. I could see it, an opening in the lime green. Beyond, I could see dozens of aliens going about their business.

“How many people are here? How big is this place?” I asked.

“Oh, not very big for a space station,” Blaue answered. “Only around a hundred thousand organic sentients are currently here.” My jaw dropped. One hundred thousand people on a space station? And Earth thought the International Space Station (ISS) was so amazing.

John and I moved out of the landing area and into the main area. I paused, a little disappointed. What I could see of this spacestation looked exactly like a large mall. Shops and cafes lined the pedestration walkway and all the aliens seemed to be shopping. Somehow I expected something a little more alien.

“An intergalactic mall,” I said flatly.

“More like an intergalactic city,” John responded. “This is the main level – the mall level, I guess we could call it. The next level is a business level of all offices and conference rooms. The level above that is the residential area.”

“People live here?” I asked. I don’t know why that surprised me. After all, people lived on Deep Space Nine. Ender lived in Battle School. Astronauts live in the ISS. My only explanation for my surprise is that I expected it to be more spacey and less suburban.

“Of course,” John answered. Undoubtedly he knew that if I just thought about my comment I would realize how stupid it was. He was right.

[John would like to note that he usually is right. He claims that correctness and accuracy are part of his programming. I think he just enjoys being a know-it-all.]

“So what should we do?” I asked. John glanced at me with a look of disbelief.

“We’re in a mall. You’re a girl,” he said. “I don’t know. What do you think we should do?” I glared at him. It was an alien spacestation. Creatures I could not fathom were walking around us, communicating in manners I could not begin to imagine. Did John really think we could just act like this was West Oaks Mall?

My eyes slid past John to a shop that was displaying what appeared to be fashion accessories – the Claire’s of the galaxy. Perhaps we could behave like two teenagers dropped in a mall.

“That store appears interesting,” I pointed to the accessory store. John smiled, shaking his head.

“Told you,” he said. “Girls and malls are the same all over the universe.”

“I’m rather fond of them myself,” Blaue piped in. “Must be my feminine nature.” John and I both laughed and headed towards the store.