ALL NOVEL 54. Together
"This is really nice," I said as I looked around.
Sarah smiled as she agreed, "It is. I haven't been anywhere like this in a very long time."
It was about mid-day and the two of us were sitting together having lunch in the middle of a very large park. We were surrounded by lots of lush green and purple vegetation, there were small animals dashing about now and then, and birds in the air and the trees. And the purple tree-like things.
"I don't think I've ever been anywhere like this before," I commented as I had another bite of my lunch.
"Really?" the cute blonde asked as she gave me a funny look. "I thought you grew up on an agricultural world?"
I shrugged, "Yeah but I don't think there were any parks there. There were plants, but they were all the same thing. Row after row after row of the same carefully cultivated crop. It was..."
My voice trailed off for a bit, then I shook my head "It just wasn't the same. It wasn't meant to be enjoyed like this."
"Ok I get that," Sarah nodded slightly, then had a sip of her drink.
The park was in the middle of the city. It wasn't exactly wild nature but it was both a relaxing quiet place and also a bit of a preserve for some of the natural flora and fauna. The stuff that didn't die out when the planet was terraformed anyways. The purple plants and some of the small squirrel-like creatures were supposed to be natives of this world, from before it was colonized a couple thousand years ago.
I secretly had my doubts that they weren't just normal plants and critters genetically modified to look unusual, but I kept that to myself. It didn't really matter either way, and I was having a nice time with Sarah and didn't want to spoil it.
We had breakfast on the ship this morning with Rebecca, then the two of us set off with the grav-sled to spend the day together while the boss was going to meet with her friend Mel. I knew that was probably going to be stressful for her and I couldn't help feeling a little guilty that she was doing that on her own while me and Sarah were having a fun day of shore-leave. But that's what Rebecca wanted to do, and having us with her would have made things even more awkward during her meeting with her friend.
"What do you want to do after lunch?" Sarah asked. She was nearly done her... food thing. I couldn't remember what they were called. We were both sampling some local cuisine and it was tasty, but very different from anything I'd had before. We both got the same thing, that basically amounted to chunks of seasoned meat grilled on a stick then served in a folded-over piece of flatbread, with fresh and grilled vegetables and a tangy sauce.
I shrugged, "I don't have any preferences. I don't even know what our options are, really. Maybe we should have done some research first? To figure out what sorts of things are around?"
"Is there anything you want to do?" I added after a moment.
Sarah smiled, "I wouldn't mind doing some shopping. Although to be honest I'm not sure I want to buy anything, but I wouldn't mind looking?"
"Sure," I grinned. "Do you know where you want to shop? Or are we just going to wander around?"
"Yeah," she replied unhelpfully.
I rolled my eyes but didn't argue. It didn't really matter either way. The two of us were doing stuff together, and that made it fun no matter what we did.
After we both finished our lunch we spent a bit more time relaxing and enjoying the quiet ambience in the park. There were other people around, but everyone more or less kept to themselves. Folks exchanged polite greetings as they passed by, but otherwise left us and each other alone. My ears and tail still earned me funny looks on a regular basis, but nobody questioned or commented.
I even pulled my little datapad out of my jacket pocket and took some pictures of Sarah and I together, with the unusual green and purple foliage in the background.
Eventually the two of us got up off the bench where we'd been sitting and started to walk along the path again. We took our time as we gradually made our way back out of the park to where we left the grav-sled.
Driving it into the city this morning had been a bit of a new experience for me. Not driving the thing, since I'd been doing that since I was a kid, but driving it in a city with traffic moving around was very different from cruising over the empty fields around my family's farm.
The captain gave me some pointers though before we set out. It was pretty simple, mostly stuff like try to fly in straight lines, pick an altitude and stick with it, and trust the grav-sled's collision avoidance software.
I punched in the unlock code and started up the sled, then we rose up into the air to about thirty or forty meters.
"So are we just flying around till you spot something?" I asked Sarah. "Or do you already have someplace in mind?"
This time she relented and told me where we were going. It only took a few minutes to get there, then we secured the small craft and wandered around on foot. We did end up making a few small purchases, though we didn't actually spend a lot of money. Mostly we just looked, and maybe made note of things we might like to go back and see again later.
One place we spent a bit of time was a store that specialized in robots and drones. It wasn't hard to guess Sarah was still thinking about Jenny, and the idea of a synthetic solution rather than a flesh and blood body for our AI crew-mate.
Unfortunately there really wasn't anything that could hope to pass for human. There were a few android models but they were very clunky-looking, and even the way they moved seemed slow and primitive compared to the non-humanoid devices.
It was actually kind of surprising but when Sarah asked one of the employees about it we finally understood. Realistic humanoid robots weren't exactly illegal, but apparently they were frowned upon. The guy who told us that couldn't give us any real explanation as to why, so we figured maybe it was just a cultural thing.
Ignoring the limitations of the androids, Sarah was impressed with the sort of things they could do with the other types of robots. She didn't buy anything, but I could tell she was getting ideas and making mental notes.
Eventually we left that shop and headed back to the grav-sled again. Our few purchases were stowed away in the lockers in the back, then as we climbed in I asked Sarah "What would you like to do next?"
"I was thinking about a bit more shopping," she replied. "But we need to get to another part of the city to find the next set of stores I wanted to take you to."
As we lifted up into the air I asked, "Oh? What kind of stores are we talking about?"
She gave me a naughty smile and answered, "I got the boss to tell me where to find those shops she doesn't know anything about. You know, the ones with the interesting distractions and entertaining toys?"
I felt my cheeks heating up as I bit my lower lip for a second or two, before finally asking "So where to?"
Sarah gave me the directions, and I took us off in that direction. Ten minutes later we landed and set out on foot to explore what I eventually figured out was known as the 'red light' part of the city.
The next hour or two was a bit of an eye-opener for me. And for Sarah too, or at least that's the impression I got. She was a lot more adventurous than me, but I stuck with her as we explored the various shops and other establishments in that part of town.
Sarah made a few purchases while we toured the various businesses there, and eventually I got over my hesitation and spent some ecks on a few things that caught my eye as well. In fact between the two of us, I was pretty sure there'd be no excuse for boredom on our next days-long transit between worlds.
One thing that I wasn't expecting to find in a shop in that part of the city was an actual realistic-looking humanoid robot. Though its functions were fairly limited, and I was pretty sure Jenny might get the wrong idea if we bought it for her. Plus it was very expensive, and I'd definitely feel self-conscious about cruising around the city with that thing riding in the back seat of the grav-sled. Even if we did get it some clothes first.
On the other hand Sarah seemed a little too interested in it, and if not for the fact that neither of us had enough ecks in our money tokens I'd almost worry she was seriously going to get it anyways. Even at that I wondered if she was making plans to buy the thing later, after visiting the ship to raid her lock-box.
Eventually we both decided we'd seen enough of the venues in that part of town, and we made our way back to the grav-sled. Our latest purchases were added to the others in the locker, then we climbed into the vehicle to discuss our next stop.
By that point it was getting into early evening, and I admitted "Even though I'm getting the hang of driving in the city, I don't think I'm comfortable piloting the grav-sled at night. So I think maybe whatever we do next, it should be our last stop before we head back to the ship."
"Ok Amanda," Sarah replied. "How about we just get dinner then? We can get something nice, then head back to the Demeter after that?"
I hesitated, "What about Rebecca? She might feel left out."
After a few seconds to think it over, Sarah shook her head. "She told us to enjoy ourselves for the day. I think she'll understand."
I couldn't argue with that, so we figured out where to eat. Not really knowing the city we only had a few options we were familiar with, and ended up going back to that fancy restaurant Rebecca took us to the first time we were on this world.
We got a cosy private table, and Sarah moved her chair around so we were sitting beside each other.
"This is nice," she said with a smile. "A quiet romantic meal to end a fun day together. It's been a perfect date, I think?"
My eyes widened slightly and my cheeks warmed up as I realized she was right. We basically spent the whole day together on our first real date.
"It's been really nice," I replied with a happy smile. Then my smile became a smirk as I teased, "I can't believe you took me to the city's 'red light district' on our first date!"
Sarah suppressed a laugh as she protested, "Me?! You're the one who was driving Amanda. You took me to the red light district on our first date!"
"That's not true!" I argued, though I was still smiling. "You were navigating, it was your fault!"
We pretended to fight over it for another minute or two before we ended up giggling and laughing too much to keep up the act any longer. Then we both settled down and tried to act more dignified when the waiter brought our meals over. The food was delicious, we ended up sharing a bit off each other's plates as we enjoyed ourselves and the time we were spending together.
It was starting to get dark out when we finally left the restaurant, so I didn't waste too much more time as we both got back into the grav-sled. The trip home was only about twenty minutes. I didn't drive as fast as the captain, but I managed to get us back to the ship before it was actually dark out.
We set down just to the left of the Demeter, then got our purchases out of the locker before we headed up the ramp into the ship.
The main airlock was closed so we had to enter the code on the unlock panel, then we got into the ship ok. We sealed it up again behind us, and finally made our way up to the main deck. There was no sign of Rebecca, and we didn't see Jenny either. We figured the captain was either in her cabin or maybe she was having a late meeting with Mel. As for our AI crew-mate, Sarah suggested she might be busy studying whatever courses she downloaded.
Either way we didn't make a fuss about it. In fact it was kind of nice since it meant we didn't have anyone else intruding on our date. We both grabbed something to drink as we passed through the mess, then we went into our cabin together to finish our date in the best way possible.
