AD7 stared at the waiter in disbelief. “It blew up?” she asked. His words were clear as day. There was no chance that she misheard him. Still, AD7 had to ask just to be certain she wasn’t hallucinating. Things don’t just blow up spontaneously. And if something, anything were to blow up, why the best restaurant she had ever visited?
“Well it was blown up,” the waiter said correcting himself, “before the Mech War started heating up. Madam Ge rebuilt it here. She wanted to keep the restaurant local but the old lot was too small for her vision. Still, she cleaned and preserved the lot to honor her uncle who died in the explosion.” At that the waiter paused awkwardly, remembering his job “Is there anything else you’ll be needing sir.”
Oyintsa thought about his surroundings and remembered that the young Crisho probably had other tables to work, “No, thanks.” At this, the waiter left rushing off to help the next table.
“That explains the empty lot,” Royal encouraged AD7, “Seems like you’re perfectly sane.”
Yeah right. I’m sane and completely out of touch. AD7 was usually in good spirits even in these odd times. However, this recent embarrassment proved that there was a great deal that she had to catch up on.
For all she knew, she had caused the war and was sitting with her enemies. She didn’t even understand the today’s fashion. She had a whole half century of history to learn before she could live something of a normal life.
Even in her day, the handhelds were very useful. Perhaps these days they were even more advanced. She turns to Royal and asks, “Is there something I could read that tells me about recent history?” After a little bit of thought, Royal activates her handheld and hands it to AD7. While they were discussing its new features, Oyintsa’s handheld starts ringing.
Instead of answering it immediately, Oyintsa set it in the center of the table. This way, all of their faces could be seen by the caller. Pressing a button, he received the call and a small image of a worried Tirzah appeared.
The image of Tirzah showed her talking into her hand. She was concerned but not to a stressful degree. “Where’d you guys go?”
AD7 and Royal both heard the question but were a bit preoccupied to respond. Oyintsa on the other hand responded immediately, “AD7 lead us to a smashing restaurant. You have to come see.”
“Love to,” Tirzah said, almost cheering, “but we’re done here. Get something for the rest of us though, eh? I’ll hit you back.” She was in one of her rare good moods. Cyd must have finally joined them. “Meet you at the ship.”
“See you,” Oyintsa said as he ended the connection. At the next opportunity, he gets the attention of another waiter, “I’d like to add quadruple to our order.”
AD7 was occupied trying to understand Royal’s handheld. Still, the large amount of sandwich orders got her attention. Sure Royal was hungry. It was impossible for her to be that hungry, “Why so many?”
“There’s twelve of us,” Royal said.
“The rest are in the ship,” Oyintsa said finishing her thought, “Got an extra in case someone,” he emphasized looking at Royal, “was still hungry.”
Royal was looking the other way but she knew she was being teased. As a response she looked at Oyintsa and stuck out her tongue.
As they waited, AD7 read more of the city’s history from a page on Royals handheld. Most of the details were left out. AD7 read between the lines thinking of Eighty-Seven’s responses to each event: the small conflict’s escalation; the steady transformation of the Mech Wall into a fortress; the peace agreement between Bosstown and Rubin’s Trail; the continued aggression from the Mech Fortress with its superior technology and fire power; the calling of Champions to aid Rubin’s Trail’s fight against the Mech Armies; the slow and steady defeat of the Mech Fortress; and ‘AD7’s’ imprisonment at Rubin’s Trail Science Facilities.
Each progression was horrifying for AD7. Things went from bad to worse to utter disaster; each step breaking AD7’s heart. She had no idea that things would turn this way. But Eighty-Seven always followed her instructions perfectly. She wanted something. Something she could never have. Argh… what was it?! AD7 instinctively kept her calm face while reading but the puzzle was driving her crazy.
They were always together, so very close together. Rubin’s Trail would have easily mistaken Eighty-Seven for her. Now, Eighty-Seven must be scared out of her analytical mind. There has to be a way to get to Rubin’s Trail and free her.