Unclaimed Baggage

Unclaimed Baggage

by Jamie Saoirse Eastling

Haeli Ephesus was in a frantic rush. Her Personal Information Pad (PIP) was beeping to notify her that someone was calling, but she couldn’t answer it. She had two dozen things left to do before her trip and stopping all that to answer that call would put her further behind than she already was. She ripped a few garments from their neatly folded place in her dresser and unceremoniously threw them into her luggage case. Haeli let out a frustrated groan as her PIP continued to beep, “Answer!” she yelled in the direction of the PIP.

“Hey there, Hael-storm. What’s—you’re leaving again?”

“I need it, Yamara.” Haeli didn’t look over at the holographic image of her best friend, “I need time to think. I can’t think if I’m always crying about Sara.”

There was a moment of silence until Haeli sighed. The fractal pattern tattooed across her bald head itched slightly. New tattoos were always a combination of pain and pleasure. She clenched her fists tightly to avoid scratching at it. She walked across the room to her desk and started sifting through a set of PIP data chips. The tiny chips made a distinct clack when Haeli dropped them on her desk. She walked over to her nightstand and pulled out the little drawer which squealed as it sluggishly opened. She grabbed the data chip she had been looking for and stuffed it in a tiny pocket of her luggage case

“Haeli…”

“Look, I know you were right about Sara and the relationship. I know I wasn’t ready and Sara… was Sara, but I had to figure that out for myself.”

“No, I get that… I wanted to let you know I’m leaving. I would have told you sooner if I had known you were going on holiday, but I only found out last Thursday… I’ve accepted a lecture position at the university on the Station 13. It’s just beyond Jupiter so I won’t be—”

“I know,” Haeli said as she stood up straight. She stood perfectly still and continued, “You’ll be out of touch for some time. I get it. It’s whatever…”

“No, not whatever,” Yamara persisted. “Don’t dissemble, we’ve been friends too long for you to pull that kind of shit on me.”

Haeli began sealing the luggage case. The latches made a soft thud as they locked into place. “What do you want me to say, Yams? You’ve wanted a position like this for some time. I’m just not in the right mindset to balance the happiness of your success with my own grief and frustration.”

After a moment Yamara responded, “Maybe it is a good idea to get away. Sara enervated you to point where you haven’t been able to enjoy life much. Just remember that your friends are here and we care about you. Kyla and Sphere just got back from their deep space exploration assignment. Will you be able to contact them wherever you’re going?”

“I’m going to be staying with Sphere’s progenitor for a couple nights, so I suspect I’ll see Sphere. I doubt there was anything on the Newton that it could eat.” Haeli looked at the clock on her nightstand and realized she only had three hours before the transport left. “Yams, I’ve gotta get going. When you get to 13 I’ll be on the Ibn Sina so please send me a message on Fleet channels, otherwise it’ll be an extra month before I get it.”

“I will!” Yamara affirmed with resolve, “Tell Sphere’s progenitor I said hello.”

The room went almost completely dark as her PIP screen shut off. Haeli hadn’t realized she had been packing without enough light. She wished she had paid closer attention because now she worried she had picked outfits that didn’t match.

We’re talking about beings made of energy who can change color and form at will. Nothing I wear will match by their standards.

“Dras!”

There was a whirring and the sound of something powering up coming from the hallway. The spindly mechanoid being stood in the doorway, “Yes, Haeli?”

“Dras, I’m leaving for New Rainbow for about a week. I’m switching power in my studio to holiday mode. Can you do security?”

In a synthetic deep bass voice the mechanoid asked, “What mode of security?”

“Passive-defensive, please. No intervention, just call the Fleet Security and let them deal with it. There was a lot of paperwork last time you arrested a burglar and I’d rather have Fleet reimburse me for something that was stolen than go through that again.”

“Understood. Safe travels, Haeli.”

“Thanks”

Dras was still standing in the doorway after Haeli had grabbed her luggage case, “If you think of it, could you bring me back a teal sprite? It’s about a week passed their duplication season, so it shouldn’t be a problem finding one. I’ve got a permit of care all lined up and I even took the liberty of getting a liaison capture permit since I figured I wouldn’t be able to make the trip myself. The Angela Davis doesn’t leave for another month and Fleet has already approved my non-sentient companion.”

“Sure, I can’t say I’m very good at capturing sprites, but I’ve got a friend on New Rainbow who practically domesticates them whenever it comes near a sprite swarm. Shouldn’t be a problem.”

Dras nodded, “Gratitude.” He handed her a data chip summoned from a port behind his cranial box. He extended his hand and dropped the data chip into hers.

“See you later, Dras. Say hello to B for me.”

Dras tilted his head, “B-11 is a retired mechanical service droid. Not a sentient being…” His head turned away and then returned to face Haeli, “Ah, human attachment to non-sentient creatures escapes me sometimes, but I suppose my own affection for B-11 has a semblance to sentimental connection. It was my most loyal assistant aboard the Du Châtelet.”

Haeli’s attention was piqued, “Dras, the Du Châtelet hasn’t been in service for over 24 years. You mean to say you’ve kept that droid working 24 plus years past its service retirement?”

The mechanoid waved a hand in a dismissive gesture, “Oh no! B-11 was in storage while the paperwork was being passed around to decide whether it was to be scrapped and recycled or given a new assignment. I only acquired B-11 a few years before you moved into Fleet housing. That machine required meticulous work to restore to its former condition. Restoring it has been a hobby of mine. Unfortunately, as standard protocol with retired droids, the memory was wiped and it did not remember who I was or any of the work we had done together.”

Haeli smiled at Dras, “Now look who is anthropomorphizing a non-sentient machine.”

With a grunt, Haeli dragged her luggage out into the hallway and down the steps. She frowned as she mumbled to herself, “No, it’s fine. The stairs are quaint. I’ll be fine.” Haeli guessed she had repeated those exact words a dozen times when looking over the apartment. The Fleet crewmember called out from some storage room where the operations personnel are hidden away had given Haeli the distinct impression the Fleet didn’t want her there. Old apartments were usually given to mechanoid Fleet personnel because aesthetics and convenience were two things they didn’t need. She remembered now why stairs were considered cumbersome and inefficient.

---

When Haeli arrived on New Rainbow, she immediately approached the structure inaccurately called The Traveler’s Junction, a place where humans and mechanoids could ask a concierge to contact their friends on New Rainbow. It was more aptly called The Oasis by the humans and mechanoids who lived there. Despite how very different life was for the species of New Rainbow, Haeli was always impressed by the painstaking detail put into the building. It had everything a human or mechanoid could possibly want: food, water, mechanic stations, spas, chassis buffering, and more. It almost made up for the lack of anything else on the planet.

“We remind our human guests that crystal structures in the deserts are whole or parts of our species and should never be touched, moved, or buried with sand. This is the only warning given. Offenders will be forcibly removed from New Rainbow. Repeat offenders may be eternally banned. Caution: New Rainbow permits lethal self-defense—”

Haeli closed the door to her hotel room. The 34th floor room was not bad for the price she had paid for it. Prices were always higher the closer to the ground the room was because they offered better protection from the sun. Even with environmental controls set to a breezy 10 degrees Celsius, Haeli had to remove her sweater. She could feel the sweat droplets forming across her bald head and remembered that she had to put a special lotion on or her tattoos could be ruined. She dug into her luggage and quickly pour the lotion into her hand. Haeli shuddered as the cool sensation of the formula began seeping into her skin.

“May I come in?”

Sphere!

“Sooner rather than later. I’m afraid us meatsacks have an expiration date and mine is coming quicker for every second you wait outside.” Haeli replied.

With a flash of light, which Haeli knew better than to look directly at, Sphere appeared in the room. At 183 centimeters, Sphere was quite a striking figure. It had changed into a humanoid form, but whenever it moved Haeli could see iridescent colors glimmering at the minuscule seams. Sphere and Haeli embraced. Its warmth was almost overwhelming, as if touching a stone which had been sitting in the hottest summer sun. Sphere smiled revealing pale ivory-like teeth and bright pink gums. “Are you hungry? There’s a pasta place on level 20.”

>Haeli let out of sigh of relief, “Yes, please. I can’t remember the last time I’ve eaten.”

Sphere nodded, “I know the feeling.”

For a moment Haeli bit her lip as she remembered that Sphere probably hadn’t been able to eat for the entirety of her mission. Sphere, like all the beings of New Rainbow, could not consume human food. More accurately, Sphere could not consume human food for any nutritional value. To say that the beings of New Rainbow eat is more of an anthropomorphism than an actual description. Haeli thought of all the crystal formations just outside absorbing the massive amounts of energy given off by the binary stars of New Rainbow’s system. Sphere was one of a small fraction of beings from New Rainbow who left its planet for any length of time.

As the elevator doors opened on the 20th floor, Haeli and Sphere casually made their way to the Italian diner Alfredo The Suns. A mechanoid with polished a brass-like finish greeted them and escorted them to a table.

“I am Tald, I will be your waitress today. My pronouns are they, them, theirs. Can I get you anything to drink?”

Haeli frowned, “Just water, I think.”

The mechanoid turned to face Sphere who politely declined. Tald handed Haeli a menu but she didn’t open it, instead setting it down with disinterest while watching Tald disappear into a backroom.

“You don’t see that much anymore,” Haeli commented.

Sphere smirked, “I think you haven’t been here much. All mechanoids who work on New Rainbow get full maintenance and power benefits. Tald probably wanted something other than a position in the Fleet. Serving food is probably one of the easiest jobs for a mechanoid.”

Haeli was still staring at the door Tald had gone through. Her face was expressionless though her eyes seemed to be swelling.

“Haeli?” Sphere asked as it leaned over to grasp Haeli’s hand.

“Sphere, I think you and Yamara knew Sara the best… Right?”

“Better, Sara and I were in Fleet training together. We were even in the same team for cold weather survival training.”

Haeli continued to stare into the distance, “Let’s go for a walk.” With that, Haeli stood and hurried out of the diner and made her way to the elevator. Sphere was quick to catch up and remained silent even though Haeli knew it was upset with her for leaving.  Haeli pressed the level one button and waited as the elevator made its way down, taking on new passengers as it stopped every few floors. By the time the doors opened on the first floor, Haeli and Sphere were accompanied by nearly two dozen people. The majority of those people were heading towards the tunnel leading to the transport dock, but Haeli was headed in the direction of the large double doors leading into the vast desert wasteland.

Sphere worriedly tugged at Haeli’s shoulder, “What are you doing?”

Heali swiped her card which unlocked a locker storing a light cloak, face mask with a sun visor, and a small pack of water. “I’m going for a walk. Are you coming?” Haeli hooked the hose of the water pack to her face mask and latched the facemask into a secure position. “Sound check” she said as her voice was projected with a mechanical distortion. Haeli lifted the cream-colored cloak hood over her head and lowered the sun visor.

A prerecorded voice came over the intercom, “We would like to remind our human visitors that prolonged exposure to our binary stars can cause severe secondary burns. Please use sun protective gear and water pack or comparable gear when traveling outside The Traveler’s Junction. Mechanoid visitors are encouraged to use the oil and coolant circulatory aid system or comparable system when traveling outside The Traveler’s Junction.”

Haeli slid the brown gloves on and then glided her way over to a hatch barely larger than she was. The small screen was quite bright to account for the fact that most beings reading the screen would be wearing sun protection over their eyes. The screen displayed a standard warning and required acknowledgment before the door could be opened. Haeli hastily threw open the door and walked gingerly on the path. Sphere followed behind silently.  Haeli and Sphere continued the wordless argument with nothing but the sound of sand and the occasional sniffle or cough projected through the voice box of Haeli’s face mask.

“Haeli,” Sphere buzzed, “Haeli, you only have a few mouthfuls of water left. We need to turn back now!”

Haeli’s pace did not slow nor did she turn to look at Sphere as it called out to her. Sphere did not hesitate the second time, taking leaping steps to overtake its friend, and then stood like a guard against an immense siege.

“How far?” Haeli asked so quietly that the microphone in her mask barely registered she was speaking.

“Excuse me?”

“How far do I have to go before I can get a break from these thoughts and feelings that keep me up at night? I’m in another fucking dimension walking on sand made up of your ancestors’ disintegrated crystal remains, how much farther do I have to go? Where can I get away from this? I can’t eat, think, or sleep now that Sara’s gone. Where can I go where the pain doesn’t hurt as much?”

Sphere’s shoulders dropped, hands unclenched, “Oh dear, my dear Haeli. That place is within you. Only you can find the peace with yourself to accept Sara’s death.”

“Sphere, I haven’t even been able to acknowledge she’s… How can I find peace within myself?”

Sphere took Haeli by the hand and led her back towards The Oasis. Though Haeli regretted the length she had gone before having a moment of honest discussion, Sphere continued to assure her that everything was going to be fine. “Part of why you suffer so much is that you refuse to accept it for what it is. Your girlfriend, whom you had dedicated the last two years of your life to, has died. That’s a painful thing for anyone to process, but working through the various feelings you’re experiencing will only help you heal. And you know what?”

Haeli realized they had made it back and grabbed the release handle, “What?”

“You don’t have to do it alone.”

Unclaimed Baggage by Jamie Saoirse Eastling is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.