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[MiniKitty]

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I am not letting a few fanatics stop me.

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Well, that was something. Given we are no longer welcome at the equipment shop, we need to find a different way to get the spare parts. There have to be other equipment shops here. I am not going to join a religion to get my ship repaired.

I also have the slight suspicion that Madeleine enjoys the negative attention a bit more than she should.

To calm down a bit, I thought it would be best to get a snack. I mean, I have my WaSP with me, but Madeleine probably wants something with a bit more substance. I lead her to a small rustic restaurant on one of the lower layers of the space port. Less crowded, and hopefully far away enough from that weird woman and the other churchists. That is a word, right?

We sit down at a table and a young man quickly notices us, so he gets over to us with the menu booklets.


Have you ever heard of this church before?

Sure. They are one of the crazy cults. The New Covenant Church are essentially the polar opposite of the Holy Faith of Tarxien.

In what way?

NCC wants to unify mankind against the nomads.
The Holy Faith of Tarxien wants to live with the nomads.

... And you thought it was a good idea to tell that girl you are a Tarxien...ist?

She wanted to scam you, Levan.

I guess. I definitely need to be more careful. Way too easy to fall for scammers when they do not look like Caliban.

Mmhh... the steak looks nice.

... Really, a steak? I would have thought that rotting meatpile outside would have killed that craving for a few years.

I already forgot about that. Oh, hey, they have synth gel-based food, too! Look at that!

Not that I am hungry - not in the slightest, even. But I am curious nonetheless. Most restaurants usually advertise real food instead of synth stuff. But apparently someone heard my prayers about more variety on synth paste and synth gel stuff. Synth ice cream!? Wow, even looks great! Purely made from synth gel, too.

It does not take long for the waiter to arrive and take our order.


Uhm, I, uhm, would like to, uhm, try the Synth Gel Banana Split!

Do you have anything with some cardamine flavor?

Pardon, Miss?

Well, the steak looks good but my faith doesn't allow me to eat anything without cardamine.

Ah, I see. Tarxien?

Jupp. Just me, though. He is thinking about joining the New Covenant Church.

In that case I believe we have just the right menu for you.

Without any other word, the waiter takes our booklets and vanishes in the kitchen. I throw an unimpressed look at Madeleine. Her cheeks are rosy again, and she pulls the zipper of her suit down a bit, revealing a tiny bit of clevage. Her boot is playfully rubbing against my leg.


... You are enjoying this quite a lot, do you?

Never been to a new place before and just didn't care for any consequences?
It's quite the fun experience.

I am not sure whether I can allow myself to do that, considering there are two OSN articles out there about me and my entire NNStaGram account is flooded with all kinds of dubious requests.

I guess I'm lucky to have you for myself for a change.

It... certainly is nice that you wanted to come with me. I thought you were pretty much done with space after the fight with the Rogues.

Don't get me wrong, Levan. I still hate that you...
You know, took that risk while we were with you.
I know it was the right thing to do.
But I don't want to be on the Kay when you play hero.

I am not playing hero, Madeleine. That police officer would have died without our help, yes, but- uhm, I was just thinking that, uhm...
I thought that if we did not help him, those Rogues would at some point get us next. The lane from Denver to New York is the longest lane in Sirius, and the most dangerous one, too, despite the OPP right next to it.

So, you're telling me you weren't just seeing an opportunity there?

An opportunity for what?

To kill Rogues. You hate them. You said it many times.
You hate them for shooting supply ships on the way to Pittsburgh.

Do you really think I am that simple?

I certainly know how many times you and Mo were at it when we were back on Denver.
I would say you were quite excited about killing Rogues.

... Are you mad at me?

Not at all. Quite the opposite.

Her boot goes a bit higher.

I just want you to be honest with me,
and not tell me bullshit stories about doing the right thing.

Good, then let us just say that it was convenient that the people attacking the LPI were Rogues and not Xenos.

Are you still secretly sending donations to them?

No idea what you are talking about.


I smirk at her as the waiter arrives with...

One Synth Gel Banana Split for the pious young man...

The waiter places the plate with festively decorated, incredibly smooth orbs of synth gel-based vanilla ice cream sandwiching an almost fully transparent Cambridge banana, frosted and covered with a spectacularly hat of cool whip, probably also made with synth gel. It was a sight to behold, and I suddenly craved this delicacy as if I had not eaten in days. I need it. Without hesitation, I grab the spork and scoop up some of the extremely soft gel cream. Just before it could reach the safety of my mouth, I watch the waiter kneel down on the floor right next to the table to place a pet food bowl next to Madeleine.

And for the Tarxien scum, shredded steak with a bone. Cardamine flavor. It's on the house.

Without giving us time to grasp the reality of the situation, the waiter leaves.

Levan?

Yes?

Can we please stay here forever?

I slowly rise my gaze from the pet food bowl up to Madeleine. Her face is red and she is shivering and panting. The tip of her boot is right between my thighs.


Are you... alright?

I've never felt this hot before.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?














Suffice to say, we did not stay at that restaurant and left instead. Without paying, even. I have no idea what is wrong with Madeleine, but I think I just found out that she might be a little crazy. Is that a kink? Definitely weird.

I lead her away from the restaurant, and after a few minutes, she seems to be calm again. I sit down on a bench with her.


Damn, we need those spare parts, Madeleine.

I'm sure we'll find another store.

Hopefully. That church must have quite the influence here. Maybe you should stop trying to trigger these people at every chance.

Nobody is going to believe us that they served dog food to me.

... That was really... nasty.

Just the thought of that is giving me goose bumps.

... Maybe you should stay on the Kay and let me handle this?


And, well, while she is waiting on the Kay, I might could take a closer look at these robots... just a peek!

Nah. You would probably just go to that robot brothel.
I saw how you looked at the robot woman with the four tongues.

CAN SHE READ MY MIND!?


N-no!? We came here for spare parts, and that is all I want!

Sure.

... Do not give me that look, you are the one who got hard from getting treated like shit! Anyway, we need to focus. We need a map or something. Maybe ask around where we can get the parts.

Maybe we can try another space port?

I am not letting a few fanatics stop me.


I get up and take Madeleine's hand, pulling her up to me.


Come, we will beat them!

















Madeleine and I keep exploring this chaotic space port. In a way it feels like a giant shopping mall, just a bit more hostile. There are quite a lot of shady people and bars, the occasional bounty hunter group in their guild uniforms, too. I always find them intimidating, really. They do not have that much of a presence on Denver, or at least not in David's Hollow. Come to think of it, none of the big groups have anything in David's Hollow, except for Kishiro and Cryer. There is a small Ageira outlet store but they only really sell expensive PDAs and related software. Kishiro on the other hand operates the landing pads and offers repairs for smaller crafts.

A little girl stumbles and falls to the floor. She cries silently, holding her knee with both hands. No parents in sight. Who would let a child run around in such a place!? We walk up to the child and I kneel down in front of it.


Does it hurt much?


She looks up at me, tears running down her cheeks but she seems to be rather calm.

Just a bit!

Madeleine, can you give me your derma-stick?


Without saying anything, Madeleine opens her shoulder bag and gets me the medipen. She always has one with her. I show the girl the medipen.


That is a derma-stick. Heals small wounds in just a second! Can you show me where it hurts?


The girl nods and reveals a little red patch of skin. Barely anything, really. But children always cry over the slightest ouchies, I guess. I carefully apply the medipen to her knee. As I take it away, she smiles cheerfully at me.

Thank you so much! Who are you?

I am Levan. Levan Harlow!

Thank you so much, Mister Harlow!! Uhm, can you show me how to write that name?

Uhm, sure!


The little girl produces a little piece of paper and a pen from her jacket's pocket and hands me the pen while holding the paper. I take the pen and as the first pit of ink leaves a mark on the paper, I realize what was going on. This was an inside job.

NEW COVENANT CHURCH SIGN-UP FORM

I drop the pen and rip the paper out the child's hands and TEAR IT APART! (The paper.)

IS EVERYONE HERE INSANE!?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

AAAAAARRRRRGH!!!!

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