The Double Cult Cha-Cha: An Al Squires of the Protectorate Story (Book 1)

Ch.13.2: Home Sweet Apartment; or, Introducing my (Fabulous) Roommate

"-Hake hy haw hiff uh," I finished my sentence with my sentence with groan. I then opened the door to the Transmat booth that we rematerialized into and walked out of it; noisily working my jaw around to get it unstuck as I did so. The Transmat booth was on the corner of an Omniopolis city street. The streets of Lady Omniopolis looked different at night: not as busy as they were in the day, but, as if to compensate for the quantity, the quality of strangeness in the locals and tourists alike that walked Her streets seems to double at night. Luckily, I lived in a relatively decent neighborhood; so, I wasn't worried about Norah, and I being bothered any party animals (both literal and figurative) or representatives of Omniopolis' criminal element.

"So that's what that shock was when you blindfolded me earlier," Norah said as she followed me out. I turned to see her shaking herself as she closed the door to the booth. "You could've warned me about that."

"Technically, I tid," I said with a slur. "I tid sho earlier today. I jusht forgot ta do it dis time. You'll get used to it after a few times."

"Why are you talking like that?" she asked me regarding my slur. "You sound like Gruk."

"I told you," I said after getting my jaw working again, "talking in mid-Transmat makes my jaw stiffen up."

"Oh, that's what you said," she said, nodding. She then looked around. "Where are we?" she asked me. "Is this still Omniopolis?"

"Yes, it is," I said to her. "if it wasn't, we would've used a portal for transportation instead of a Transmat booth. I'll explain the difference later tomorrow."

She nodded again, then looked up at the night sky. "Is that what the night sky is supposed to look like here?" she asked me, her voice choked a little with awe. "It's beautiful." I looked up with her to see Lady Omniopolis' nightcap: there weren't any stars, but the sky was a lovely shade of dark blue with flecks and swirls of other shades of blue mixed with them and it moved.

"Yep, that it is," I said, sharing a little of her wonder. "I love the night sky here; it's like living underneath an ocean."

I looked back to her, and her to me, then, changing the subject, "I thought you said that we were going to your apartment."

"We are," I replied. "The apartment building where I live isn't far from here. Follow me." I began walking down the sidewalk; Norah caught up to me to walk by my side as usual.

"So, why didn't we just teleport to your apartment?" she asked me.

"Funny you should ask," I said to her. "See, there's a law here in Omniopolis that states that Transmat booths are prohibited from being built and/or used on private property or in privately owned buildings; they're allowed only on public property like the sidewalks or in parks."

"I think I understand that," she said with a nod. "It's to prevent those who'd want to use a Transmat booth to commit a home invasion or robbery, right?"

"That," I replied with a nod, "and to prevent some drunk from appearing in some stranger's house after putting in the wrong address in the middle of the night. That's very perceptive of you, Miss Navarro." I then switched to a soft voice to prevent from being overheard. "It seems that being in stasis for a year hasn't affected the stuff that they taught you in your Earth's Quantico."

"Actually, I was worried about that when you told me about that," she said softly, following my lead. "I think that I remember my training, but I'm not so sure. At least with my field and marksmanship training at least."

"Well, you'd be amazed by the resilience of the human brain," I said as we got closer to my apartment building. "Having done so many experiments and rituals on my own brain, I can testify to it."