Helios Fighter

Chapter Eleven

Housing

There was no tension, but we all walked in silence. At least until Ladasha started talking to me.

"You know," she said, "that receptionist might've been checking you."

"Her?" I said. "I doubt it. Some people have a natural fascination with the world."

"You really believe that?" I couldn't hide how ridiculous it sounded. "You like her."

"No. Not like that. And I'm fairly certain it's mutual."

"Mutual? She looked about ready to cry when you didn't take your gun back, and then ready to declare it was her best day ever when you let her keep it."

"A.) It was confusion in her face, and B.) giving a gun to a receptionist is like giving a kid a million bucks in a toy store."

"Fair enough. But you can't say you don't like her romantically​ even a little."

"I can, and will."

"How?"

"I've got my reasons."

"Like?"

"Have you heard of Sey'ah Pay'oh?"

"Yeah. She's the one Pax is trying to find–oh. ​Oh​."

"Yeah. I can be skilled at everything, but still be my same old nerdy self. I'm usually not what people are looking for in a person."

"Well, I mean, you never know."

There's another reason,​ I thought, but I kept that to myself. Ladasha might not have been ready for that, and neither would I. 

"Speaking of, you finish reading yet?" I'd almost forgotten.

"No," I said.

"Well check it out when you get in. I won't spoil it, but something is wrong with the way it ends..."

"Alright."

"Hey guys?" Gally said. "Feel free to pick a room when you're done." She was nice about it, but I could sense her tone, which in a nutshell said ​I'm tired of walking, let's hurry this up.

"Sorry..." I looked at each of the different houses. It was probably by coincidence that we were in the three-hundreds (as each house was numbered.) "309...311...313." Three-hundred thirteen.... A number I kept running into. I'm not entirely sure why it bothered me. Was it the relation to a book? Was it the number out minutes those solar quakes kept happening? Why...?

"Helios?" Gally called. "Did you want this one?"

"Uh... yeah."

"Okay. Can I see your access disk?" I handed it to her, with my eyes still on the door's number.

"Hey," Ladasha shook me. "You alright? You look sick."

"I'm good," I said. "Just a little dizzy, 'cause I only ate one turkey after a month."

"Here you go!" Gally handed my disk back to me with a smile that, once again, claimed innocence, but covered something else. "Just put it in the door slot, and you are good to go!"

"Thanks." I placed the disk in the access port, and the door slid open. I walked inside, and immediately, I thought ​Whoa! Roomy!​ To my immediate left was a desk and chair. In the upper right corner, was a bed similar to the one I had in my solar bunker. The next thing I noticed was that everything had a metallic look to it, specifically chrome. I wasn't sure where it came from, or how it was created, but the room's lighting invoked a sense of lethargy.

"You need help with anything?" Gally asked.

"No," I said with a slight grogginess. "What is it, like, 3:00?"

"Yeah, just about. Why?"

"I'm gonna... Take a nap..."

"Okay... Well don't sleep too long. You might miss dinner if you do. I nodded and then walked over to the bed. I laid down and closed my eyes.

Big mistake.