Section IV: Arrival

After dealing with a rather nosy neighbor, Tyler makes his way to his destination.

Section IV: Arrival

“Flana has always been known

as The Nature Planet. Everything

within the planet has been designed

to be as environmentally friendly

as possible. Quite a wonder to see

from the eyes of an outsider.”

- From Understanding The Desena, by Biran Vocan

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It was a rather hectic morning for everyone, especially Tyler. After waking up a mere five minutes later than he intended (and cursing himself underneath his breath), rushing to go through a typical morning preparation of showering, getting dressed, and eating a rather quick breakfast, he made his way as quick as possible to the Northern Apolo Interplanetary Travel Depot (commonly abbreviated on flight tickets as ‘ATD1N’). Meanwhile, Tracie, sleeping in even longer by an extra half an hour, was rushing so she could have as much time as possible to plan out how they were to go about this secret intervention.

At about 6:30, Tyler finally arrived, after a small traffic delay, to the Depot, and more or less rushed his way through security. Despite having proper clearance to outright skip the security check, he chose not to raise suspicions and suffer through the near hour-long process. The stress in the Depot was always high, but now was beyond the stars, with many, many citizens concerned about if they would even be able to reach Flana. One person even started a rumor that if the Depot line did not like you and you were traveling to Flana, you could get your ticket revoked. Suffice to say, they were proven wrong quite quickly after an over-the-air announcement.

Only when he got on the Inter-Depot Bus did Tyler finally take a deep sigh of relief. His ticket, while not first-class, was still better than the economy lot, giving him even a little more room for himself, and one fully furnished meal. The only problem he had was the person who sat in the neighboring seat. The rather young lady was beyond talkative, greeting everyone that walked into the bus like she worked there, despite wearing clothing that would best suit a tourist. Eventually the bus took off, entered orbit, and launched itself towards Flana.

The view was rather spectacular, being able to see the whole universe to his right, out a long and large window. He was mesmerized for a whole two hours before being rudely interrupted by the talkative lady, who was genuinely curious about him, after finishing her proper introductions to the rest of the bus. “Do pardon me sir, but I believe we have yet to be acquainted.” Her voice was quite high, even for her age, and rather annoying to hear for long periods of time. Without even looking behind him, Tyler spoke out with annoyance in his voice. “Good, I wish to keep it that way.”

She seemed quite annoyed and gave a rather pouty face, and unwilling to give up on knowing every single person on the plane, she tried to switch up her techniques, deciding to play up to love. “You know, I’ve always thought love was rather stupid, but then I see you… and it changes my mind.” Tyler finally turned around, and gave a hard stare to show the scar on the right side of his face going down his eye, in an effort to prove her statement false. “Take the hint already. I wish to be left alone.”

The tourist was taken back tenfold, not just because the man she just called hot has a rather unflattering scar down his face, but that she still couldn’t get him to open up. She was beyond furious, but kept composure. She decided to throw a hail-mary attempt, and show off ‘authority’. “Well, you are quite rude. But I have authority.” This made Tyler perk up slightly. He knew it was false, but decided to play the part, just for a little bit. “Oh, and where do you get it from?”

“You dare question me, citizen? I used to be the Queen of Arano, before it was destroyed. Quite a struggle to escape.” Tyler froze. He knew that it was a horrendous lie, but to flounder and shrug the whole incident off like it was nothing made him incredibly cross. He kept his emotionless stare and composure. “Well then, I have something I must tell the wondrous Queen, and only the Queen.” The two leaned into each other, Tyler secretly pulling out a sedative syringe from a hidden pocket in his vest (made out of a plastic so as to not trip the metal detectors) and holding it up to her neck. He whispered just a few words to bring her entire argument down. “Never, ever disgrace my Mother like that again.”

The tourist only had a mere half a second to process what she just heard, before she was injected with the sedative. Within seconds, she was knocked unconscious, at least for a couple hours, finally going silent, much to the relief of the other passengers, who were unaware of what Tyler said or did. When she awakes, she would not remember anything from the past few hours, an unintended side effect of the sedative.

When the meal trolley rolled on by, the waitress asked if the tourist was ok, to which Tyler explained “Just a little tired. All that socializing she did.” The waitress fell for the half-truth, and served Tyler the one meal he was promised, a fresh meaty steak with mashed potatoes.

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Entering the atmosphere, the bus shook as gravity started to take a hold of it. When the clouds passed, the planet’s true scenery could be seen. Calling it “green” would be a gross misunderstatement. The ground, the trees, the grass, and the sky all were different shades of green. The only things that were not green were the light-gray tents and buildings, all what appeared to be built from smaller triangles, color coordinated to a wide variety of colors. In one of the plains, one of the tents seemed to disintegrate, and collapse down to a singular pole, which itself collapsed to a rod about a meter long. The one inhabitant inside the tent picked up the rod from the ground, and started walking east, into some plains. A couple other tents followed suit, and the inhabitants joined the other one on this supposedly random adventure. At a beach area, similar things could be seen, just on top of the lighter golden-green sand. Behind them was a bunch of workers, scooping up the sand with shovels and putting it in a large floating rectangle container.

The intercom of the bus turned on, and the pilot started speaking, relating some details about Flana. “The whole planet is tightly environmentally controlled. Citizens visiting are reminded to not bring any foreign foods and plants, and to not litter for any reason.” Tyler tuned most of the pilot out, focusing on the landscape, amazed and left wondering how such a civilization could live so nomadically and not be confused about things like names of cities and streets, if those things even existed. Yes, there were cars, trucks, hover-cycles, and the lot, but they didn’t seem to be powered by traditional fuels, merely electricity. Some of the newer and fancier vehicles even had solar panels built into them.

The bus finally landed on a large, hexagonal pad made out of the odd triangles, which unfolded and created itself when the bus approached. Quite a few workers in bright green and orange vests ran over to the landing area, different sized metal poles in hand, and many smaller hovering-containers behind them. With a relatively quiet thud, the bus stopped on the pad, which sagged ever so slightly before springing back up. After a few minutes, the workers had summoned their ladders from the poles and climbed up to help escort the passengers down a newly made ramp.

Tyler was one of the first to walk out, partly because he brought nothing with him. But mostly because he wanted to get away from that tourist lady as soon as possible, who was starting to regain consciousness and wondering what happened when she started to speak to the man on the bus, as everything after was a blur. One thing on her mind was quite sure: He must be observed.

The outside air was extremely fresh and clear, taking many people’s nostrils by surprise, in a good way. As he descended the plane, Tyler went up to a worker, who was dressed in a mostly fancy way, definitely one of the attendants. “Sorry to bother you, but whereabouts is the vehicle rental?”

“Oh, just down south, third building on the right, in yellow. Your luggage should be unloaded in a few minutes, I would-”

“I did not bring anything. Thank you for your help.” And as quickly as he approached, he was gone, running off towards the vehicle rental building. The attendant was rather befuddled, curious as to why someone would take an Interplanetary Bus and not bring even one piece of luggage, eventually concluding that he probably wanted the “full experience”.

As Tyler approached the rental building, he checked his watch. 13:42. Afternoon. “A bit more pressed for time than I perceived." He thought in his mind. He was about to walk in when he was stopped by a taller, thinner, older man. “Excuse me sir, but I do believe I was sent here to pick you up.” He definitely sounded like a local, a unique grainy accent, emphasizing each letter, but his outfit was that of a branch of The Division, with a personal touch of a top hat and a monocle, a souvenir from a vacation to Arano so long ago. 

Tyler looked up at the man, taking note of his longer face and very, very short fur, almost thin enough to see the skin underneath. But he then remembered he was going to be picked up after arrival. “…Yes, that would be correct.”

“Then let us be on our way. A bit of a ways away we are located, but not far from here, a little less than fifty kilometers.” The two then started walking together to the tall man’s car. Tyler spoke, after some time deep in thought. “How fast can we get there?”

“If we avoid the traffic, it will be about thirty minutes. I have informed them we should arrive in the next hour or so after I spotted you down the road.”

“That will do. I must ask, have you been here for very long?”

“Approaching 40 years, sir. Why do you ask?”

“I was wondering if you knew about the new Club Ace. She was put in yesterday. What is she like?”

“Sarah? Oh, she is absolutely fantastic. A bit on the larger and shorter side, but really sweet. Quite shy, but I suppose you were told that part.”

“Yes, quite so. And I suppose this is ours?” Tyler pointed out a rather sleek hover-car, finished with a smooth chrome paint, and looking like it had enough power to speed on by leaving a trail of flames. “Yes, it is. Hop in, and buckle up.” And the two took off towards the North. 

Hidden behind an alleyway, however, was a figure encased in shadow. They reached down to a communicator, and clicked to turn it on, partially illuminating the face. “My theory was correct. They have left for the Division building. Permission to deviate and intercept?” It was the tourist that sat next to Tyler. The communicator replied. “Leave them to their own devices, Ilis. Regroup with your cohorts and proceed as planned. This will go exactly how I have structured this, or you will die.”

“Yes, Grimm.” She turned off the communicator and put it away, before retreating further into the shadows, growling to herself and hating her commander with every fiber of her body imaginable. “Soon, you wretched, vile, disgraceful man. Soon, I will find a way to move you out of the picture, and bring our family’s name back.”