Year E2996

Beck

"We missed a spot," Kat whispered in my ear while she brushed her hand on the back of my head.

I turned to face her, swatting her hand away. "Why purple?" I asked, pulling at my now violet-colored hair. The smell of berries masked my senses, forming a headache.

"Because disguising as a safforian means having a hair color that isn't bland like brown." She smiled awkwardly, trying to hide her sarcasm. "Plus, the periwinkle berries were the only ones dark enough to cover your color."

She played with my hair while I glanced at the building hiding us. The rock was black with gold-patterned lightning down the side. An ivy flower overgrew on the fence, connecting to the structure, moving like something from my nightmares. The City of Cerise was full of beauty and fear. The main reason I left Tyran on the spacecraft.

I glanced at Kat as the wind picked up, blowing her curly air into her face. She looked over my shoulder, then pushed me out of the side alley into the street. A tall male safforian nodded at me with his pet insect on a leash, waiting for it to do its business. I tilted my head as a bright green mosquito without wings came to mind.

"Hello, Mr. Beckham," Kat said, kneeling and petting the insect on its head while it purred at her. "Glorious morning to take Fluffy for a walk."

Mr. Beckham removed his hat, showing me his yellow hair. "The weather fly said rain in the forecast."

Kat stood up, doing a double take toward me. Her expression changed to concern. "Well, my friend and I would like to beat the rain, so got to go," she said, pulling me away.

With her hand in mine, she yanked me down the sidewalk. Her bright eyes kept looking at me with a questioning outlook. Finally, she stopped before a kiosk, sifting through the hats. A red baseball cap dropped onto the street. I bent down to pick it up, but Kat kneeled with me, grabbing the hat and placing it on my head.

"Keep this on," she whispered. "Your blue eyes are more pronounced than I thought."

A high-pitched cough had us looking up at a woman with orange hair. "That will be ten orb rocks," she said, pointing at the hat.

Kat stood up, swinging her backpack around. "Of course," she said, digging at the bottom of her bag. "Ten seems a little overpriced." She glanced at the woman. "How about six?"

The woman crossed her arms. "Eight."

"Seven?" Kat opened her palm with the shiny rocks reflecting from the sun.

"This isn't a house sale," the angry woman said.

Kat pulled another rock from her bag, handing over eight to her. "Thank you," she said, running off.

I pulled the bill of the hat more over my eyes. "Thank you," I said to the female safforian, watching her count the rocks while popping the gum in her mouth.

"Pst." Kat waved for my attention, telling me to follow.

Running up to her, I kept with Kat's pace while she tucked her hair behind her ears. She pointed down an alley before fast walking toward it. I stayed in her shadow, following her.

"Do you know where you are going?" I asked, quickening my steps.

"Yes." She reached into her pocket, showing me an address on a material that was not paper. "Dr. Coachman lives in the golden homes, number twelve."

"And how do you know the Dr. Coachman is a safforian and not a human on the Nus?" I asked her, knowing last names like his were popular.

Kat stopped in her tracks, glancing at me. "Because Doctor is a new title given to us by humans, and I remember reading on the Flynews about him and his inventions."

I tilted my head. "So, the chips they were talking about?"

She pointed at me. "Exactly." She paused. "Maybe."

I squinted, unsure about this theory, but we had nothing to lose by seeing this Dr. Coachman. Kat mirrored my expression before grabbing the bill of my cap and shaking my head. Pulling at her backpack, I grabbed my drawing book from her bag. As I flipped through the pages, I noticed a page missing, the one with my list.

"What?" I asked, glancing at Kat while wiggling the little ripped piece.

"Oh, yeah." She pointed at it. "I didn't think it was safe to have that written down for wondering eyes, so I ripped it out and shoved it in one of those books next to your bed. The one about something boring, so nobody will open it."

"Kitty," I replied in annoyance. "You can't just rip my things without asking."

Kat smirked, glancing at the wall next to us. "Come this way," she said, walking away and ignoring my statement.

She guided me to a golden gate with mermaid-like statues on the outside. Their long bug legs sprayed drops of water in the air, drenching the glowing blue flowers. I walked closer to the fountains, realizing they were not mermaids but half safforian and half water insect. Kat strolled by me to a keypad and pushed two numbers, causing a bell to ring.

"Hello," a voice echoed with static. "I am not interested in anything you are selling."

"Hello, Dr. Coachman." Kat straight-smiled at me. "We are not part of the market."

"Okay, what can I help you with?" The voice became chipper.

"We would like to talk to you about one of your creations," Kat replied.

"Oh, are you part of the Flynews?" he asked.

"Um." Kat glanced at me nervously.

I stepped near the speaker. "Yes, we would like to make the front page about you," I said while Kat slapped her forehead in disbelief at what I said.

"The what?" he asked back.

"What are you talking about?" Kat whispered to me, then talked into the speaker. "My partner means we would like to feature you on the buzz."

Everything went silent while Kat glared at me. "Nice going, dipshit," she whispered to me.

"It's not my fault. I didn't know." I pulled my hat off, bunching it in a ball.

"Of course, it is your fault," she replied. "You should have kept your mouth shut. You humans love hearing yourself talk."

I paused, glancing at her angry face. Swallowing hard, I stepped closer to her while she couldn't keep an irritated expression. She smiled at me slowly with a giggle, showing she was faking her irritation with me.

"Oh, ha, ha, extremely funny, Kitty," I said, throwing the baseball cap at her.

"I mean. You like hearing yourself talk, but what do we do about the Men Of Suits?"

I shrugged my shoulders just in time for the gate to buzz before opening for us.

"Come in, but keep your mouths shut," Dr. Coachman said over the speaker.

We walked down the street of golden homes until twelve popped out. As we strolled closer, Coachman already had the door cracked open. I stepped in front of Kat, slowly opening it more.

"Hello," I said into the darkness. "Dr. Coachman."

A shadow rushed by the hallway, causing Kat to hug my arm. A tapping noise reflected off the walls while my heart rate quickened.

"Um, Coachman," I whispered, creeping down the hallway.

A figure quickly stepped out of a doorway, grabbing my arm. "Welcome, children," he said, while Kat jumped and tucked her head into my arm. "This way," Dr. Coachman said, peeking around me at Kat.

He walked away, taking the left at the end of the hallway. I glanced at Kat with an eyebrow raised. "Kitty Kat scared?"

Kat pushed me with a nervous chuckle, then followed the man. Around the corner, the room opened up to walls of rock. Dr. Coachman had a green utensil, writing formulas on the walls. His terrible handwriting covered every inch of the rock barrier.

He dropped the writing tool, rubbing his hands together. "How did you sneak the human into the city?" He eyed me. "That disguise is terrible."

"Dr. Coachman," Kat said. "We are—"

"Please call me Cole," he interrupted her. "What should I call you and the human?"

Kat placed her hand on her chest. "I am Kat." She pointed at me. "This is Beck."

Cole tilted his head at me before touching my hair. He licked his hand with a hum. "Bursha?" He said in safforian, then clicked his tongue.

"Yes, berries. And—" Kat tried to say.

"Yush tink wyth tyster han?" he kept speaking in their language.

"Yes, we can trust him." Kat placed her hand on her hip. "Stop speaking safforian so he can understand us."

He glared in my direction. "Come here, boy." Cole grabbed my shoulders, spinning me around. "Very interesting."

He brushed his rough hand under my chin, tilting my head toward him. He leaned in closer, staring into my eyes. His red ones bobbed around my face while he brushed back his maroon hair.

"Have you never seen a human before?" I asked, swatting his hand away as he tried to lift my arm above my head.

"Of course I have." He straightened his shoulders. "Never seen a child before, though."

Glaring at him, I crossed my arms. "I am not a child. I am—"

Cole waved me off. "Yeah, yeah." He stepped away to his filled rock board while Kat giggled.

I side-eyed her, then let out a breath. "Dr. Coachman, um, Cole." I stepped closer to him. "We are here about the Men Of Suits and this device they called chips."

Cole rushed to me, covering my mouth. "Shhh, don't say a word."

Kat took off her backpack, setting it on the wood floor. "But—"

Cole brought his finger to his mouth, telling her to be silent. "I can not give you any information regarding that group." He walked over to his board, using his sleeve to clear space before writing on it. "As for the other question about human and safforian relations, I have a theory."

"But we never asked you anything about that? We know this group is dangerous." I waved my hands in the air. "They tried to, um." I brought my finger over my throat, signaling death.

"I have no clue who you are referring to," Cole said while writing Men Of Suits on the board and circling it. He then erased it quickly and wrote three simple letters. M-O-S. "But back to the actual subject. My theory is that safforians and humans are distant relatives."

He walked over to Kat, spinning her around. "This young female safforian looks awfully a lot like—" he said, walking over to me and pointing. "The human boy child."

I crossed my arms, wanting to protest him.

"My theory is earthlings went into space, and what do humans do best?" he asked.

"Destroy healthy planets?" I replied quickly.

"No." He looked at me with a confused pause.

"Eat mystery things when they don't know what it is," Kat added.

"No." He froze, thinking about her answer.

"Put their noses where they don't belong?" I said as a question.

"What?" Kat glanced at me. "Where are you putting your nose?"

"No," I said. "It's more like a figure of speech."

"A what?" Kat's mouth gaped open.

"Like a phrase used in a non-literal manner." I tried to explain.

"No!" Dr. Coachman yelled. "Stop, you two." He paused, staring at us in confusion. "They became lost in space and found Safforia as their new home. Over time, they adapted to the planet, given the slight differences." Cole walked back to the wall, pointing at his sloppy writing. "Back to the proper subject."

"It's in the name," he said with widened eyes, tapping the M-O-S.

Kat grabbed a writing utensil. "Okay, why can't we reproduce with one another?" She looked at me. "Humans and safforians."

Kat wrote on the board 'chips' with a question mark.

"Now that is the part of my theory I can not answer," Dr. Coachman said.

"Why?" Kat replied.

Cole pointed at the word Kat wrote. "I had spent night and day on this subject," he said, then looked at me. "Created it to have control over all."

"All?" I asked him. "Like controlling the population of Safforia?"

"Yes, small child." He walked over to me, grabbing my shoulders. "You have been here too long."

Dr. Coachman forced me back down the hallway to the front door. I watched over his shoulders to see Kat grab her bag and rush behind us. She jumped up and down, grabbing his arm.

"Dr. Coachman," she said in a whiny voice. "Please, if Safforia is in danger, we should do something about it."

Cole pushed me out the door while Kat stepped out on her own. "It's already too late." His voice was sad with regret.

"It can not be too late!" I yelled.

He shook his head, looking at the ground. "I will not be involved. The only thing I can give you is that it is in the name."

"What?" Kat tightened her backpack on her shoulders more.

Dr. Coachman paused before closing the door on us. "It's in the name," he whispered before leaving us on his front steps.

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