Well, "restaurant" sounds pretty fancy, but think like a counter, a dozen simple chairs and a few white square tables. There are no walls or windows, it's just a place to eat and move on. Nothing fancy at all, but as long as they have something to eat, I couldn't care any less.

We sit down at a table near the corridor so we can observe the hustle and bustle around us. The restless cat, who's sitting next to me, is constantly looking around for danger no matter how many times I try to calm her. Why is she even like that?

The order system on our table activates, after which I push the "menu" button. The 3D menu is then displayed, projected into the air. This causes her to shout "Dani! Dani! Uta wehinu dani!" She points at the floating menu which currently shows a holographic cup of tea.

"Shhh...........it's okay, it's just a menu." I pointed at the hologram while waving through it. "See? No danger."

She blinked, not understanding my reply, but at least she calmed down again. One of the staff, a man, looked our way, trying to assess whether we were causing any trouble. After I quickly smiled and waved at him, he returned a friendly smile, so we're good again.

I swipe through the menu in the air to show the next items on the menu. She keeps making noises like "oooooh!"  and a cute "uwaniiiii!" I guess she's impressed with the menu system? Again it's nothing fancy, just a common holo-projector. I'm surprised she hasn't seen any of those before, they're literally everywhere in the Alliance. Perhaps she's a refugee from one of the farming communities? I'll try to find out later.

I decided to give her a few moments to play with the hologram. First she waved right through it then she learned how to swipe like a pro.

Suddenly the hologram disappears, making us look at each other in surprise.
"Nami puta hekina?" She said, while pointing at herself.

Her gestures were easy to read this time. I shake my head, "no, don't worry, you didn't damage it."

"Hey kids!" Another staff member said pretty loudly, startling us a bit.

Kids? "Eh...yes, miss?" I look at her and see that she wants us to walk to the counter.

I walk to the counter and miss-fluffy-tails quickly follows me. I really have to try to ask for her name soon.

The lady briefly looks at her cat ears and tail, then focuses on me. "Sorry for that, I just got word that we have to conserve energy, so we had to shut down the projectors. The menu is going to be....well.....pretty much limited." Her apologetic expression emphasized the word limited.

"Oh....sure...I understand. Can we still eat, or.....what should we do?" I scan the area around me and see lights going offline in a few more restaurants and shops.

"Sure you can, but you're not gonna like it. For drinks we have only prepared water and tea as they are always in high demand. Interested?"

I look at my friend, and of course she has no idea....she just looks back at me. I look at the lady again.
"Eh...sure, tea will be fine....and whatever you have must be way better than emergency rations anyway."

She gives me an understanding smile. "Looks like you both had some rough times. Alright, tea for two. And for breakfast, I can only offer freshly printed Firabaco Bread with egg cream, or some freshly generated veggies. Everything else is more like a dessert, so not really what you two seem to need at the moment. We were still preparing everything when they cut the power. So...it's either that....or emergency rations." She grimaced when she said that last part, which made me grimace as well.

"Ugh...blech! Oh, sorry...."  Oops, I didn't want to say that.

"Ha ha ha, don't worry, honey, I know how you feel." She winked at me.

"Thank you....I would like to have the tea and the bread please. Oh, and sorry for the trouble." She could have just closed the restaurant, but instead still wants to help us.

"Don't mention it. Can I scan your badge for a moment?" She's leaning forward a bit.

I hold the badge near her scanner...."beep." 

"Good. Now hers please."

"Sorry, she doesn't have one yet. Could you please put it on my badge?" I asked really politely and offered her my badge again.

"Well....I'm not supposed to....but why not. It's not a crime to eat, so sure thing."

"Beep." She scanned my badge again and said "go ahead and take a seat, I'll bring it right over."

I nod, after which we walk back to our table and sit down again. My cat friend seems to have many questions, I can see it in her eyes, but she knows I can't answer them anyway, so she just smiles. Her ears really seem to be moving.....and following sounds around us as well.

 

A few moments later our tea and bread arrived.

"Thank you miss." I said. It never hurts to be polite, especially when you need help. Another of my father's expressions. Enough with that...no more of those! I need to stay positive now!

"han youu missss" my neighbor suddenly said in what sounded like English, but wasn't quite right. At least her big smile has returned.

"Awww....aren't you girls polite?" The lady tried to pat my head, but I barely managed to avoid that.

"Ha ha ha..!"  My neighbor laughed really loudly, no longer appearing restless. For some reason she thinks it's funny what just happened....it's not!

The lady simply smiles and leaves us be.

 

"Wait....before you begin, what's your name?" I asked the cat girl. Oh right, she doesn't understand. "Name?" I point to myself. "Mio. My name is Mio. Mio. Mio is my name. Mio."

"Miyoooo?" She tilted her head while making my name almost sound like a meow.

"No, not meoowww....just Mio."

She blinked a few times, then said "Mio?"

"Yep, very good." I nodded and saw her smile again. 

She points to herself and says "Kasumi. Tebi ni Kasumi."

"Kasuumi?" I asked. Did I pronounce it correctly?"

"Wada wada.....Ka....su....mi.... Kasumi."

"Ah......Kasumi?"

"Yuuu!" She claps her hands, making me feel a bit awkward, but okay, now we at least know each other's names.

"Kasumi? That's tea." I'm not sure if she recognizes anything, so let's keep it simple for her. I take the white cup and slowly blow away some vapor to show her it's hot.

She nods and does the same, then sips her tea.
"Waaaaaa! Nadashiiiii!!!!!"

I blink a few times.....ah....I guess she likes it? I do the same "mmmmmmm..." It actually tastes amazing, but I guess everything tastes better than those rations at the moment.

I glance at the counter and see the lady enjoying the show. Great...I feel an embarrassed blush forming already. "Kasumi? That's bread. Nothing special, but try it." I don't use the cutlery but just take the bread in my hands.

She nods, but first claps and then looks up at the ceiling...saying something that sounded like "Akinama watami hana." Then she takes the bread in her hands and watches me stare at her with amusement.

I see a blush forming and just give her a kind smile. Different planets, different customs.
"Enjoy your meal, Kasumi." And I take my first bite. Wow....it actually tastes very sweet....just what I needed.

"Mwaaaaaaaaa!" She said, then put her hand on her mouth. Is she really like that, or is she just acting? Yep, definitely acting cute.

"Ha ha ha....like it?" I nod and smile.

She seems to understand my question and nods very quickly.

 

After finishing our breakfast, the lady takes away our plates and cups. 
"Seems like you both were starving. Can I get you anything else?"

I gesture at Kasumi to see if she wants more, but she shakes her head.
"Nope, it seems we're happy campers."

"Ha ha ha ha......oh, if you don't mind me asking.....are you cosplaying?" She asked Kasumi directly.

I quickly intervened "I'm sorry, but the translator doesn't pick up her language for some weird reason. So we're basically gesturing like two barbarians."

"Ohhh....I see, but you're hardly barbarians. Thank you for stopping by, and hopefully we can give you something more yummy next time."

"Sure, next time. Bye!" 

 

 

A very happy looking Kasumi tailed me towards one of the huge windows which provide a limitless view into outer space. Below us we see a tiny part of the planet's atmosphere.

"Eeeeehh? Pitaaaa! Newagani Pitaa!" She points at the planet, then at the distant stars. Yeah, there's no shortage of those around here.

Suddenly a ray of this system's sun enters this deck, lighting up the place like an early morning sunrise back home.

"Pitaaaa!!!!!" She said again. I guess it must mean nice or beautiful or something like that?

"Yeah, it sure is beautiful. The station must be rotating very slowly........buuuuuut you don't understand anyway." She looks at me, ignores my remark and stares back into outer space.

"Kasumi?"

"Mio?"

"Ha ha ha....yep, that's my name. Walk with me." I motion her to follow me. I point at my badge and then at her, so I guess she understands that I still want to help her. Well, I can't leave her like this....and I think I actually found a real friend today. A weird cosplaying, but still very kind friend.

Oh right, I only have an hour or so left before I need to rejoin my group. Perhaps they can accept her as well? Whatever, we'll see. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Nope, I didn't just think that. Nope.

 

We approach a security desk and I ask the officer standing behind it if he can help us. His green uniform is almost like the soldier's uniforms from before, not like that of other station staff.

"Hi there, what can I do for you?"

"Sir, I think she's a refugee, but she doesn't have a badge yet. Oh, and the translator won't work on her language."

"Really? That's strange. What's your name?" He asked Kasumi.

But I answer instead, "her name is Kasumi."

Kasumi nods, smiles and points at herself, "Kasumi!"

"Riiiiiight. I'm afraid I need more information than that. Kasumi?" He tries to get her attention and she immediately nods. "Look here please....here....look....my god....THERE!" He points at a scanner and she immediately looks at it.....FLASH. 

She blinks and cries out "WAAAA!", obviously upset, but I put my hand on her shoulder. "Kasumi....calm.....it's...okay." She nods, but still frowns at the security officer.

"Mmm.....nope. She's not on file. Nobody has filed a missing person's report either.
What kind of outfit is that anyway?" He points at her clothes.

"Oh, that? I think she's cosplaying, you know, dressing up or something like that."

"Yeah, I know what cosplaying is. Whatever, make her talk into this recorder."
I think he's having a bad day, his patience is running out pretty quickly.

"Kasumi?"

"Mio?"

"Eh.....yes. Can you speak to this thing?" I pointed at the device and pretended to say words into the device. It took me a minute to make her understand. When she finally started talking to the machine, I gave her a smile and a thumbs up.

Great, she's smiling again, so we can finally make some progress. After letting her speak for a few minutes......only one one or two words started making sense. For some reason the translator seems to be having serious difficulties making sense of her language. The security officer said that it usually only takes a minute or two before it starts finding patterns, but this is going to take a while.

"...kawi una me, the yakara very kataha. Mio inuda kita rana ipuni very karawa."

That's when I noticed that his patience was reduced to almost zero, so I motioned her to stop talking, "it's enough, Kasumi. Okay. Stop."

She nods and looks hopeful, but I have to disappoint her. I shake my head and shrug. She seems to understand that this didn't really work very well.

The security officer seems to agree, "yeah, it seems that the computer will need some more time to start building a translation matrix, so let's continue that another time. While she was talking, I requested a temporary refugee status for her, so she won't be in any trouble. She can collect her badge in an hour, but not before I can get someone's approval for that. Perhaps it's best if you two could first visit the medibay. It says here you are a new arrival too, so better get scanned while it's not rush hour, trust me." He points across the corridor to the medibay.

"Oh, sure. Thanks for the suggestion, officer."

"Oh, and young lady? Make her remove those ears and that tail, it's against station regulations."

Wow.....okay, his tone of voice.....he's annoyed alright.
"Eh, yes sir."

 

We walk towards the medibay, hoping our medical scans won't take too much time. Halfway to our destination, near a large flowering plant, I try to ask her to remove those furry ears, but she doesn't seem to understand. Always when I point at her ears, she points at mine. Yeah, I know....they're both ears....not helpful.

Finally I get her to let me touch those ears and I carefully do so. But when I touch them....they feel real. There's nothing artificial about those....they even twitch when I touch them.

When I touch her tail she exclaims "mwaaaa!" It seems I really startled her, so I apologized by bowing, hoping she would understand. Well, it looks real enough....better let the medical officers worry about those.

 

The moment I continued walking to the medibay, I hurt my ankle. Someone didn't stow away a shipping crate, and I was the lucky one to find it. "Ouch! Damn....crate!" 

Kasumi quickly sits down on one knee, and looks at my ankle, then takes something from a pouch on her belt. Where the heck did that come from? She's a master at hiding stuff!

"Em....what are you doing, Kasumi?"

"Shh..."  She put some kind of lotion on my ankle and immediately after applying it, it glowed for a second.

BZZZZZZ.  Some kind of electrical short circuit sound just appeared from nowhere behind us, but it only lasted for a second. We both look around in confusion, but there's no explanation for the sound....so we both shrug. Kasumi however is suddenly restless again, looking around her many times.

"Wow.....Kasumi...what did you just do?" I pointed at my ankle.

"Mio? Haaank yooo?" She stands up again, tilting her head and asking very carefully.

"Eh...okay, but I'm supposed to say that...so thank you, Kasumi!"

She now gives me a warm smile and then hugs me tightly for some reason.....until something happens that scares the bejeebers out of us both.

 

BAM! 

 

The entire station shook for a few seconds, making us fall to the floor. It sounded like something just crashed into the upper docking ports!

"Mio! Mani the ha riweni....."  Kasumi probably asked what was going on, but we don't have the time for that right now.

"Not now!" I shouted, interrupting her while forcefully helping her stand up again. "We don't have the time for...."

I hadn't even finished my sentence when the station's deafening alarm blasted through all the nearby corridors.

"MWAAA MWAAA MWAAA  - Warning Hull Breach on deck 12  - WMAAA MWAA MWAA  - Report to designated safety areas immediately. WMAAA WMAAA WMAAA."

The brightness levels on this deck suddenly increase to maximum brightness and red lights are flashing all around us. Great.....just what we need....more bad news.

Suffice to say that Kasumi didn't know what was going on, so I just pulled her along towards a safety area.

A sudden gust of wind, including the sound of a hurricane, just appeared from nowhere, pushing us back. But I kept pulling her forward because I know where the safety areas are, there's one just up ahead....only a few more feet. But then......more bad news....

 

An incredibly bright white light slowly moves towards us. It's narrow, but very tall, almost like a mirror. It's semi-transparent with edges that resemble electricity, emitting a bright silver light.

Kasumi points at it, trying to tell me something but doesn't say a word. She's fully focused on me, trusting me to keep us both safe.

I push Kasumi forward, trying to take shelter behind a bulkhead. The alarm keeps going and going, repeating seemingly forever.

"MWAAA MWAAA MWAAA  - Warning Hull Breach on deck 12  - WMAAA MWAA MWAA  ......." 

Suddenly the object catches up with us.....a bright flash follows......and suddenly there's nothing but silence. 

"What the....?" I look around and see that we're in between two mirror-like objects, and between them is total darkness. In front of me is the station and in the mirror behind me I see a forest on a sunny day. It's very, very cold where we're standing right now and I really want to get out, but I'm having difficulties understanding what's going on.

Kasumi says "Mio! Hikani, hikani!" She points at the image behind her, strangely with a smile on her face. How can she possibly enjoy this now?

Without any warning, we're both pulled out until I hear birds chirping all around us. We land on our behinds and seem to have arrived on the forest floor. Was that a portal of some kind? I'm at a loss for words, but I see Kasumi stand up and approach the mirror.

"Noooo!!! Kasumi! Get away from that!" It might be dangerous, even if I want to go back to the station. But before I can rush over to it to take a closer look, it vanishes into thin air with a loud BZZZZZZZZ sound.

"Noooo!!! Kasumi! Did you close it?" I'm stranded!  "Open it again! Let me go back! Please! I don't belong here!"

She walks over to me, a very apologetic expression on her face, "Mio...iwana....komani iwana." She bows to me and when she notices that I'm still gesturing wildly...she simply embraces me.

Next, she moves her forehead closer to mine and seems to expect the same of me.
When our foreheads touch, she says "Mio....iwana....iwana." Her voice tells me she's really sorry.

When she releases the embrace she points at herself and shakes her head. Ah, she's trying to tell me that she had nothing to do with it disappearing, so I nod.

She then points towards a path leading out of the forest, I can already see a building in the distance.

 

All around me are trees and the air is clean, it smells fresh. It's a summer's day, wherever we may be. A bright blue sky tries to welcome me, but I'm not feeling welcome at all. I want to go back!

White, puffy clouds are slowly moving in the summer sky. 
"Kaaa koo kaaaa" some kind of unfamiliar, big bird just flew over our heads. Then a weird "Beee beee" echoed far away through the woods. Creepy!

Where the heck is this place? Is this perhaps the planet below the station?

"Mio?"  

I turn around and see her waiting for me, wanting to leave the forest. Yeah...I don't think I'll be going back the way we ended up here.

She smiles when she sees me walking over to her. I try to give her a polite smile to which she replies "Mio, haaan yooo."

She's trying to thank me? Oh, for trusting her, okay. I bow to her to indicate that I trust her and she puts her hand on my right shoulder. I guess the roles are reversed now?

 

When we're walking on the path, I try to ask her "Kasumi? Where is this?"

She just gives me a thumbs up. Okay, I get it....not now.

 

After a five minute walk we finally reach civilization. But....this is not what I would expect in any advanced world. One or two story brick houses are to my left and right. Each house has a little garden in front and some have a low fence close to the path. The street is nothing more than carefully arranged bricks, with tiny stones and sand between the gaps. Hardly a Class5 world. But still, the streets are clean and the place feels like a holiday resort....strangely relaxing and quiet.

Smoke rises from one of the chimneys....they're actually burning wood? This....this appears almost medieval?

Then I stop dead in my tracks. 

"Mio?" She asks.

But I keep staring at the distance. Below the blue summery sky, I see four huge birds flying in formation.

"Wha....what was that?" But I know she can't answer me.

Instead, she just giggles...."Mio...." and gives me a thumbs up. I guess it's normal for her? Is this her home? Is that why she looks so...different? She actually walked through that portal and arrived at the station? My god.

Suddenly I hear a loud "meeeep beee beee" sound behind us, and Kasumi pulls me to the right, towards a house.

When I look at the origin of the sound, I see someone riding a weird creature. It's feathery, has long legs and a pointy beak. The man sitting on its back has similar ears and tail like Kasumi's, but he's dressed more casually.

He waves at us and Kasumi returns the gesture. Both he and I are staring at each other until the creature passes us by. I guess we were both equally surprised about seeing something that shouldn't even exist.

"Mio?" She gently asks when I keep staring at the creature which is finally out of visual range.

"Eh.....yeah?"

"Mio Mio...." She points at the distance, then shows me the gestures I made earlier. The gestures for "eating," "drinking," and "okay."

I nod and decide to follow her, now understanding how she must have felt when I couldn't answer her questions. Weird...this place is sooooo weird.

 

After a few more minutes my legs are starting to hurt, considering I haven't had much exercise yet. I just arrived at the station, so please don't blame me for feeling tired already. Kasumi seems to understand and waits a few times, letting me recover each time.

 

When we finally reach the city center, things start to look more advanced. Don't get me wrong, what I remember from class, this is more like Earth in the late 1700s or perhaps mid 1800s.

We finally reach a huge marketplace where I see many food stalls and shops. All around us, like in a big circle, are three-story buildings. Most of them seem like wooden structures, only a few are brick houses. But all buildings have one thing in common...the first floors seem to be reserved for shops wherever I look.

A big fountain seems to be placed in the middle of the marketplace. Its water seems clean and drinkable, and a single jet sprays a few feet up into the sky. A single white marble statue in the middle resembles a lady in a dress. But this lady also has those fluffy ears, like everyone else around me. Yep, this must be her home, no doubt about it.

 

Only now do I realize the many children standing next to the right side of the fountain. It appears to be a school class, and one teacher is apparently trying to teach them something until he notices why his kids are not paying any attention. Me....they are staring at me.

I wave at them and all the kids wave back at me....their mouths agape. Yep, I feel the same way, just not letting them see.

Kasumi seems to be enjoying this and gives me a few moments before I follow her again. It seems like she has all the time in the world, no stress, no schedules to keep. Or she's just being polite. Pity, I can't ask her.

Well....there's a lot of green around here. Trees, flowers near people's homes....I really like this place, it seems peaceful. Something I've missed for a while. Will I have to stay here? Is everyone really so nice and polite? So many questions...no answers.

 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Suddenly I feel a sharp pain in my right calf. Something hit me or stung me...whatever happened....it bloody hurts!

"Mio!!!!!!" Kasumi seems to have noticed what happened and rushes over to me.

"AAAH!!!! It hurts!" I look around, but don't immediately see anything dangerous. When my right hand touches my right leg, I see that it's covered in blood. It's not just a scratch, I'm bleeding profusely!  "AAHH!! Kasumi! HELP!"

I hear Kasumi yelling something, but my leg hurts so much that I focus on pressing my hand on the wound, hoping to stop the bleeding. I feel a bit dizzy, so I quickly sit down, still covering the wound.

People are asking me something, but I just ignore them. More and more of them are gathering around me, closing in on me until I hear Kasumi shouting again. Believe me when I tell you that I'm happy she didn't leave me alone. What is going on here?

But instead of seeing Kasumi, I first see a lizard-like lady, and Kasumi stands behind her, unable to move any closer. "Mio! Yuha! Yuha!" Her voice tells me that I should trust this lady. I'm in too much pain to wonder about the different kinds of people around me at this time.

I don't have much of a choice when this lizard lady forcefully opens my mouth and empties a flask in it, making the unknown liquid slide down my throat. It tastes disgusting like iron mixed with peppermint. Really disgusting, but my throat suddenly feels warm and my leg no longer hurts.

"Blech! Kasumi! What the heck was that?!"

When I touch my leg again, there's no more fresh blood on my hand. The pain is gone, so.....wait....it's literally gone! There's no blood flowing on my leg anymore! Just a hole on the backside of my pants, but I can see normal skin underneath! What did this lizard lady do to me?

I look up at the lady in total bewilderment with tears in my eyes and see her address the crowd that has formed around me. "Ukani wa....mana mana...ukani. Hewani oka muyo heh. Shi kuda nemu yoo." 

When I look at the other people, I see expressions of relief and some are smiling, also at me, then they start leaving us again. Within a minute only Kasumi, the lizard lady and I remain.

"Mio...." Kasumi offers me a hand and when I try to stand up.....I find no difficulties in doing so. I still feel a slight cramp in my calf, but it is almost unnoticeable. I guess I shouldn't walk too far today, I hope Kasumi will understand. The lady seems to understand that I don't speak their language.

When I want to shake hands, she just keeps staring at my hand, probably looking for injuries. Oh, right....I bow to her and say "I don't know what you did...but thank you for healing me."

Kasumi seems to translate "thank you" and the lizard lady smiles at me. She gives me a pat on the shoulder and leaves us....just like that. Okay, I trust that Kasumi will handle the matter since I can't understand a word of their language.

"Kasumi, what happened?" I pointed at my leg and somehow she understood my question. She gave me an apologetic look, pointing at someone's sword. Somehow it must have made its way into my leg.

A person resembling a blacksmith, complete with a stained leather apron, now walks over to me and bows deeply, saying something that resembled an apology. It took him a minute to explain, but not a single word made sense to me. Luckily Kasumi was able to tell him that everything was okay now.

The only thing I can do now is to bow and show some respect, even if this man injured me, it was just an accident. He bows again and waves at me, and I repeat the gesture. Well....a strange way of communicating...but it worked.

"Mio? Komani reni widura?" She pointed at my leg and then into the distance. Right....she's asking me if I can walk.

I gesture a careful "maybe" and she seems to understand.

 

After walking for a few feet, a sharp pain hit my calf again. I sit down and shout "Ah! Kasumi!" Nope...not gonna walk anymore. People walking around me seem to take pity on me, and give me a polite smile.

Kasumi sits down on her knee again and applies some of her weird lotion on my calf, taking away the pain almost immediately.

But before Kasumi can speak, I suddenly see a bright flash, and it feels like I just got hit by lightning! But there's no thunder....only a sharp pain. This time however it's not just my calf, but my entire body that aches.

The lightning moved through my entire body, I could almost feel every nerve being fired...making me convulse for a few seconds.

"AHH!!!!!" This really hurt! What the heck is going on?!!!! From the corner of my eyes I see that strange mirror-like object floating right above us. It's back?

When the pain finally subsides, I remember that the object might be my ticket home, but no matter what I try....I can't stand up.

Suddenly I hear many people shouting and people dressed similarly to Kasumi approach us from all sides. They point at the strange object and all kinds of flashes and colors are leaving their hands, hitting the object.

"No!!!! Don't destroy it!" I try to stop them, but Kasumi embraces me.....cooing.
She pushes me down, making sure that I won't interfere with their work.

"Kasumi!" I shout, but she won't budge, she just keeps cooing.

"Mio....shhhh..Mio....shhhh."  

Okay....no choice....I got it. I trust her. No choice. "Kasumi..." I say in a soft tone of voice, letting her know I trust her. At this point she releases the embrace and steps back, then starts talking to someone.

When I look up, I see the object shrinking, but when nothing more than a tiny ball remains...and eventually vanishes......it still releases another charge at me.

BZZZZZ   ZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAP

 

This time the pain was so much more intense that I started crying and shouting "AAAAAH!!!!!" My whole body is convulsing, my muscles feel like they are on fire. My throat and mouth make unintelligible sounds. Just before I lose consciousness, I see those knight-like people stand in a circle around me, their hands glowing.

An incredibly warm feeling rushes through my body, my spine...everywhere. The pain is gone, but I feel so sleepy...I can't stay awake anymore.....

But then.....then I lost consciousness.