The Endless Evening

[HugoLuman]

 

Anja shivered in her parka, her breath visible in the dim glow of the space heater. Across from her, she could see Zareem wasn't doing much better, despite his fur. She pushed the packet out from inside her sleeve, and rattled the last cigarette inside, but Zareem shook his head, glancing over at the office door. It wasn't worth the lecture. She nodded slightly and pulled the little box back into its safe refuge. Then, at last, she spoke the thought she'd been chewing over for the past few minutes. "You ever wonder why you're here?"

 

"Constantly," said the big Tajaran. "I think they thought I'd be at home here. Two colder planets. How different could they be? About as different as snow and dry ice..." He rubbed his nose with a mittened hand. He nearly glanced over at the room monitor, but then he remembered their rule about thermometers.

 

"Well, it would have been cruel to send a Unathi."

 

"Hmm. Cruel to send a Human, too. Who'd you piss off?" He was rubbing his face now, trying to get some feeling back.

 

She laughed, in spite of her chattering teeth. "No one. I think. God, maybe... but also, not quite what I wanted to ask about. I mean, what are we doing here?"

 

He stopped for a moment. "What?"

 

She reaches over and turns up the heater by another couple degrees. Zareem glances towards the office again, but also looks relieved. Anja gestures around the dimly lit concrete room, to the company logo stenciled on the wall. "Not, like, here, but... Do you ever wonder why you're doing out here in the galaxy? Like, where your place in the Universe is?"

 

Zareem wiped his nose again, now starting to run. "Have you been at the Drask mouthwash again?"

 

"No no. I remember what they told us about vasodilators, don't worry. It's just... you know?"

 

He sighed, shaking his head. "All I know is, I need the money."

 

At that moment, the office door slid open, and a square of light appeared at head level, followed by a trio of purple eyes. "I hope to see you again soon," said DNU-464. The purple-eyed Drask hummed something and headed out the exit. As soon as it was gone, their boss's metal finger flew up to point at the space heater. "That output is two Kelvin too much. I have explained to you before that this threatens the comfort of the clients and the integrity of the substructure. Do not do it again."

 

Zareem began to make a low noise, but Anja quickly spoke over it. "Yes, sorry! Erm. Does this mean that our shift is over?"

 

DNU-464 showed a check mark on his screen. "You may return to the domiciles." Then, taking a moment to adjust his tie, the IPC stepped backwards into his office and closed the door again.

 

Anja turned off the space heater and helped Zareem up. Then, retrieving their bags, they switched off the lights and exited out into the tunnel. Aside from the concrete of the wall behind them and the floor beneath, it was made of actual ice. The ubiquitous long, dim lightstrips ran along the ceiling, and extensive lines of angular Orluum script stretched along the other side of the tunnel. Presumably giving directions, but neither of them could read it.

 

"How. How does he do it? It's not like the heater's connected to any kind of network." Zareem stretched, stiff from sitting in the cold. "Does he have a thermometer or something built in?"

 

Anja shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe you could ask him about it." They both chuckled, imagining the consequences.

 

"Thanks, by the way," said Zareem. "I'm not sure I would have kept-"

 

"Don't worry about it." She removed the packet from her sleeve again, and held it out to him. He hesitated. Would that be owing too much? But she rattled it somewhat insistently, and he took the box, not wanting to remove his mittens just yet in order to fish the cigarette out.

 

They walked in silence for a while, past the occasional three-eyed alien. The place never really seemed to sleep, but, fortunately, traffic always seemed light at this hour. At last they came to the junction, where the path went towards the metro system on the right, and the tram back towards their auxiliary warm quarters on the left. The tunnel here came just close enough to the topside that a window had been installed, looking out onto the planet's surface. Anja paused for a moment.

 

Zareem, already starting towards the left, turned around. "Anja? What are you doing?" He paced in place, the cold already starting to catch up to him from ceased momentum.

 

"Just give me a moment," she said, seemingly oblivious to the cold catching up to her as well. "I won't be far behind."

 

Zareem was still paused for another second, but, the desire to get somewhere warm overtaking him, he nodded and set off towards the tram at a brisk pace, leaving Anja to stare out the window. She could see it, rising in the distance. The real Foreign Quarter. Like an enormous concrete termite mound, heated by volcanic spring water, its various spires capped with the important symbols. The Human-Skrellian Alliance embassy. The offices of Einstein Engines, BioTech Solutions, NanoTrasen. Three stations away on the metro. She found herself thinking back to what Zareem had said.

 

What was she doing here?