U.S.S.A HellField

Chapter 13 Blazing roses

More nightmares, just what I needed to start the day, I looked to see Alice asleep next to me. Almost felt like life was back to normal, instead of a hellish vacation. She shuffled restlessly in her sleep, I could hear quiet whimpering as she clutched the blanket. I moved next to her quietly so as not to disturb her sleep, I put my arm around her for her to hold onto. She wasn't wearing her robe, I think we're going to have to find something a bit more durable than clothing for her to wear. I closed my eyes again and drifted back to sleep, hopefully with no dreams this time. 

My body jolted itself awake, I saw Alice was gone. My helmet and gauntlets were on the floor next to the bedside table, their weight did make them challenging to put anywhere that wasn't made of flimsy wood. I groaned as I sat up, dull pain throbbed in my legs as I did. "Metis, where's Alice?"  The helmet came to life at the sound of my voice. - "Uh she went out to, "Get a few things" In her words. She didn't say when she would return."  How would she even be able to afford...oh. I checked myself for the key but couldn't find it, she must've taken it while I was sleeping. - "What time is it?"  I asked groggily  - "It is 11:15 a.m. Oh, you haven't had breakfast, I suggest you eat a nutritious meal or you might lose some muscle mass, which would lower your combat performance significantly."  It was doing that thing again. -"Uh-huh."

I went over to the chest to see how much she had taken, it wouldn't open when I tried lifting the top. Well, at least she locked it, still could've left the key here with me though. I put everything back on and left the room to go find where she had disappeared. As I was going down the stairs, I could see a group of aliens around the board, might as well check it out. I looked over at the long front desk that spanned 20 or 30 feet from one metal wall to the other, strange how I'm just noticing it now. Stranger yet, Ifra'Nyah wasn't working behind it at all, still not sure if human working hours applied here. I looked at the object of everyone's attention, paper posters littered the rusted iron plate that was the job board, most of them had simple jobs best left up to the authorities, but two of them caught my interest. One was for Ajeej Astutia, a Bi'lan male who was wanted for having connections to various criminal organizations and a slew of other nasty crimes like weapons and slave smuggling, kidnapping, murder, and plenty of noise complaints. Sounded like a charming guy. The other poster was a bodyguard job for a traveling merchant going to the next town over, I haven't seen any other towns or settlements; minus Duala's home. I'll have to choose which one later, but first, I have to find where Alice went off to. 

I left the building and made my way to the market district. I don't know why I had this feeling like she was in danger, she could take care of herself, even more so now, this part of town was not the place you'd want to find yourself alone in. I've noticed that most of the female Alsha seem to wear concealing clothing, even the odd one who wore armor. That and the general attitude that most Alsha I've met, haven't been the most respectful of women. I'm afraid one will make the wrong move on Alice and she'll reveal who she is to everyone, that would be too big of a problem for us to properly deal with. I walked past several stores and merchant stands, all selling the usual useless trinkets and scrap parts. I had several awkward interactions with random strangers whom I mistook for Alice, it didn't help that most Alsha women were six or so feet tall. Alice; having grown several inches taller due to her transformation, wasn't much shorter, but a lot more muscular though. The robe she was given also seems to be a common style around here. I was starting to feel fatigued, I hadn't had anything to eat for most of yesterday and today, at least it was my body telling me this and not Metis droning on about my bodily functions. Minutes later after still having not found Alice, I came across a food vendor, it looked to be nicer than the first one I ate at. Hopefully, the food is seasoned.

This vendor didn't have seats, so it was takeout, but it did have more than one cook, from the looks of it. -"So what're you going to order?"  Metis said out of nowhere, I wasn't used to it being silent for so long. - "I don't know, it's hard to tell what anything is or if it's appetizing to me."  I could see Metis using the scan function on the food. I could see data from all sorts of metrics flooding in on my HUD, with no clue what any of it meant. -"I found something that should be to your liking, try the seared Kqar, it comes with multiple vegetables and a carbohydrate-rich grain that should give you plenty of energy."  I looked at the menu price, 20 Helva. The last person in line finished and it was my turn to order. -"What're you ordering?"  The pudgy Niralun asked. - "I will have the seared... Kqar is that right?"  I ordered, unsure if I had said it right. He raised a large red eye at me. - "I don't know, I'm not the one ordering now am I, so it's the seared Kqar huh? Good choice."  He said, writing the order down. I placed the coins in his tiny clawed hand, then he hopped off the stool into the kitchen.