Chapter 19
After work that Friday, I meet Verit at his apartment with a bag packed to the brim with all my favorite summer clothes. Even Noelle was blatantly jealous of my little vacation. When we head to the roof of his building, I’m expecting a helicopter—which already would’ve been pretty damn cool. Instead, what I see is a tiny beige pod. Despite its utter lack of entrances, Verit heads directly towards the object, and a door-like opening appears as if by magic.
I gasp despite myself. “Holy shit.”
“Are you going to be this easily impressed all weekend?” Verit asks, holding out a hand to help me hesitantly step in.
“Probably,” I say.
Verit laughs and directs me to sit on a floating plank. I tentatively lower myself onto it, expecting it to disappear beneath me at any given moment, but instead the material seems to meet me halfway, subtly molding itself around my body the way Verit’s bed did. From the inside, the pod is completely transparent, which is absolutely horrifying as it gently lifts and suddenly rockets ahead at an impossible speed. A small shriek escapes my lips in shock, but dies off as I realize the ride actually feels as smooth as a slow drive. Below us, the city looks like a time lapse photograph, tangled streaks of light dancing in the twilight.
“How long will the flight take?” I ask, turning to Verit when the blur becomes dizzying.
“We’re nearly there,” he says. “Here, I’ll slow down a bit so you can see.”
If I thought Verit’s pod was impressive, Lenkarda is breathtaking. The green blur focuses into a stunningly lush landscape. As we slow and begin to descend, I spot what look like giant, pale mushroom caps scattered throughout this specific area of the jungle. Definitely not human structures. The largest, a pure white dome, seems to mark the center of the compound, and smaller green and brown buildings clearly delineate what must be the perimeter. My heart pounds with the sheer alienness of it all. It’s one thing to see the otherworldly creatures walking the streets of our cities. It’s another to take one of their alien spaceships to their alien compound, surrounded by their alien technology, impossibly far from the comforting familiarity of my human life.
The pod lands as gently as it took off, and we exit into a small clearing. I look around, but in the rapidly dimming twilight, all I see is thick jungle. When I turn back to Verit, the ship has already disappeared.
“Did it take off again?” I ask, miles past confused.
“No, I simply unmade it, as we won’t be needing it for a couple days,” Verit explains, as if this would make any fucking sense to me. He catches the expression on my face and tries again. “Ariana, have you ever heard of nanotechnology? I’m not an expert, but I could explain the basics.”
As we stroll through the jungle, he walks me through the basics, and I almost start to get it, although I’ve never been much of a tech person. It’s really beginning to sink in how completely out of my element I’m going to be while we’re in Lenkarda, and as much as that terrifies me, I am also deeply excited at the thought of such a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
Eventually we arrive in another clearing, with what looks like a larger version of the pod we flew here in. Again, a door-sized portion of the wall disintegrates when Verit approaches it.
“This is cool as shit,” I say, trying to peer closer at the cross-section of the wall as I pass through. “Will it open like that for me too?”
“Of course,” Verit says. “Welcome to my home, Ari.”
Again, the inside is very similar to the pod. The walls are transparent, and floating beige planks of varying sizes replace the furniture I would typically expect in a human house. I imagine if I were to sit on one, it would immediately shape itself to the curves of my body.
“Is it too much?” Verit asks from what may or may not be the dining area. “I can fabricate some human furniture, if that would make you more comfortable.”
“Thanks, but I like it like this,” I say truthfully. Who would visit an alien compound and not want to experience it in its truest form? That would be like traveling across the world and ordering a hot dog and fries.
Verit watches with some amusement as I walk around his home slowly, peeking in every corner, running my fingers along the walls, sitting on every surface.
“This is incredible,” I say at last, rejoining him. “I’m in a K house. In Lenkarda. With a K. Oh god, my parents would kill me if they knew.”
Verit laughs. “Would you like some dinner? You must be starving.”
“I kind of want dessert first,” I say, hopping up on what I think is the table and kicking my shoes off.
“Dessert?” Verit steps toward me, eyebrow cocked.
“Mhmm,” I say, pulling him the rest of the way toward me by the lapels. “I’m in a K house. In Lenkarda. With a K. I’m practically in another world. Now I want an otherworldly fuck.”