I just arrived at the clothes station. While I´m trying to look for decent clothes in boxes, something starts moving in the other box behind the other one. Slowly I move my head towards the source of the noise. My eyes are only focused on the one what is moving around. What is in there? I get a little scared, but I can´t run away from it. I´m just standing there like I just got frozen. What an idiot I am. It suddenly stops moving which makes my heartbeat race even faster. Carefully, while I hold my breath, I take some steps ahead of it and check what´s in there. There´s nothing! Was that a rat or something? Suddenly a cat- bot jumps out right in front of me as I start screaming for my life, trying to kick it away with my arms. The cat jumps at my chest and I slip down to floor.
[Cat bot]: "Bbzzzz … *scans* … zzzz … *bot voice* - "Human detected" … cchhh … zzz …"
Oh lord, how cute it is. The cat- bot used to be nowadays people´s pets, because all of them went extinct many years ago when planet earth was still our home. So, technology companies got the idea to build bots as the new "pets". It´s sad, honestly. "Oh sweet. Where´s your home base? Don´t you have to get back to your people?", I ask it while patting its head. It got blue lightning eyes; it even can speak. The cat looks at me while sitting on my lap.
[Cat bot]: "Di-x… ZzzZ … no home … CZzC"
"Di-x? Is that your name?", I ask the bot.
[Cat bot]: P … P-Posi- zZzZ … Positive
It seems like it got a broken speaker. I can´t repair it, I'm not good at technic stuff. The only person who could fix the cat-bot would be my grandpa. But if he finds out that I´m out alone, looking for Xenia, he won´t let me go anymore and keep me with grandma. They can´t know that I´m doing this. Not like this while my body is still recovering! I take Di-x down from my lap. "Don´t worry, maybe we will find somebody who can fix you, Di-x." I continue searching for clothes as I open a huge chest and a lot of clothes fall out on me. "AAAAAAA- ". Thanks, I guess. At least I found something suitable for me. A black skirt with an oversized white T-Shirt, a black hoodie what I put on over the shirt. White socks with grey sneakers with blue lights around them. Very modern. Why would somebody throw such shoes away today? I also found a black scarf which I cover my mouth with it, so nobody recognizes me. Next to the chest, there is a first aid kit with new bandages. I´ll change them too. Ok, I think I am ready now. Where should I go and check first? … Oh, I know! I should head back to the clinic. Maybe there are some hints. There might be something I missed or did not see. The cat decided to come with me and follows me everywhere I go now. I guess it´s my new friend and partner now.
On my way back to the clinic I suddenly see police officers around and stopped walking any steps further. I decided to hide behind the corner of the clinic. My aunt, grandparents, and my little sister are here, talking to a police officer who is writing some notes down on an iPad. The Lady is sitting beside and around her there are some more officers.
Lady: "I swear, when I checked on her, she was not in the room anymore. I checked everywhere; she is gone. I don´t know where she is!". My grandma is crying while grandpa has his hand on her shoulder and my aunt is holding my sister´s hand. They are all looking for me. "Shit, I can´t go and scan Xenia's footprints. I can´t just walk to them and be like nothing happened. They would ask me a bunch of questions and most likely take me home.", I whisper to myself. Out of a sudden, something or somebody grabs me from behind and holds my mouth. I can´t scream or anything so I decide to kick my elbow to the back. "SSHHH, Sasi, it´s me!", a confidential voice speaks to me. When the person let go of me, I turned around. "OMG! It´s yo-!?", I say with a loud voice, but Astrid covers my mouth. She tells me to be quiet and takes my hand and leads me to a place where nobody notices us. We just arrived there and there are already my other friends waiting, Spencer and Theodor. I can´t believe they are all here. "Wow, you guys are also here?!", I happily say. Spencer: "Yeah, we knew you would go and look for Xenia. So, we thought we could sneak out of our spaceship and make a trip to you to help you find her.". Astrid swings her arm around my neck and messes up my hair: "Yeah, you little monkey. You´re such a bad girl. How did you come up to this to go on such a dangerous journey alone with a little ca-. A CAT????". Sasi: "Yeah, that´s Di-x. I found him when I went to the clothes station to find something decent to dress before I got ready. He jumped on me, and this is how we first met.". Astrid loves animals so much. She literally jumps around like a little girl, screaming "AWWWW" and cuddles Di-x. But she notices that it got a broken speaker. It´s not a problem for her, she is a mechanic, so she fixes Di-x without any problems. Spencer and Theodor are siblings. Theodor is younger, he is only one year older than me. But they both sometimes fight like kids. Unbelievable. Spencer is as old as Astrid; both are around 20. Spencer just got his pilot license last year. Theodor is a science nerd like me. We both love Astronomy. But besides he is also a programmer. Everyone is taller than me. I am literally the shortest friend in every friend group. That sucks.
"So, where do we start?", Theodor asks. All of us are standing in a circle together, thinking about a plan. "I have no idea, but I suggest starting at the clinic because that was the last place, I saw her.", I replied to them. Everyone agrees. After that Spencer explains to us, that he knows someone who could help us too maybe. Astrid, Theodor, and I are looking at him questioned. "I´ll tell you guys more when we find him.", explains Spencer with thumbs up.
After a while, we arrived at the clinic. The police offers are gone for now. But we still must be undercover. "Damn it, what shall we do? I can´t go there like that. The doc is around with the nurses now too.", while I am worrying, Astrid got a plan instead: "Sasi, we know you can´t go like that. So, I suggest you stay there and wait for us instead. I think it´s the only choice we got.". Theodor and Spencer agree with Astrid as I do too. "Here, take this.", says Theodor and hands me an equipment which I must put in my ear, so I can stay in touch and communicate with them like that while they go and look for hints. My three friends try to sneak in when I suddenly notice that Di-x isn´t with me anymore. "What? Where did it g- ", I stop talking suddenly and catch Di-x following Astrid and she doesn´t even notice the cat. They separated each other, so every one of them can look for hints in different places. I get in a panic and click the equipment in my ear to activate the speaker: "Fucking hell, guys! Take care, Di-x is with you, guys! Somebody must keep an eye on him; he might be too loud!". Astrid hides behind a wall and looks back and sees Di-x jumping at a chair. Astrid: "Oh god, I think he came to look for me.". Meanwhile, the two brothers are checking around in a medical laboratory. "Oh wow! So much science stuff, I`m loving it!", rejoiced Theodor happily. Have I said that Theodor is a nerd of human science? Yeah, he absolutely loves that and wants to become a natural scientist and a doctor someday. For now, he studies in a medical class.
"Bro, be quiet! Remember what we´re looking for!", scolds Spencer at him with an angry and whispering voice. Theodor rolls his eyes. He sees some new bandages, so he steals some for me. I´m still waiting for them, sitting behind the corner of the clinic station, and hoping they are doing fine. A male voice speaks up behind my back. When I look back and check who that is I start panicking. It´s one of the detectives who work for DSA [ Detective-Space-Agency]. His name is Dexter Wayne. He is one of the greatest detectives in all the spaceships, known for his super impressive intelligence. He can read a person´s personality and get information by just looking at the person. Nobody knows his private life; everyone sees him as the known-good-looking master detective who works for the highly- strict agency DSA.
"Uhh- guys- I- I think- We got a big problem now- ", I tell them through the ear equipment. "What is it? Did somebody see you?!", asks Astrid. I ignore Astrid´s question and suggest them to better f*ck the hints at the clinic now and they should get the f*ck out as soon as possible. "Sasi, what´s going on?? Is everything okay there??", worries Theodor. Spencer checks out of a window and sees Dexter Wayne: "O-Ooookay! Theodor, grab your stuff and backpack, we must hurry.". Astrid still tries to get Di-x away from the doc. She sneaks behind him and grabs the cat when he suddenly turns around, Astrid, fortunately, hides behind the wall, holding Di-x in her arms on time. While waiting for them still, somebody grabs my arm from behind. "Hello young lady. May I ask what you´re doing here?", asks master detective Dexter while holding my wrists tight. "I- I-…", I don´t know what to say. The detective looks deeply in my eyes with an eyebrow up. "You don´t have to act like that. I know who you are, kid.", he says while shaking his head. And this is the moment where I think: "Fuck, he got me…". He grabs my wrists tighter and pulls me into his flying car when I start screaming for help and try to kick him, but his assistants hold my legs together and put me in the car. My friends can´t just hear my screams through the ear equipment, they even hear my screams through the windows. "Fuck, he got Sasi!", yells Astrid, alongside Theodor and scans my track. The equipment isn´t only for communicating, no, it can also track somebody´s ear… That sounds weird, but it´s actually a great thing. "They are taking her to DSA. We need to rescue her!", Theodor speaks up. His brother Spencer gives him a smack on the back of his head. "You idiot! We can´t just go there and sneak in! Do you know how strictly monitored that company is?!", yells Spencer at him. The brothers start yelling and mocking each other like little boys while Astrid rubs her forehead, thinking and clicking around her techno- glove on her left hand. Suddenly she loudly speaks up: "I got it!". The brothers immediately stop and look at her at the same time. "What ya got? A plan? Good luck, they going to catch us when we just put one foot on their floor.", laughs Spencer. Astrid asks him If he remembers what he told us before we went to the clinic station. Spencer looks at her unsystematic. Theodor remembers too: "Oh, the unknown person you mentioned!". "Oooohhh…", that´s all that Spencer says. "Yeah. You said he might be able to help us. Take us to him!", replied Astrid. Spencer gives an unsettled look on his face. They ask him what is wrong with him. He takes a deep breath and explains to them that he is afraid that this person wouldn´t want to help us. Astrid doesn´t care and still forces Spencer to meet the person. "I guess, I got no other options.", Spencer thinks. Meantime detective Wayne just arrived at the DSA with me by car and his assistant grabs both my arms, getting out of the fly-car with me when I´m still trying to free myself. It´s a very huge building that´s flying up there. We must get up there by a lift. So many security cameras around on every single spot. The chances of somebody trying to escape from here are very low. Dexter walks in front while I walk behind him and the assistant of him holding my arms at the back. The place is very modern. Many labs, many bases with spaceships, security spaceships, and the labs are strictly monitored by cameras. When we arrived up there, Dexter takes me into his office, forces me to sit on the chair in front of him and his assistant ties my wrists on the chair with blue laser lights. After they leave Wayne sits down on his office chair, puts his legs on the desk, and starts smoking. "Sasi Priestley… ", he whispers my full name to him. "Let me go!", I yell at him with an angry face. Dexter smokes, stares at one spot on the wall, and ignores me. "Hey you assho-", -"You better not call me like that.", interrupts detective Wayne. Silence between us for the next 5 minutes. I break the silence and ask him what he wants from me. He turns his head to me, looks into my eyes, and smiles a bit. I look at him confused. "Please, stop acting like you have no idea what´s going on. Your family put me at work to find you. I should be the one who should ask you what your plan was after you vanished from the clinic.", he speaks to me and keeps looking right in my eyes. What a creep. I look away down at the floor. I cannot tell him that I am trying to find Xenia. "You´re trying to find Xenia Gilban?", he suddenly gets me out of my mind. How did he-. "I know Xenia, I know her since she was little. Her dad used to work in my company some years ago. So, I know that she got a best friend by her side named Sasi Priestley coincidentally.", he tells me, playing with a pen besides. At that point I know I have to get out of here immediately and this is how my journey started…