The building was a square-shaped warehouse, each side measuring 150 meters. Occupying majority of the warehouse's was a spacecraft.
This was an abandoned hangar for spacecrafts.
"Three years ago, when I was looking for potential materials around here, I came across this bad girl," Arwan said, leading Femi into the warehouse.
Femi knew Arwan had a way to leave the planet illegally, but he had never expected Arwan to have a spacecraft.
"I named her Rimora. It means fast in an alien language," Arwan said softly, proudly, as if introducing his daughter to someone. "She was abandoned here for a long time without being completely built. Over time, with a bit of my engineering skills, I completed her. She's my best work of art."
Arwan stretched out his hands and closed his eyes as he finished speaking, basking in his self-hype.
Rimora was a spacecraft, 120 meters long, with a pentagon shape. The head was triangular, which was also the cockpit room, and the body had a rectangular shape. The end of the rectangular body was where the main engines were.
She had six thrusters, three on each side, placed between the main engines. The two big thrusters on each side had diameters close to 400 centimeters and lengths of almost 190 meters, with a bit of distance from the body. The remaining four, two on each side, had diameters of 200 centimeters and lengths of almost 100 meters. They occupied the space between the big thrusters and the main body.
Rimora's body was well-framed, showcasing Arwan's stellar engineering skills. The whole ship was colored white with blue markings, and her name was written on the left side of her body. She was armed with light weapons, indicating that Rimora was built for speed and light firearms.
According to Arwan, there was a hatch underneath Rimora, but she was currently mounted on a technical dolly platform, so the door couldn't be seen or accessed.
While Arwan was basking in his self-hype, Femi had already gone around the ship, trying to find a way to enter.
"Oiiii! Raise her, I want to enter," Femi called out, snapping Arwan back to reality. Somehow, Femi was standing on Rimora, which was almost as tall as a two-story building.
"Back off. You're not entering her today."
"Why? I thought we were going to leave Mars," Femi said, his face showing determination to explore Rimora's interior.
Arwan scoffed. "How hasty. I'm not prepared to take off today. Things don't work that way."
"Right," Femi said, disappointment evident in his voice. His goal has changed. The text on his imaginary screen changed to [Follow Arwan to the next planet.]
"If you have this, ehhh, Rimora, why didn't you already leave this planet?"
"It takes more than one person to operate a spacecraft, you know," Arwan said, already turning around and walking towards the entrance of the hangar.
"Anyway, let's go now. I'll need to prepare for takeoff tomorrow. I'm sure you're ready to leave whenever."
"Yep. Pretty much," Femi replied, catching up to Arwan, who was opening the door.
They were already back at the warehouse, just a few moments to noon. They had spent a lot of time walking to the hangar and back.
"Let's meet here at a similar time tomorrow. I'll have everything ready by then," Arwan instructed.
"From what you told me, you don't have lots of luggage to carry along. Let's share contacts. I need you to buy some things I won't be able to get, like food and other necessities. I'll send the money."
"Alright." They brought their wrists together, and their wristbands displayed a holographic screen with "
Arwan didn't talk to people much, and he had spoken a whole lot today with a weirdo while trying to avoid saying the unnecessary. To be honest, it was mentally draining for him.
"I'll see you tomorrow. You have a lot to prepare on your side as well," Arwan said, pushing Femi out of the warehouse door before he could start a new conversation.
"Bye, Weirdo."
BAM!
The doors immediately closed.
Standing outside alone, Femi finally realized he hadn't eaten his main breakfast yet.
On the other side of the double door, Arwan sat on the floor with his back against the door.
"Leaving this shithole doesn't seem too far-fetched anymore," he whispered to himself. "Femi Noma, huh."
Femi was the first person to see how he felt right off the bat. Arwan didn't trust him at first, but after asking him questions and spending a short while with him, he could tell Femi wasn't sent by his father to spy on him. He was very certain.
Being someone who had been monitored and spied on most of his life, Arwan was very observant. Femi was also the first person to speak to him truthfully without any hidden purpose.
Knowing a person's true self through simple but twisted questions was now one one of Arwan's forte. Most of the little conversations Arwan had with others were all forced to keep him 'company', it wasn't hard to develop such a skill.
Although he considered Femi an oddly open weirdo, Arwan felt like Femi would be someone worthy of traveling with. He had begun trusting him to an extent.
Arwan snapped out of his thoughts and stood up, planning to prepare for their departure.
"I still have to do a background check on him later," Arwan noted to himself.