Chapter 11: Bachelor Party

They stepped off the train platform, Steven taking a moment to appraise his new surroundings as he adjusted his sunglasses. He was on the far side of the city now, seeing the same skyscrapers from the back. The streets were still lined with the same palm-like trees, and the facades of the buildings looked identical, the scribbles on the alien signs blending together to his eyes.

“You know, I don’t know why I expected this part of the city to look any different.”

“All Val’ba’ra’nay cities are based on a similar layout,” Yemi explained. “They’re optimized for efficiency. Kalahar is actually fairly unusual, especially in the construction of its wall and the dock area.”

“I never thought I’d feel any nostalgia for the disorganized sprawl of the tunnels.”

“Not everything is centrally planned,” Yemi explained as they began to make their way along the sidewalk, the occasional squadron of scooters passing by them. Steven felt the urge to check his phone and ensure that the address was correct, but Yemi would have memorized the whole route, so there was no need for uncertainty. “Often, when a building is no longer being used for its intended purpose, less reputable establishments will move in.”

“There’s the entropy that I was looking for,” Steven chuckled, passing beneath the shade of the waving fronds. “A perfect society would be unnatural. What kinds of less reputable establishments are we talking about?”

“Usually lounges and bars,” Yemi replied.

“So you have seedy bars popping up in old derelict buildings that were once part of the grand plan?” Steven mused, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “It’s like a little piece of home. Where are we going, anyhow?”

“Are you being serious?” Yemi giggled, his feathers flashing yellow. “The coordinates that your friend gave are just down this street. Did you forget?”

“Yep,” Steven announced. “I’d usually be relying on my GPS, but I have you instead.”

They rounded a corner and headed down another identical street, passing a few curious flocks who turned their heads to watch as the two males walked by. Steven was used to getting looks from strangers, but being accompanied by Yemi made the pair even more noteworthy.

It had gotten pretty late in the evening, and the sky was starting to shift into those beautiful pink and orange hues, the neon signs that adorned the buildings growing ever more prominent in the fading light. There seemed to be more pedestrian traffic in this part of the city, flocks and even groups of flocks chatting as they bobbed along, some loitering just outside the buildings. Music bled out through the open doors, the sounds of conversations and the electric whir of passing scooters creating a soothing background hum.

There was no anonymity in a crowd for Steven – not when he stood head and shoulders above everybody else. Both he and Yemi turned heads, the women perhaps wondering which establishment they might be headed to, and whether their paths would cross.

There was one other person rising above the sea of green scales and colorful feathers, Steven spotting Joseph some distance ahead of them, the shine of his shaved head unmistakable. He was a tall man, even by human standards, and he dwarfed the little aliens that surrounded him. Steven had only ever seen him wearing a suit, so his garish Hawaiian shirt in shades of blue with yellow flower patterns gave him pause. Joseph raised a long arm in greeting, and Steven led Yemi over to him, weaving between the flocks.

“Steven!” Joseph exclaimed, reaching out to give him a vigorous handshake. “Nice to see you, my friend. How are you?”

“Good!” Steven replied, the man’s smile infectious. “It’s great to see you again. I’d almost forgotten what it’s like to speak to another human. This is Yemi,” he continued, gesturing to his companion. “He’s the coworker I was telling you about.”

“Pleased to meet you, Yemi,” Joseph continued as he gave the Valbaran a customary bow.

“Yemi’xal’otli,” the Valbaran replied, returning the greeting with a salute of red feathers. “Thank you for inviting me. I hope I’m not imposing.”

“Not at all,” Joseph laughed. “The more the merrier. I’ve been attending nothing but business meetings for days, and I’m ready for a little R&R. Come, come,” he added as he waved them forward.

They headed inside the nearest building, passing through a pair of automatic doors and into some kind of bar or club. The ground floor was pretty recognizable, scattered with the restaurant-style booths that Steven had become accustomed to, with circular couches that ringed low tables. At the far end of the expansive space was a bar that ran the length of the wall, its polished surface reflecting the soft neon lights that illuminated the room. It was staffed by a couple of males, easily identifiable by their eye paint and their ornate jewelry, their shining scales glowing in the light of their holographic displays. Behind them were shelves stocked with colorful drinks of all shapes and sizes, shielded behind glass somewhat like the vending machines that Steven had seen in the grocery store.

As he lifted his head, he saw that the space above him was crisscrossed with walkways and platforms just like the office, the complex rising three or four stories towards the ceiling. Some of the platforms and balconies were large enough to hold one or more booths, letting their occupants dine and drink high above the ground, the scale of it all making it feel like some kind of old-world cathedral. Hopefully, Valbarans didn’t lose their balance when they got tipsy...

In the midst of it all, suspended in the air on long chains, was a gargantuan skeleton. It took him a moment to recognize it, but it was a Kal’quetz just the one he had seen on the boat tour, its winding body extending almost from one end of the room to the other. Neon tubes had been wound between its pale bones like veins, pulsing with color, providing a lot of the illumination for the space like a grisly chandelier. It looked a little too pristine to be real, so it might be a replica.

There were flocks crowding the bar, occupying the booths and walking across the gangways above, the high-pitched sound of their conversations joining the thrum of alien music. It wasn’t the pulse of club music – more of an atmospheric melody, understated enough to dissolve into the background.

“You look impressed,” Joseph chuckled, giving Steven a pat on the shoulder. “Beats anything in the Jovians, I’m guessing?”

“Sure does,” he muttered, craning his neck to admire the giant skeleton. “How about you, Yemi? Ever been to a place like this before?”

“Not in a long time,” he replied.

“Let’s get a table,” Joseph said, raising a hand and waving to the males who were staffing the bar. He was so tall that they could see him clear across the room no matter how packed it was.

“I take it that getting service here isn’t hard,” Steven joked. The males communicated with flashes of feathers, not needing to raise their voices above the noise, and Steven tracked one of the aliens as he wound his way through the crowd towards them.

“Booth for three?” the male asked with a crimson greeting. “Would you like a ground floor seat for Earth’nay?”

“Do you have anything higher, maybe with a good view of the skeleton?” Joseph replied.

“We do,” the little alien replied, gesturing for them to follow him.

Yemi was able to hop up between the different levels with the same ease that his coworkers did, but as Steven prepared to climb, Joseph gave him a nudge. The establishment had ladders that were recessed into the walls for human guests, making climbing up much less of an ordeal.

“Hey, Yemi – we should get some of these installed in the office!” Steven said as he followed behind Joseph.

They arrived at the second story, the waiter leading them to a booth that was suspended precariously on a platform about level with the sea monster’s giant skull. There were neon bulbs in its empty eye sockets, illuminated cables winding between serrated teeth as long as Steven’s fingers. It made him consider how close he had been to a live one. From this distance, he could see that some of the light it emitted came from holographic alien fish that were swimming in place alongside it, wavering and slightly translucent.

The trio slid into the booth, Steven noting that Joseph had arrived at the same conclusion he had, crossing his legs on the cushions.

“We’ll take a few drinks to start,” Joseph said, listing off some beverages that Steven didn’t recognize. The waiter bowed out, then began to hop back down to ground level.

“Steven, my friend,” Joseph began as he clapped his hands together. “I see that you’re doing well! How have you been finding Valbara?”

The two humans chatted for a little while about Steven’s experiences so far, sharing stories about some of their more unusual encounters with Valbarans while Yemi listened patiently. The waiter returned with their drinks – strange, colorful spirits with illegible labels that Steven had never tasted before served in thin glass flutes. They didn’t seem to be very alcoholic, so perhaps the aliens couldn’t metabolize it as efficiently as humans could. They were quite fruity, suggesting that they might be something akin to wine or other fermented drinks. He knew that the Valbarans enjoyed some kinds of fruit.

“The place is basically a paradise compared to what I’m used to,” Steven said as he took another drink from his glass. “I don’t need to explain that to you, though. I don’t imagine that conditions on Enceladus are any better.”

“Tunnel living is the same all over,” Joseph replied as he relaxed back into the padded backrest. “Things are getting better, though. Our Valbara’nay partners are helping with that. Those vertical farms and aquaponics setups are doing wonders for getting fresh, quality foods into the bellies of our people.”

“I feel bad that you have to keep going back,” Steven continued. “I got to leave it all behind forever, and all I did to earn that privilege was have my number pulled out of a hat. You’re working your butt off flying across the Galaxy, securing contracts, helping feed people, but you eventually have to go back to the tunnels.”

“I think the contrast helps me appreciate my time here more,” he replied, pausing to take a drink. “After all, how can we truly know happiness without first knowing hardship? Besides, I don’t hate Enceladus. No matter what I do or where I go, it will always be my home – where my family lives. I try to think of it in terms of – each time I return, things get a little better there.”

“I guess I must seem selfish in comparison,” Steven replied. “All I cared about was getting out of there like I had a fire under my ass.”

“Not at all,” Joseph replied. “When the universe offers us opportunities, we would be foolish to ignore them. People in situations like ours must take whatever they can get.”

“Having never left Val’ba’ra, it is hard for me to visualize such places,” Yemi chimed in. He had mostly been listening quietly to their stories, sipping at his drink. “When the Earth’nay arrived in their ships, they seemed so far beyond us technologically. They were sending great fleets of advanced spacecraft across interstellar distances on hunts – for no other purpose than to seek out insects wherever they might be found and eradicate them. They saved the world by happenstance. Then, there were the parades after Ker’gue’la was retaken. For us, that was a great historical injustice righted. It would not be an exaggeration to say that your people have become idolized by many. I didn’t consider that Earth’nay colony worlds would vary so greatly in their wealth and living conditions. I always imagined them to look like ours.”

“We built up all of that technology and experience by fighting each other for a very long time,” Steven explained. “There are places that are just as nice as Valbara, and places that are even worse than Ganymede or Enceladus. There are a lot of us, and we’re spread over vast distances. Your civilization took a different path and specialized in different things. It benefited you in some ways and disadvantaged you in others.”

“That is why the Coalition is so important,” Joseph added, waving his glass. “We pool the strengths and the expertise of every species to create something greater than the sum of its parts.”

“I can drink to that,” Steven chuckled, raising his glass. “To the Coalition!”

The three men drank, Yemi lagging behind a little as he figured out the concept of a toast.

“So, it seems like you’ve been having lady troubles,” Joseph added as he refilled their flutes from one of the little bottles. “I’ve been in your shoes – the flocks here can get pretty aggressive.”

“It has its ups and downs,” Steven replied. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t like the attention. I’ve had random women approach me on public transport and initiate a conversation. The only way that would happen on Ganymede is if there was a pressure warning and someone wanted my emergency mask.”

“Very good,” Joseph chuckled, his deep, resonating laughter filling their booth.

“It’s kind of nice to feel attractive,” Steven conceded with a shrug. “It’s certainly a self-esteem boost. God, listen to me – I’m starting to sound like my ex.”

“This planet has a way of turning things around on you,” Joseph replied with a grin. “Here, it is the men who wear jewelry and makeup, strutting around like birds of paradise to impress their mates. Not to imply that you strut,” he added, turning to Yemi. “It sounds like Steven has already explained to you the differences between how our cultures approach gender roles.”

“Yes, though I still find it hard to understand,” Yemi said with a glance to his coworker. “It seems that your society had inverted gender roles at one point, but they became less and less important over time?”

“That’s about the long and short of it,” Steven replied with a nod. “All the attention is a fun novelty to me, but I know how exhausting it can be for you. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to invite you along, actually.”

“Why is that?” Yemi asked, his massive headdress flaring yellow as he tilted his head.

“I’ve been learning about gender relations, and I’ve been talking to some people,” he replied. “Joseph here is an expert by now, and I think we might be able to do something about the problems you’ve been having at work if we all put our heads together – reach consensus, as it were.”

“This is the continuation of the conversation about women that we began previously,” Yemi realized.

“Yeah,” Steven replied. “You seemed surprised by the way that I approached talking to the flock, so I figured me and Joseph could give you some advice from an Earth’nay perspective.”

“You do seem to have some skill in dealing with the flocks at the office,” Yemi conceded as he nursed his drink.

“I went to dinner with some friends who were a little older and more experienced than our coworkers yesterday,” Steven began. “I was starting to think that the way our colleagues behaved was just the norm in your society, but my friends think that they’re just young and brash. They’ve only ever gotten results by being aggressive and persistent, and they’ve never really faced any pushback that would make them reconsider their approach.”

“That would make sense,” Joseph confirmed, pausing to consider for a moment as he swirled the amber liquid around in his cup. It was so comically small in his huge hand that it more resembled a test tube. “In my experience, the younger a flock is, the more forward they tend to be. They’re no different from young human men, really. They only have one thing on their minds, and they’re still learning how to approach the opposite sex. Valbara’nay men tend to be less fierce than our girls, so someone getting doused in liquor or being told to go suck engine coolant is much less common.”

“Is that what I should be doing?” Yemi asked, giving them an apprehensive flutter of purple as he glanced between the two humans.