Scorpio

Chapter XIII

It was a little late when we finally set out. First, I was fiddling around with Katrina's flash drive to remove the password so I could snail-mail it with a letter of explanation to the Pleurants. Then, I had to drop off the pills I no longer needed at the RX depository. Next, finishing an early dinner and explaining to Grandma that I was going on a road trip for the weekend—that took a while. I also had to finish packing a small duffel bag. By the time we were finally on the road, eating up the miles as we headed northeast, it was around 7:30 pm.

The desert had turned dark red and violet in the gathering twilight. Flat expanses of sun-drenched sand were painted over by dusky intrigue. Scrub dotted the landscape, and the bulky outlines of mesas and faraway mountain ranges could be made out at the outer edges.

We clipped the corner of Arizona and entered Utah. The sun continued to sink, and the moon prepared to shake out her velvet indigo blanket over the world. Eventually, the mountains closed in around the highway, and trees clung to their scraggly cliffs. Desert bushes made way for leafier undergrowth, and the shadows of massive boulders and conifers inked the roadside.

Turning into a small town built in the rustic log-cabin style, we passed a gas station, and a thought occurred to me.

"Hey, Xanexa," I said.

"Yeah?" Xe was distracted, looking for a place to turn in for the night.

"Where do you charge your car? I don't think we have any docks around Westingbrook."

"Ahh..." Xe pulled into the crowded parking lot of a homey inn. "It charges while I drive."

"Huh? Doesn't driving use up energy?"

"I drew it that way. And you forget about me."

I gripped my bag and paused, hand halfway to unbuckling my seatbelt. "What?! You drew yourself a car?"

"Why? Does that scare you?" Xe stowed away the keys. "I drew myself lots of things."

We got out of the car, and xe locked it.

"What about money? Back at home, what prevents everyone from becoming millionaires by literally printing money?" I tagged along beside xyr as we walked around to the front door.

Xe sighed. "Money isn't the most important thing to us. True relationships are far more valuable."

"You don't have money?" I couldn't imagine how that society would function.

"A lot of things in this world aren't necessary."

We went inside and asked the receptionist at the front desk if there were any rooms left. Unfortunately, the place was completely booked. Terrific tourist season so far. We thanked the receptionist and left to find a different place.

The second place was also clean booked out.

And the place after that.

It was getting late, and we were learning the hard way that you absolutely must plan for trips in advance. The stuff you see on T.V., how some business dudes spontaneously decide to drop his leather briefcase and exchange his three-piece-suit for a tropical shirt and a martini—all in a wink to take an overnight flight to Hawaii—that's just not realistic because both airlines and hotels have this small problem called overbooking.

"Everyone had the same idea," xe muttered when we were on our way to the seventh or eighth lodging of the night.

We pulled into a smaller inn. It had two stories and hallways with railings running outside the rooms. By the look of the weathered stone exterior and relative quiet of this portion of the street, I guessed that it was an older building. We went inside to ask about space.