Three Day Cafe

Episode 7. Orange Sherbet

"I can't believe the Queen of Sivax only gave us 999,900,000 credits!" Razel fumed.

"It wasn't all bad. She gave us groceries and a boatload of honey," Nathan said as he pushed a large hovercart towards the cafe. "Plus she deducted the loss of those escaped civilians."

"We-a make-a good dessert with honey," DiMaggio said. He was back to his usual ill-tempered self.

"Yeah, I don't regret that. Still, we're 100,000 credits short," Razel groused. "You know what that means? We need to sell 3,125 cups of coffee in one day!"

"We'll do our best," Nathan said with a shrug. "You said we could try raising the price of meals, right?"

"We could also redecorate the walls and put out fliers to get more interest." The four tramped along a shining steel walkway as silver towers beaming violet and cerulean lights lined up around them.

"Oni will do her best!" Oni reassured the cat woman.

"Let's give that witch a call," Razel said. "Let her know what's up, and make sure we can communicate with her properly."

She took out her orange phone from the hotel and dialed Sherbet's number.

"Hello hello!" the witch cried out genially. "I see you've been busy!"

"Any chance you could cut us a discount?" Razel asked. "One billion credits come with lots of physical risk and morally black areas."

"Nope!" the witch replied. "A deal's a deal! I need every bit of that money."

"D*** it. Fine, we'll have your money," Razel grumbled.

"Great! Send me your address so I can be at your cafe tomorrow morning."

"Will do," Razel replied. "The cafe's at—"

The four stopped as they spotted two humanoid mechs, each the size of three people, and six jade-armored bee men surrounding their cafe.

"What's going on here?" Razel wondered.

"Ooh, sounds like some inconveniences? Text me the place. I'll let you go now. Good luck! Ta-ta! Sayonara!" The witch hung up the phone.

One of the bee men turned to Razel. "Is this your building?"

"Yes," she said, eyeing them suspiciously.

"The building is not registered and is occupying an area of the 11th Hive district. Violation of building code YZ-236 according to Sivaxian law."

"Wait, that's not our fault," Razel protested. "Our cafe just ended up here on its own! We have no control over where it lands."

Now it was the bee officer's turn to eye her skeptically. "You are saying your building magically constructed itself and appeared in this unoccupied area of our neighborhood without your notice?"

"Um..." Razel paused. "Yes? Do you believe in magic?"

"I am not stupid," the enforcement officer buzzed angrily. "You must pay 10,000 credits for violating the code and officially register with the Hive. If you do not comply, we will demolish your cafe."

"10,000 credits?" Razel shrieked. "This is highway robbery!"

"What if we let them smash the cafe down?" Nathan whispered, looking at the mechs, which had large metal arms and were carrying heavy machine guns. "We can't be transported with it if it doesn't exist anymore, right?"

"Pretty sure it'll rebuild itself," Razel murmured. "Oni smashed the front but it looks fine now."

"Aw, man," Nathan groaned.