USF Progenitor & Crew: Adventures in Cosmos 01

[#87]

Veno was surprised by Ka'eo's sudden appearance. "Ka'eo! Where you been, man?"
"I don't know. Nowhere."
Veno and Matt looked at each other then chuckled.
Matt asked, "Nowhere, huh?"
"Sorry, I'm a bit exhausted. These new medicines are kind of weird."
"Yeah."
Veno asked, "Why did you turn your comms off?"
Matt followed up, "Yeah, why did you do that? We were contacting you—."
"I know. It's fine. Thank you for your concerns."
Ka'eo giving them a cold response was bothersome for them and brought some suspicion. However, Matt shrugged it off, and Veno felt it was none of their business.
Matt assured, "Ka'eo, I know we're just temporaries, but you can trust us. We're still your pals." He and Veno chuckled uncomfortably.
"Sorry. It's probably my face," Ka'eo noted, raising his eyebrows and giving a sigh.
Matt and Veno changed the looks on their faces, indicating that Ka'eo was probably right.
Matt said, "Hey, things are looking up here! Alec and Kanoa are with some scientist dudes working upstairs in a lab."
Veno added, "Yeah, and most of the stuff they've been giving us is real easy!"
Ka'eo replied, "That's good." He gave them a solid thumbs up with a warm smirk.
"I still get the feeling, though, that something—," Veno was interrupted by Matt placing his hand on his shoulder with an expectant look. "Oh. No?" Veno and Matt chuckled.
"Yeah, Veno," Matt acknowledged, smirking.
Ka'eo asked, "Where's Peter and Mana?"
Veno replied, "I think Peter is sleeping and Mana is talking with one of the lead scientists. What's his name? Cole?"
"Cole," Matt affirmed.
"What's Mana saying?" Asked Ka'eo.
"I don't know," Matt chuckled.
Veno diverted, "Oh yeah, Matt got into a big fight with some guy." He laughed.
Matt smirked.
Ka'eo said, "I had a feeling. What happened?"
"This dumb dude—," Veno shook his head.
Matt continued for him, "Ka'eo, some of these guys are pricks, man. This one guy gave me a look like he was mad at me."
"Yeah! He looked at Matt because he thought he was talking with this chick," Veno laughed.
"He thought I was talking to his chick, you know... and it had nothing to do with what he thought. The guy was assuming that I was taking her, and then when I looked at him, he got even more pissed off—."
Ka'eo asked, "And what happened? Where did this happen?"
Matt explained, "The guy was sitting in the lab with me, Veno, and Harrison... oh! And Harrison helped to fight the guy off when all these dudes rushed in to help. I was so pissed off!"
"Right there in the lab, bro. Was so inconvenient," Veno laughed. "I was busy working on something and then Matt and that guy started pounding at each other. Matt grounded him, brah!"
"Who won?" Ka'eo asked.
"Matt did."
Matt added, "Of course I won! Why did you even need to ask that?" Matt and Veno laughed.
Ka'eo questioned, "Well, what did security have to say about it? Nothing I guess. Huh?"
"Nothing. The fight was already over when they got there. That guy—," Matt tried not to laugh, enjoying the glory of his victory.
Veno interrupted, "Brah, when they went threw down, I was looking at them, and then the chick went on her phone and didn't give one fuck about it."
"She Indian?" Ka'eo asked. They chuckled together.
"She's white. Right?" Matt checked.
Veno said, "Yeah. Anyways. While they were on the ground, Matt put the guy in a headlock, and he started beaming his head like—," Veno tried to imitate the poor technique of Matt's opponent.
Matt chuckled and said, "Yeah, that guy didn't learn how to fight."
"Well no duh, Matt, these guys are scientists!" Veno's dramatic response got a laugh from Matt. "They don't know how to fight. The security guys weren't even there until like an hour later!"
"Who reported it?" Ka'eo asked.
"I did—," Matt and Veno said in near unison.
"Ah, well. At least it all got sorted then. See, this is why I can't leave you guys here alone."
Matt laughed.
Veno continued, "Yeah! Because after that, when the guy got up when his crew pulled Matt off with me, he was all—light headed. Then, he went and sat in the corner of the room. All alone, he looked."
"Yeah. It's funny now, but that guy tried to beat me up! He didn't know that I know how to fight."
"Yeah, we know that. That's why. That guy got punished."
"I punished him!" Matt exclaimed.
Ka'eo checked, "So, what about security, though? You didn't have to fill out any paperwork?"
"They don't care," Matt said, getting Veno to laugh.
"Yeah, they don't! They literally went into the room while I was still there, they looked at Matt and then at the guy. Some lady walked in to give him an ice pack. Then, the guy left with her and his—girlfriend or whatever, and Matt didn't even have to explain anything. The security guys smiled at him and then they walked out of the room. That was all."
"That was it," Matt said, subduing a laugh.
"That's crazy," Ka'eo stated.
Veno said, "Yeah. Was so stupid. The guy did that all because Matt wanted to talk to his chick about something work related."
"I've experienced something similar back on Earth. Didn't think they'd bring back that same—problem... human errors, I guess." Ka'eo thought about going home and the meaning of the saying. He thought about some of the places he's lived before, feeling underwhelmed and grogged out. He told Veno and Matt, "You know that none of this shit matters anyway."
Veno asked, "Whaddya mean?"
"I mean that... anyways... I'm tired. I feel like I don't know what the fuck I'm here for."
Matt chimed in, "Yeah, I know the feeling." He chuckled.
Veno asked, "What really happened out there, Ka'eo? You sure you don't need to talk about it?"
"Yeah, have you eaten anything?"
Ka'eo said, "That's probably what it is. All I need is some grub and then some rest."
"Alright, if you insist," Veno stated. He and Matt glanced at each other and laughed.
Ka'eo smirked slightly and shook his head, walking away from them towards the cafeteria area.
Veno challenged loudly, "You don't even want to know where we're going and what we're doing? Wow!"
"Wow, yeah, Ka'eo," Matt tagged along.
"No," Ka'eo said outright. He subtly hinted at dry humor.
"Oh, okay."
Veno laughed loudly and said, "Wow! Fine then! We'll get into some more fights, then let's see who wants to know what's going on!" He and Matt laughed together while Ka'eo waved them goodbye for the time being.
Ka'eo walked into the cafeteria entrance, quickly glanced around at the people present in the room, then sat down. He felt like he had given all of the love he had left to the mission he undertook, with nothing left for his crew nor the scientists in the building. He quickly remembered that they were all supposed to make a move to another facility and had to double check on his device when that was scheduled. Doing his best to also not draw any attention, he stayed focused on his device and ignored the Indian scientists running on in their own language.
After mindlessly scrolling, he decided to get up and walk over to the buffet line where there was space food ready. It looked like trays of a bunch of miniature cooked chickens, diced vegetables, and mashed potatoes. He barely pictured the food from H&G in his mind and reminded himself to be thankful no matter where he was. What the Edwin A. Ramadan facility had was still food, good to eat, even if tasteless and conventional. He grabbed a bowl, scooped the food into it, then grabbed his own eating utensils. After feeling a moment of displeasure looking at his food on his bowl, he walked back to the table he was sitting at before and began to eat, even with his stomach missing the hunger and lust. Everything around him felt discolored, desaturated, essentially faded into no meaning.
Ka'eo wanted to be alone without anyone there with him. The more he wanted to be alone, the more he couldn't tune out the Indian man who was speaking in a purring manner, seemingly feeling like he needed to soothe someone in the room. Again, ignoring the Indian, he examined his own thinking, and at the beginning of self-examination, the scientists laughed as though the pun of a joke had been told. He didn't feel anything about it, merely observing their reactions as background noise, and nothing to be bothered by. Ka'eo began to think about what it would be like to leave everyone behind, to not deal with anyone for another day on the icy, frozen planet, and to perhaps go for a joyride into space. He felt no guilt about it, but he didn't want to do it, knowing how irresponsible that would be.
Instead of sitting there idly thinking, he decided to get up and throw his plate away, then to head up to the shared living quarters area. He wondered to himself if it was worth sleeping up there, or if he should trouble himself by walking back to the Progenitor. After leaving the cafeteria, hearing more laughter from the scientists behind his head, he sought a wall map that could direct him to the living quarters, while still weighing the pros and cons. He didn't want to see nor speak to anyone there, but neither did he want to be anymore exhausted than he already felt. Medicines were being considered again—the types that would keep him stimulated and moving forward.

🎵 The Weeknd - I Was Never There [Slowed & Reverb]