The Light That Shines From Above

Chapter 26

Irritable resignation. That's what I was feeling right now. I was annoyed with Ikzo's action but had to settle into a half agreement to it. Half of it was my fault. I wasn't going to promise I wouldn't do anything. I was waiting for an answer, I had meant that. However I knew he meant the entire time I was here. He didn't want me to try and get to my mother the second I was out of sight. I couldn't agree. If they denied and I saw an opportunity I would try. At least try to make it to her. I knew the odds and the risks. It didn't make me think differently.

Instead of going to a food stand like last time he led me into another structure further away. It was a few blocks down from his estate, rounding the short buildings to reach something I could compare closely to a restaurant.

The inside reminded me of an eating establishment I had passed by in California. They served sushi and it was on a track that revolved around a bar area. This one had that too, though it certainly wasn't sushi and instead of staying near the bar it zig zagged around the room. The entire restaurant was not very large, the lights from above glowing purple, blue, and red instead of white. It made the white floors and walls reflect the colors in a blurred haze. There was a small door that the food came out of and another on across the same wall that it went into. Something that was odd, yet only in a certain sense, was that the round stools and square tables floated off the floor. They had no legs or supporting bars.

It was weird to my eye but somehow not entirely shocking. I guess I half expected things to look like this when it came to futuristic aliens. The movies, I had to watch in secret or my mother would freak, did get some things right. However they were much like us, in more ways than I expected.

They chatted with each other in their native tongue, some picking up food from the track while others leaned forward towards the person across from them, ignoring food to participate in the conversation.

"Do you want to sit anywhere in particular?" Ikzo asked.

I shook my head, my eyes taking in the surroundings. I avoiding looking towards those who were staring at me. Some looked angry while others perplexed. Ikzo's hand touched the small of my back, bringing to my attention he had started in a different way than I was looking. My feet moved to flow with the action. As I turned in the direction he was guiding me to I caught one of the woman noticing Ikzo's action. She looked younger, I'd compare her to a teenager in human years. She straightened with interest then whipped her head towards the other girls with her, leaning across the table and rambling out something. I stopped looking.

Ikzo led us over to a table that was lined up next to the track. I eyed the seat then slowly sat down. I saw the others were sitting fine but I was afraid I'd fall off of it. Stupidly I used the table, also floating, to steady myself. It occurred to me as I fully sat down that if they hadn't had worked the table would have not helped. Luckily that didn't happen. They seemed locked in place.

Ikzo tried to hide a smile at my slow and hesitant lowering to the seat. He settled in his stool much quicker, not even checking to see if he would miss it.

As meals started to pass by my right I glanced to them, they looked much different than the ones in the dining room. My eyes flickered to his for a second then back to the track.

"None of it's too bad. I don't recommend the bic." He pointed to the green mash potato like substance, "It's a bit bland."

I nodded. Looking further down the track I could see some new stuff coming. I decided I would just have to guess and hope for the best. I'd avoid the green stuff. I spotted a bowl that had pink diced pieces that looked to be on top of rice. I knew it wasn't rice but it looked familiar. I reached for that, pulling it off the track and going to put it in front of me.