Cars, Love, And Farbanti

CHAPTER 1: GREEN ROCK UNIVERSITY

As I walked through the colorful clouds of students, many would stop and stare. "Is that a human? They never show up around here!" "What do you think that skin feels like?" "What do they eat?" "The same things we eat, Becky. Just the kinds on their planet. What, you thought they ate rocks or something?" It didn't help that I was pretty thoroughly lost. Green Rock University had many intricate systems of hallways, stairwells, buildings, and lawns. I spotted another student with an engineering jacket. "Hey, where are we going?" He turned his scaly, blue face to face me. "You're in engineering? It's gonna be through this underground tunnel." We headed down a set of stairs, passed a few science classrooms, and emerged in a warehouse-like facility. "What kind of engineering?" "Industrial design." He spun on his heel, and walked backwards, long tail bobbing behind him.

"Oh, really? Me too! My name's Stan, by the way." I shook his clawed hand. "Mike." He spun once more, and walked beside me, smiling like it was the best day of his life. "So, where are you from, Mike?" We walked to the door labeled "Industrial Design". "I just moved here from Ohio. It's one of the United States." "Oh, yeah, I know the States! It's that big melting pot, isn't it?" I nodded. "Yeah, some places." We walked into the classroom. It was a loft-like space, with large windows and high ceilings, metal girders holding up the floor of the room above it. The desks were designed for drawing blueprints, and were arranged in a circle, with four openings to access the center and rows. A round, table-like device was in the center of the room. This turned out to be a hologram projector, as it kicked on with notes in English, as well as foreign and totally alien scripts.

A gaggle of people surrounded me. "Woah, that's what it feels like?" I felt scales, feathers, and fur feeling my skin and muscles. "That's so weird!" I squirmed a little, trying to move away from curious hands. The room was full of a variety of species. Dragons, both quadrupeds and bipeds, reptiles, sharks, wolves, foxes, cats, even what appeared to be robots or cyborgs. Every color imaginable, various accents, unique features, even hybrids with fur as well as feathers or scales. "All right, give him room. He's already coping with the culture shock!" Stan shooed the crowd away, and sat next to me. "Sorry about that. Are you OK?"

I nodded thankfully. "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks." Stan was a bright blue dragon biped. He had patches of green, especially on his tail. His fingers were slightly webbed, and his muscles were strong, but not huge. He wore a t-shirt with the university logo. "This part of the outer rim doesn't get much human traffic," he explained. Our teacher stood from his desk, and made his way to the hologram system. "Settle down, everybody. I know it's your first day here, but it's the humans' first day as well. They're stressed and anxious, too." The class fell silent. "All right. My name's Mr. Dennis, or Professor Dennis on more formal occasions. This year will be different from previous years, because I have a collection of human items. They've made some cool stuff, and I'll probably have them teach the class once or twice. Now, the more boring bit: rules and procedures." I managed to focus on the long lecture, waiting to get something to eat.

The atrium cafeteria was full of palm trees, vines, bushes, and other tropical and jungle plants. The various food booths advertised menus with comparisons to human dishes, making it easier to find food to our taste. I had a plate of cheesy pasta, some mixed vegetables, a bottle of cola, and a cookie on my lunch tray, and I scanned the room for an empty table. I was about to give up and sit on the stairs when I spotted Stan waving me to his table. I sat down, and Stan turned to speak to the rest of the table. "Do you mind if Mike hangs out with us?" The group looked up from cellphones and food, eyes turning from Stan to me. A wolf-like creature, with forest green fur and an angular head, shook my hand. "Welcome to paradise, Mike! I'm Will, an art major. And that's Terry." He pointed to a scowling black owl, with red wingtips and shoulders. They didn't greet me. "She'll get used to you eventually."