"Excuse me sir what might your name be?"
"A lot of things but I go by jet."
The sparkle still remained in the boy's eyes. It was as though the infinite cosmos extended its awe inspiring assortment of luminous twinkles into his irises. He had arrived to mars the week before. This was his second hotel stay whilst wandering after the call of the cosmos. The receptionist seemed to be quite intrigued by jet's mess of hair and dusty denim jacket. Once his room was in order, he slipped the key into his jacket pocket and contemplated what his first stop should be. Before his fetal idea could become a plan of action, his door was slid open and a card was thrust through the gap. His needle thin fingers retrieved the card while catching the door from closing. Jet stole a glance of auburn hair just as the figure rounded the corner. Considering how fast the transaction occurred,the letter had been momentarily ignored. He was well occupied in his investigation of the swift flame headed blur before realizing what his grip contained. The partially crumpled letter was a thank you from the hotel but was signed as Auburn. Jet had been residing in the hotel for 3 days before he resumed investigation. The receptionist was increasingly flirtatious as he came and went. Jet was interested in a conversation of her origins and why her eyes sparkled so beautifullly against the martian landscape. The letter's mystery became increasingly relevant in the confines of his subconscious. It was as if the writer had conquered a piece of him and built up a fortress within his dreams. The passage of Martian time gradually dulled his mental luster. He became grounded in the red,dusty terrain in which he inhabited. The night everything changed for him recurred in flashes of antagonizing clarity. He saw that closing door as the conclusion to each dream sequence his imagination bestowed on him while unconscious. As the first month of his stellar pursuit came to a close his dreams seemed to collaborate at hinting to him. The were slowly and subtly urging him towards the infamous door. The first night of the following month he became restless in his sleep. That fabled door finally opened for him. Simultaneously he saw and heard the janitor all around him. The words repeated to him "get up sunny, the stars are calling !" His shoulders couldn't withstand the duress his brain was under so he escaped. Jet's space ship levitated its way up to the cosmos through the cold Martian atmosphere of night. The comforting silences and his ships creaks and hums lulled the captive vagabond to sleep. As the sun curled it's way around the planet, jet made his return. The sun had just pulled its trousers up and started everyone's morning as jet disembarked. While entering his temporary marble Floored abode, the reception desk was staffed by a short, rosy cheeked brunette who resembled the other who had taken a liking to him. She shook his hand and smiled coyly as if she was aware of some secret. As jet slipped his hand in his pocket the palm sides of his finger tips collided with a rigid slice of card-stock. The memo was poorly inscribed. It seemed rushed as all the looping letters made a collective spaghetti strainer of text. The few syllables that retained legibility read as: " Noir presently assimilates Auburn" it was signed as something jet could only dream of reading. Thinking on the minimally legible lines stirred his soul. Never had a mystery so intrigued Jet. He wondered what that color referred to and the question coerced him into the cockpit of his ship under the waning to ponder among the stars. He was no longer within himself but somehow he was somewhere infinitely farther away. He unfurled his fully developed astral wings. He soared above the stream of consciousness while observing how it operated his inferior mental capacity. Jet dreamed once again of the closing door yet, this time, the brunette from reception was behind it. After it shut completely, She began to saunter towards him as if she knew him intimately and comfortably. The rosiness of her cheeks migrated slightly northward into the small crevasse between cheekbone and eyelid. Her coy smile remained. As she came nearer to his presence, ever closer, Jet's pores opened as exhaust vents for the tension he felt. He gradually realized the depth of field his eyes retained became warped. They seemed to faintly ripen the contrast between their setting and the subject. Her seemingly endless approach was capped off by an attempt to salute his cheek with the mark of her lips,pink as orchids, never touched his gruff cheek. His astral wings were folded as he made his descent from the inner gear works of his mind. As his pupils readjusted to the light of the sun, he further descended on from the atmosphere back to his familiar, red-dusted dwelling. As Jet maneuvered past the concierge she called him back. " Excuse me sir but someone is waiting for in the holo-con center down the hall." Jet nodded, dropped his keys in his jacket pocket, and proceeded to the indicated room. His overall look of general disinterest masked the worries of his mind. "had she come back ?" "Did she find me here?" " Does she know I know?" He nervously creaked into the dimly lit projection room. It featured none of the modern technology to be considered a holo conference room, this however was not the most pressing thought skating across the sloping lobes of his neurons. As the lights in the roomed faded up to maximum brightness, The short, rosy cheeked concierge was coyly smiling at him from her seat at the table. His height difference required extra strain on her neck yet she maintained this smile; it was a labor of infatuation that enabled such disregard . Her first words were soft and quiet but shattered multiple silences. The room's air hung still as did jet's ever racing mind for the first time he could remember. EVER! The cadence of her syllables delightfully dripped through his eardrum and ignited his, momentarily, stagnant mind's engine. She simply asked, "Do you know my name?" The silence shattered in his mind stemmed from his recently concluded dream sequence. He could vividly remember her lengthy approach and how her warm breath penetrated his pores and into his bones. His frozen demeanor exposed how quickly she had captivated and trapped him where he stood: the doorframe of the Holo-con room. He ventured a step closer before speaking a word. The closing door eluded covering the first syllable uttered by him by mere milliseconds. " You're quite sly. You got that card into my pocket and didn't feel a finger of it. " He took another step. " However Miss changeling, I have a notion of what this is about." She smiled proudly. " And what might that be?" He swiftly flicked the card-stock memo to her. " Pretty old fashioned there so I can tell not every guest gets those on their stay. Seems quite personalized if you ask me." Before his next line could embark on its journey from mind to mouth, he heard her voice. This time however, those orchid stained lips hadn't twitched. As this began, her expression changed to match that of his dream; flirtatious yet mysterious. Her telepathy whispered to him, " Noir was appointed as Auburn." More baffled than ever, he maneuvered to the table, leaning on the table over her, " just as suspected little miss changeling was up to mischief." Her small hands softly clasped his scarred jawline. In that instant, as if gravity and all of newton's laws laid themselves against the back his skull, he kissed her. They escaped the stuffy confines of that under qualified holo-con center. They met under the astral buffet of near and distant stars. Her hair fading, root to tip, to a beautiful mix of brown and red. " My name is Carli by the way." Jet, still spellbound at how easily his mind escaped his body, kissed her again. His astral wings began to shimmer to life, one resembling diamonds and the other donning a metallic gold luster. " I go by jet because mind will always fly. " It seemed as though their time in that plane of existence was limitless. He had a list of questions longer than his wingspan doubled but she hushed him. Her earthly body, eyes still closed, ended the exchange. She slid her finger to his lips." Snap out of it sunny: the stars are calling." His eyes opened and it seemed as if a portion of the cosmos was refracting itself onto his irises. Their hands gripped the each others as they dashed to his ship. Moving past the concierge desk at inhuman speed, She flicked her name tag to her coworker and winked. The engines were barely retaining the last joules of heat from the morning re-entry. Before long they were ascending past Martian exosphere. "Where to?" "you'll see ." With a swift stroke of her hand she toggled the accelerator. "Besides Sonny, The stars are calling."
