Joie de Vivre

Chapter One-Saavi

My arm recoiled. Not by my own doing, as I didn't have control over it at the moment. The mechanic had disconnected it from my body, as they began to check each part of it. I watched as my fingers curled in, making a fist, as the long pistons in my forearm moved. They were made of a light alloyed metal, while not heavy, durable. The thin but long pistons controlled the movement of my individual fingers. I had heard some rubbing of the metal around them yesterday, I scheduled the most recent appointment at the mechanic that I could.

She was aiming for a biologically female appearance, as I was. Although, her cosmetics where beautiful compared to my own. Her skin, instead of the human-y pale we went for by default, was all a hot pink. She had a third eye, positioned above her nose and between her other two. The several ornate decorations around her face and neck and arms easily marked her as a mechanic, as none of the rest of us could afford to have such beautiful cosmetics. Mechanics can do their own cosmetics- easily giving away her profession.

My own cosmetics, which I had to save for months to afford, are seen as very extravagant to others on their own; I had my eye replaced with a white iris, with swirling blues and blacks and oranges leading from my forehead to my collarbone, making half of my face appear to be a galaxy. This sort of theme was very popular, galaxy themed cosmetics. It's a way to differentiate ourselves from the humans we appeared as by default. Galaxy, I believe, is so popular because it's something we did, that humans couldn't. We found others. So we wear it on our bodies, as if proclaiming our superiority.

I looked back up to my arm on the table. The mechanic was bent over it, trying to either look inside or move something out. She was peering between the pistons, with a long, thin metal tool she seemed to be using to look between the wires and other pistons inside of it. Her right eye was focused in the same direction for was moving the long metal tool in, her left fixed on my fingers. Her third eye was also looking where the right was.

It was intriguing, to watch a mechanic work. The office was relatively comfortable, with a smooth, soft white chair of which I sat on, surrounded by clean, pearly white walls. There was a roomba on the floor, buzzing around the room and picking up any of the parts from my arm that could have been dropped on the floor, eagerly waiting for the mechanic to look inside it, and take any lost parts as to add them back to my arm.

I stayed and watched for awhile, even though I could have left at any moment I chose to. The mechanic would have called me when she was finished and ready to reattach my arm. However, I've always found watching mechanic's work interesting. Year before last I'd wanted to become one, but I've long since abandoned that dream for a far better career choice.

I watched as she pulled out a thin, inch long length slab of metal from in between the pistons of my arm, and tossed it to the roomba. It gladly zoomed over, and sucked it up, giving a satisfied chirp in response. She looked up at me, with her third eye.

"I'm ready to reattach your arm. If you have any more trouble with it, come back immediately. It may need replacing."

I gave a nod. She began to align the end of my shoulder against the socket, and worked to connect the parts and joints again. I never really understood how this process worked, as there were no open nails or connectors visible from the outside of my arm, no matter how many times I got it replaced or removed. It was like nothing had ever happened to it- fresh from the factory, some would say.

The mechanic worked quickly. So quickly, that when I looked down again, her arm was attached and working normally.

The mechanic looked at me, again with only her third eye.
"You should get going. Important people like you certainly can't waste time with a mechanic."

I gave a nod, looking down at my fingers. I pulled them in the make a fist, before stretching them out again. They were a bit stiff, but functioned. I stood. "Yes. Thank you." I said, giving a small bow to the mechanic, who followed me to the door.

There was a girl out there, who I immediately didn't recognize. She didn't have the default human look, nor a galaxy one. I looked back to the mechanic, who introduced the woman. "Saavi." She said.

I gave a wave to Saavi, who shook her head. She had an odd voice, which immediately revealed to mewhat she was.

"Don't give me your wave, scrap metal. I'm here to get you, because the rest of your kind is too busy building more of you to learn our language."