The Kroptonis Talent Institute

ACT 2

It was the morning of the next day. Xedzor was lying in bed dead asleep when his alarm rang. He groaned quietly, rubbed his eyes and turned off the loud sound. Work was calling, so he stood up and started his morning routine.

Warm rays of sunshine were beaming into his spacious apartment through the large windows that made up the entirety of one of the walls. The light was falling onto piles and piles of documents littered all across the space. Hundreds of sketches, rough drafts, and fill-in-the-blank forms were scattered across all of the surfaces in the apartment. The whole kitchen was unusable, it seemed like it was a very messy paper company warehouse. Xedzor opened the fridge and was met with disappointment when he discovered only a couple of containers with leftovers. He frowned and decided to order a meal that, luckily, already arrived when he was exiting the shower. His mood significantly improved when he opened the package and freed the smell of fresh produce which quickly filled the room.

After dressing up and taking his things, Xedzor exited the apartment and entered a dark hallway. All of the lights above the doors in this windowless corridor worked, except for his. The hectic start of his day continued. He walked up to the elevator doors.

The elevator chirped happily and Xedzor entered it. "Select your destination" a feminine voice of pure calmness stated. He pressed the button and the elevator started descending. The display quickly cycled through floors: 34M, 33M, 32M... Then, the doors suddenly opened and a man greeted Xedzor with open hands.

"Hey! Xedzor!" the man exclaimed. "Haven't seen you in ages! What a coincidence!" he said and pressed the 1M button.

"Hey, Hestor, nice to meet you... man," Xedzor said with a quiet groan and leaned back against the railing.

"So, Xedz, you still working at that lab? Told you we should have run together! Imagine all the career opportunities you could've had! I've got so many clients you wouldn't even imag..."

"Listen, Hest," the historian interrupted him, "we've been through this countless times. Selling 'historically-proven alternative medicine solutions' is really far away from my interest and expertise."

"Come on, dude. I don't think any of us here wanna get sued," the businessman responded vehemently as his eyes darted around. "We are selling traditional wellness therapeutics. Not whatever that was that you mentioned. Neeeever heard of it," he uttered in a more laid-back tone.

"Yeah, yeah, no need to play a saint with me. I realize what you're doing. Just keep it to yourself, okay? I know you're my brother and all that but that doesn't mean I have to take all of your shit, you hear me?" Xedzor lashed out.

"Woah, caaaalm down," Hestor replied as he took a step back. "I get it. Fine. I'll try not to mention work. But you know I have to mention my success at least sometimes," he countered, a sneering grin spreading across his face.

"That works for me," the historian sighed and quieted down. "Don't worry, I still remember that we're family. It's just... difficult sometimes." Xedzor said once he exited the elevator and walked out into the lobby. After hesitating for a second, Hestor followed suit and they parted ways.

Xedzor exited the spacious apartment building and breathed in the fresh air. Crowds of busy people were walking by, all had a purpose, a meaning, a goal. He texted Pekeet about their meeting. It was rather early in the morning, so he simply hoped his new coworker was already awake.

While he was walking down to the nearby garden, he received a text message that he read only upon arrival. "Hey, I just remembered we were supposed to meet. Still want to?". Xedzor sent him the location info and sat down at a bench near a large tree by a dinky fishpond. The sun was slowly rising among the busy cityscape with thousands of civilian shuttles flying up above.

Xedzor leaned onto the back of the bench and looked around. The manicured gardens of the Kroptonis capital have always impressed people - even those who grew up with them. The diligence and the attention that the robotic workers paid to these shrubberies clearly showed. No matter what time or place it was, bots were everywhere. Everyone just took this as granted, as a thing that always existed and didn't require any questioning. The "wondrous automatons", as the creatives would sometimes call them, were simply a dull means to an end for everyone else.

Even though land on the empire's capital is as expensive as you would think, the park was big enough to fit more than a couple of apartment buildings in it. The government needn't worry about overpopulation - in the space age you can just send the homeless and the unemployed to another planet. To add to that, even if we did need housing, we would just build up. There were enough expandable old world buildings to sustain double the current population.

In the distance, behind all of the trees, the shrubberies and the gigantic flowers that were imported from offworld, outside the park premises, was Pekeet. He was a tall Mahian male belonging to the Norradan Migratory Flock, a well-established galactic empire. The Mahians were an avian species known for their charismatic and inquisitive personalities but most importantly their, sometimes borderline obsessive, craving of contact with other cultures. They got along well with most nations they've encountered throughout their cosmic journey and eventually became an important player in managing galactic migration and travel by establishing various hubs and processing centers all over the galaxy.

Pekeet walked up to the grand stone archway that lead into the plant-filled park the men were supposed to meet at. He spent a brief moment taking in the lush magnificence of the grounds and, after taking a couple of quick pictures, then proceeded to prance along the pathway towards his destination.

Xedzor immediately noticed the unusual, rather feathery figure walking towards him. He stood up, presupposing that both of their cultures viewed this as a gesture of politeness, and took a step forth. Pekeet was close enough to speak at that moment.

"Long time no see, man! Actually, we've never seen each other in person and it's been... about half an hour since we texted. Ain't that a doozie?" he cawed, his dark blue eyes lighting up as he analyzed the plantoid figure in front of him.

"It sure is. Glad to meet you, Pekeet. So..." Xedzor stopped mid-sentence due to the fact that Pekeet suddenly reached out for a hug of sorts. After a brief moment of confusion on both parts, Pekeet stood down and started to apologize.

"Oh, right, sorry. I keep forgetting you guys don't do that. It's a cultural thing we have, not a big deal," he responded quickly.

"Sure, no worries. I'll keep that in mind," Xedzor said as he looked towards the park exit. "Anyways, as I was saying - shall we head out now?"

"Yeah, sure," Pekeet said cheerfully.