Left Handed

22

The ship emerged between towers of huge buildings and landed atop of one of them. It was very disorienting. As we entered through the surface of the moon, I felt like gravity was below my feet, so it felt like we went sideways into a wall as opposed to downward into a hole. Then, once we were in the tunnel, it felt like we were indeed going down. Then as we flew between the buildings, it felt like we were going up. At no point my subjective gravitational field changed: the floor stayed the floor.

Then, after we had landed and stepped out of the ship, I looked up and almost fainted. There were a few tiny clouds which was odd in itself but what really shook me was the body of water behind the clouds, or over the clouds.

We landed on a pad on top of one of the buildings. I was now wearing a flowing, ankle length dress. It was blue and signifies my status as guest to the moon. Though, in truth, I looked so alien to these people, I couldn't be anything else. Also, as I wasn't wearing a beekeeper outfit, I pribabaly wasn't a NASA stray, either.

A landing ramp let us disembark. There was no welcoming committee or anything like it but there were a couple of Atlanteans standing in a clump at the bottom of the ramp. Unconsciously I moved slightly behind Frzzzbo.

And then I looked up. At first I saw the clouds. It was odd given the location but it was also something I was used to. After all, that's where clouds are back on Earth. Then I looked further at the "blue sky." Vertigo hit me like a hammer and I crouched down, both hands on the floor.

"Why does your sky have waves?" I asked, incredulously.

Bo laughed. "That is not the sky."

I followed the concave of the sky/sea with my eyes and it turned to land. The ceiling became the "wall" and with it, the terrain changed to wooded hills. And so on.

"We're in a cave," said Bo. "This is one of three caves. We use gravitational machines to inhibit or increase gravity so as to fullly capitalize on the space we have."

"Wicked," I said, still dumbstruck.

"Come on," Bo said. We passed the people and Bob said some words in his language. Then we continued on. As we went down the building and onto the streets, I was once again struck with how clean everything was. And this time, it was despite the immense fauna. Trees lined every road, there were parks, great and small, scattered through town and most buildings were covered in vines. Yet it all looked meticulously cared for.

"Where does the light come from?" I asked. Indeed, it struck me that, obviously, the sun did not shine into the interior of the moon. Yet the whole place glowed a comfortable gold and light blue hue.

Frzzzbo made a grand, sweeping motion with his hand. "The buildings. All the walls and floors and roofs are made of what you would call glow in the dark material. Of course they don't just glow by themselves."

"And during the night?" I asked. Don't get me wrong, it's bonkers how great this place is, but I didn't cherish spending days in daylight.

"We have a day/night cycle. Twelve hours of day and twelve hours of night with dusk and dawn for an hour each." Also, the other caves are on altered schedules so you could, if you wanted to, stay indefinitely at night or day."

"No, thanks," I said.

We wound our way through the streets to a squat building close to a lake. Atlanteans were swimming in there and...

"Is that a bloody mermaid?" I yelped.

Frzzzbo chuckled. He was very at ease now as could be expected in your own home versus another planet.

"Yes and no. Body modification. Just like you got."

I looked at my legs. Well, not quite.

As we entered the building, Bo told me that this was his home and that he lived here with his clan. We went through the foyer and were greeted by a tall woman. She had the same blue skin (like every Atlantean we've come across so far) and yellow eyes as Frzzzbo but her hair was blonde. They had very similar facial features which made me wonder if they were siblings. She had no wings though. Probably Bo's were another modification.

"Meet my mother, Trzzzbo. Mom, meet Tracy. She's from Earth." Frzzzbo held out both his arms, welcoming us to greet each other.

I looked at Trzzzbo again. She didn't look a day over 25. Damn.

"No shit, Frzzzy. I can see that." Frzzzbo winced. So parents have the capacity of embarrassing their children in every species. Peachy. Nevertheless I filed "Frzzzy" away for later.

"Welcome to New Atlantis, Tracy," Trzzzzbo said, considerably warmer. "I trust you'll enjoy yourself very much." I liked her. She had an approachable air to her, not unlike Frzzzbo.

"I suppose you're here to see you mother." she said.

"Mom? Is she here? In this house?" I asked, excitedly. I couldn't wait to see a familiar face and to finally be assured that mom was safe.

"Of course. She's upstairs."

I bolted to the grand staircase at the end of the foyer and took the steps two and three at a time. This new body was really something. I had hardly exercised it at all and already I felt in better form than ever. Frzzzbo stood on top of the stairs when I arrived, wings outstretched.

"Slow down there. You don't even know where she is."

Together we went to a room which looked like a hipster cafe. Mom sat on a sofa by the window, looking out at the city and sipping coffee. I ran over to her and half way through the room she spotted me and we collided in a huge embrace.

After we untangled, we went to the sofa and I was about to sit next to her when Frzzzbo put his hand on my shoulder.

He pointed at the sofa opposite my mom and said, "Sit there, please."

Slightly confused I sat and he sat next to mom. Oh no. I dreaded what would happen next.

"Tracy," mom said. "There is something we should tell you."