Mr.Sandman: Book 1

Chapter 4: Lavender Scented Death

Charlemagne had soon joined Zoe in slumber as Darell piloted them. It was a few hours before they had reached their destination. The ship touched down among many others. Darell yawned and stretched his legs before heading towards the back. He jostled both Charlemagne and Zoe until they were awake. Charlemagne glanced at the porthole, it was seemingly night time on the planet. Charlemagne got up, perhaps too quickly as he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder again. Zoe shook her head as she arose, stifling a yawn.

"Nice to see you two awake, we're here."

Zoe asked, "And where is here?"

Darell chuckled a little before responding, "Does it really matter?"

"Well, I'd like to know, is all."

"Fair enough, we're still in the same solar system. We're about three planets away from the previous one we visited. I've never been here myself, but things shouldn't be too different. Though I guess from your perspective, everything is different?"

"This narrows down nothing for me."

"And therefore, it doesn't matter."

Charlemagne had opened the door and shambled outside, Zoe and Darell both took notice, joining him. They looked around, despite it being night time, it was rather well lit. Floating lanterns slowly drifted through the air among what seemed like cherry blossom petals. The petals crashed against all the other ships in what was an assumed parking lot type parking lot area they found themselves in. Charlemagne stuck his hand out in the air and closed it, opening it revealed one of the petals. He palmed it, it was soft, like a plant unsurprisingly. Familiarity brought a smile to his face as he let it go to rejoin the swarm of petals being swept away by the breeze.

The lanterns seemed to be made of a metallic material, the frame at least. Inside was a small flame which propelled the paper walls of its structure. They too drifted aimlessly as far as the eye could see. The building they were in front of was massive, its upper echelons seemingly extending to the heavens. It resembled classic Japanese architecture, loosely at least. Zoe was fairly certain what was the case, but asked Darell regardless.

"So, where are we, Chinatown?"

"Good guess, Naomi is the formal name of this planet. Primitive human space exploration lead a few of your kind here, where they greatly influenced the way things progressed. In fact, a small clan of humans exist here, still. It's quite fascinating, really."

"I thought you mentioned your own planet hadn't had human visitors in hundreds of years, why haven't one of them from this planet visited?"

"They don't leave the planet. Exactly why is unknown, but I speculate it's a pride sort of thing. Honor and justice are just as important as water and food here, their strong morals keep a certain peace about this place. That's what I've read at least."

Charlemagne was curious now, and seemingly delighted as his face lit up, "What a stroke of luck. Other humans, just when I had begun to become content with traveling the cosmos with you gaggle of characters."

Darell lead them inside, the interior didn't come as a surprise to anyone seeing as how the planet made its first impression. Zoe and Charlemagne were meet with stares as the population of the lobby fell to silence. Charlemagne met their eyes eventually causing them to avert their own. Others focused on his bandaged arm and lost a little color in their faces. Zoe had become uncomfortable with the attention, and once she had gotten ahold of the key from Darell, who had been talking to the alien behind the counter, grabbed Charlemagne's good arm and quickly lead them to her room.

Once they were inside, she sank against the door and exhaled sharply. She was shaking ever so slightly as her breathing showed no signs of slowing. Eventually she stood, glaring at Charlemagne with scared eyes.