The Lost

Mannings

They pulled up to a guard station, and Tony pressed a button on the dashboard. She assumed that this was a button to send clearance to pass through the gate, but she didn't know, and she didn't feel like asking at the moment. She sat silently, and actually observed as a team of guards walked around the vehicle, inspecting the exterior for things that shouldn't be there. It wouldn't be until much much later that she asked, and was told why this was necessary.

Elder Rich looked at the time. "Do you need a menu to know what you want? What am I doing asking that, Of course you do. You've never been to Mannings before." He tapped a few keys on his data pad, and a holographic projection appeared in front of Annabeth. She was actually able to interact with this hologram, and it changed when she pressed the arrows to go backwards or forwards. She smiled, and scanned the Menu, taking down the options, and wondering what more than a few of the selections were.

They sounded like alien dishes to her, but then again, this was a space station. Maybe they were alien dishes. She had made her decision by the time they had arrived to the restaurant, and they walked inside surrounded by the guards as the car went and parked itself.

She watched as to either side of the streets, pedestrians moved out of the way of the guards, as if they wanted nothing to do with them. 'These people live in fear' She thought to herself, and continued to observe them as they went into the establishment. Outside, in the clear sun the day had been providing them, the building had looked bland, almost cold. But that was probably to protect it during construction, or something. She could only guess at this point. She would ask The Curator later. or maybe Georgina.

As they walked through the front doors, and alarm beeped, and they were let through as the manager of the establishment saw who it was that sat off the alarm. They looked curiously at Anna, as if they had never seen someone like her before. Maybe it was her hair. Such a vibrant pink was even odd on earth, where she was originally born, raised, and ultimately, changed, before she became what she was now.

The manager bowed to the Elder. "Welcome back, Elder Rich. Usual table?"

He shook his head. "Not today, Mai. We need to utilize banquet room three. for four hours. We will have lunch, a meeting and then dinner, and we will be off. I will however order a round of your famous Sweet Rolls to start us off." He finished with a grand smile for her.

Main nodded and bowed. "Right this way, please." She was a short woman. Shorter than Anna, and that was odd for her as Anna was five foot six inches without her boots. Her boots added two inches of height, which was one of the reasons she hated being without them. The main reason, however, was because she just loved boots. Nothing else felt right on her feet.

She followed the manager, Mai, and the Elder, and Curator through a pair of double doors, They turned right, and passed through what she believed to be a cherry oak set of doors, and to a banquet space that held a projector screen, which was the first thing that was obvious when they walked in. the next was the size of the table. It looked like it could fit twenty people easily.

There were plants in the corners, and all of the chairs were high backed chairs, no slouching allowed, it would seem. She took in the sight with great reverence. Not even on earth had she been in a room designed like this. In the ceiling, the lights were all recessed, and never flickered, She could could no discernable controls for lights in the room at all. Mai sat Elder Rich at the head of the table, and then arranged the others where they would be siting. Anna, being new to the entourage was placed at the front of the table, facing elder Rich across the great expanse.

This made her a little nervous as The Curator was about halfway between them, and she didn't know how communicating was going to go, until the Elder spoke. "Quite a fancy place, is it not?" He asked her with a smile. She was surprised that she could hear him so easily and clearly.

She nodded. "Yes. This is probably the fanciest place I have ever eaten at before. The resonance for audio is rather good too. I would much like to know how that is possible, But I can wait and discuss that with The Curator once we are finished here."

Elder Rich nodded, and looked about. the guards had taken up spots around the room, facing inwards. "We will begin once everyone arrives. One of the ways it is possible to hear so clearly is we all speak one at a time if we need to talk over the short distance of the room and table. I don't suspect that to be a problem anytime soon, but we do it so there is no confusion." He smiled kindly at Anna, and then turned to Mai as she walked up to him. He shook his head once at a question she asked, and then nodded, before looking at Annabeth. "What would you like to drink, Anna?" He asked her.

She had almost forgotten her selections in her awe of the establishment, but quickly remembered. "Lemon tea with honey, please."

Mai beamed. "An excellent choice, I make it homemade, I'm sure you'll love it, dear." She said, and she bustled out of the room. It didn't take very long before another server was coming in with their drinks and setting them down all along the time. Every seat was giving an ice water, and Elder Rich had a Bourbon, while The Curator stuck with his water. The server was another short lady, Asian, by appearance, but there were some subtle differences. The color of her eyes, for instance. Not one you would find on earth. Although those could be contacts, of course.

She smiled kindly at the lady. "Your Lemon tea, with Honey." She said in a low, sweet sounding voice.

"Thank you." Replied Annabeth, to which the server bowed, and made her way out of the room, standing to the side of the door as Elder Engrid walked through with three guards of her own, followed by a group of fifteen other individuals. It was apparent that the meal, and the meeting, were about to begin.