When the episode ended, I looked up at Kal and focused on the deep line between his eyebrows. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking many things.”
“And they are?”
“This is entertainment?”
“Yeah.”
“It doesn’t make sense to me. Someone was murdered, and you watch people examining this person’s death?”
“Seeking justice.”
“Are murders so common?”
“Common enough, yeah.”
“That’s very sad.” He gently touched my cheek with the back of his finger. “You had to live through that.”
“No one I know was murdered.”
“But you enjoy this?” he asked, fingers on my chin.
“I do. It’s the mystery of it, the who done it.”
“Hmm.” He stroked my chin, sending tingles ricocheting down my spine.
Moving out of his grasp, I asked, “You don’t have something like TV shows on your planet?”
“No,” he said, tail caressing my knuckles. “We have plays, but they’re usually about wars of the past, family, or love. Fiction books have become quite popular in the last few hundred cycles, though there are very few drakcol authors. Recently, experiences have become popular after the importing of the technology.”
“What’s an experience?”
He grinned. “Do you want me to show you?”
It took me a minute to decide, bouncing between the options as the worst possible scenarios played in my mind from Kal luring me to my death or the technology hurting me. He did not press me for my answer.
“Sure.”
Kal stroked Lucy. “We shall have to wait for her to move.”
I fought a smile, sitting up. Lucy, predictably, stretched and jumped off.
We exited the elevator on the fourth floor. Vines grew around the railing and trailed over the glass wall that blocked us from the ledge. Kal directed me into a shop with blinking lights and foreign letters. One glass counter spanned the plain entryway of the shop, and a tall, bright blue, and pencil-thin alien stood behind it. Three monitors behind the counter depicted gorgeous scenery, two green aliens hugging suggestively, and a battle.
“This is an experience shop,” Kal said. “The lone one aboard. There are two suites on deck eight for the crew members. We can use them, though they have a long wait list.”
I nodded, staying close to his side as my eyes remained on the new alien.
When Kal and I got close, the alien looked up from their tablet, eyes yellow with huge, round pupils. Near their long nose that ended in a sharp hook was another set of much smaller eyes, whose purpose I couldn’t even begin to guess.
“Welcome to Crak’s Virtual Emporium, how can I help you?” they asked in a nasal tone.
“One suite for an hour,” Kal said.
The alien prodded the console on the counter with bony fingers. “Room three. You will get a fifteen-minute warning before shutting off. If you want more time and no one has reserved the suite, pay more at the panel near the door.”
We stepped into a square room that was completely empty.
