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– Chapter 13 –
‘In here!’ Mervyn grabbed Aurora and pushed her into a dimly lit bar. The others bundled in after them. Mervyn glanced back, but the urchins had already moved on.
Inside, the stuffy bar looked almost empty.
‘Weapons,’ a gruff voice demanded beside him, and Mervyn found his path blocked by a bouncer.
‘Sorry?’
‘Leave your weapons at the door,’ the bouncer frisked him with a hand-held scanner, then let him pass, ‘Welcome to Bar-None.’ Mervyn spotted an empty booth and herded his friends towards it. As they settled he took a long look around the crowded bar. Small booths like their own lined three walls and tall tables with stools dotted the open space between like a village square; a brightly lit counter ran along the fourth wall behind which rack after rack of bottles stretched to the ceiling, here was anything and everything to inebriate the unwary drinker. Mervyn spied a row of water bottles -- highly intoxicating to some hydrocarbon species. Here and there a bottle bubbled furiously, others glowed weird colours or looked frostily solid. In one Mervyn felt sure he could see something swimming round, peering out at the revellers -- he thought it waved, but it must have been his imagination.
The patrons were even more varied than the bottles. A wallowing Rinhus held court in another booth surrounded by Silvin laughing uproariously at its jokes, its huge body shaking alarmingly with each snort. A Bragal Beast, pretending it could not see anyone and therefore invisible, sprawled in another corner. Most surprising of all, half hidden in a shadowy corner where every other creature gave it a wide birth, sat a yellow and orange reptilian with four arms. The arms waved animatedly as it argued with two Puncheon.
Tarun glanced nervously from one group to another, ‘I don’t like this, I feel out of my depth, what am I meant to do?’
Loren grinned at his unease, ‘Relax, this is the raw outworld experience. Mervyn and I are used to this.’ Mervyn gave her a withering scowl, she was boasting again. Loren found such places exhilarating, but Mervyn wasn’t so sure -- there were dark undercurrents on Revlon, he could feel them working below the surface. Bartenders moved among the patrons taking orders and delivering trays of food and drink. Mervyn waved at the nearest one.
A dome-headed bartender hustled over to their booth, ‘Ah, Academy students, I is not remembering the last time I had Academy students in my bar. What can I get you young beings?’
‘I’ll get these,’ Mervyn said and ordered four drinks of Quaff.
Aurora glared suspiciously at the crowed bar, ‘So now we’re here what are we going to do?’
Mervyn glanced round uncomfortably, he had the distinct impression the seemingly busy crowd were listening to their every word. The four friends lean forwards and pressed their heads close together.
‘If we’re going to stop you-know-who and find my dad, we need to find the first transport back to the Academy as fast as we can,’ Mervyn said
‘What about the sleds?’ Loren asked, ‘Cage will kill us if we lose the sleds.’
Aurora rolled her eyes, ‘Who cares about the sleds?’
‘But they’re Academy property,’ Loren said as the bartender returned with four tankards on a tray.
Mervyn handed round the drinks, ‘You’ll love this stuff, I’m surprised they don’t have it at the Academy.’
Tarun sniffed suspiciously at the thick green liquid, ‘What is it?’
‘Quaff, it’s made from the juice of the Quaff-Quaff fruit. It originated on Remus IV, but it grows everywhere now.’
‘Isn’t Remus IV a desert?’ Loren asked.
‘It is now. Completely farmed out by the demand for quaff -- a huge ecological disaster.’
Aurora took a deep swig of the bubbling liquid, ‘Hmm, not bad -- refreshing.’
Mervyn grinned as he held the pay machine up to his eye for an iris scan, ‘I told you -- I don’t know why they don’t serve it on Academy One.’
‘A word of warning, young sir,’ the bartender said leaning into the booth. ‘I be getting myself some one-use debit cards if I were you. I be losing less that way.’
‘But iris scans are secure.’
‘Not in these parts.’
‘Oh, er... thanks,’ Mervyn held out his hand, ‘Mervyn Bright.’
The bartender took it hesitantly.
Loren offered her hand too, ‘Loren.’
‘Talulla,’ Aurora said remembering Mervyn’s instruction to remain anonymous.
Tarun hesitated, ‘Erm...Zonka.’
‘I be Bartended. Not very personable, but that’s the way I like it. Folks in these parts mostly keep their names to themselves. You not be related to Damien Bright, of the Mining Federation, is you?’
‘Er, yes, he’s my father.’
‘Put it there, son,’ the bartender said grasping Mervyn’s hand enthusiastically. ‘Your father is great champion of the Republic. Anything you wants you just ask your old Bartender, you hear?’
Mervyn finally shook his hand free, ‘Yeah, thanks. Actually, do you have any idea how we could find transport back to the Academy?’
The bartender suck air through his teeth with a hiss, ‘Difficult one that, but I know jus’ the being you need. Be here tonight at ten an’ I introduce you.’
‘Thanks, that’s fantastic. We’ll be here--’
‘Who’s the Silfar in the corner?’ Tarun asked unable to contain himself any longer.
The bartender glanced around the room, ‘Silfar? Oh, you mean the Centaph. ‘Tis dangerous to ask personal questions around here lad. Even more dangerous to answer them.’
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. It’s just that the President said he was the only one left.’
‘An’ so he is, but Silfar and Centaph be one and the same race, lad.’
Tarun looked puzzled, ‘You mean Al-Zak-Uilin is a Centaph? But they’re at war.’
The bartender laughed, ‘Don’ they teach you nothing at that fancy Academy? The Silfar and the Centaph civil war has dragged on for ‘undreds of years -- different ideologies see. Silfar value all life; Centaph value none but their own. Real messy. Why they can’ resolve their differences like normal folk I’ll never know.’
Tarun stared into the shadowy corner, ‘So that’s a Centaph...’
Aurora leaned across the table, ‘Fascinating, but if we are meeting someone here tonight we will need accommodation. Would you happen to know where we could find some?’
The bartender stared at her, ‘Talulla, ain’t it?’ Aurora nodded. ‘Well you be in luck -- I have lovely room upstairs jus’ for you an’ your friends. Give me a shout when you finish and I be taking you up,’ he bustled away to another table.
‘When I said use an alias I meant something sensible,’ Mervyn hissed appalled at his friends’ feeble imaginations.
Tarun looked embarrassed, ‘Sorry, there’s a bar at home called Zonka’s... First name I thought of...’
‘My great-aunt is called Talulla.’ Aurora said.
Mervyn felt his face reddening with embarrassment, ‘Oh, sorry. I um...’
‘Nah, only kidding,’ Aurora grinned, ‘My mind went blank as well.’
Mervyn felt a glow of affection for his friends as they laughed at his expense, ‘Drink up, we’ll need a rest before we meet with this contact, and we’ll need our whits about us.’