Kaihime still wasn’t sure what to think of the carbon spitting locomotion Alli drove through streets filled with hundreds of other similarly poisonous vehicles. She knew that this world was far more noxious than she could see from their broadcasts. Thousands of articles existed to discuss the harm this transportation did to the air of a city this size. But no one seemed to care as they drove them to and from work or school or even nowhere in particular. She couldn’t quite understand why people would be so disinterested in their own well-being. Even if their technology couldn’t be made cleaner, some means of well maintained public transit would be far wiser for their continued well-being.
“Look, Kaihime. It’s time you stopped staring out the window. I told you I need answers if I’m going to keep driving around this city on a wild goose chase.”
Kaihime turned back to the other woman. “What do geese have to do with this mission?”
“Nevermind that. What is this about?”
Kaihime studied the intricate pattern tattooed onto Alli’s shoulder. It poked out from under a sleeve and traveled down to her elbow. The ink braided into skin reminded her of the circuitry bound to her own form. She wondered if the tattoo was anywhere near as painful as her own transformation.
“I come from a place called The Aerie. It is not of this world, but adjacent to it. I believe the best term I could use in English is a pocket dimension. It is a space made separate of Earth society where I could be raised in isolation.”
“Okay, that’s certainly not anything I can begin to comprehend and I talk to ghosts, lady.”
“It is nothing unusual for me. It was the way of my life. I was born with a deadly illness, a cancer that ate away at every ounce of my body from the day I left my mother’s womb. Exposure to this atmosphere would have made it far worse. My mother and father sought a way to raise me outside of normal time where they could retard the cancer’s growth until they could find a way to destroy it. In The Aerie, I could be kept in a state of slowed time while they would be able to use the intervening years to find the answers they need to keep me alive.”
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