Star Rider

Alcon's Journal #16 -- Acquaintance

DSF@3130cfb4c425d6af9c691ed4babdf3a4

The sleep aid worked well, and when I woke up, my smart wearable system informed me that I had slept for six and a half hours. Mars began pushing me the DSF3137 system messages it had received, and I absentmindedly flipped through them one by one while leaning back in bed. When I was almost finished, I saw a message from Ami that had been sent earlier - "Hi Alcon, good morning."

I replied to her message and we continued chatting for a while. We decided to go to a nearby Japanese restaurant for dinner. I left my room and walked through the long advertising corridor into the lobby, where I saw Ami also coming out from the other side. She was wearing a light green casual suit jacket with a black cropped pants and ankle boots. She still had her small leather backpack.

We walked up to 1B Street along the stairs, where there were noticeably more people than in 1C. We both bypassed the automatic sidewalk and walked onto the pedestrian walkway. As we walked down the street, the various advertisements on the dome above us continued to change. Some were selling real estate in space habitats, some were from interstellar travel companies, and some were from artists I couldn't even name, all trying to promote their new songs or movies. I looked down and said, "I don't understand, are these really cool?" Almost at the same time, Ami sighed, "Why do they have such high opinions of themselves?"

I chuckled, "Is it because we've spent too much time in outer space?"

Ami playfully winked, "Not me, it's because you've been gone for over three years..."

I shrugged, "There's nothing I can do, it's simply too far away... literally..."

When we arrived at the restaurant, we found a relatively quiet spot to sit. Ami's smart wearable lit up and she looked at the message before typing a few words and looking up to say, "It's my mom and sister. I told them I met a friend named Alcon..." Before I could reply, she continued, "Alcon, your name isn't very common, do you mind telling me how you got it?"

I hesitated for a moment, then told her that my father was a soldier whose flagship, located in Earth's orbit, was called "Falcon". It was also the flagship of his fleet, and he took the name of his vehicle and removed the first letter of his name - "F," to create a short name, "Alcon."

Ami was a little surprised, "Your father is Fletcher?"

I nodded, not saying anything. I felt that in Ami's generation, perhaps fathers were still seen as "butchers."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up painful memories..." Ami apologized.

"Oh, no, it's just that many people think of my father..." I felt a little awkward.

"No, that's just war, and everything happens for a reason, right?" Ami suddenly gave me a great sense of comfort. My mother and I had once thought that, under the extreme pursuit of "political correctness," my father might continue to be burdened with a criminal charge and never see the light of day.

"Thank you, Ami..."

Ami smiled and extended her smart wearable screen on her wrist to show me her display. "This is my mother and my sister," she said. I glanced at the photo of the three of them, Ami and her sister leaning against their mother's embrace. Before I could inquire further, Ami added, "I don't have a father..."

I paused for a moment, uncertain about how to respond. Ami seemed to perceive my unease and added, "Oh, it's alright. I mean, I haven't seen my father since I was a child. My sister, my mother, and I have always lived together as a family of three."