Into the Lost Universe

Chapter 5 - Introduction

Chapter Five

I was awoken by Alina, who tapped on my shoulder and hissed in my ear.

For a moment, I thought I had dreamt everything, and I was back at my bed in Kashgar.

"Psst, Aydan?"

Groggily, I opened my eyes. Nope, it was not a dream. I sniffed. Dreams don't have this sort of pungent smell, that's for sure.

"We've got to get ready. It's your turn with the cleaner."

I sat up. "What's the cleaner?"

Alina giggled upon seeing my disheveled hair, sticking out in five different directions. "It kind of dry cleans you, without any water."

My eyes widened. "Really?" I slipped my shoes on quickly and went to see.

A small slit in the wall laid near our bedroom, with a handle on it.

"Is it this? It's so small!" I asked Alina, who followed me. She nodded.

"Just open it and step inside. It automatically detects you."

I stepped inside and closed the door. For the first 0.5 seconds, it was pitch black. Then, blue light came from the floor, and a low, buzzing sound was heard. A cool sensation passed over my body, kind of like a chill, except that it felt pleasant. Then, the blue light shifted from the floor to the ceiling, and a mist sprayed down. I took in a breath. The mist smelt like the rest of the IGS, a medical, disinfectant smell. I didn't really like it, but it was better than smelling like sweat.

Then the door automatically opened, and I stepped outside.

Aimee was standing there, her blonde hair up in a greasy bun. "It's my turn." She greeted me with a pleasant smile. "How was it?" She asked me.

"Pretty cool," I replied. "You'll see."

She stepped inside and closed the door.

I went back to our bedroom, where Omar and an American girl was chatting. I struggled to recall her name. Lidia? She had long, wavy red hair that somehow was still glistening in the light. They turned to me. Lidia smiled.

"Aydan, have a hairbrush. Can't have Mister Zhao's attendant look so unkempt." She threw a hairbrush to me, and I began to brush my hair.

"You done?" Alina just entered the room.

I nodded, and pointed in the direction of the cleaner. "Aimee's going now."

"Oh good, she's the last one. We have to meet the diplomats in five minutes to prepare them for breakfast, and their first meeting."

"Prepare them? How?"

"Oh, you know, make them presentable, brush their hair, smooth out their clothes, things like that." My eyes widened in horror.

Alina laughed. "Don't worry Aydan, it's not that bad."

Lidia, who has started chatting with Aimee(who came out of the cleaner a few moments ago) chucked. "Yeah, be glad you don't have a female diplomat, you gotta do their makeup!"

I was glad.

**********************************************************************

The diplomats were already seated in their designated seats, each with mirrors in front of them. I made my way to Mister Zhao, and stood behind him. He gestured to a pile of clothes next to him. "I'm going to wear this to the meeting, iron it." I have seen my mom iron clothes enough times, and have done it once or twice, that I knew what to do. I took a square contraption, which was apparently an iron for space people, and passed it on top of his clothes.

I peered at Alina next to me, she was already doing the makeup of the female diplomat, rubbing all sorts of creams in her face.

The iron sizzled. Oops. I almost kept the iron in one place for too long. Luckily, I lifted it up just in time.

"Sir, it's done," I informed him.

He picked up his clothes and left. "I'll go change, dismissed."

I hung around for a while when a sound passed through the walls. "Five minutes to ten hundred hours. May the first meeting commence in the center quarter."

We gathered up all the diplomat's belongings, and they all left. Alina came towards me and said "Did you hear anything about how long the meeting is going to be?"

I shook my head.

Omar suddenly came rushing towards us. "They want us all in the assistant's corner in the central block!" Aimee shook her head. "For real?"

"According to Shix, yes."

We were going to meet the other assistants for the first time. It will be our first interaction with exo-humans.

Author's note: I wrote this a while ago, and I forgot to post it, sorry.