Child of Hades

25. Different worlds

Arto insisted I go to the sauna. I was not really keen on separating from my weapon, but he did not know that I was armed.

It was very refreshing to spend time with someone that was so harmless. I was quite sure that his mother had never made him fight to survive. As much as I loved Mother Nyx, at times I thought she was not perfect. I supposed that if he had grown up with a mother like mine, he would not be getting killed by me in the near future.

I took off my clothes near the sauna, making extra sure that my weapon was properly locked, all the while sneak-peeking to make sure Arto did not see me check my gun. We entered the sauna together. I had never felt so hot in my life.

"Is this deliberate?", sweat was running down my face and entire body.

"Yes.", Arto smiled. "Can you believe it?"

Trick question, I supposed.

Next, he told me about all the different foods that I should try while I am in Finland. None of the things he talked about seemed familiar except that some of the foods were made with animal blood. Chaus cuisine included many varieties of foods made from animal and/or human blood. "Do you use bones for cooking too?" He shook his head. "Only for taste sometimes."

"I actually find bone to be quite tasteless.", I said.

When we went out to jump into the lake, I finally started to understand this weird cultural practice. My body felt hot and cold, but I had never felt so alive.

"Let's do it again.", I said excitedly, once my body had cooled down.

We went to the sauna and to the lake 4 more times. It was very tiring. When sitting in the sauna, Arto asked me all kinds of questions. I tried to tell him about Chaus as honestly as I could. "Chaus has 2 seasons: a mild winter and a mild summer. The sun does not shine in either season, so I grew up looking at grey clouds. The main difference between the seasons is that in winter sleeping outside will cause you to freeze to death. In summer you will more likely die of dehydration."

Arto nodded, clearly shocked by what I had just told him. "What about your economy?"

 "Our economy is mostly based on providing services for other planets. We have a lot of specialists, so the demand for our services never ceases. We also have a lot of tourists.", I suppressed any undertone, keeping my face in line with the words I said. To be honest, I spent more time shooting at people than I spent lying to them. I did not even know if I was such a good liar.

"What kind of services?"

"Gardening. We are world-famous gardeners.", I spurted out.

"But there is no sunlight on your planet?"

"Exactly. That is how good we are. We grow plants without sunlight.", I said. Being around Arto, I could not help but smile.

Arto himself was working as a programmer. From the things he told me I deduced that earth's technology was far behind everyone else in the universe. Even Tharoans used techdevices.

Arto had a part in making games that could be played on game consoles and screens. The only virtual realities they did make were very simple, and required bulky equipment. Even the technology that Arto considered well-developed seemed bulky to me. Nevertheless, I smiled and nodded when he told me about earth's level of technology. He let me use his phone to search for information on earth. The network connection was bad, but Arto stressed that it was only because we were so deep in the woods.

I already knew that earth was filled with guinea pigs for Lex experiments. Their technology was undeveloped and I knew it never would develop because that would put them in a position to emancipate. Arto himself had never heard of the Lex. I decided not to search for the Lex on the earthly network for obvious reasons.

Guinea pigs are usually innocent. But even earthlings had their societies build on the sacrifices of lives lost. Their crimes and hypocrisy was hardly hidden. They reflected the flaws of their creators. Sanctimonious bunch.

There was no telling what kind of monsters Lex would eventually build with these guinea pigs.

I felt more and more conflicted. Arto was kind. I felt no desire to kill him, quite the contrary.

KM-13 had been gone for more than 24 hours and I was tired of waiting for him. If I had had a choice in this, I would be sitting on my Hubris right now enjoying Hibiscus. 

Arto and I took a shower and then put our clothes back on. We enjoyed another fire. This time he made pancakes for us. I did like pancakes. There was something really sweet about him. His smile was memorable.