The alien at the front rolls her wide eyes when you ask about Hamish. “He’s been up on the next level all day. Catching up on every movie from the past orbit.”
“Thank you,” you say, and make to go past her.
“Ticket!” she says.
“I don’t have any Carcharhini money,” you say. Was money going to stop you from getting to the next level? “But, I’m only going to be in there for a moment to take him back to his ship. He might even be sick.”
“Sick?”
“Yes,” you say, looking sternly at the alien. “Very sick.”
“But, I can’t let you in without a ticket.”
“Well,” you say, grinning. “It looks like this might be a dilemma for you. You let me in to rescue him and take him to hospital, and not charge me any money, or I go away and a possible disease starts spreading across your entire world.”
“That’s not a dilemma. That’s a moral choice. And even then, it’s a fake choice because there really is only one I can make.”
You shrug. “At least it’s not an invisible choice!”
She stands aside, and you vaguely make out a slight smile on her neck as you quickly shuffle up the ramp to find Hamish.
A shark-like being with an even wider head is the only one in the cinema and he’s watching a pod’s cops and robbers film. You raise an eyebrow in surprise. Hamish can move stars and pilot a 1000-kilometre-long ship. Amazing what superintelligent beings do in their downtime.
“Hamish!” you call above the sound of exploding gangster cars, and approach his seat.
“Finally! I was going mad trying to chill out here! Like, I’m totally beat.” He quickly puts bio-gloves over his fins and shakes your hand, then pulls you close for a quick hug. “My flashband totally ate it when I fell through the Bridge. Epic fail. Had to get a new one. Ancient United States accent. It’s totally sick. What do you think, bro?”
You uncomfortably extricate yourself from the hug, Hamish’s teeth being way too close to your shoulder. “It sounds, um, it’s an expressive choice! I’ve been able to find Bob but not Carla. Would you know anything?”
“Yeah, bro. Caught the last part of Carla’s message. It might help.”
He sends it to your mind. You see:
-universe/
“It might be, like, part of an address,” Hamish says. “You’ll have to use your intuition to get your ducks in a row or you’ll be totally shook.”
“Thank you,” you say. “Ready to return?”
“Abso-fishing-lutely!”
“And we’ll get Sarah to fix your translator.”
“Dope!”
Hamish holds your hand while you activate your flashband and you both return to The Celestial Breeze.
Are you ready to find Carla?
a) You find Carla right now!