Prompt 25: "Look both ways." (Icheb & Naomi)

Episode: "Workforce"

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Everything on Quarra was too much sometimes. Too many tall buildings blocking out the sky, too many workers hurrying past on the way to the factories … too many skimmers and hoverbikes on the road, tearing around corners and zipping through intersections in layers of high-speed traffic, from ground level all the way up to the rooftops of the tallest skyscrapers.

Naomi Wildman waited nervously for the traffic light across the street to change. What did the colors mean again? Orange for "stop", blue for "go"? She was almost positive that blue was for "go" … so she went.

Whoosh. Someone yanked her back onto the sidewalk by her arm just in time to stop a blunt-nosed craft with peeling red paint from running her over. Her hair blew back as it zoomed past, its driver not even turning around.

"Ow! Hey!" She pulled her arm out of the stranger's grip and spun around. "What'd you do that for?"

"It is customary to look both ways before crossing the street." The speaker was an older boy, almost grown up, with black hair and a pale, narrow face. A piece of metal stuck to the ridge between his eyebrows. He wore a shiny green uniform that was too big in the shoulders, making him look even skinnier than he already was. He looked worried.

"Yeah, well, I know that much," she snapped, feeling stupid after getting caught in such a childish mistake. "I'm not a baby. I just didn't see that one coming."

By the look of him, though, he didn't think she was a baby.

"It is not your fault. That driver should have stopped. I'm sorry if I startled you," he said, as serious and polite as if they were both the same age. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." She flexed her arm and brushed off her overalls, which were sprayed with dirt from the road, to show him how okay she was. "I, uh … I'll be more careful next time. Thank you."

He was just about to answer, but in that moment, another fast-moving vehicle roared around the same corner, making them both jump. This one, though, she recognized. It was her mom's hoverbike with the sidecar, the one she'd bought at the secondhand garage around the block, and it stopped right where it should have, at the traffic light. Samantha Wildman pulled off her helmet, shook out her long blond hair, and fixed her daughter with a look that said: You're in trouble.

"I told you to wait for me at the daycare!"

"You were late!" Naomi snapped back. "The other kids were all going home and it's not like I don't know the way."

"My shift ran overtime, I'm sorry … but you still should've waited. Didn't you get my comm?"

"No."

"You need to check your comm next time this happens. It's not safe for you to walk around the city alone!"

She was scared, Naomi could see that. Her mom only got this wild-eyed and sharp-voiced when she was scared. It was hard to argue with her when she was like this.

"I'm okay, Mom, I promise. Can we go home now?"

"Not so fast." Sam's eyes narrowed as she glanced from Naomi to the older boy, who had been standing a few steps away following every word they said. "Who are you, young man, and why were you talking to my daughter?"

"M-my name is Icheb, ma'am." He stood tall, put both hands behind his back and looked her in the eye, a posture which Naomi found strangely familiar. "I'm a senior at Central Secondary School. I was just, uh … helping your daughter familiarize herself with local traffic laws."

"He's nice," Naomi chimed in. "Stop worrying."

"You called me ma'am." Sam still looked suspicious, but also like she was trying not to smile. "How would a Brunali get to know English honorifics?"

"I … " Suddenly the tall young man looked a lot younger as his serious gray eyes glazed over in confusion. It wasn't the first time Naomi had seen that look, or even felt that way herself. Her mom said it was normal for immigrants in a strange city, but she didn't like it.

"My guardian is human," he said, brightening up, as if he'd remembered himself again. "So are some of our neighbors. We live at the housing quarters for the power plant. If you are new to this city, I could introduce you."

"Your guardian … I see."

Sam's eyes became very kind, and Naomi could guess why. Her mom was always worried about losing her in this big alien city, and it obviously worried her to meet a boy who had lost his birth family. She hoped his guardian was good to him, whoever they were.

"It's kind of you to offer, Icheb. My name is Sam Wildman, and this is Naomi Wildman. Could I have your comm signature, please?"

As Sam and the older boy took out their communicators and leaned over them in concentration, Naomi smiled. This city might be loud, dirty, crowded and fast-moving, but it didn't seem quite so alien anymore.