Curheg, Sacorria

By the time the four visitors arrived to the city of Curheg, Antonio Nokaarbe was sleeping on the back seat of the shuttle. When they had stopped for a caf break earlier, he tried to make advances at GR-3, Code:Blue's musteline droid, but she did not seem particularly delighted. Sleeping seemed to be his method of coping with the second rejection of the day.

Unlike him, the members of Deeply Religious were eagerly listening to their cheerful, grinning host, never asking any questions about why they were suddenly being taken around Sacorria.

That proved to be a good decision.

Finally, the speeder dove into the thick-as-durasteel clouds of suspiciously coloured smog and landed on the roof of a large building covered in pink flowers. Code:Blue, who had spent some time grinning at places they were passing by, spoke again; as if he had snapped out of daydreaming once the picturesque landscapes changed to factories and almost exclusively eleven-storey buildings.

"Comrades, wake up! We have arrived to the glorious city of Curheg, the pride of Sacorria!"

"I bet you'd say that about any other city." Charon thought, scratched his nose and stretched in his seat. "So, where are we going?" He asked the host.

"The ProSper factory, where magic is made. Magic called Saygo!" Code:Blue jumped up and down and then looked to the back of the shuttle. "Comrade Nokaarbe, do you need a bib?"

Antonio woke up in a pool of his own drool on the cushion. Nevertheless, he seemed confused that the others were laughing at him.

"You OK?" Anra approached the flamboyant singer with caution. "Did something happen?"

"Something sure happened, my dear Duros. I had the most beautiful of dreams, ever. The most special, loving dream…involving a glorious individual of the female kind and I was…"

"…her infant child who could not burp?" Charon interrupted Antonio. "Yup, we get it, pal. That's one wicked, wicked fantasy you have there."

Nokaarbe was angry, but he remembered Dale's words and tried to remain calm. After all, Sacorrian trademark superfood – paranoia – was catching on him pretty fast – what if he was to become a slave at the ProWhatever factory?

GR-3 brought a super-absorbing sponge from the speeder's cargo compartment. Antonio raised an eyebrow and was about to say something, but she unenthusiastically stuck the sponge down his throat, turned around and followed her master, not paying any more attention to the offworlder. After all, she was programmed to despise them.

Charon was the first to get out of the shuttle. To him, Curheg didn't look glorious. On the contrary. The sun was barely visible through the smog and everybody walked around in shirts with a ProSper logo on them. He was sure that those shirts were supposed to be yellow, but the lack of colour was making them look greyish, almost dirty.

"It feels like home here." He said, sotto voce.

"Of course, comrade Valorum!" Code:Blue was right behind him again. "Curheg is home! Home of glory, home of progress and home of some of the most beautiful flower hybrids on Sacorria!"

"You misunderstood me, mast…comrade Glisse. I was born in Ronto, this…this small town on Nubia that you never heard of. And one of the reasons Nuba City is so beautiful is…the obvious fact that all the ugly factories, refineries and the shipyards are located in Ronto and the surrounding grasslands."

Code:Blue cocked his head. Then he shrugged and started nodding repeatedly, pointing at the flowers.

"I understand that. ProSper offices are in Sublata, of course! We will go there next, you will observe a true jewel of a city! But we don't have much time and you need to see the factory. Comrades Renek, Nubes and – of course - Nokaarbe, come along!"

"How can flowers even grow in this thick smog?" Anra looked at the closest iris. "I have never been to my home planet, but from what I understand, no plants grow on it and it's polluted…this place seems to be similar."

He kneeled and picked a flower. The scent was surprisingly sharp, in a good way, almost intoxicating. The Duros remembered something and, while Code:Blue was describing the beauty of Curheg to Antonio and Koobs, he came up to Charon.

"Do not smell any flowers, whatever you do!" He whispered. "I have seen Sacorrian irises before, there is something strange about these particular ones. I think they're a very, very specific kind of a hallucinogenic."

"W-what? Wasn't that a conspiracy theory from Galaxy Watch?"

"It was. But sometimes those turn out to be true. We need to be careful."

"Do we tell Nokaarbe about this?" Charon put an arm on his tall friend's shoulder. "Do you think it's our duty to warn him, like…true comrades?"

Seconds later, they both cackled.

…

The tour of ProSper factory was marked by a lot of "of course", a lot of manufactured enthusiasm on the workers' behalf and a lot of eye-rolling on the behalf of the two Humans, while the Ortolan and Duros mostly kept to themselves.

At the end of the visit, a group of women in traditional Sacorrian garbs approached Code:Blue and the four musicians in the main production hall. The shortest one among them, a Human with sandy-blonde hair, stepped out and presented the group with a carved wood tray.

"Progress and unity, comrades Valorum, Renek, Nubes and Nokaarbe!" The women behind her curtsied, as she continued. "Comrade Glisse may have told you that our glorious city of Curheg was the first settlement on the planet, more than twenty-seven millennia ago. And we have kept our humble customs to this very day. Therefore, I am presenting you with the traditional dust corn bread and salt from the mines of Solana."

Members of Deeply Religious stepped forward and took a slice of bread each.

"But…but…the carbs!" Antonio protested. "I do not eat…"

"What did you say, comrade Nokaarbe?" Code:Blue almost dropped the flat datapad he had been carrying around all day. Koobs stepped on Antonio's foot. The singer almost screamed, but – to everybody's luck – he got the clue.

"Sorry, I do not eat without carbs on the table. I'm so happy now. I get excited over carbs and I cannot imagine a life without a good slice of bread like this. Thank you."

The woman smiled and stepped back, leaving the food near a production line. She did not enjoy Antonio's presence. As the Ortolan reached back to the tray for more sliced bread, Charon approached Code:Blue with a request.

"I really, really need to use the 'fresher."

"Marinesca, where is the refresher?"

The woman pointed to the door on the other end of the hall.

"Aaah...of course!"

…

Sacorrata, Sacorria

Six more hours have passed by. Tendra and Doria were now sitting in front of the doors with about forty other teenagers behind them. One group appeared to be fans of SWS and another group was clearly into Deeply Religious. The latter were less chatty – they kept to themselves. It was getting unbearably hot.

"Tendra!" somebody yelled from across the field, having spotted her red shirt. The girls turned around to see four of Tendra's friends who rode in the landcar with her the afternoon after graduation. "Oh…and Doria, Doria Vorr out of all people is with you. How did that happen?"

"Doria was so kind to give me a spare ticket, so I could see…"

"Yeah, we know. Your Aaaantonio!" one of the boys made an impression of a man flipping his long hair and flexing his muscles. "I am still reserved about this. You know, the critics say that Steamy Seconds is a flop."

"Why is it a flop?" Tendra was almost angry. "Some songs on it are great!"

"SexySpiceStarSinners was better." The other teenage boy, whom Doria recognised as the one who was rude to her about Jax Novo the other day, lifted two thumbs up. "Mencuri was on it. The great one himself."

"Dak, Dak, Dak!" Tendra raised her voice."Why don't you be progressive and let go of the past? Mencuri probably perished by now! But...Sassvar Graba is almost as hot as Antonio! And he is...alive, too."

"The Zabrak? He looks like a pimp. He looks like one of those men who like Twi'lek slave girls. And..."

"Like you don't, Dak?" Tendra pouted and got up, her arms on her waist. "Why do you blame him for what all men clearly do?"

The young man looked up. "What does he have that I don't?" He took his yellow shirt off and threw it to Doria. "Here, hold this. I am going to spend the whole evening topless, to show you that anybody and everybody can be like Antonio or Sassvar."

Tendra was about to say something, but he cut her short. She turned around and headed to the refreshment booth, where a waitress droid was waiting to serve her.

"And do not remind me that this is punishable by law!" Dak yelled after her. "If they come after me at any point, I'll know who betrayed me. Jhorn Risant's perfect, squeaky-clean daughter!"

He sat down next to Doria, took out his datapad and, moments later, the familiar, mellow quetarra intro to Underlevels got her eyes glued to the screen, again. She leaned over his shoulder.

"Are you trying to sniff me, weirdo?" Dak leaned to the other side. "Or are you into the annoying Nokaarbe, as if that annoying Jax Novo was not enough?"

"N-no. I...like the music. I really do. Can I see any other holovid from SexySpice...?"

"You don't even know the name of the album. Incredible." He turned the tablet away from her.

"Dak…and what if I say that I don't care about Antonio and Sassvar?"

"Ugh. Okay." Dak found another holovideo. "This is Take It With You. It was recorded on Tatooine, wherever that may be. Looks like a desert planet. I…I love this band for doing things in places nobody has and nobody will ever hear of."

…

Curheg, Sacorria

Twenty or so minutes after he left the group, Charon came back. Code:Blue, who was now entertaining the guests by having them pretend they were droids working on the production line, ran to him immediately.

"Is everything progressive, comrade Valorum?"

"Yes. You have really, really nice 'freshers here. They almost smell like those pretty flowers!"

"Of course, comrade Valorum! Sacorrian Iris is Curheg's number two brand and our refreshers indeed smell of it."

"And that lovely scent completely masked the odour of the vile, huge, crispy poodoo I just took. That said, I'm sorry, I almost clogged the duct!"

"Poodoo, poodoo!" Koobs raised his trunk. "Great work, pal! But you're yet to top me!"

Code:Blue nearly broke into another round of "of course", but he changed his mind this time. There was something strange about Deeply Religious, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.