Oh.

Ma.

Gawd.

I actually updated it. After a year.

So, yeah...It will most likely not be the same. but I'm trying! I'm very rusty on this story...

Enjoy?

Chapter Three: Our Difficult Situations, Part One

I opened my eyes. Something was very wrong. The alarm on my clock had not gone off. I was frantic. I fell from my bedding and onto the floor, I stumbled quickly to the door, and leaped into the hallway outside. To my surprise, my friend Rho was standing there, holding a small canned drink in his claws. He gave me a strange look.

"Did you trip on the doorframe or something, Delta?"

I looked at him incredulously. "What is going on? Why didn't the morning alarms go off? Is there a state of emergency or something?"

Rho laughed. "No, no, Delta. One of the generals is visiting, and all of the higher ups were called to a massive meeting. Us soft-spines aren't required to go, however, so we get the cycle off, even though we're restricted to the living quarters..."

I stood up, and looked at Rho with confusion. I then looked at his drink. "Where did you get that?"

"Err, vending machine?" Rho scratched the back of his head peevishly.

"I'm getting one. I'm parched." I went into my room, and pulled out a box I kept by the side of my bed. I opened it, and inside, there were several pieces of metal with holes punched into them. I grabbed two of them, and headed out to meet Rho again. He gave me his trademark toothy grin, and we headed towards the vending machine down the hall. Once we got there, I looked at my choices. Nothing to drink actually had water in it: It was a special powder that was fine enough not to stick to the backs of our throats. It stimulates our salivation glands, causing the drinker to think they are drinking liquid. The powder also contained isolated hydrogen and oxygen, which would undergo a small chemical reaction in our stomachs to make water. While the reaction would normally cause an explosion, there is a harmless insulation that causes the heat expelled to dissipate. The result: a fake drink that makes your mouth water and your stomach warm. I chose the top one, which was a somewhat sour drink that made my throat tingle. I recalled what the datastacks called the flavor: lemon-lime. How flavorful these lemons were.

I took the metal pieces I had grabbed earlier, and popped one of them into a slot in the machine. They could be seen as a form of currency, but this one was restricted to us. We were given five of these "ration credits" every decacycle, and were encouraged to save them if possible. Each one was punched with a pattern of dots, the pattern representing who it was assigned to, so that the higher-ups could watch what we bought. I found it strange that they were so interested in every aspect of our lives, but in the end, it never got in the way.

I watched as my "drink" was presented from a hole in the machine, and I grabbed it immediately. As I drank the concoction, I noticed Rho was staring at me strangely. I stopped drinking for a second.

"What is it, Rho?"

Rho had apparently been in a trance. He snapped out of it quickly, "Oh, err, I was just thinking. Sorry if I bothered you."

I looked at him inquiringly. "What about?"

Rho suddenly became very nervous. "Nothing, really..." He thought for a moment. "Well, I was wondering how you wanted to spend the cycle. Feel like doing anything in particular?"

I lifted my hands in front of me in a way that implied emptiness: a common action among our people to represent not knowing something. "Well...how about we go to your room? I'm sure we could do something there..."

Rho became very frantic. "No! I mean, no. Why don't we go to yours instead? It's closer, anyways."

I suddenly knew there was something very strange about Rho. I scanned my thoughts, for I specifically recalled something about this behavior from one of the datascrolls I had read. Then it hit me: This was a symptom that one could display when they had emotional feelings of attraction to another being. I was slightly confused.

"Rho, what are you hiding?"

Rho looked at me guiltily. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Why do you think I'm hiding something?"

"Because of your body language." I said with a smirk on my face. He was standing in a way that made him look injured. "I'm going to your room."

Rho's eyes widened. "NO! Please!"

I ran off to his room, trying to make sure I got there first. Knowing him, he never locked his door, so I could see what he was hiding. Reaching his room, and Rho in frantic pursuit, I opened the door and stepped inside to be greeted by one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. Rho caught up to me, and looked horribly crestfallen when he saw that I had breached his room. I looked at him with a feeling of awe.

"Rho...what is this?"

On the wall next to his bed, there was a sheet of metal fastened on with bolts. On the metal, someone had etched in the image of one of our kind. It was incredibly accurate, and every muscle and limb was so well detailed that I almost took it to be a digital image. I stepped up close to the image, and noticed that the figure had a name-collar on his neck. I looked carefully, and I could read what it displayed: Delta 23831. I spun around to face the guilty-looking Rho.

"This is an image of me! How...did you...what...huh." I didn't know what to say. Rho looked at me, looking like he was ready for capital punishment.

"I'm sorry, Delta...now you know." -Know what?- I thought.

"You see, Delta, I had found a datascroll in the stacks recently...one that detailed something very interesting to me: a practice that was initiated by many other cultures called 'art'. This 'art' is the generation of either images or structures by solely a living being. The generation of the art is usually fueled by the artist's need to create something that represents part of their mind. I was intrigued by this idea, and I tried it out myself. However, only a few cycles later, I discovered that art had been banned in our society, for it distracts from main goals. However, even though I knew this..."

"You continued anyways, and finished it by the looks of it." I finished his sentence.

Rho nodded his head weakly. "Yeah..."

I looked at Rho, and grinned. "You know I'd never sell you out on something like this, Rho. In fact, I really, really like this!" I looked back up at the picture. In the picture, I was standing at an angle from the viewer, my left arm down by my side, and my right arm outstretched. My head in the picture was tilted, looking calmer than I ever would be. I looked back at Rho.

"There is one thing I want to know...why did you use me as a subject for your art?"

Rho held his hands out. "I...I don't know, actually. I guess I thought you would be easy to draw? Maybe it's because I saw you often? I had plenty of reference?"

I shook my head. "Rho, this could have been anyone in this entire building. But, for some strange reason, you decided to make it me, by adding the name collar to the picture. So why...?"

Rho shook his head. "I...I don't know. I guess you're the only person I'd want to have that picture represent?"

We both looked back at the sheet of metal. Silence filled the room for a moment, causing my ears to ring. I decided to change the subject. Something was going on with Rho, but I decided to leave it be.

"Well, I think it would be good if we hid the picture, am I right? We don't want someone like me coming in and seeing this on the wall."

Rho seemed disappointed at first, but then he nodded. "Very well. I got this sheet of metal from underneath my mattress, so we can put it back there."

We lifted his mattress together, carefully removed the picture from the wall, and gently placed the picture in the frame of the bed. Then, we lay the mattress carefully on top, and the picture was hidden from view. Rho stared at his bed for a moment, then grinned. He looked at me with a genuinely happy look on his face.

"Thanks, Delta. Not just for helping me, but for understanding me as well."

I nodded. "So then, what do you want to do for the rest of the cycle?"

He held his hands out again. "I really don't know. Sleep?"

I laughed, and he joined in on the laughter. I began to exit the room, but before I did so, I turned and faced Rho for a moment.

"Hey, Rho...do you possibly have..."

He looked at me inquiringly. "What is it?"

I stood there, and decided to leave it be. "Nevermind. I'll see you later I guess." I closed the door behind me, and left towards my room. I decided to not ask him about that attraction thing I read about. I had already found the source of his anxiety from earlier, so it was unlikely to be what I assumed it to be.

However, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like for someone to emotionally attached to me.

I opened my eyes. Looking at my clock, I saw that it was still the same cycle. I got up from my bed, and felt a bit strange. Lonely, perhaps. I decided to pursue the cause of my loneliness. I got up from my bed, and exited my room into the hallway. I looked around me, and to my surprise, I saw my acquaintance Xi. I ran over to him eagerly.

"Hey, Xi! What are you doing down here?"

He looked at me, and grinned. "Nothing much. Actually...perhaps I could be looking for you."

"Me?" I was confused. "Why me, of all people?"

"Well, I was planning a venture into the mines later...and I was wondering if anyone would want to come along. What do you say?"

"The mines?" I was a bit worried. "There really isn't a rule against going down there, but they tell us that it is extremely dangerous to enter them."

Xi grinned again. "And that is exactly why I want to go down. You have to admit, our life is rather boring. Why not spruce it up a bit?"

I thought for a moment. There really wasn't a rule against exploring the mines. Some people would actually applaud the safe passage through them. Small creatures, such as zoomers and geemers, could be found down there. However, there were bigger hazards as well, such as malfunctioning guard turrets and stray kihunters. The kihunters were a strange occurrence, since they had hatched here long ago and began to propagate deep within the caves. Our kind has not bothered to exterminate them yet; something about trying to tame them and keep them as a part of our society. I thought over it for a moment, and decided that it would be alright to delve into the cave.

"I guess I'll come with, then...but, I was wondering if I could bring Rho with."

Xi looked at me with eyes that seemed to laugh. "Are you kidding me? The more, the better! Bring whoever you want!"

"Alright then, I'll go get him." I ran off towards Rho's room for the second time this cycle, and knocked on the door. Rho opened the door carefully, showing only his head, hiding the rest of his body and the room. I looked at him strangely.

"It's only me, Rho. No need to hide anything from me, right? I thought you were going to hide that picture..." I tried to peek around the door, but Rho kept me from seeing either him or the room.

"What do you want, Delta? I thought you were sleeping."

"I thought you were too...what are you doing in there...?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Rho was a bit firm on the matter. "What is it you wanted again?"

I coughed a bit. "Well, Xi passed by earlier, and asked if I wanted to come down to the mines with him." Rho's eyes narrowed. I looked at him curiously again. "I told him I would go down with him, but I asked him If I could bring you with. He said there was no problem with that. So...want to come?"

Rho stood there thinking for a moment. "Yeah, sure. Bored anyways." He closed the door, and after a brief moment, he came back out of the room, not bothering to hide it this time. What was he hiding earlier? I couldn't tell. Regardless of what Rho was doing, I guided him to where Xi was. Xi smiled when he saw me, and nodded at Rho. Rho, seeing Xi, frowned for some reason. I began to wonder if there was an issue between the two of them, and worried if I made the right choice in bringing him. Xi didn't notice Rho's dissent, however, and looked directly at the two of us.

"Alright then! Get ready for what I like to call the 'Initiation Test', guys. Because this little journey is going to be nothing close to what you expect." He grinned even wider than before, and I began to wonder if this was such a good idea still.

So, yeah! note how the chapter was labeled "part one." There will be an end to this little trip, so don't worry.

And what's up with Rho? Did I slip in some Homo-eroticism? huh.

Seeya next time! and review! please?