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“You’re going to sleep?” He sounded relieved.
“I’m tired.” The absolute truth. Despite the disruption to my routine, my body knew I’d stayed awake past my usual slumber time.
“Don’t leave my apartment.” His final words before he left.
As if I’d venture out. To go where?
Not long after his departure, I lay naked on the bed, the fabric beneath my skin textured, but not unpleasant. Oddly squishy lumps sat across the top of the mattress. I didn’t understand their use. Not that I pondered them for long. My eyes shut, and I was gone.
I slept deeply until I woke, feeling rested.
I enjoyed a good long stretch as I lounged, uninterrupted by bright lights or a chime. Actually, I’d not heard a single bell since my arrival. It made me wonder how anyone knew the time.
Comfortable, I took my time rising, marveling at the wondrous thing called a carpet as I dug my toes in, so pleasant to stand on as I waited for my cleaning tube.
Nothing happened. I eyed the ceiling. Perhaps I stood in the wrong place. I moved around the room and failed to find a way to cleanse myself. For once, I longed for it. The things they’d done to me to make me presentable during that awkward time onstage, remained caked on my face. I waved my arms and tried ordering the room, “I’m ready to be cleansed.”
No reply. No tube. I might have kept trying if my door hadn’t opened as the commander entered, saying, “Are you aw—” Whatever he’d meant to say got caught as he stared at me.
My body, I should specify. His gaze roved over my bare flesh, and my nipples pebbled. A tingle swept through me, and an odd throb began between my legs.
Could I be getting ill? Not now. There was so much I wanted to see.
I pointed to the ceiling. “Your cleansing unit appears to be broken.”
He gazed upward, then back at me with a crease on his brow. “You’re in the wrong room for that. You need the bathroom.”
“What is that?”
“I’ll show you. It’s through that door.” He pointed to a section of wall that was framed.
As we approached, the portal slid open to reveal another chamber beyond, gleaming with shiny stone on the floor, the colors a mix of gray, black and deep reds. The counter, with the basin set within it, was a red so dark it could have been black. The stool, with its hole in the middle, made no sense to me.
The commander followed me in and began pointing. “That’s the sink. Tap the left to wash your hands or face. Hit the right, and you’ll get the stuff to clean your teeth. Toilet—”
“What is a toilet?” I interrupted as he indicated the pedestal.
I’d have sworn his cheeks turned slightly red. “It’s for your bodily functions.”
“That’s where I squat?”
“Um, most people sit.” He turned and jabbed his finger at the clear glass wall at the far end of the room. “Shower, with option of lasers or scented wash.”
“Are all your bathrooms so inefficient?” I asked. The three different units could have been combined in a space-saving tube.
“This is how it’s done on the surface. Some are even more lavish and have a tub. That’s a basin that can fit the whole body,” he explained before I could ask.
I didn’t understand why anyone would want to put their body in a large basin and didn’t care, as the seat with the hole called me first.
The commander fled before I sat down. I took care of my business with much relief, although I would have appreciated a warning before liquid shot at my bottom, followed by air blown on it to dry. When I stood, the hole showed nothing inside it. Fascinating, and more comfortable than squatting, not to mention the invasive suctioning tube that sometimes had to be endured.
The thing he’d called a shower beckoned me next, but the many shiny buttons daunted. I pressed one, and a torrent of wet goop emerged, bringing a shriek.
The door slid open, and the commander stood there. “What’s wrong?”
I glared between gooey hanks of hair. “Your unit is malfunctioning. It spat fluid at me.”
“It’s supposed to.”
