The next morning, Louis tried to sneak out of the room. Calvin caught him, “Wait.”

Louis froze. “What do you want with me?”

Calvin got out of bed, fully clothed and ready to start the day. “You’re helping me with this investigation.”

Louis could not believe this. First, accused of murder and now being asked for help on the very same case. He spoke aloud exactly what he was thinking in that moment, “Are you out of your mind?”

Calvin chuckled, catching Louis off guard. “Many people have asked me that very same question.” He looked down into the palm of his hand, as if trying to establish where he was. “Right now, I’m sure I’m not.” The words he uttered came from a very real place, Louis could feel it. But Calvin quickly blinked back into his walled off self. “Anyway, you’re convenient. Someone who knows what they’re doing and knows me.”

Convinient? Louis sighed. “Calvin, I have work to do, I can’t follow you around all day.”

“Well, you won’t have to. I’ll be following you around.”

Refuting Calvin’s every sentence was getting tiring, so he stopped, giving in with just the tiniest shred of resentment. “Fine…”

The docks were as bustling as ever, but Louis paid it no mind, trying to focus on his clip-screen. Tasks would always be sent to it, official documents too. Calvin tried to look over his shoulder, but Louis swatted him away. Louis just needed to pour all of his thoughts into his work. Calvin was very distracting, in more ways than one. But Louis refused to let Calvin’s handsome features distract him from the abhorrent personality that came with it. Though, that’s not to say his mind hadn’t slipped here and there. It was hard not to.

Louis gulped, grounding himself by reading aloud, “Shipment in lot two-o-one.”

Louis started walking, Calvin following closely behind. Though, to Louis’s relief, Calvin was looking everywhere but at him, probably taking in his surroundings. Louis was used to the station, so the idea of looking around was meaningless to him. But he wondered what Calvin was looking for. Calvin never spelled anything out for him, so piecing things together was his only option. Why is he even here?

Again, Louis sighed. Time for work.

Sitting in lot 201 was a sleek bright blue ship Louis was very familiar with. Out of it stepped the purple-skinned regular who proceeded to place one of their four scaly arms around Louis’s shoulder. Louis’s face scrunched up, removing the hand like a dirty tissue.

“Redd, I told you to stop touching me.”

“Oh come on man, I’m just being friendly.”

Redd’s goofy grin was ever-present. And paired with their surfer-esque personality, they definitely gave off a carefree vibe. Redd always tried to be friendly, but never seemed to grasp the concept of boundaries, landing them in a lot of strange misunderstandings.

Louis flipped through the virtual pages. “Sooo… What did you bring?”

“Brand new technology, just got on the market.” They walked to the back of the ship and opened it up. “Tele-Personals.”

“Personal teleporters?! Man, I remember when they needed an entire room just to transport a pen. Technology really moves fast.”

“That it does my friend. That it does.” Redd looked off into the distance, as if on a show waiting for the memory sequence.

Louis pressed a button and a virtual pen formed at the side of the clip-screen. “Sign here please.”

“Sure thing dude.” After the line was signed, the pen dissipated. “Oh! Almost forgot. I have a special package. Apparently supposed to be top secret, hush hush and all that.”

“What, really? Those types of packages always go through the secure area. Are you sure they told you to bring it here?”

“What’s this I hear about a secret package?” Calvin stepped forward, of course only deciding to cut in when he hears something of use to him.

Redd backed up a few steps. “Whoooa, dude… you can’t just enter a conversation like that.”

Louis placed himself between them. “Redd, this is Calvin, I don’t know much else about him beyond that, but the CEO was expecting him, so take from that what you will.”

“Why does he want to know about the package?” Redd whispered, grabbing the box and holding it close.

“He’s conducting some sort of investigation I think.”

“That’s correct.” Calvin took another step closer, “Now tell me what’s in that box.”

“I don’t, I dunno man! They just gave it to me and told me to deliver it. Probably didn’t want me to blab about it.”

Without a beat, Calvin responded, “Give it to me. I’m opening it.”

“What?! No!” Louis shouted, louder than he should have.

People turned to see what was going on and a man from security yelled back, “Everything ok over there?”

Louis hung his head, this was a disaster. “Yes, just a misunderstanding, sorry about that!” At this, everyone went back to their usual business. Louis turned to Calvin, murder in his eyes, “What the hell is your problem?”

Calvin looked confused. “Me? What did I do? I need to know if that package pertains to my case. It can’t just be pure coincidence that a ‘top secret’ package shows up where it isn’t supposed to be at the approximate same time that the perpetrator is supposed to arrive.”

“What perpetrator? Calvin, I can’t help you in any capacity when you won’t tell me anything!”

Redd sliced through the tension saying, “Can we finish this up? I haven’t eaten breakfast yet and I’m starving.”

Louis composed himself, his expression relaxed. “Sure Redd, just hand me the package and I’ll make sure it gets where it needs to be.”

Redd side-eyed Calvin as they handed the box over to Louis. “I’ll see you later man.”

“Bye… Just please remember, no physical contact next time around, ok?”

Redd nodded as they hopped into the front seat of their ship. “Send over the movers, this shouldn’t take long.”

Louis pressed the “call to lot” button and a group of people arrived to unload the Tele-Personals.