>PLANET NYKARA…

> ISLAND NYADA

> ALLIANCE SECTOR

> CITY Halsion

A wyvern glided past the gravity-defying island, below it the small city of Halsion on the edge of an Alliance sector.

Surrounded by two rings of walls, the city hugged the coast. The centre of the city was characterised by an encircling highway, which allowed for rapid advancement, with many gateways leading off. Also off the highway, a circular bridge connected the small neighbouring island of Nyada, the piers of which could even be seen from the sky. When viewed from above, the bridge and motorway were in the shape of the number eight.

The inner ring of walls was heavily cultivated, but the cityscape was characterised by comparatively smaller buildings. Only in the city centre were there a few skyscrapers. One building on the edge of the ring stood out, a complex several blocks high.

The complex itself was surrounded by a small wall separating it from the rest of the city, it was the military base of the city. As it was on the outskirts of the city, it had a small garrison of several thousand soldiers and a few ships to protect the city in case of failure until reinforcements arrived from one of the main bases.

Unlike the first ring, the second ring was built inconspicuously along the roads leading from the first. The rest was interspersed with fields and the like, allowing the city a limited degree of self-sufficiency.

The island of Nyada, which rose from the sea to the west of the city, was sparsely built with a few tall buildings. It had no walls of its own; the sea seemed to provide enough protection from whatever the walls on the mainland were protecting the city from.

Outside the second ring of the wall there were only a few buildings, presumably warehouses and other structures that did not require special protection.

It was early in the morning and the city was beginning to wake up.

⬢

> Bar THIRTEEN

> SEVEN O’CLOCK ELEVEN MINUTES

The gleaming bar reflected the morning light filtering through the windows of the busy restaurant. Bar Thirteen was a popular restaurant and many professionals and students used the restaurant and its location for breakfast. The restaurant was located on Nyada Island, close to the industrial park and the academy. Like every morning, there were many customers, and like every morning, there were many female students among them.

A small, trapezoidal serving robot moved around the restaurant, helping to keep the place clean with cleaning nozzles built into its musculoskeletal system. There were compartments on the sides for delivering orders to the tables. Orders could also be taken. People could either talk to him and select from the menu on his holographic screen that appeared above him, or they could order directly via their Personal Data Interfaces, PDIs.

The robot did all this with a smile on its face. The screens on the front and back were decorated with a cute smiley face in a retro pixel style.

But the little serving robot, which everyone called Sound because of the sounds it made, couldn't serve the crowd alone. That's where Ben came in. He was the owner of Bar Thirteen. Despite his age and the white hair, he had a well-trained body, one could only guess at the muscle mass under the shirt that was under the apron. Armed with a special PDI on his belt and an apron worn over one shoulder with a large 13 embroidered on it, he and Sound served the customers.

People enjoyed the food from the kitchen and talked to each other and to Ben, who was a well known face in the town, as Sound drove around the restaurant. The students, on the other hand, whispered and looked expectantly towards the counter.

Zane sat at the counter, as he did almost every morning before school, but today he seemed somehow distracted, staring into the deep black.

His blonde hair hung in his face as the girls' whispering suddenly grew louder and the sound of porcelain brought him back to the present. Still, his mind was unable to identify the source of the noise and he looked up in confusion. After a few seconds, his eyes fell on the source of the sound that had torn him from his thoughts.

A large plate lay on the counter in front of him, the smell of freshly roasted bacon and scrambled eggs wafting up to his nose, while a set of cutlery wrapped in a napkin lay next to the plate. Zane looked up again to see Zero placing a basket of fresh rolls next to the plate as he passed. "There you go." He smiled.

Zero, Ben's foster son, was the restaurant's cook and Zane's best friend. Like Ben, Zero wore an apron, but his was a regular version, just tied around his waist.

"I didn't order anything," Zane protested a little confused.

"Enjoy it. You'll need your strength for the test later. Today's on me," Zero waved Zane aside with a smile as he went back into the kitchen.

"But..."

"It's all right Zane," Ben laughed as he received a message from Tyler who was sitting next to Zane.

"Just take it, you still need to grow big and strong!" Tyler added with a mocking laugh.

"In that case, thank you," Zane thanked Ben and Zero, who might still be able to hear him in the kitchen, ignoring Tyler's gestures. If it had been a normal morning, he and Tyler would probably have had a fight. It was always like that, like cats and dogs. Usually it was Tyler who would make some kind of comment that would annoy Zane, who would then hurl a few words at Tyler. Most of the time it was just them trying to annoy each other.

Tyler was two years older than Zane and Zero and had already graduated from the Academy. He served in the island's defense forces and was an ATBS pilot. It was said that he was the best ATBS pilot in the city, but personally he didn't care about the rumors.

Then the ringing of the opening door caught their attention.

"Good morning, Carol. "Morning," Ben and Tyler greeted the new guest, while Zane, fork in mouth, just waved at her as the sweet taste of bacon spread through his mouth.

"Good morning, boys," Carol replied as cheerfully as ever to the greetings of the three. The two pearls on her headband shimmered in the sunlight. Her curly, waist-length, orange hair was tied up in a side braid that exposed part of her forehead. In contrast, she wore a fringe that covered only two-thirds of her forehead.

With the bag slung over her shoulder, she approached the counter as Zero leaned out of the kitchen and peeked around the corner: "Morning Carol, your breakfast is almost ready".

"Morning Zero!" she waved happily.

Zane finally finished eating and greeted Carol, "Morning Carol".

"Morning Zane," she greeted him. "Thanks, but you really don't have to, Zane. I can get something on the way."

"That's out of the question! You would only buy sweets and who knows what else," Zero reproached her.

"I can imagine," Ben laughed heartily.

"Hey! That's not true!" pouted Carol, who sat down on the barstool next to Zane.

"It's almost ready. Just give me a minute," Zero said as he placed a glass of hot chocolate he had already prepared in front of her. There was a brief glimmer in Carol's eyes. A smile seemed to appear on her face, but then it gave way to a pout, as if she remembered that she was angry.

As if to emphasize her indignation, she demonstratively puffed out her already puffy cheeks.

Her pouting didn't last long, however, when Zero held out his hand to her.

Like letting the air out of a balloon, Carol's cheeks shrank back to their original size and turned a soft shade of red. Her pout had given way to a smile.

Careful not to ruin her hairstyle, Zero's hand gently stroked Carol's head to caress her as Carol leaned forward slightly.

The sweet smell of hot chocolate filled the room as Zero walked back into the kitchen. On the chair where Carol had recently been pouted at, sat a completely satisfied Carol, her smile lighting up the room.

"You just wanted to be stroked, didn't you?" laughed Zane, her smile peaking.

"You have to go back to the hospital today, don't you, Carol?" asked Ben as she took a sip of her hot chocolate.

"Delicious," Carol smiled contentedly.

"You still have to go to the hospital for that dizziness?" Zane asked in amazement.

"Yes, they said they want to examine me more often from now on," she confirmed, turning back and forth on the rotating barstool.

"With today's possibilities?" Zane dug deeper in disbelief, questioning the medical knowledge of the doctors. "It's probably something chronic," Zero added, returning from the kitchen. "I asked before, but they didn't really know what it was either".

"Hopefully it's nothing serious," Zane expressed his concern.

"Okay, I need to run a few more errands. See you guys later," Tyler said goodbye on his way to the door.

"Bye Tyler". "Bye!" said Ben and Carol, who were now turning like a hurricane on the barstool.

"See you later Tyler. Thanks for coming," Zero added.

"I expect you won't screw it up, Zane," Tyler laughed as he waved at the group with the back of his hand.

"Yeah, um... thank you?" said Zane, confused. "Was that good luck or ... what was that?" Zane asked his friends as he chewed his breakfast.

"Probably," Zero laughed. "When do you have your appointment, Carol?" he turned to Carol, who was stumbling on the stool. After the carousel ride on the stool, both her eyes and the single strand of hair sticking out of her braid turned.

"At eight, but I don't want to go! I'll just sleep there anyway," she pouted, resting her arms on the counter and puffing up her cheeks again. "I'd much rather watch the exam with you."

Again Zero stroked Carol's head as she smiled at him. "Just stay healthy, ok?" he smiled back.

"OK, it should be ready," Zero turned to the kitchen.

"So how's school, Carol?" asked Ben, who had gone behind the bar and was polishing a glass with a cloth.

"Yes, very well, but it's boring since Aki isn't there anymore ..." she rocked back and forth in the chair.

"Right, she graduated from the Academy last year. What is she doing now?"

Zero came back from the kitchen with a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon and served it to Carol. "Yay! Bacon and scrambled eggs!" she said happily, grabbing it in front of everyone, who just smiled at each other.