May 31, 3028
The prospects of the day were grim as Meeki emerged from the kitchen to look about her living room. Today was the second day she allocated for cleaning up the apartment, and it seemed like she was still only barely beginning. It wasn't going to be fun picking up the hundreds of toys her daughter spread through the room. The worse part was going to be sorting the various piles of bills and other documents from the college. Procrastination is a deadly thing.
Still holding a dish from the kitchen, she walked to the large window to overlook the town. This was a special week for the planet of Aster. The 'Week of Motivation' is an annual occasion which carries the tradition of setting important goals and accomplishing them before the week's end. The people were definitely taking it seriously this year, as traffic out in the town of Pertenezco was heavy. Countless blue flames from car jets weaved around the sunlit apartment towers. Those who walked were equally ambitious on their sidewalk journeys. Whether by air or ground they were all in a frenzy to go somewhere and do something.
Meeki felt some envy for those with such mobile freedom. She sunk back into the kitchen with dreary thoughts. As much as she wanted to bust out of her home to go on a little adventure, she couldn't just give up on her promise for the week.
Several hours later, an unexpected buzzing from the front door alarm signaled the presence of a visitor. That was strange, nobody was supposed to come today. Meeki set down her things and carefully traversed the living room, taking care not to step on any toys. After pressing a button the door slid open with the hiss of exhausted air.
Someone rather short stood there in the hall, wearing a dark brown robe. A veil and cloak concealed almost all vision of the person underneath. Every part of the outfit was so torn and aged that Meeki felt a great deal better about her own cleanliness, even if she was wearing a stained apron. But then she recognized who this was, and fought to keep a straight face. This was someone from the Cult of Braya. Even worse, the cloak denoted a higher rank. It took a moment of preparation to fathom the oncoming task of acting politely.
“Hi. I came to make an announcement for the cult,” the cloaked person said in a passive and hesitant voice. She sounded surprisingly youthful and feminine.
“Um, come in if you want,” Meeki said.
“Thanks, my name's Samara. I won't bother you for long.”
“Oh, it's not a bother,” Meeki said.
Samara came in without making a sound like a ghost, and the flowing curves of the cloak made her all the more ghastly. Meeki closed the door and eyed her warily. These cloaked people were usually rude and cruel, she expected Samara to make a snide comment in due time.
Samara acquainted herself with the room. The portrait of Meeki's parents caught her attention. Then she accidentally kicked a few action figures on the ground, forcing Meeki to blush in some embarrassment.
“Sorry for the mess. I've been cleaning today but I haven't even finished the kitchen,” Meeki said.
Samara spotted the couch and moved along to sit down. Something about the way she moved seemed so perfect and smooth.
“I'd probably be the same if I had a house and a family.” A sigh escape the girl's lips.
Meeki became curious to learn more, but that wasn't going to happen. She knew how it went with these cloaked people, they never revealed much about themselves. Meeki sat on a wooden chair opposing the couch and looked to Samara for the news.
“There are two things. One message is for the entire cult and the other is for you,” Samara said.
“Something for me?” Meeki leaned over, smiling in anticipation.
“It's not what you think,” Samara said. She lowered her gaze to the floor. “We're having a family day at the park near our office. I guess we'll be doing some bonding with the kids. You still have to go even if your daughter isn't in the cult.”
Meeki's excitement for the news died in an instant. She hated the frequency of these bothersome little activities and had a good mind to announce her resignation on the spot.
“Do I have to?” Meeki asked.
“Yeah. You've been selected to run a little errand for us. It's going to happen during the party, but there's no relation,” Samara said.
She pulled a small slip of paper from her pocket and handed it to Meeki. “Here are the instructions. You'll be greeting some government people for us.”
The little paper listed various guidelines for the occasion. Bold text stressed when the situation would arise, how she should behave, and so on. The most notable pair of requests were “no weapons” and “no identification documents of any kind, especially those identifying you with the cult.”
“I'm—I'm sorry to put this on you,” Samara said.
“This is pretty easy stuff, why are you sorry? Is there something else I should know?” Meeki asked.
“No—it's alright,” Samara said. “You should get away from our meeting ground once your work is done, since it's confidential. Just get away as far as you can, okay?”
“Fine.”
They sat silently for the moment and it became terribly awkward. Meeki felt that she had to say something, anything, so she decided to be honest with the girl at some risk.
“Why are you having me do this? I'm not exactly the most dedicated of your cult,” Meeki said, watching the girl carefully.
For a brief moment Meeki thought she made out a smile under the girl's hood.
“Don't tell anyone I said this, but you shouldn't believe the lies. They might say this is a Cult for Braya, but they aren't speaking the truth about her,” Samara said.
This in turn confused Meeki. “Aren't you cloaked guys supposed to be the more dedicated cultists?”
Samara stared blankly, but she shook her head shortly after.
“I'll be going now.” Samara quickly stood up. “Follow the instructions so nothing bad happens, alright? I don't want you getting hurt.”
Samara then made her way for the door and left the apartment without a word.
Meeki watched the door slide to a close and thought about the visit, but more importantly Samara's final words. Why would she get hurt? Nothing about the event seemed dangerous according to the note, but the instructions weren't very detailed. Still, she might as well do what they wanted. Everyone had their suspicions on what the cloaked people did, and this could be a good chance to learn the truth.