Beta Planet: Rise by Dayton Grey

deep breaths and bent forward in exhaustion. Allea came running in only paces behind them and soon after, Kumuki came hurtling into the doorway at breakneck speed, ramming into multiple people in the room all the while yelling at the top of his lungs. Geon could see the water moving rapidly toward them, and with no one else in sight, a man at the front hit a button near the front and a large wide metal door came slamming down, closing off the opening from the street. The door rattled and shook for a couple minutes as the water throbbed against it and moved its way around the building. Geon looked around and saw that everyone stood motionless, staring at the metal door, until the rattling finally subsided.
    “Are all these floods so close?”
    “Well, usually we get more notice than that,” Allea said, looking down at her cuff and determining the after-effects of the flood. “It seems lately that more and more floods are happening with less warning. It’s strange, really…”
    “Yeah, strange is one way to put it. Obviously these recent floods are caused by deep ocean government weapons testing… obviously.”
    The others stared at Sabien with perplexed looks on their faces.
    “But yeah, it was a close call. I have to say you’ve got some pretty decent stems on you, bro,” Sabien said while motioning toward Geon’s legs. “I mean, not prize-worthy like my own , but still, decent nonetheless.”
    Allea and Kumuki laughed as Geon shook his head in disbelief at Sabien’s brazen self-pride.
    “Take it as a compliment, G,” Allea said, smiling and patting Geon on the arm. “That’s as close as you are going to get to one from Sabien.”
    Geon thought of a good retort, but kept it to himself, deciding to let Sabien bask in his small victory. If I hadn’t slowed down though, Geon thought to himself, this race might have ended differently .
    With the mood calm now, Geon looked around and noticed that everyone else had taken seats at the tables on the edges of the room, or at the individual seats in the middle. He noticed a thin strange track, about waist-high, running all through the center of the space and around the edges. The track looked a bit like a miniature Glidewing, except without the hanging car. It was flat on top and about one foot wide and it ran into the back of the room and through two holes in the wall.
    “What is this place?”
    “It’s sushi!” Kukumi exclaimed. “My favorite!”
    Just then a sound overhead beeped and a voice said, “Operation is back in service. Please enjoy your meals.” With that, the track around the room suddenly snapped on with a click and began moving around the room. The sounds of some sort of machinery in the back behind the wall began making clanking and squirting sounds. People at their tables began talking quietly with each other and gesturing down on their tables. Geon followed the others as they grabbed their own seats at a table.
    “You hungry, G?” Sabien inquired. “Welcome to Sushi Four. There’s one in every sector.”
    Geon nodded in anticipation of a good meal. He was starving.
    As they sat down, the table in front of them lit up with a bright hologram of colors, moving pictures and menu items, one for each of them. Geon laughed in delight as he watched the others flipping through the menu items by moving their fingers around the projected images. He followed their lead and looked at the different concoctions of sushi items. All of them were different types of rolled, colored ingredients, none of which Geon could recognize. Geon noticed the menu didn’t actually describe the food or ingredient specifically. Everything seemed sort of vague and strange to him.

    Geon wrinkled his forehead in confusion. On the side of the pictures of food were a number of different drink options as well. These had no description or names, just colors.
    “What do you guys like here?” Geon asked, looking at the others for some guidance.
    “I always get the spicy roll