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Ch 33, SCelebration: Space Celebration

Back in school Logan had heard that human brains were not wired to compute particularly large numbers-- whether it was the number of people who died in a continent-sized natural disaster half way across the world or the total of the national debt, once a number got large enough it was basically background noise. Human brains lacked the ability to comprehend just how large a number could be once it exceeded a certain amount. Until he experienced L4 however, he didn't quite comprehend what Mr. Wilson had meant.

Logan had been through cities before and, while the Lunar Spire was something new, it was essentially just a giant city contained within a single, huge building. L4 was something else entirely. In addition to going a different direction through the Hab each day with Kurt, what really helped drive the scale of the structure home was when his implant helpfully indicated that the square footage on the hab was more than 93 football fields. That certainly explained the spread-out, sprawling residential area.

Kurt was amazing at helping Logan learn more about the habitat. The cat-boy was incredibly adept at pointing out all of the simple day-to-day activities of the hab that Logan would otherwise had missed, but he was absolutely exceptional at showing off the special little things that made Kalpana L4 unique. Whether it was a restaurant, a quiet part of the nearby park, an art exhibit from local creative types, or the way the waterfall in the green space had the strange effect of creating a rain circle rather than a rainbow, everything felt just a little more special with Kurt as his guide.

Logan spent his days wandering the Hab with Kurt, learning more about the activities that took place, more about its social system, and tons about its population. During the nights he spent the time in introspection, considering his stay, the differences between a place like L4 and the Lunar Spire and, most of all, Kurt. He found that he enjoyed being around the cat-boy and, despite their many differences they had a lot of similarities. Kurt was definitely much better a handling social situations than Logan but, strangely, despite how extroverted the cat-boy was, the character attribute that was usually anathema to Logan was actually a rather appealing one and Kurt often left Logan smiling when thinking about him.

Aside from Kurt, it seemed that the most commonly encountered L4-ers were Kurt and Chelsea but another common face for Logan to see was that of Tom. The rock guy seemed to be a regular in the area, which made sense since, according to Kurt his (great) uncle passed his time working as a delivery agent at L4's processing center. The way he explained it, Logan thought it sounded a lot like a delivery driver, except the big stone man didn't real drive anything; he carried everything in a big wagon that he pulled himself-- very 'retro'. Even so, Tom looked to actively enjoy his job and, despite his rather dour countenance, the residents of L4 seemed to like his visits.

As the equivalent of afternoon arrived, Kurt changed their direction and they began moving back toward a slightly more familiar area of the Hab. The cat-boy explained as they went. "I have a family dinner tonight... we like to have one every few weeks."

Logan nodded casually. "That's cool... it's your day off anyway, isn't it? I'll be fine getting home from here."

Kurt rolled his eyes, snickering as he gave Logan a light smack on the shoulder. "Nah! I can hang out a little more-- I mean we should get a little afternoon snack and then I'll walk you back to your apartment."

It wasn't long before Logan realized where they were headed. "Off to see your sister again? Not many restaurants in the area, or something?"

The cat-boy shrugged. "Oh, there's lots... plenty of more 'modern' places, but I figure you'd like the classics."

Logan considered his schedule back on the Lunar Spire and how he often ended up eating at The Twenty Second versus the fabricated food court. "Oh... yeah, I mean... I DID like that place a lot. I just didn't know if there were other options too."

Kurt paused, turning to regard Logan for a moment. "Like I said: lots. Most of em are 27th Century though-- fabricated meals. They're cool an everything, but I really like food with unique flavor. Cooking really makes a difference-- 'love' isn't an ingredient the automatic food fabricators can add. Besides, I figured it'd help make you feel more 'at home'."

Smiling, Logan shrugged and nodded. "Well... you're not wrong. Sure. Let's go visit your sister again."

The cat-boy opened the door to the establishment when they arrived and ushered Logan in. Once they were both on their way to a table Kurt shouted out "Hey Chelsea! Can you get us some shakes to get started?!?! A strawberry and a--" he paused, glancing to Logan and lowered the volume on his voice. "What kind of shakes do you like, Logan?"

"Chocolate."

"Cool. Shakes are another thing autofabs just can't get right. Real frozen custard with syrup is the best-- tech generated shakes are too perfect... no variance, and the little imperfections in a shake are the real selling point." Kurt's volume immediately went back up to max as he shouted toward the back of the restaurant "--and a Chocolate one! Extra whipped cream please!"

A gruff hollar from the back responded. "Fine! But stop yelling!" This is a place of business, damn it!"

The humor of Chelsea screaming back at them was lost to neither youth and they shared a laugh as they chose a booth near the door. Once they were situated, Kurt gestured toward the back. "Chelsea is really good at making shakes... shouldn't be too long."

As they sat quietly, a thought entered Logan's mind. "So... what exactly are the 'family meal' things you have?"

One of Kurt's ears fell to the side as he raised an eyebrow. "Family meal? What does it sound like? My family meets up to have dinner together."

Logan thought about that for a moment, surprised by the simplicity. "Oh. That's pretty straight forward."

The cat-boy gave him a quizzical glance. "Shouldn't it be?"

Not really having a meaningful response, Logan shrugged. "I guess so. Maybe I'm just overthinking things these days since everything in the 27th century seems so complicated, but I guess I expected some kind of crazy, convoluted answer."

Kurt smirked. "Well, if it's any consolation, I can imagine that family dinner back in the 22nd century was a lot more straight forward... five or six people coming together from a town or two away every now-and-again was probably a lot easier to coordinate than two dozen people spread out between Venus and Mars converging on a habitat floating at Earth's 4th Lagrange Point."

Logan blinked blankly. "Okay... that's more like what I was expecting."

Chelsea approached the two of them from behind Kurt, one hand holding a tray with two tall glasses and two even taller metal cups. Her free hand smacked the back of Kurt's head before she set down the tray and began unloading the items onto the table. "Kurt is just talking shit. Except for my son and our aunt and her two kids everyone lives here at Kalpana L4."

Staring at Chelsea, Logan blurted out. "You have a son old enough to--"

Kurt interrupted him. "She's over sixty, remember? Martin is about ten years older than I am, Logan."

Chelsea just rolled her eyes. "Enjoy your shakes, you two."

As Chelsea left, Logan glanced back to his fellow diner; Kurt had already started on his shake. Swirling his own shake using the large straw provided, Logan asked "So... most of your family is here?"

The cat-boy nodded, pausing in sucking on his straw long enough to lick his lips and state "Yep. Our Aunt left back before I was ten. She and our cousins moved to Venus. Chelsea's son left a few years ago to explore a few different systems and see if he might have fun doing resource trading between Habs. Apparently he's enjoying himself since he hasn't returned since."

Logan began sipping at his own shake, which was every bit as good as he could have hoped. As he listened to Kurt talk about his family, Logan peeked into the large, frosty metal cup and saw that there was even more shake in it-- apparently the restaurant didn't believe in skimpy servings. Kurt asked a follow up question that caught his attention. "What about you, Logan? Did you do family nights much with your family back in the 22nd?"

There was something about the question that caused just a moment of nostalgia and a pang of sorrow but it passed quickly enough. "I was still living at home with my folks so family dinner was pretty much every night. My sister Susie wasn't 18 when I had my brain scan thing done so she lived there too. That was pretty much my whole family."

Kurt didn't say anything for several seconds, sipping his shake as the gears behind his eyes seemed to turn. Eventually he pressed the question. "What about your grandparents? I thought most folks lived long enough back then to see grandparents and even great grandparents most of the time."

Logan shrugged. "Lots of people, sure... but my dad was estranged from his family, and my mom's parents died in an accident a little after I was born... her great grandparents lived over a few thousand miles away and didn't really like the weather where we lived."

His companion stared, eyes wide as he received Logan's simple answer. "Wow... 'a few thousand miles' seems like such a short distance, but I guess it was a pretty big deal back then. Did they do commercial shuttle flights, or were they still only doing atmospheric fights in airplanes?"

"They'd just started some simple up-and-down launches, but they were really darn expensive so most people didn't bother. Travel was still plane, train, or car... or, if you were looking for an 'experience' you might do a cruise."

Kurt's tail flicked and his ears raised. "Oh! I know about cruises... those were like... boats on water, right?"

Logan nodded. "Ships, right. Boats were smaller and ships were bigger."

The cat-boy nodded thoughtfully. "Oh... Well, there aren't many places where people can go on cruises these days considering there aren't a lot of seas or oceans.... we do have a few lakes here on Kalpana L4 and there are boats available, but I guess it's a pretty big difference between going out on a boat and going on a cruise."

Laughing, Logan took another sip of his shake before acknowledging the statement. "Yeah...a really big difference. Anyway... no: I didn't see anyone outside my immediate family very often, so family dinners were just the four of us."

Kurt's smile faded. "Oh... that sucks. I really look forward to family night. But I guess everyone does things differently, right?"

Logan hadn't realized how quickly he'd gone through his shake until his straw came up empty but, thankfully, there was the extra amount left in the metal cup so he poured it into his glass as he spoke. "Yeah... these days it's just me and Star, so family night wouldn't exactly be a full house."

Kurt nodded thoughtfully, also dumping in the last of his own shake. "Do the two of you have family dinner together every night?"

There was something about the question that gave Logan a moment of frustration but he wasn't entirely sure if it was at the cat-boy or at himself. In the end, he took a steadying breath, realizing that it wasn't worth getting angry over. "No. Things've been so crazy I guess I haven't really thought about it... family sounds like it's important to you."

Nodding vigorously, Kurt sat back in his booth. "Sure is! I mean... yeah, we're all part of Transhumanity, but the people who helped bring you into the world, and love you, and support you... they're really important. We're going to be together for a long time and no matter how many other acquaintances come and go, family is forever."

It sounded like some kind of canned statement, or perhaps a motto but, in that moment, Logan had to admit that it did sound nice. Considering Star was all the family he had left, a moment of wistful melancholy struck him and he set his shake aside. "I guess that's true... I mean, Star is the reason I was able to undergo Corpus Verto. If not for her I'd probably still be... uh... sleeping... or whatever the equivalent is."

Kurt offered a term without hesitation. "We here at Kalpana L4 call it 'in storage'."

Despite his developing melancholy, something about the casual terminology made Logan laugh; Kurt joined him. The two finished their shakes and, side-activity concluded, they got up, wished Chelsea well, and headed back onto the street. Logan was getting familiar enough with the walkways near his residence at that point to realize they were making their way back to it. A few blocks away Kurt spoke up. "So... this was a really cool day off. Thanks for hanging with me, Logan."

Logan smiled, genuinely pleased at the statement. "You're pretty much the only person I know here so I'm glad you wanted to spend it with me. Thank YOU too. I had a good time."

All smiles, the cat-boy nodded. "Well... I'm working again tomorrow, so there Is that."

As a visitor to L4, Logan didn't have a lot of prospects on guidance except from Kurt, and it helped that he enjoyed the cat-boy's presence. "So... does that mean we're going to hang out again tomorrow?"

Kurt sighed, shaking his head. "Nah... I can't work with just one visitor, Logan. I have to see others who're here and make sure they get some attention too... but, truth be told, I really like hanging out with you. Do you think you might be free to attend the celebration together tomorrow night?"

Logan couldn't help but smirk. "You mean... compared to all of my other options which are... um... none? Heh. Yeah, Kurt-- you may be my only option but you're a really good one. I'd love to."

With his residential unit coming into view, Logan realized their day together was rapidly coming to an end; he wasn't sure whether he was imagining it, but it seemed like Kurt's steps were shortening and slowing. The cat boy ultimately came to a stop, reaffirming what Logan had noticed. "You know, Logan... you're really nothing like most of the 'tourists' who come here. It's refreshing to be honest."

Logan also stopped. "What do you mean? How am I that different?"

Kurt shrugged, smirking. "Well... most of the folks who come here treat Kalpana L4 like a zoo; they're just here to stop and gawk at all of us social media primitives. Most of them come for a short stay and aren't really interested in staying or even really interacting with any of us. You're a LOT different."

Laughing in response, Logan couldn't help but be honest. "Well... frankly, I didn't know I wanted to interact either. My first priority in coming here was getting as far away from social media as I could."

Giggling at the admission, the cat-boy smirked, his tail thrashing back and forth mirthfully. "Well... you definitely made the right choice there... no place is further from the meta net than Kalpana L4 and--" Kurt froze. "Logan... are you okay?"

Logan hadn't realized that he had stared tearing up until his companion called him on it. Things had been going so well, but he had to go and start thinking about the sim vids. Sighing, he continued his honesty. "Well... the metanet and social media is only part of it. I came here to get away from being the center of attention over a sim vid that I accidentally posted. It got a lot of attention and I didn't want any of it."

Rather than pushing for more information, digging for details, or chiding him for a stupid mistake, Kurt did something completely different. Before Logan knew what was happening, Kurt was embracing him, giving the young man a comforting hug, and even pat his back as he said "Hey... things like that happen. That's one of MANY reasons why lots of us here avoid social medial like it was an auto-vent button on an exterior bulkhead."

The strange simile managed to disrupt Logan's emotional downward spiral. "That... sounds like it's bad."

Kurt nodded against his shoulder. "Yeah... it's bad."

Despite himself, Logan still managed to smile at the oddly humorous statement. "Good thing to avoid?"

"Definitely."

Letting out a steadying breath, Logan turned and continued heading toward his residence, Kurt walking with one arm around him and, Logan suddenly realized, he also had an arm around the cat boy. There was a certain emotional vulnerability to the moment, which was perhaps the reason why the words slipped out. "Social media like that is hard. I... I just don't want to have to be 'on' all the time... you know?"

The two stopped outside Logan's door and Kurt nodded. "I DO know, Logan... and so do most of us here at Kalpana L4. If you like it here, it isn't hard to qualify for citizenship. Not saying that you HAVE to or anything... just letting you know it's an option."

Logan nodded in response. "Yeah... not sure I'm ready to commit to something like that, but it IS good to know it's available."

Kurt smiled warmly. "There's no rush, and plenty of time to decide, Logan... lots of things are available."

The cat boy's kiss goodnight that night was on Logan's lips and, surprising himself, the young man didn't pull away... and was honestly glad he didn't.

* * * * *

According to the advertisements and broadcasts the first day of celebration was set to start at 8:00 in the morning and run through midnight. Not exactly the most extroverted person, he didn't mind the idea of missing the speech at the park center or what was described as the "Togetherness Celebration". Besides, he reasoned, that would have required that he get up around 6:30-- Logan considered that it had been a long time since he bothered getting up that early, then did a double-take when he realized that the thought was far truer than he'd first considered... he WAS over seven hundred, after all.

Chuckling to himself, the young man sat down to have some ready-made fabricated breakfast cereal and, as he ate, he lounged in his room. Although he wasn't opposed to seeing more of the celebration aside from the evening stuff, the introvert side of him was constantly aware that it would involve crowds... lots of crowds. In truth, he was sure that he was only looking forward to the evening events because he had someone to share it with.

He wasn't sure why, but he was surprisingly excited, and a little apprehensive. It didn't make a lot of sense to Logan-- he'd traveled a huge distance through space for the first time aboard a 'shuttle', and found himself in a strange new habitat and yet his body was responding to the prospect of some social celebration with the same kind of verve. His implant reminded him that Kurt would not be by until 17:00 to pick him up but even that increased the young man's apprehension. After their multiple interactions Logan could no longer deny it: he was looking forward to seeing Kurt again-- he was excited to see Kurt again.

As lunch time came and went (Logan has a fabricated hamburger), his constant thoughts of the celebration that evening got so bad that he had to tap his implant for some assistance, at which point it intervened in order to reduce his adrenaline output... and summarily suggested he practice mindfulness breathing, and proceeded to offer instruction. He politely declined, and requested that it return to passive mode, which it did. Logan instead took up the next several minutes going over his checklist, making sure he had everything he wanted to bring with him. The last time he'd done such a thing was one of the few times he went on a.... "Am I going on a DATE with Kurt?"

He really wasn't sure. His body definitely seemed to react as if it were a date. Was it a date? It kinda felt like a date. Kurt was a guy, and he'd never dated another guy before. He had to remind himself that Kurt wasn't exactly the super 'manly' type, not that he was raised in the 20th century-- gender fluidity had been a well established norm in the 22nd century... but he had never had it so directly impact him. He sighed, rolling his eyes and throwing caution to the wind; why bother psyching himself out when he could just go with the flow? He enjoyed hanging out with Kurt, and that was all that should have mattered.

Logan continued to fight with the tumult of thoughts in his mind until he received an announcement that someone was waiting outside for him-- that was reinforced by the soft ding of a signal bell followed by a recording of Kurt's voice. "Hey, Logan, you ready? I'm right outside."

Heading to the door, Logan opened it, revealing Kurt wearing a huge smile, and dressed in what looked like an elegant evening gown. The cat boy's dress had a conservative decolletage and, unless Logan was mistaken, looked as though it was slightly padded. The dress terminated just past the shoulders, and Kurt had elbow-length gloves made of what looked like a matching material. It had been awhile since Logan had seen anyone dress that way, even before he found himself thrust several hundred years out of time-- it almost reminded him of the kind of dress-up someone might do for a high school prom.

He couldn't help but smile, not only at the view, but at Kurt's obvious excitement. "Wow... you're REALLY pulling out all the stops... makes me feel under dressed."

Kurt blushed, but he still played it off cool, casually waving away the comment with a gloved hand. "Ah... I'm a welcome ambassador. How could I consider myself good at my job if I didn't make a good impression?"

Logan spoke before he stopped to think. "Well.. it's a really REALLY good impression."

Seeing Kurt blush at the compliment, Logan suddenly realized what he said and, in that moment, presumed that his cheeks were probably just as red. If the cat boy noticed he didn't call attention to it, quickly moving on. "Well... even though we're late to it, today's the first day of celebration so there'll be a lot to do. Are you ready to see a real Kalpana L4 festival?"

Smirking, Logan asked "As opposed to a fake one?"

Kurt gave him a light elbow, then slipped his gloved arm into the crook of Logan's. "Pretty uppity this evening, are you? Getting back at me for having other visitors to tend to?"

Logan shrugged. "Nah... I've just been waiting for this all day."

The young man didn't quite realize how much that sounded like flirting until he saw Kurt's ears flick, accentuating the slight blush to his cheeks. "Well SOMEONE's a smooth talker."

Following after the cat boy, Logan thought for what was probably the hundredth time that day that he was probably on a date. He was definitely getting an increasingly confident feeling that it was a date. At the end of the street, Logan was just starting to get comfortable with the idea of it being a date when Kurt came to a stop, turned, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "You look really handsome this evening, by the way."

It was Logan's turn for his cheeks to flush. "Oh... uh... thanks!"

Kurt was very quick to move things forward. "Anyway, I have a pretty full itinerary for us tonight-- the scheduled events run until midnight. Seeing as we have a late dinner, I figured we can stop by the diner and get something to tide us over, then we can go over the plan and I can revise anything you don't like and we can look into adding whatever you want."

Logan shrugged in response. "Well... you know a lot more about this place than I do, so I'll have to trust you on what's worth seeing. I'm surprised there's so much to see on a single Hab."

The cat boy grinned. "Well, Kalpana L4 is a lot bigger than traditional Kalpana plans... Uncle Tom says that 'scope creep' was to blame but you can never tell which of of his statements are careful analysis and which are random bitching for the sake of being antagonistic." The two shared a laugh over the comment.

As they made their way back to the restaurant where Kurt's sister worked, the cat boy began explaining the schedule he had in mind. All-in-all it sounded fairly mundane and not at all abnormal for any kind of celebration: since the speech, gathering, and the parade had already come and gone, Kurt included a trip to a park, and then a night time presentation provided in speech form followed by fireworks-- apparently it was a tradition the festival and Kurt thought it would be a great way to introduce Logan to the habitat. Other than the fact that he didn't much care for long-winded speeches, everything sounded fine... and the fireworks would probably make up for it. "That all sounds good to me. Pretty full set of activities, huh?"

Kurt smiled, grabbing Logan's hand and led him forward again. "Oh, festival celebrations are great... there's ALWAYS something to do. Anyway, the speech is a little after the day lights dim, which means we have plenty of time after that. I figure I can take you to a special dinner event in case you're getting tired of Chelsea's cooking after the fireworks."

The cat boy's energetic gesticulation of swiping an open hand over his head in a panoramic gesture definitely gave his statement a theatrical flare and it left Logan laughing. It took a moment to get himself under control but, still smiling, he nodded. "Sure. That sounds like one heck of a night. I'm all for it."

The confirmation made Kurt smile even wider. "Cool. It's been awhile since I've had someone to hang out with during the festival... this'll be great!"

There was something strange about the cat boy's comment; insofar as Logan could tell, Kurt shouldn't have had a problem hanging out with anyone. Why would such an extroverted individual have any trouble connecting with friends? Sighing, he pushed that thought aside: sometimes things were simple and he needed to learn not to try and complicate them. Renewing his smile, he followed Kurt into the diner, laughing as the two siblings immediately started a shouting match over whether or not Celebration Day Waffles were available since it was already late afternoon.