Chapter 100 He had forgotten why shopping with the empress was a nightmare
Luke had made a mistake, he had forgotten that he was in a megacity and not in Hawaii. He had taken Teheen to the nearest shopping district and there he had remembered. Shopping with her had been hell. He had successfully repressed this memory.
You'd think an empress of a galactic empire would ignore things as they were for aliens like Primitive. But if Luke's weakness was old SUVs, Teheen's weakness was exotic stuff. So everything she could see here. She dragged him into every store that interested her. Which didn't surprise him, she bought clothes in bulk, gym equipment, weights etc etc and then she found the luxury district. She stared at the stores and then at Luke.
"They look just as crappy as ours. "
Luke grinned.
"It's the same everywhere..."
She pulled him into the nearest fashion store, they both stood out too much. Teheen because she looked like she'd just come from the gym and Luke because he'd dressed in the cargo pants t-shirt look.
The fashion store staff gave them both a disparaging look, but Teheen didn't seem to care. She crept from one exhibitor to the next. Until she stopped in front of a fashion mannequin wearing a gala dress. Luke looked at her, she was showing more skin than was healthy. The girl smiled, looking at him.
Luke sighed.
"Shelf filler over here!" an employee ordered him, staring at him in horror.
"I want that dress!" she pointed to the dress.
The employee smiled wryly.
"Can you afford that?" she returned sarcastically.
Teheen looked at her in silence.
Luke went to the dress, looked at it, looked at the label who made it. Sighed when he saw Bill's name.
"The dress is not for sale, it's one of a kind."
Teheen smiled coolly.
"That's exactly why I want it."
Luke stopped listening because Teheen was arguing with the clerk, he reached for his cell phone and took a picture of the dress.
He was grabbed by the arm by Teheen and pulled out of the store, she tapped the store into her crystal. Looked at him.
" These aren't from your family's corporation? "
"Good question."
He checked the net.
" Well, from a new corporation . "
Teheen grinned.
"Good, I'll have them put on the banned list."
Luke sighed. Then she dragged him through 16 more stores. Luke returned the favor by dragging her past the landmarks. The Hollywood Monument, as it was written on the plaque.
Teheen stared at the letters that stood in brilliant white on the hills.
"You want me to look at letters?"
Luke grinned.
" It's a piece of cultural history. "
She looked at him skeptically.
" This used to be the planet's movie industry."
" I see ... "
He took selfies with her, dragged her to an old theater, a villa that must have belonged to an action movie star.
She pointed at expensive sports cars.
"Why don't you have one?"
" I have one, but it's my grandfather's. "
" So so and ..."
Luke groaned.
" Tell me you want to sit in one of those..."
She looked at him ignorantly.
" What makes you think that?"
" Because you were staring at the cars when I was looking at the tourist stuff."
She smiled in response.
He pulled her to a luxury car store, walked in and an overly well-dressed businessman appeared.
"Welcome, what can I do for you?"
" Well, my wife," he pointed to Teheen, who had already been looking at the cars, had left.
" Well, she's in my ear. Why I didn't buy a luxury car. "
Teheen walked around a car that was a cross between a Porsche and a Mercedes, shiny black.
"Uh..." came from the salesman.
"Ah, she found something," Luke walked up to her.
"There, that looks good, almost like the sled that's in the garage."
"It doesn't even look like that..."
Teen ignored him, opened the door and looked around the car.
"What does your wife mean by garage?"
"She drove my Mercedes to the garage, so now the engine has to be changed, the paintwork done, the bodywork repaired. "
Teheen got out of the car.
"Why is it so cramped in there? "
"Ma'am, to be honest, the car is for small and slim people ..."
She looked at him.
" If I'm already having trouble in there, he'll never fit. Where are the ones with room?"
He led them both to the SUVs.
"Here, ma'am, these are the best ones on the market right now. With ..."
Luke grinned and looked at himself.
Teheen stared at the SUVs and then at the seller.
"He's already got one! No, two! One's an antique, I read, and the other one's still junk where he's screwing around!"
She pointed to the luxury sports cars.
"Why aren't they his size!"
" Madam ... We have a target group to whom we sell the cars and they are ... "
Teheen snorted.
" You have to understand, only the young want cars like this... "
Luke continued looking at the behemoth of a Suv, checking out the info, the trunk area. Sat down in the driver's seat.
It was a completely different seating world to the SUV he had been sitting in. Teehen stood at the open driver's door and stared at him grimly. He looked at her.
"Yes?"
" We're going ..."
He grinned, grabbed her and pulled her in despite her protests. As soon as she sat in the seat, she looked down in irritation and felt the seat.
"It's very different from yours..."
" Luxury..." he said.
She stopped playing with the buttons. The salesman was now standing at the driver's door himself, looking at the two of them in a mixture of irritation and horror.
"I'll take him. What options does he have? "
The salesman switched straight into business mode.
"You can choose the color, with the premium package you get the latest energy core system, which won't be officially released for another six months. The seats have a massage function and adapt to the body of the person sitting in them, with the premium engine they are faster than the sports cars, they also have no problems off-road, as the latest all-wheel drive systems are installed, which are otherwise only used by the military. The car is bulletproof, radiation-proof, has air conditioning, sound system, holoprojectors and you can even watch movies vio network on it. "
"Fine, fine, I'll take it. Can you send it to me in Hawaii?"
" Sure and the premium package also includes full registration and real license plates, not like the regular sale..."
Teen stared at him as he said the sentence about taking it. Wanted to say something.
He wrapped up the purchase and they both left the dealership, Teheen humming along beside Luke.
"Another one of those things ... "
Luke grinned.
"Good, so you can get to your experiment." He took her hand and teleported with her to a test track where you could drive old cars, going through the rows of cars with her. He found an old Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupé. Teheen looked at him skeptically.
Secured a lap and got in. She still looked at him skeptically.
"Come on, get in. "
" That's primitive ... "
He tapped on the passenger seat, very hesitantly she sat down next to him.
" You have to buckle up ..."
She looked at him, then saw that he had fastened his seatbelt. She did so.
"Why am I letting myself..." she mumbled to herself.
Luke waited until he was buckled in and started the engine, which was roaring deeply. Teen winced, wanted to get out, but he put the car in gear and accelerated, zooming down the road.
It had been too long since he'd driven one of these, ignoring Teheen's screams as he thundered through the bends and coasted gently to a stop at the starting point. Turned the car off and looked at her, who was pale and clinging to the grab handles.
"Well, if you want to. I'm sure I can find one of these somewhere ... "
She looked at him jerkily. Luke grinned.
"I've changed my mind about your SUV..." she said and got out without further comment.
To make amends, she led the way to the exotic section of stores where she shopped and let him lug the bags.
He teleported her to Hawaii, where they stood in front of an antique store. Teheen looked around skeptically, then at him.
"And this is where I'm supposed to find something for my sister? "
Luke nodded, an old Asian man came out of the back room and looked at the two of them.
"Oh, a married couple."
Teheen raised an eyebrow.
"How would they know that? "
" Simple, he's wearing the bags. Don't look like tourists and," he moved closer and tapped Luke's and her bracelet.
"They're the same. So what are they looking for?"
Teheen pondered.
"A wedding present for her sister that she forgot to get. Because she chickened out instead."
"Ey, I got here in time."
The old man looked at them both.
"Hm hm hm hm."
He walked through the store.
" Is there a particular gift?"
" It can be ugly, the more and more provocative the better," came from her. The old man looked at her.
" You don't like your sister, do you?"
" Well ..."
" Hhmm ugly hhmm" Teheen walked through the store herself and stopped in front of an African fertility statue.
"What's that?"
The old man came closer.
"It's a fertility statue, it comes from Africa. It's supposed to bring fertility."
" Hm hm hm" She looked at Luke, who was looking at the things himself.
"I'll take those."
" Are you sure? "
Teheen smiled.
"Quite sure."
Luke himself looked at the table legs, which looked like cats of prey, squatted down and looked at them.
"Son!" came suddenly from his father.
He flinched and looked over his shoulder. It really was him.
" Eh hello?"
" I didn't mean to scare you, I just saw you come in here with her."
" Yeah. She wants to get something ugly for her sister. What about you? "
His father grinned.
"I just came from a meeting with my label, you wouldn't happen to know any martial arts clubs here on the island? "
Luke raised an eyebrow.
"No, I don't want to start anything, I just need something for a holovideo. "
"Hhmm, I only know of one, but it's been a few years since I've been there. "
" Great, then you show me where it is, I'll take you with the stuff," he pointed at Teheen, who had bought more than a few things.
She looked at Luke questioningly.
"What, I found something for the rest of my clan."
Luke sighed. He grabbed the table legs and went to the Asian man paid and helped Teheen load the things into her father's pickup truck. They got in.
Teheen looked around scrutinizingly.
"But it's nicer than the one you're driving," she said. While his father drove off.
"I remember, you've got one of those junk things in your habitat, you can fix it with satz..."
"Junk thing?"
Luke nodded.
"The Ford."
"Oh, that one, a nice piece. Belonged to a farmer before the breakout. Then bandits, then the family who took the car from the bandits and in the end Sue snatched it."
"I see, but it's still scrap, doesn't look like anything I've seen here before."
"The body is whole again, so ... "
They stopped in front of Uthe's combat studio. Luke's father looked at him, then at him.
"This here? Do you know this is elite shed? "
" Yup. "
He got out, he hoped he did. The last time he had been here was a good 40 years ago, he went in, his father followed him. Teheen too.
"Are you really sure, son?"
He pointed to a picture of himself in BDU on the wall.
" There you see, I was here. "
Teheen ran over, inspected it.