Chapter 103 Shopping for the crystal pope

Luke switched to the Earth channel, the weather. The four of them looked at him.

"What, you better tell me what you three are up to."

"We?" came the collective answer.

"Sure, Tyreen is studying to become an ambassador."

"But she's been kicked out of the ambassador program."

" Pff Paperlapap, in the time she's here with me, she's had more to do with aliens than they'll ever manage. " 

All three looked at Tyreen.

"That's true..."

" And apart from the fact that she has the intergalactic laws, while. The ambassador program only trains dialogue with the Trade Alliance, nothing more."

"How do you know so much about it?" came from Katy.

Luke took a drag on his cigarette.

"It's a standard program out there to see if the up-and-coming species can make it. Once the first hurdle of the trade alliance is cleared, well... then we're off. "

They looked at him uncomprehendingly.

"Then comes the reality. It's more extreme than what we have here..." 

Luke grinned. 

"And what do you do?" 

" Oh... I ended up in the mech industry after a lot of back and forth," Sandy said.

"I'm in the computer game industry, the game was mostly made by me." came from Jin, she grinned.

Luke looked at Katy. 

"I'm still waiting for a free place at medical school." came from her. 

" Well then, good luck. "

" Luke, why did we all get this email?" 

He looked at Katy.

" Mail?" 

" Chopper Inc. ..."

Luke scratched his head.

"That's right, Luke, I think the rest of the family got the mail the day before yesterday, even Grandpa. "

"Hm, and did you click on it?" 

Katy looked at him.

"Well, Dad did and said it was much better insured now than before and Mum, after she grabbed Liz, she and her sisters clicked on it. They then made their husbands do it."

Tyreen nodded.

"Dad just looked at them both and said, did you expect anything else? "

"Oha. And the next ones? "

The four of them looked at each other and then at him. 

" Well, not yet. "

" Well then ... " 

He got up, went into the kitchen, looked in the fridge, which was empty, looked for the coffee, which was also empty. It really was an endless hole. 

"Luke, can we use the beach and the sea?" came from Tyreen.

"Sure, everything up to the marker is safe, after that it's sea and sharks and mutant sharks." 

All he heard was whispering. He zapped to the nearest supermarket, shopped, zapped back with bags in hand, loaded the fridge. Sighed because he had forgotten the coffee.

"I'm getting really old. " 

Zapped himself in front of Leo's store, stepped inside. The store was full of customers, he sighed, so he dutifully waited his turn. In the meantime, he filled a basket with fruit and vegetables. Ted looked at him when it was his turn.

"Is the coffee empty yet?" 

"Well, I gave it to my lawyer. He pawned it, so I need some more." 

" You do realize we're not a mega plantation, right? "

" Sure, so do you have anything else?"

Ted capitulated.

" Only from new breeding, but the customers don't like that yet. They only want the old ones." 

" New ones?" 

Ted shuffled into the next room with a pot and a cup and handed it to Luke.

He smelled it, tasted it.

"Yeah. Tastes good. Can understand why they say that. It's stronger and more intense in flavor. I'll have a bag."

"Are you sure?" 

Luke nodded and poured himself another.

Ted sauntered off, came back with a bag and put it all in the till.

"Where's Leo anyway?"

"At Uthe's, with Lina and Lisa, girls' day, especially after Leo heard Uthe was getting it on with Jeremy again. Wants to get styled up."

"Ha," he sipped his coffee as he paid.

"Leo said she heard about Uthe, your old man's doing something?"

Luke nodded.

"Yep. Something with his label."

" And that you've been fiddling with Jeremy's back."

He grinned.

"Just pushed around a bit."

" And that Tina is supposed to have rammed a knife into your side, which I can't imagine."

Luke emptied his cup and put it on the counter. 

" That's also true " he lifted his T-shirt at his side, indicating a fresh scar. 

" According to the aliens at the clinic, I was scraping it off because of a few other things."

"And then you're walking around now? And what other things?"

Luke thought about it.

"Well, imagine sleeping with Leo when she's on 180."

" Leo on 180? That's more like having a mutant bear in the house, I'm fine with hot Leo Luke."

Luke grinned.

"Yes. First they took emergency measures. Then they put me in a regeneration fluid. It's kind of like that wound spray they sell, only like slime soup."

"Bah, so like the space ham Leo's always sucking down. "

Luke grinned. 

"Yeah, kind of, then came the rehab two days of just exercise, food only for recovery. "

"So organic?" 

" Well, more like specially grown. They said I have poison in my body. When I had them show me that."

He grinned.

"Cigarettes, coffee, good food, okay, then all the poisonous gases, chemicals and radioactive . ."

Ted raised an eyebrow. 

"Sounds worse than my doctor putting me on a diet. While you're here. Is there anything meaty I can eat."

"You mean something with flavor?" 

Ted nodded.

"Leo's cooking skills are limited and, well, you know."

"Hhmm, wait a minute."

He zapped home with the groceries, put them away. Zapped to the moon, went to a terminal and searched it.

Ned blew in his ear.

"Aren't you supposed to be relaxing?" came from her.

" I am, there's a few more boxes of bear meat here. "

She raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, they're still there. But what do you want with them? "

"Trading."

She looked at him questioningly.

"Luke, they're worth nothing. They're only meant for absolute emergencies and even then only without dignity. "

" Oh here, storage room 7." 

He tried to go there, but was stopped by her. 

"No, fill out the application and you'll get it."

Luke groaned, called up the form on the terminal and quickly filled it out. 

A few minutes later, technicians brought six boxes to him. 

He packed everything into the nanobag. 

"See you around," he zapped, Ted winced as Luke returned, a few customers too.

"What was that?" came from him.

"Technology Ted." 

The customers looked at him, irritated.

"So..."

He took a can out of a box in the nano bag.

Ted looked at it skeptically. He opened the can and the smell of grilled venison spread. He took out a piece of the sauce and ate it.

"Yes, just as I remember it. So Ted, you can eat this without hesitation."

" Ha!" He took a piece, tasted it, his eyes grew wide. 

" This tastes better than the meat my old man got. "

Luke grinned. Ted hurried to the back and came back with some kind of bread.

" If it tastes good with this " He put some meat on it, ate and chewed with relish, dipping the bread in. Very quickly the tin was empty. 

" I'll take all you have. " He thought about it. " Okay, a box first."

Luke took out the open box and placed it on the counter. He tapped on it.

" There's 199 left in there, check out the sample pack." 

Ted looked at the customers.

"Wait a minute." 

He went to serve them, his crystal buzzed, he sighed, took it out of his pocket looked at it.

"Property."

Another amused laugh. Luke sighed. 

" What can I do for you? "

" How do you know what I want?" came from Exclit. 

" Just a feeling and when I saw you eating the crystals."

" Ah, couldn't resist the emotions and memories. So much of you and her. How did you do that?" 

"I don't know, I just used crystals from me."

" Ah, so they really store something like that hhmm."

"So, what is that? And why is this thing 900 years old?" 

"Ah, I read the energy in it, very interesting. I have two requests, the first is to make her a new necklace. "

" You know that she " 

Another amused laugh.

" Yes, and after I had her in conversation and she compulsively touched her bracelet."

Luke heard a familiar whisper in the form of Leo, Lina, Lisa.

"Haha, amazing, she's having a second spring with him," came from Lina.

"Hey Luke, here without a car today? And where's your better half?" came from Leo.

Luke looked at her.

"Either Sarge or Liz took the car and your better half is with her clan."

"Uh-huh." came from Leo.

"Luke?" came from Exklit.

" Yeah, new chain what else? "

" More Artfekate from your planet, they sent us very little and then only the main religions. "

" I'll get them, I'll send you a message when I have them."

" Thank you," he hung up. Luke pocketed the crystal.

The three of them looked at him questioningly.

" What? I can't help it if I get a call."

" Really? I only saw a crystal and not a cell phone."

"That's right, a next-generation cell phone. "

" I see, and when is that coming onto the market? "

" When we're connected to the rest of the galaxy? " 

" Uh-huh!"

Ted reached for the box.

" Ted! Honey? What's in the box?" 

Ted froze. 

Luke grinned and tapped the box.

"That, Leo, is diet meat."

"Really?"

"I rather think those two are cooking up something, which is very, very rare. The last time we were at boarding school, the two of them covered the changing rooms together."

"Ey, we were 14 then."

Lina looked at him.

"Right, and that's when we caught you two getting down? "

"Well, it was worth it back then."

Ted remained silent.

" Leo " Luke drummed his fingers on the box.

" Who's cooking with you?"

" Ted ... " 

"Well, so you have more choice. Even with meat, which is difficult at the moment anyway. With whole farms or overpriced. It's really diet meat. If he or you gain weight because of it, then I'll drag you both to a VIP clinic where you'll be put on an absolute diet and have to exercise 24 hours a day. And eat in such a balanced way that it tastes like nothing."

"That doesn't sound like VIP..." came from Lina. 

Leo came closer, took the can, smelled it, stuck his finger in and tasted it.

"I hope it tastes good. We still have a lot of naughty things in store for you. "

" Says the one who had a crush on the dance teacher in 7th grade and stalked him. "

She looked at him.

" Speaking of rumors, Tina , is beside herself. Because a certain gentleman has been nowhere to be seen for a few days." 

"The gentleman, has been to a clinic and look how well my skin has come back and I've already spoken to Tina, she's out with Bonnie," he pointed to himself.

"Now that you mention it, I was wondering why you didn't look as glamorous as usual. "

He grinned.

"Well, they're all trade secrets, but look," he lifted his T-shirt and pointed to the spot.

"She got me there."

She continued to scrutinize the spot on the T-shirt. Luke winced as he felt hands feeling his stomach.

"Holy shit," came from Lina, who was also examining the spot. 

"I told you Kia was an idiot."

"And this is supposed to be your real body?" came from Leo.

Luke groaned.

"Look, there's still a scar from the mutt from" He had to think. 

Lina looked at him. 

"That's right, it really is the scar from Odessa's mutt."

She looked at him.

"How come you can't remember the name?" 

He winced, grabbing at his shirt. It was pulled up again.

" Oh, look, the splinter scars." 

Leo looked at him.

" If that's your real body, then you haven't kept your figure."

Lisa nodded.

"When you were running around as Pr Rabbit, you were much thinner."

Luke finally managed to keep his t-shirt down.

" I have a balanced diet "

" Sure.

"I heard you won against Kia," came from Lisa.

Lina nodded. 

"She was very meek, especially when she got the bill. She paid almost 700 k for her lawyers alone, then another 20 k for the court and 280 k for your lawyer. " 

" That's cheap, why is yours so cheap Luke?" asked Leo.

" I gave him 4 kg of your coffee. He's a coffee addict. "

Leo looked at him in disbelief. 

"And Kia said you were fucking a flat-chested alien with 4 arms and Uthe said" Lisa grinned. "You had a sports bunny with you when you were there with your father, she also had four arms and your father called her daughter-in-law."

"You gossiped a lot. "

"No, but why was she so keen on your hair?" 

Luke groaned.

"And Uthe said she'd never seen such a toned body in all the years she's worked there."

Luke raised an eyebrow.

"You and fit ... "

"That was probably the one who was squatting in the car with him," came from Leo, who had turned away from him with the two of them. "I knew it wasn't proper for Luke to be driving around with a woman."

Luke saw a stall with cultural items in the corner of the store and went over. Picked up a mask.

"Didn't know you guys sold stuff like that?" 

Leo rolled his eyes.

"It's from a local group, they're a bit short of cash, so they offered the stuff. Unfortunately, it's a slow seller."

"Hhmm locals, hhmm ah very good. Leo, I'll take the stuff with me. I have to get something for friends anyway."

"Really? It's just junk..."

Luke grinned. 

"He's into that sort of thing, so how much?" 

"How much meat do you have left?" 

" Five more boxes, 200 cans in each."

" Good, then the five boxes."

Luke went through the market value. 

"Okay."

He took the things out of the nano bag and packed the rest.

" I am, let's move on then. "

He didn't wait for an answer, zapped on, landed at an intersection, looked at the signage, found a sign that said culture club. Grinned and zapped to it. He emerged in the middle of the cultural center, which was just crammed with history and stuff from locals. Apart from one old woman, there was no one there. She looked at Luke, he at her.

"They're the ones from the market," he moved closer. She continued to look at him. 

" You're the monster's successor." 

Luke looked at her questioningly.

" The last one to show up here like this was the monster of our world."

Luke considered.

"Ah, Uther."

She nodded. 

" What do they want? "

Luke grinned. 

"I want to buy artifacts."

She looked at him in silence.

"Why? You can go to the ruler's store, too."

He looked at the items.

" Well, I want to come clean. I have an acquaintance, an alien. He's a very big shot on a religious planet. "

He eyed a mask. 

"You have set yourself the goal of getting to know all religions. When we made contact, we sent them information and the most important things. "

She was still silent. 

" I see, and what do they want with it? "

" To put it on planets."

" Anyone can say that ." 

Luke sighed, grabbed the crystal and threw it into the air.

" Call Exclit."

He hovered and Holo of Exklit appeared in his robe. He hummed brightly.

"Translator, please." 

Exclite turned to the woman, tapping his collar. Luke pointed at Exclite.

" My friend. "

She just stared at Exclite. 

He bowed.

"I salute you, I see Luke is honoring my request. I can assure you that there are no ill intentions. They have so many religions and only texts have come. "

" But we have nothing to equal the great religions. "

Exclite looked at her.

"Faith is not always represented by luxury or ostentation. If the faithful deem it so necessary, then that is their way of expressing it. Our task here is to give all religions the same status. Even if it's just songs or verses, something like that is just as valuable as statues or buildings. Luke, I have a ceremony to go to, will you let me know?" Luke nodded. Exclit hung up and crystal floated back to his hand.

"Is that a human?"

"No. A crystal being, but Planet of them is really beautiful. They try to give every religion a place that reflects nature. As long as there is information about it. 

The old woman was silent.

" I have to think about it first and talk to others. "

" Sure, no problem."

Luke went to the donation box, tapped in a buzzer and completed the payment. He wrote her number on a slip of paper and handed it to her.

"Just give me a call. "

She nodded, he zapped his way across the planet, through all the little religions and black markets. He zapped to the moon exhausted, sat on a bench and smoked first, took the crystal, sent Exclit the message that he had the first batch ready, he'd send the rest when he had her decision. Luke was really surprised, it took 10 minutes, then an Olichgrachen crystal ship landed. 

Nad came running.

"Shit, what are they doing here? " 

Luke stood up.

" They're picking something up." 

She looked at him doubtfully. 

A crystal being stepped out of the ship and bowed to the two of them. 

A transport barge formed. 

Luke unloaded, the crystal being had to load several times. 

"So I've noted on each one what's from whom and" He handed her a data crystal. 

"You wanted, well the ones that are still alive, rites and all. Exclit said he'd be happy to have more information. "

The crystal being took the crystal, hummed loudly and disappeared into the ship, which quickly flew away.

Nad placed her hand firmly on his shoulder. 

"I've never seen how fast they can be."

"Well, the order came from their boss."

"Uh-huh ... " 

He finished his cigarette and started to leave, but Ned held him back.

" Not so fast, I'll let you do some office work while you're here. "

Luke groaned, he was dragged along, put in front of a terminal and had to work his way through business logs, contracts, requests. It took just under an hour, then he zapped down and sat down on the couch, very exhausted. As soon as he sat down, Bonnie stood in front of him, grinning.

" Everything installed, I'll come back tomorrow for the software. "

" No problem."

" Is it okay if I join the girls in the pool? " 

" Go ahead, ask them what they want to eat. "

" I heard they want to order... "

" Well, tell them I'll cook something. "

" Really?" 

He nodded. She went out, he got up eventually, dragged himself into the kitchen, made coffee and took a sip. Yes, he made a good grab, rummaged in the fridge. He put things on the counter and thought about what he was doing. He thought of something, took a knife and started cutting. 

Zed appeared out of nowhere, looked around in irritation and went to him. Luke looked at him questioningly as he went through the pots. Zed mumbled something. 

"Do I get your channels? " He really had to think about it. Went to the table, pan in hand, turned on the channels, clicked on Zed spezies. 

"Those are the ones I receive." 

Zed looked at the channels, pointed to a news channel, Luke clicked on that one.

"Sit down."

He went back into the kitchen and continued cooking. Rummaged in the cupboards for dessert. Zapped to the nearest supermarket, got the stuff, zapped back and started cooking. 

It started to smell of food. He put the dishes on the dining table and it wasn't long before the 6 from the pool were sitting at the table. Bonnie & Tina looked a little quizzical, while the other four looked expectant. 

"Are you really sure? " 

Tyreen nodded.

"Even though he always says he can't cook, he can."

" Really?" Bonny looked at him.

"So if you can cook, have coal, a body where most women melt away, why did Kia still leave you? "

Luke put the bowls of food on the table. 

" Money, control and that I don't have a dick that's long and thick in the forearm. " 

" Oha. "

The four of them had already started eating. He looked at Zed, who was staring at the holo as if hypnotized.

" Zed, do you want something to eat? "

He held up a nut. Luke sighed. He went to the cupboard, found a bag of mixed nuts, walked over to Zed and held it out to him. He looked at him, then at the bag.

"It's not the same brand you're used to. "

Zed carefully reached into the bag and pulled out a few nuts.

"Does Luke have a reason for eating nuts instead of throwing everything into me like Earl?" 

Zed let out a disdainful sound. 

"Really?" Jinx looked at him as he chewed.

"Wow, the translator really works. "

Zed tasted the nuts, put the bag next to him and looked at the holo-TV. It showed news, mostly just technical, then pictures of award winners.

"So, Zed, what's so hypnotizing about the news?

He made sounds between chewing.

"Oh, your daughter." 

Zed nodded and continued chewing. 

Liz and Sarge came in, exhausted. They both sniffed.

" Food?" She saw Luke and hugged him tightly.

"Not too tight. "

She looked at him.

"Wait, those aren't the usual eyes ..."

She looked at him more closely.

"The skin looks scarred ..."

He grinned.

"That's right, he had a skin cure."

Zed looked at him skeptically, grumbled a little and continued munching on nuts. 

" Well, and get rid of the discomfort."

" You call a stab in the heart discomfort? "

" Not the first time, so food is still there. "

He pointed to the table. 

Liz looked at the table.

"I guess we won't be eating as much. And what's this one doing?" 

She pointed at Zed, who had switched to a literary channel. 

"Watching television." 

" I see..." She looked at him uncomprehendingly. 

Ned and Nad appeared.

"Wuh finally off work! " came from Ned, she sniffed and scurried into the kitchen and filled herself a plate. Nad close behind her. They scurried to the table and sat down. Sarge also took a plate.

"George?" came from Liz.

" What? I'm hungry Liz and the canteen in the company bbrr " Liz sighed and went to him. Luke grinned, sat down on the sofa and lit a fag. 

The usual social chaos, the next few days passed quietly. He went jogging, swimming. He continued to pick up religious stuff that had really fallen out of time, including new religions. Then black markets and auctions. So he had to order a shipping container, which was taken to Exklit. So at least he got to see the planet again.