“Then I agree that you will see your father again someday.” She patted my leg. “Come. I will show you to the cleansing unit and how to work it. I’m sure you wish to get clean before we go and eat breakfast.”
I tried not to appear too eager at the possibility of getting clean.
I winced. “I bet I smell bad.”
“You smell better than when I first met you.” Surkah shrugged. “I had to really scrub you down with rags.”
The female widened her eyes the second the words left her mouth, and purple stained her sculpted cheeks. I laughed loudly at her slip up.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” I told her. “I know I smell bad, and trust me, I’ve smelled this way for a long time. It is hard to come across a working cleansing unit back on Earth. The ones that do work require payment to use them, and I have no credits to my name, nor did I want to sell my body to males to be clean because then I wouldn’t feel clean no matter how hard I scrubbed my skin.”
Surkah stared at me with wide eyes.
“You’ve had a hard life, Nova.”
She had no idea.
“I’ve had it hard on most days, but I’m still alive and kicking. That’s got to count for something, right?”
“Right.”
Surkah got me to my feet from the bed and walked with me to the far side of the room. I had no idea what she was doing until we stopped in front of a wall. Out of nowhere, the wall automatically opened. I jumped, and Surkah laughed at me. I entered the room with her and found it looked nothing like a cleansing unit on Earth. First of all, there was no knobs, buttons, or even a shower head. It was just an empty corner.
I looked at Surkah. “Where is the cleansing unit?”
She giggled gleefully and stepped into the space where the unit would usually be. As soon as she stood still, the ceiling opened above her and a huge chrome shower head lowered. I looked at Surkah when she said, “Put your hand on any part of the wall, and it will automatically start the unit. The temperature of your body will be scanned as soon as your hand touches the wall, and the unit will adjust the water temperature to your perfect setting. For hair and body wash, you say, ‘Cleanse,’ and a small amount of it falls with the water but provides a huge amount of product when cleaning. When you’re finished, press your hand against the wall again, and it will turn the unit off.”
“That’s … amazing.”
Surkah didn’t look like she thought it was amazing, but she humoured me by smiling widely.
“The wash gel has restorative properties in it,” she mentioned. “It will aid your broken skin in healing. We made that adjustment when we brought you humans aboard; many of you have really bad skin conditions, and tiny pests that live in your hair, but one use of this medicated wash gel will aid your skin greatly, and it will kill the pests.”
“That’s even more amazing!”
When Surkah left the room, I stripped down and stepped into the unit. I followed her instructions and pressed my hand against the wall. I jumped when water began to fall onto my head. It reminded me of the time I stood under a waterfall; only the water was perfectly heated. I groaned as the water matted my hair to my head. I stood still for a few minutes before I spoke the verbal command for some hair and body. I smelled it the second it fell. It reminded me of a mixture of fruits that used to grow on Earth.
Surkah mentioned she had cleaned me when I arrived aboard the craft, but she barely got off a couple of layers of grime because the dirt was still caked into the creases of my skin, and I still stank to the high heavens. My hair was tangled in clumps, and where my fingernails and toenails weren’t chipped or broken, dirt was packed under them. Sections of skin were dry and flaky while other areas had open sores from the dirt. I was so grateful for the healing properties of the wash gel because my skin was an awful mess.
On a personal mission to be clean for the first time in a long time, I lathered my skin and hair with the suds, four times, and used a rough version of a sponge that was on the floor to scrub my body clean. It took a long time, and that was mainly because I was using my fingers to detangle my hair. When I was grime free, and my skin was raw from scrubbing, I turned the unit off then stepped out and yelped when hot air began to blow down on me from above. I was surprised by the automatic dryer, but I stood still until my hair and body were free of water droplets. It took less than a minute to fully dry me, and it didn’t even burn my skin!
When the dryer stopped, a small section of the wall opened to reveal a viewing glass and a cabinet. I stared at my reflection for a few minutes, shocked at how different I looked. I looked younger, fresher … healthier. Focusing on the cabinet, I opened it and found a bunch of items. I opened a few bottles, but I had no idea what the products inside did, so I steered clear of them. I did gasp with delight when I spotted a small pair of scissors. It was the first weapon I had come across, and I was thankful for it.
Finally, I won’t be helpless if I need to defend myself.
Next to the scissors was a large hairbrush. Looking brand new with all its bristles, it helped greatly in my effort to detangle my long brown hair. It took a further ten minutes, and a some of my hair had to be at the ends with the small scissors when certain clumps couldn’t be detangled. My scalp burned like a bitch from the scrubbing and detangling, but I was so pleased when the brush eventually slid through my hair from root to tip with ease.
It was the first time in a very long time I was able to achieve that.
The surprises didn’t stop there either. I spotted funny looking nail clippers, and I took my time to trim all my finger and toenails. I picked up a small jar that had little sticks with soft blue padding on the end of them; the padding smelled nice, but I didn’t know what they were supposed to be used for. I tried to use a small cloth to clean out the water in my ears, but when I couldn’t get inside, I used the little sticks, and they worked like a charm.
I was positively giddy with excitement when I spotted a brand-new toothbrush. I didn’t need any paste on it to clean my teeth because when it was wet, the tops of the bristles glistened with a mint-scented gel. It was a strong possibility that I spent longer brushing my teeth, gums, and tongue than I did showering. When I wrapped myself in a gigantic towel that was softer than any fabric I had ever felt before in my life and gripped my scissors, I re-entered the room I had slept in and blinked when I saw a small bundle of clothes placed on my bed.
I changed into the clothes provided for me, though I wondered where the Maji got them in my size when they had just arrived on Earth two days ago. It amused me that I was wearing a similar uniform to the male Maji—only mine was dark grey, and I had no armour plating like theirs did. It was soft and easy to move around in. It had pockets in the trousers too, so I safely tucked my scissors inside a pocket and patted it.
There was no underwear, shoes or socks, so with a shrug, I walked over to the doorway. When it opened, I hesitantly stepped into the white hallway and straight away noticed the silver and black pipes that ran along the ceiling. Sudden growling gained my attention. I turned and blinked at Mikoh and Surkah who were facing off just outside my room. She looked like she would rip his throat out if she was given the chance.
“Uh … hi.”
Surkah looked at me and her face lit up, but Mikoh continued to stare her down.