Written by Brian C. Williams
Edited by Melinda L. Harold
Clean Cue city is the capital city of Toriyama.
Toriyama is one of the primary planets in the Citadel Union Of Planets, (C.U.P.). It is also a hotbed of commerce and tourism.
All of the historical places of Toriyamain culture are in other cities. Clean Cue City is where you go for hotel nightclubs, expensive stores, and those restaurants where they serve tiny, tiny portions on plates with weird shapes. Nothing from Wal-Mart in those places. The modern part of my brain asked the 21st Century part of my brain, "Wal-Mart?" and I answered, "Chain of superstores? Modern?" Then I responded, "Just wondering, because now Wal-Mart is an Earth military contractor dealing in foot soldier weaponry."
So visitors from other planets love Clean Cue City. A great deal of the rich aliens and Toriyamains choose it as their place of residence.
The only inhabitants of the city considered low income are the miners and the cops. They make good money but are still thought of as low income compared to the city's other residents.
The humans send most of their income back to Earth because the exchange rate there is more favorable.
This was due to the fact that Earth was the home of the C.U.P.'s stock exchange.
The other members of the C.U.P. are Mars, Edgewall, and Fade. Mars houses the C.U.P.s military forces-yeah, fits. Edgewall is home to the government, and Fade is the farming planet. The non-members of the C.U.P. who call themselves Allied Planets United, (sounds like a rugby team). They are many in number and includes Moon Nation(Earth's moon), Venus, Saturn, Mercury, and Jupiter.
Just to name a few that you would be familiar with.
Back to humans on Toriyama.
When you are human and have a day off there are not many activities to choose from. The only reason humans are on Toriyama is to work. You put up with the racism for the high exchange money. You put up with being a stranger in an unusual land for the money. You live in Human Town for a big pay check.
All over the C.U.P., economically speaking, things are pretty good.
Oh, and the big pay check humans get on Toriyama is for the most part coming from working in the small Tarceny mine.
Tarceny is a very powerful fuel mined in small portions in a mine just outside Clean Cue City in the Desert Lands.
Tarceny is also very much a poison to Toriyamains but it is not harmful to humans. That is why humans are the ones who mine it.
Honestly, though, I don't even know any other humans in Clean Cue City. Toriyamains and humans are not that different in my eyes but with all the hate out there maybe I'm stupid.
When I'm not at work, there are only a few other places besides my apartment that I spend time at. One of them is a small Earth restaurant chain called Pink Bomb.
The name Pink Bomb actually has an interesting story behind it. During the Robot War, Earth was being overwhelmed by the battles there and it was a huge Toriyamain troop ship that brought the help needed to keep Earth in human hands. That ship was nicknamed the Pink Bomb by Earth news agencies because of its color.
The original owner of the Pink Bomb chain of restaurants was a soldier who stood on a sea vessel while it was under attack. He and others were rescued by a Toriyamain rescue jumper.
The Pink Bomb is one of the few Earth businesses to set itself up in Clean Cue city and its taking off like hotcakes...which they don't serve there....so don't ask....because I already did.....so I looked stupid for you.....Your welcome.
They don't sell hotcakes.
The company already has plans to expand across the planet to other Toriyamain cities.
At the Pink Bomb you will find my small group of friends.
The manager of the Pink Bomb is Arika, a former C.C.P.D. officer. He's also my landlord. This man went from making shit money as a cop to mad money owning shit. The guy is smarter than anyone I have ever meet with business decisions. I think my father would have liked him.
And yes, even on alien planets policemen are underpaid. A little factoid that may be interesting to you is that on Toriyama, sanitation workers are some of the highest paid city workers. They get more than a State Attorney, Citizen Driving Coordinators, and yes, even jet pack salesmen.
Getting back to the Pink Bomb. This is a family run restaurant.
The restaurant's head cook is Arika's brother Masashi. He doesn't talk at all. I don't know if he can. Despite being a mute and being a little weird, he is pretty cool. The guy loves Earth literature, especially- Strangers In Paradise. Yeah, a different sort of Toriyamain.
The Pink Bomb's only waitress is Molly. Kooky how that name exists in both cultures.
Molly is Arika's daughter and the reason he quit the force. As soon as Molly was old enough she wanted to follow her father and become a cop. Arika knew what life was like as a cop. He didn't want this for his daughter and so he made a tough decision and quit the force, bought a Pink Bomb franchise and hired her at the restaurant. Tradition dictated that she accept his job offer.
If you are wondering about Molly's mother, most Toriyamain women die during childbirth, something like 74%.
That's pretty fucked up.
I have a week off for vacation time so the Pink Bomb will be seeing me a lot.
When you walk into the Pink Bomb, no matter how busy she is, Molly greets you with a joyful welcome.
"Your usual booth is open, Garth. Be with you in a few."
"Thanks, Molly, no rush."
The atmosphere inside the Pink Bomb is always fun and loud. The laughter of family and friends sharing moments over good food. The chatter between manager, cook, and waitress keeps the operation running along smoothly.
I love it.
The place is decorated in faux-Earth style and is a mess of 1950's Americana and Victorian England Englandana...?.
My regular booth has seats upholstered in Time Magazine cover images. The table is a morgue operating table. The unusual things that come from one culture and are interesting to another without much research about them. I love culture mixes.
The menus are handwritten on thin parchment enclosed in glass. That's pretty fucking unique considering handwriting is a lost art among Ariyamains.
The menu items are Earth vegetarian meals using Ariyamain grown plants and fungus. Though to appear accurate they use Earth food names.
My normal breakfast here is a simple salad. The salad I get isn't even a menu item. During one of the first times I came here I asked for something that wouldn't drive my stomach nuts because I was still adjusting to Toriyamain food. Molly brought me a salad that tasted like a Cesar Salad but without the chicken...Cesar Salad is supposed to have chicken in it, isn't it?
God, what a way to end Part Three, a salad question. I'm late with the Part and I end with a salad quesiton, I suck.
(c)Brian C. Williams
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