Optimistic

(A short scene about staying positive.)

Raedis and his best friend Traveler were currently many things. They were sitting in an excellent, high performance automobile, cradled in comfortable oppulance. They were both extremely fashionably dressed in brand new suits which had been made special just for them. Each one, tailored to expertly highlight their individual, outstanding features.

      And, they were excited about the exclusive party they had been invited to on the amazing world they were on which was a place that was new to both of them.

      However, despite all these great things, they were also hopelessly lost. Rædis, who had been driving, pulled off the freeway and into a parking spot at a scenic overlook. It offered a panoramic view of the city they were supposed to be in stretched out before them, left to right from horizon to horizon. Somewhere, within the ocean of light below them, was their destination.

      Traveler was in the passenger seat attempting to fulfill his typical navigational role without success. This was unusual for the time traveler as he normally possessed uncanny accuracy in this capacity. He had an electronic tablet on his lap displaying a map in a language he could not read and dotted with symbols and displays that meant nothing to him. It did not help that he was looking at it upside down although he had no way of knowing this.

      "I thought you could understand their language." he said to Rædis as he moved the map around with his fingers.

      "I do." Raedis said as he lowered the window and lit a cigarette. "It doesn't mean I can read it."

      Traveler sighed. He looked at the invitation they were given. It was on a glossy black piece of some exotic material embossed with the cryptic letters of the inscrutable language in holographic  symbols that changed color when viewed from different angles.

      He then looked out over the city that lay before them attempting to make some sense of what was represented on the map. He went over the route they had already traveled in his mind. Then, a latticework of coherence blossomed in his brain and synchronized itself with what he was looking at on his map.

      "Oh! Well this certainly makes a difference." he said with an excited smile.

      "What?" Raedis asked.

      "I was reading this map upside down." He turned the tablet around in his hands and now when he compared what he saw on it to the view out of the windshield the two matched up perfectly in relation to where they were. Despite not being able to actually read the words or understand the symbols on the map, he knew precisely where they were and how to get to the party.

      "I know where to go now. We're cool."

      He gave Raedis a perfunctory set of instructions to get them going in the right direction.

      "You sure this is the way to go?" Raedis asked.

      "I'm positive." Traveler replied optimistically.

      "Only fools are positive." the robot said as he glided the car back onto the highway.

      "Are you sure?" said Traveler with a sly sideways glance at his friend.

      "I'm positive." said Raedis.

      "That's the spirit!" Traveler grinned with a chuckle as they sped their way to the party.