The door opens, and in walks a wiry boy of about seventeen; he looks Asian. He's in uniform too, brown trimmed with white, nametag reading KYEO SEBE LUK and one spiral-teardrop shaped pip below it. He flinches back from the unexpected sight only to find that the door has ceased to exist.

That isn't a uniform Anastasia recognizes. It could be that he's Resistance and the Resistance hands out uniforms, but given the contents of her napkins, it's much more likely he's from a different universe. 

"At ease, kid, I'm not your superior officer."

He frowns at her in confusion. "Of course you aren't. Where is this?"

"A transdimensional bar called Milliways. It steals doors."

"And where did you come from?"

"The ISS Ajax. Long live the Empire," she says, saluting. 

He recoils slightly, clunking into the wall again. "The way of Ibyabek is bright," he retorts.

"What's Ibyabek?"

"What do you mean, what's Ibyabek? - Oh, foreigners sometimes call it 'Inner Sohaibek'," he acknowledges after a moment.

"Never heard of that, either. We're probably from different universes, the Resistance doesn't like Terrans much."

"Terrans? What, people from Earth? Ibyabek's nowhere near Earth."

"Terran doesn't mean you weren't born on a colony world, it just means you're, y'know, human."

"Everyone in Ibyabek is human."

"And so is everyone in the Terran Empire, or at least, everyone who matters."

"All right," he says. "Different universes, so you don't know anything about Ibyabek, not even the lies foreigners tell. Wow."

"I do not. Do foreigners tell a lot of lies about you?"

"Yes, all the time. They don't like to admit that we're outpacing them."

"Oh?"

"Ibyabek has the best standard of living and the best technology and everything, so foreigners make things up to make themselves feel better about that."

"Why don't they just conquer you and get your stuff for themselves?"

"Sometimes they try, but we can always fight them off."

"But you can't conquer them?"

"Ibyabek is our home. We want reunion with the Outer planet one day so they can follow our way, but we are busy protecting our home."

"Outer planet?"

"There are two settled planets in our system. The Outer one calls itself Outer Sohaibek now."

"Sohaibek being the name of the system?"

"That's what they call it."

"And you call it...?"

"The star is Ibyatok."

"And Outer Ibyatok, they're an Empire?"

"No, but they're allied with some enemy empires."

"...You can hold off multiple enemy empires but you can't conquer your own next-door neighbor? What does your military even look like?"

"I haven't joined it yet."

"Still, that's really weird."

"I can't tell you anything that everyone doesn't know anyway, you aren't Ibyabekan."

"Sure, this'd be a totally ridiculous setup for a spy to use but that'd be little consolation if I am a spy and you get executed for treason."

"Spies never get far in Ibyabek, we're all too loyal to our illustrious Premier Lut Naar Am."

"Sure, but I bet anyone who tells them something they shouldn't by accident before they get caught isn't happy with the results."

He shrugs. "What is your name? I'm Kyeo Sebe Luk."

"Lieutenant Anastasia Shoreman."

"Oh, yes, they make women stay in the military long enough to be promoted on other planets. That must be very terrible."

"...I joined up voluntarily."

"Could you not find a husband?"

"I'd much rather have a career."

"That's no good, your empire will be weak."

"Yes, the galactic empire that takes full advantage of all of its citizens instead of half is so much weaker than the planet that can't even conquer the boy next door."

"You're trying to trick me into revealing secrets."

"...No. If I were, I would be going about it very differently."

He laughs at her, a sort of artificial rueful sound. "Well, I'm not going to tell you anything."

"Have fun with that."

He looks for the door. It's still not there. "How do I get out of here?"

She considers asking Bar but decides she doesn't trust Bar's assurances about Security enough to hand a resource to a stranger. "Dunno." 

"How long have you been here?"

"Coupla hours."

He sighs and takes a seat beside her and is startled by the napkin Bar offers him.

The jig is up, oh well. At least she didn't hide it actively enough that he can call her on it.

He reads his napkin. "This is some kind of trick," he announces.

Bar doesn't comment on that.

"Why is it a trick?"

He glares at her. "It can't be anything else!"

"You're willing to accept an interdimensional door-stealing bar but not spontaneous napkins?"

"That's probably a trick too."

"Mmkay." She finishes her drink. "Bar, can I get another one of these?"

Of course. 4.55 credits. A refill appears.

She pays, picks it up, and sips it.

"What is that?" asks Kyeo.

"Strawberry milkshake."

"What's a milkshake?"

"It's this...thing, with ice cream and milk mixed together."

"Ice cream is made of milk, though."

"Yeah, but it's solid and milk isn't, so if you wanna drink it you have to mix 'em up."

"It's only solid until it melts."

"Milkshakes are way better than melted ice cream."

He snorts and shakes his head. After a moment he asks Bar for a tea custard drink and gets something thick and yellow-green.

"Tea custard?"

"It's a thin custard with tea in it. It's an Ibyabekan drink but everyone drinks it all over the galaxy, if they can get it."

"Huh. Bar, can I get a little sample-size cup to try it?"

14 credits. Little cup.

"--Huh, that's expensive." She pays for it anyway and takes a sip.

"Well, of course most things are usually free, in Ibyabek."

"It's okay. Milkshake's better." She finishes the tea custard and goes back to drinking her shake. 

He scoffs and sips his custard.

"I'll buy you one to compare, if you want."

"Sure," he says, after a moment's thought. "I like ice cream too."

"What's your favorite flavor? Bar, a milkshake of that flavor for him on me."

"Red bean," he says, and a red bean milkshake appears. He tastes it. "It's like ice cream," he says. "I guess it's a little better than just melted ice cream."

"It's way better. But tastes differ, I suppose."

He finishes the milkshake and goes back to his custard. "Thank you," he says.

"You're welcome. How does things usually being free...work?"

"If you need to go to the hospital or something, you can just go. Most planets make you pay for it, even if you're dying."

"Why do people become doctors, then?"

"Because they're smart enough to be doctors and we need doctors?"

"...But...what do they get out of it."

"They get to be doctors, of course."

"Why do they want to be doctors? Being a doctor is a lot of work."

"So is anything else they'd be doing."

"Why are they doing any of the anything else if they can just get free stuff whenever?"

"They have to do something."

"What's making them?"

"People can't just laze around and not work. If they don't have the work ethic for a good job they'll get one with lots of support instead."

"What happens if they don't?"

"I never met anyone who couldn't do a job even if someone was standing over them making sure they kept working," says Kyeo.

"The standing over them part is what I was asking about--I wasn't asking about if someone can't, I meant if they refuse."

"I'm not sure. People mostly wouldn't do that, who'd want to be a parasite on Ibyabek?"

"Anyone who wanted free stuff?"

He snorts. "Everyone where you're from must be terrible."

"We follow our incentives, like any evolved creature."