Page 103 of Exiles on Earth
THIRTY-THREE
ELLEN
The camera lights are bright,far too bright, even though the conference is outside in the sunshine. Now I know how Ilia felt, presenting to the plenary in front of all those women.
But if I just do this, I can go home and be there in a literal jiffy. The few days it’s taken to set up this interview are counterbalanced by the Prif’s speedy ship, or so I keep telling myself.
‘You don’t want to leave,’ Floss says. No judgement, because she’s a loyal dog, woman’s best friend, but it highlights that while it’s easy to lie to myself, it’s impossible to mislead the psychic dog in my head.
“Yeah, well,” I mutter to her, swiping sweaty hair out of my eyes. As much as it hurts, I admit: I really long to see Ilia again. Not to rip him from his new life of being celebrated and loved, I just want to find out if he’s really happy. If he is, then I’ll go home happy too.
After drowning my sorrows in the ship bar a few times, of course. But this is what he really wanted.
I should be delighted for him.
The Prif stands to one side behind me, and in the crowd area few females faces I recognize from the Games. The day started hot and just got hotter, and I squint up at their sun, which seems a lot redder than Sol.
“Honored females, I present to you a special guest, the talk of the town, as she herself would say,” the Prif begins, a warm smile on her face. It’s funny how completely transformed she is in front of females, how genial she looks.
Funny weird, not funny haha. Deep inside, it feels as though I’ll never laugh again.
“I love this new version of trade standard we’ve been introduced to. So expressive. Hence, this interview will be conducted entirely in Earthian.”
“English,” I supply, but I don’t think anyone hears me. I can’t see the microphones, but I know they have to have some kind of technology like that.
But I don’t care. I’m not curious about it.
‘Ellen,’ Floss whines, nudging my hand.
‘I’m fine,’ I tell her automatically. Because I will be, one day.
Just not right now. The idea of leaving in a few hours makes my stomach churn, because I’ll never, ever see him again for real. But he hasn’t paid me a visit, so… he must be really happy. Loved up in bed, with the high ranking female he always wanted. Making babies with her and having fun doing so, making her come over and over and over?—
“El-len?” The Prif frowns at me, a small chink in her image.
“Uh, yeah?” I ask, and this time my voice rings around the courtyard.
Her smile fixes. “I asked for the main differences between our planet and yours.”
I didn’t even hear her question. This is going to be a stunning interview, good job, Ellen.
“Well, it’s warmer here, for one. Also the culture is very different,” I begin, but then I don’t have anywhere to go. Silencestretches out in front of me, as empty as the space between our worlds.
The Prif’s smile twitches. “I see. Of course we’d expect our cultures to be different. What advancements have you seen in ours that aren’t present in yours?”
I need to stay on safe topics. “Well, I haven’t detected any evidence of your defense system, but ours is pretty beefy. Meanwhile, you’ve got the jump on us with how advanced the robots are. And… genetic science.”
The females give knowing looks to each other, congratulating themselves. There’s even a few True Born sons; in fact, I think the guy with the yellow crest is the same one who fought Ilia in the jungle. That seems like a lifetime ago. A flash of silver at the edges marks out Shara, who gently eases past her compatriots to the front. She shades her eyes, small enigmatic smile pinned in place.
The Prif winds up a different question, probably hoping I’ll supply more than a sentence or two, but I can’t manage more than a few words. Really, what’s the point? So these females can laugh at how primitive my home world is?
“Finally, have you met someone who struck you as remarkable on your journey?” the Prif asks.
This is the one prompted question she wanted, and I’m supposed to wax lyrical about her.
But there’s only one person who captivated me as extraordinary. One person I think of, day and night. One person who fills all my dreams.
“Yes, actually. I have.” My hands curl around the podium. “I met someone amazing. An individual who’s thoroughly willing to work alongside me doing hard jobs. But they aren’t afraid of hard work, and, despite my initial reservations, they’re wonderful company.”
