A Lonely World Where the People Are Blue Read online

  ‘We know not of this. These negotiations were done in the Stronghold, where we are - still, even now - not allowed to travel.’

  ‘You don’t have an inkling, even?’

  ‘What is this? “Inkling”?’

  ‘You don’t have any idea? Whatsoever?’ I asked, rephrasing.

  ‘If we did, we would tell you. We would tell anything to the sister of our Saviour.’

  Leya being called a saviour was really starting to get annoying.

  I could be a saviour too if I wanted to.

  ‘So… her negotiation means that you don’t pay tribute any more? You just keep all your food to yourself?’

  ‘Why?’ the Elder asked. ‘Do you think that is selfish?’

  ‘No, not at all. As far as I’m concerned, if you guys are farming it, putting all the hard work in, then you should be keeping it.’

  The Elder smiled. ‘Good. We don’t keep all of it, however. When the Mutation begins-’

  The Arellian cut themselves off.

  ‘You know of the Mutation?’ they asked.

  ‘I do,’ I assured them.

  ‘When the Mutation begins, and the Iyr come for the dying, we pay the Iyr the tribute then. But only then.’ They paused, grinned at me. ‘You are lucky. To have family like this.’

  I pursed my lips. ‘I don’t.’

  Te’rnu, now finished his food, turned to listen in to the conversation.

  ‘You do not?’ the Elder asked.

  ‘I haven’t seen her in years. Nobody knows where she’s gone. In fact, we assumed she’d been dead, she had been gone so long.’

  There was a moment of silence, the two Arellians acknowledging my pain.

  ‘I am sorry she is missing,’ Te’rnu offered me.

  Another silence.

  ‘Do you…,’ I began. ‘Do you know anything? About where she might have gone?’

  ‘We know little. We know she was looking for someone, as you are doing for her.’

  ‘Looking for someone? Was it our Dad?’ I asked.

  The Elder shook their head. ‘I am afraid we know not. It could have been, but she did not say.’

  ‘So that’s why she was here? She was looking for them on Z’h’ar?’ I pressed.

  ‘On our planet? No. She was here for something else.’

  ‘Do you know what it was?’ I asked.

  The Elder shook their head once again. ‘I wish we could do more to assist you in your search.’

  Te’rnu put his hand on my arm in an attempt to console me, copying as I had done to him after the trial.

  Suddenly, an Elder approached us. Behind them, four Arellians carried a huge metal container.

  ‘Is this the liquid?’ Te’rnu asked.

  The Elder, in answer, announced, ‘There was one other gift that your sister presented us with: knowledge. Specifically, she taught unto us the secrets of distillation. I present to you, Arellian Gin!’

  Yep. It was definitely my Leya who had been here.

  I burst out laughing - to the confusion of everyone around me.

  ‘She always loved her gin, that one,’ I informed them.

  They responded with a faint smile, as though still not quite understanding what there was to laugh about, and then began to pour the gin into smaller bowls.

  Most - if not all - of the Arellians were served the gin. They drank happily - even the children. Whereas most races might frown on giving alcohol to children, Leya clearly hadn’t parted that wisdom onto the Arellians, and it seemed were yet to learn this lesson for themselves.

  I watched as Te’rnu took a hesitant sip. As he tasted it, his eyes widened.

  ‘I like this!’ he announced, and other Arellians around him cheered in response. A wide smile spread across his face, momentarily replacing that melancholy expression he had been sporting since the trial.

  We drank long into the night, and it was my first experience seeing the Arellians actually loosen up a little - Te’rnu in particular. The joy of these villagers was contagious; a night of drinking, dancing, and making stupid jokes had me feeling like I was a teenager again.

  ‘It’s funny!’ I told a passing Arellian.

  ‘What is?’ they replied.

  ‘You give people, of any race, alcohol, and their evenings become this. No matter how proud, or cold, or… whatever a species is - when alcohol is involved, they learn to love a good party.’

  The Arellian smiled politely in response; clearly this wasn’t so funny to them. Maybe you needed to have had seen more of the galaxy.

  Te’rnu grabbed me by the arm and insisted I joined him and a group of locals in dancing. They taught me their moves and laughed when I taught them some old Terran classics: the chicken, the robot, flossing. They found the chicken particularly funny - which was kinda weird, because birds didn’t exist on Z’h’ar.

  Many of the locals partnered off over the course of the night, leaving a smaller and smaller crowd dwindling behind.

  As is always the way, eventually the plentiful supply of alcohol was no longer enough to keep my energy levels up. I soon found myself lying down, on the bare ground, in front of the monument to my sister.

  I stared up at the stars. The constellations were so different on Z’h’ar; many clusters of stars were dotted about the night sky, some even bright enough to cast faint shadows.

  Te’rnu’s face suddenly blocked my view as he stood over me.

  ‘Are you OK down there?’ he asked.

  I said nothing, just waved frantically at him to join me.

  He didn’t take the hint. ‘Why are you lying on the ground? There are beds for us.’

  ‘Lie down, Te’rnu, for god’s sake!’

  ‘What is “god’s”?’

  I shook my head. ‘Remind me to tell you another time.’

  Te’rnu laid down on the floor next to me, and too looked up at the stars.

  ‘You have pretty stars here,’ I told him.

  ‘Would you like me to tell you about them?’ he asked.

  ‘Yeah, go on then.’

  Te’rnu pointed up at a particularly bright cluster. ‘Those, there. We use those for navigation. When we used to travel back to Te’r’ok from the farm, late at night, we just followed them. The Returners, we called them - they will always bring you home.’

  He took a moment to collect his thoughts. Perhaps the memory of Te’r’ok was getting to him.

  Te’rnu pointed at another set of stars.

  ‘And those, do you see a face?’

  I grunted in acknowledgement.

  ‘We say the stars are smiling at us. If we can see the Smiling Stars in the night’s sky on the first day of spring, we know that the crops will grow strong that year.’

  ‘What are your favourites?’ I asked Te’rnu.

  ‘I never really had any.’

  ‘No?’

  ‘No. For me, I mostly dreamt of adventuring amongst them, as the spacemen do. But I was always told: that is not the life I was given.’

  ‘That’s just the thing, though, Te’rnu. Nobody gets to tell you what kind of life you have to live. Maybe you’ll be the first Arellian, out there, travelling the cosmos.’

  We said nothing for a few more moments and simply stared up at the sky, appreciating its beauty.

  ‘Earlier today, Syl, you said something.’

  ‘Oh, no. Since getting drunk, you mean? What did I say?’ I responded.

  ‘No, before that. Before we arrived in Nu’r’ka. You told me that one person cannot hope to change the world.’

  ‘Yeah, I remember.’

  Te’rnu gestured at the monument to Nu’r’ka’s saviour - to Leya.

  ‘Maybe one person cannot change our world, but they can still make things better: village by village, person by person. Your sister is proof of that.’

  I said nothing.

  ‘Maybe,’ Te’rnu continued. ‘You would consider helping me?’

  ‘How would I help you?’ I asked.

  ‘I would like to co
ntinue our investigation. I would like to know, for certain, whether we Arellians can live on… beyond our Mutation. Would you help me find the truth?’

  I stared up at the looming statue.

  Saviour of Nu’r’ka.

  ‘OK, Te’rnu. I’ll help. To hell with changing the world - let’s just try and change your world.’

  ‘What is “hell”?’ Te’rnu asked.

  12

  They Don’t Have Aspirin On Z’h’ar

  ‘Argh!’ Te’rnu shouted.

  I jumped to my feet. ‘What is it?!’ I called out to him.

  I looked around to find Te’rnu on the floor, clutching his head.

  ‘No!’ he screamed. ‘The Mutation! It has started!’

  Other Arellians in town watched on - but didn’t seem too worried. This definitely wasn’t the same reaction as the locals had had in Te’r’ok. But maybe that was because…

  ‘Where’s the pain?’ I asked Te’rnu.

  ‘In my head!’ he cried out. ‘It is awful! And my mouth feels so dry!’

  I was starting to get a clue about what was happening here.

  ‘Isn’t the pain supposed to start in your groin? What’s happening down there?’

  ‘My groin is fine! It is my head that is hurting!’

  ‘Hmm.’

  I stood up, grabbed a bowl of water for him.

  ‘Here,’ I told Te’rnu, ‘Drink this.’

  He sipped timidly at the water bowl that I gripped in my hands, much as I had done when I had first arrived in Te’r’ok.

  ‘Yeah… I think we’re gonna have to get you some hair of the dog, buddy,’ I said.

  ‘Dog hair? What will I need that for?’

  ‘Not… not actual dog hair. It’s an expression: “hair of the dog that bit you”. It means-’

  ‘No,’ Te’rnu replied, shaking his head (and then clutching it again when doing so caused him pain), ‘I have never been bitten by a dog. Animals tend to like me.’

  ‘Oi, listen! It means…,’ I repeated, ‘Having more of whatever ails you.’

  ‘But it’s the Mutation!’ Te’rnu cried out.

  ‘It’s not the Mutation, mate,’ I responded, resisting the urge to laugh about it. ‘You just drank too much last night.’

  ‘Too much? Too much gin?’

  ‘Yes. You’re hungover.’

  Te’rnu moaned. ‘Well, I do not like it.’

  ‘No. You wouldn’t.’

  ‘This is why you passed out, back near Te’r’ok?’

  I nodded. ‘Yeah. Partially.’

  ‘I understand now,’ Te’rnu replied, now no longer clutching at his head but instead using his hands to block the sunlight from hitting his eyes.

  I laughed. ‘Oh, Te’rnu… You won’t be doing that again in a hurry, will you?’

  Did I really just say that? Was I turning into my mother?

  I remembered Leya and I sneaking some of Mum’s wine when we were younger. Or rather, I remember us stealing some of her “painting juice” - as she would call it. Once Mum had gone to sleep, Leya and I took turns swigging from the bottle. I didn’t really like it at the time, but my sister seemed to, so I pretended I was having fun too.

  Was my current level of alcohol consumption in any way related to that night?

  Leya and I awoke in the morning, complaining of flu symptoms. Mum, understandably, was shocked - especially because the flu virus had been eradicated over a hundred years earlier. It didn’t take her long to find the empty bottle of wine hidden under my bed.

  My Mum held Leya and I’s hair, as we spent the day throwing up into the toilet and a large bucket, respectively. I assumed that I was assigned the bucket simply because I was younger, and not because there was any favouritism going on. Maybe there was, though, looking back on it now.

  ‘No,’ Te’rnu replied. ‘I will not. I’m never drinking again.’

  ‘Yeah, we’ve all said that one before.’

  My friend vomited up last night’s dinner on to my sister’s feet. I couldn’t help but enjoy the symbolism - just a little bit.

  He moaned. ‘Ohhh… they will not like that.’

  I grabbed a nearby bowl, put it next to him, and repositioned Te’rnu’s head so that it was over this container rather than this town’s monument to their Saviour. Thankfully, Te’rnu didn’t have hair he would need someone to hold up - I didn’t massively fancy that job.

  ‘Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll clear it up,’ I told Te’rnu, feigning exasperation.

  I grabbed a spare bit of cloth that seemed to have been left behind after last night’s feast, and used it to wipe the vomit off the statue - hopefully, nobody was missing a headscarf or anything. I tossed the cloth behind some crates - just in case.

  Seeing that the container of gin still had some remnants at the bottom of it, I scooped some up. Some of the alcoholic fumes wafted upwards into my nostrils.

  Whew! Even I didn’t fancy any of that right now.

  I offered it to Te’rnu, who recoiled, like I had, at the smell of it.

  ‘No!’ he moaned.

  ‘Yes!’ I countered.

  ‘I cannot drink it!’ he insisted.

  ‘You can, it’ll make you feel better.’

  Te’rnu sighed. ‘OK. Just a tiny bit, though.’

  ‘That’s all I’m asking you to drink.’

  My Arellian friend sipped a little of the alcohol and immediately vomited again. He groaned.

  ‘OK. Maybe a little too early for that,’ I told him. ‘We’ll try again later when your stomach is settled. Just keep sipping that water, will you?’

  There was no reply. Te’rnu sat with his head in his hands.

  ‘I said: will you keep sipping that water?’

  ‘Yes,’ he groaned.

  ‘Good.’

  I left Te’rnu to his own devices for a while. Walking slowly, so that my own hangover wouldn’t lead me to collapse again, I headed towards the top of a nearby hill.

  From its peak, I could see the Iyr capital in the distance. The nearby sun rose just to the right of it, from where I was standing, and its rays reflected off the taller buildings. In this light, the city was beautiful.

  I sat down for a while, watching distant ships land in the capital’s shipyards, and occasionally turning my attention to the Arellian village below. The locals were beginning to rise, and, like Te’rnu, they weren’t in the best of states.

  It was just like Leya to forget to teach moderation.

  Over the course of the day, the Arellians slowly returned to their usual selves - their bodies becoming less hunched, their voices becoming less raspy, and their moods becoming less irritable.

  When I felt that Te’rnu had recovered enough to have a serious conversation, I approached him about what we’d discussed the night before - about how I could help him.

  I coaxed him part-way up the hill, away from prying ears.

  ‘So what’s the plan?’ I asked.

  ‘The plan?’

  ‘Yeah, the plan. I told you I’d help, didn’t I? What’s the plan?’

  ‘There is no plan,’ Te’rnu clarified. ‘I need help with that bit too.’

  I sighed. ‘OK, right. Well, then, let’s start brainstorming. What is it we want to achieve?’

  ‘We want to know the truth about the Mutation. And, perhaps, any other secrets that the Iyr are hiding.’

  ‘Great! So…,’ I asked, ‘If we could do anything at all, go anywhere we wanted, how would we find this out?’

  ‘I suppose we would go to Central Command. If there are files on the Arellians anywhere, it would be there.’

  ‘Central Command?’ I said, thinking of my case - of the diplomat’s daughter that had been taken by the Iyr. ‘Is that the same place they would have taken Melonaitopila?’

  Te’rnu shrugged. ‘It is likely. But getting inside would be impossible for us.’

  ‘Why?’ I asked, more to play devil’s advocate than anything else.

  My friend looked at me incredulou
sly. ‘“Why?” We… we are an Arellian. And a Terran.’

  ‘But what if we weren’t?’

  ‘You wish us to… change species?’ Te’rnu asked, looking no less sceptical than before.

  ‘No, obviously not. But how would they know what we are under a mechsuit?’

  Te’rnu’s eyebrows raised so high, I thought they were going to fly off his face. ‘You want us to steal mechsuits?!’

  ‘What, you have moral qualms about stealing from the people who have been stealing from you your entire life?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  I stood up and began to pace, using my hands to gesticulate, punctuating my argument. ‘I mean… if you’re right about the Mutation, then the Iyr really aren’t doing you any favours by taking Arellians away. So what are the tributes if not thievery?’

  Te’rnu said nothing.

  ‘I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, here, Te’rnu.’

  He began to nod. ‘OK. You are right. If they can steal from us, then we can steal from them.’

  ‘There’s the Arellian I know!’ I said, voice raised with excitement.

  ‘I know where they keep them,’ Te’rnu followed up.

  ‘Even better!’ I cried out. ‘Where?’

  ‘There is a guard barracks. The Iyr took me there a few times - when they caught me in the city. It is near the gate. I can get us there.’

  Satisfied that this plan was coming together, I took a seat back next to Te’rnu, and stared out onto the village.

  ‘We can do this, Te’rnu. We can find out the truth, and then…,’ I gestured to the town in front of us. ‘All their lives will be different.’

  Te’rnu nodded, brow furrowed.

  ‘There’s something else that I’d like to do, while we’re in there…,’ I began.

  ‘What? As well as finding Melonaitopila?’

  ‘Yeah. You remember this?’

  I pulled Leya’s journal from my bag, put it in Te’rnu’s hands. He brushed the sand from the front and inspected it, fascinated by the technology.

  ‘Yes… you said it was your sister’s diary?’

  ‘I’d like to decrypt it. Well, I’d like to decrypt the part of it that looks like it’s in the Iyr’s language. I tried, back at the outpost, but… the encryption is too complicated, it couldn’t handle it. I figure… the truth about the Mutation - if it exists - will be on their central computer libraries. If we can access that, then we should be able to decrypt the journal at the same time.’