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“Y!” Apollonia cried. “You made it after all!”
“Indeed,” the doctor said, his head moving back and forth to surveil the surroundings. “I realized that, well, I have not actually gotten a chance to see many planets up close. And I thought perhaps I might see yours with you. Forgive me for my tardiness.”
“It’s fine!” she said. “I’m just glad you’re here. Isn’t it great?”
Y hesitated before answering, sweeping his head back and forth. “It is very alive,” he said finally. “Oh, yes. There are . . . lifeforms on every surface, it seems.”
He looked down at the ground. “Absolutely . . . squirming with life.”
She could tell he was uncomfortable, but she was still happy to see him. “Take a look at these trees!” she said, gesturing with one hand, taking his mechanical one in her other.
She tried to pull him along, closer, while he told her that he was already quite able to see them.
Apollonia had been so excited to see Dr. Y that she had scarcely taken notice of Brooks – or the woman that arrived two minutes later.
She was tall, like him, with the same dark hair and the same brooding eyes.
“Ian,” Maria said. “It’s good to see you.”
“Same,” he replied, smiling genuinely and taking her hand. Cupping it in both of his own, he glanced after Apollonia. “Thank you for arranging this for her.”
“After what you told me, all she’s been through, it was the least I could do. I always try to keep some VIP seats available, anyway. Never know when someone might want to drop down.”
She smiled, but it faded quickly. “And an Ehni as well! I would have rolled out the red carpet if I’d known. Very few of them have ever been to our system. Even fewer have actually come down here.”
“Dr. Y seems quite fond of her,” Brooks said. “Ehni don’t like going to planetary surfaces – it surprised me when he was on one of the shuttles. Apparently they keep some spare bodies in their embassy, and he just beamed into the inner system.”
“An amazing people,” Maria replied. “I’ll be happy to speak with him if either of us have the time.”
A silence fell between them, and Brooks watched Apple introduce Dr. Y to the forest Ranger. The man was bombastic and affable, and Y began to ask him about fungi he’d seen.
“Oh, there are many kinds of fungi to be found here,” he said. “And some of them are quite delicious! Do you eat, my friend?”
As Dr. Y explained that he did not, Maria turned to Ian.
“You went home, didn’t you?”
Brooks continued to gaze forward. “Yes,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I had the chance. I wanted to pay my respects.”
“I wish you would have come to me first,” Maria replied.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“I know it’s important to you, Ian, but you don’t have to torture yourself like this every time you return.”
“It’s not torturing myself,” he said dismissively.
“Then why? The dead are gone, Ian. Clemence doesn’t know if you-“
“I know,” Ian replied quietly. “And that’s enough.”
Maria took a deep breath, calming herself. Both of their emotions could easily run too high. But all the piss and vinegar and bile that threatened to rise in them had burned out. It had been long enough.
“Forty-four years,” she said softly. Forty-four years without their youngest sibling. Forty-five without their mother and father.
She just wished she’d actually been home when it had happened. So that Brooks and Clemence had not been alone.
Ian heard her speak, but said nothing.
Maria finally broke the silence between them. “This inquiry, how serious is it?”
“Not very,” he said confidently. “I don’t even know why it’s being done. I was asked something genuinely impossible – honestly, I don’t understand what Director Freeman’s endgame is.”
“He’s an unlikable man,” Maria replied, disgust in her voice. “But he’s got a lot of friends, somehow. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. Perhaps he’s just viewed as being good at his job-“
“Is he?” Brooks asked her softly. “In your opinion.”
“Yes,” she replied bluntly. “I think he is. Since he became Director of the weird wab eleven years ago, the rate of understanding of all this zerospace and tenkionic stuff has increased markedly. It’s still all nonsense to me, but they’ve made predictions that have proven to be true – and he runs a tight ship. Even came in under budget a few years.”
“That seems hard to believe,” Ian replied. “Do you think he can push his clout for revenge?”
“I know the man has never supported you, but even with all the negative things about him, I don’t think he’s into vendettas. Not unless someone seriously wrongs him.”
“He might feel that way. How much do you know?”
“Not much. Just the public information,” she replied. “What can you tell me about the incident?”
“Nothing,” he replied dourly.
“While you’re here, you should come visit. Blake is always happy to see you, and you know Osei – he adores you.”
Brooks smiled, thinking of Maria’s wife and their son. The boy had already declared that he wanted to be a star-captain like his uncle.
“I brought him some travel logs and a Tedian Moon Fluff from the Begonia system.”
“A pet, Ian? Really?” Maria clicked her tongue at him.
He laughed. “Don’t worry, it’s not actually alive. It just does a good job of seeming that way.”
“I’m sure Osei will be thrilled with them,” Maria replied, smiling warmly now.
Apollonia turned and saw them both, but must have seen the shadows on their faces, as she only waved.
Brooks waved back, and she began to tromp off into the woods, the ranger and Y both following her.
“The effect around her is not very strong,” Maria noted.
“I think it’s lessened here, for some reason. I don’t know why, though. I could still feel it, back when we were at the edge of the system. But as we came deeper, she’s seemed less . . . strange and just more like a normal girl.”
There was a silence again, and their eyes simply remained where Apollonia had gone into the forest. Then Maria spoke.
“She reminds me of Clemence,” she said softly.
Brooks did not reply, but his lips curled upwards into the barest hint of a smile.
Other Terrestrial 