Page 154 of Every Almost

"I remember you fondly, Orion."

"Now, now, Charlie, you must humble me, or my ego would be too large for this ship to handle."

Charlie chuckled. "I doubt that would ever be the case."

Orion smiled. "I can see I'm going to have to come around the Engineering Bay more often for my daily dose of good feelings," he said with a wink.

"I'd be honored," Charlie replied.

"I was hoping to speak with you as we discussed when you arrived, though I wanted to give you time to fully settle into a rhythm aboard our fine Emberkind, here.” He smiled at her before continuing. “I'm told you've been quite busy, what between fixing our ship's engine efficiency, aiding our crew in the rescue of those beautiful Aetherfin and..." His eyes flickered to the mess of wires, adapters, and Tavi's scattered components covering every surface. "Whatever it might be that you have going on here."

Charlie laughed. "Yeah, we've been... inventing things."

Orion pressed his fingers together, keeping his hands against his chest. "So I've heard. And with music, no less."

"What you hear is true," Charlie said, the pride in her voice unmistakable.

Orion nodded. "Which brings me to why I'm here. Charlie, if you recall, I had asked that you conduct an interview with me so I could capture as much information about Earth as you'd be willing and able to tell."

Charlie nodded. "I do remember that."

"If I may, Charlie, you are, and I say this with the utmost respect for your engineering talents, possibly the most valuable person on this ship for reasons that have nothing to do with engines."

Charlie blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"As I mentioned briefly at our exchange upon your arrival, your planet is grotesquely undocumented in Coalition records. What we know is pieces and fragments, secondhand data only, and most species within the Coalition argue over what's true and what's just plain hogwash." Charlie chuckled, causing Orionto smile at her. "All I have in my records are outdated surveys from distances too far to even be meaningful any longer." Orion stopped again, clasping his hands together. "But now, here you are. A living, breathing encyclopedia of an entire civilization and all others that belong to Earth. The data you carry in your memory alone, from the history, the culture, the music, the food, the stories. Charlie, do you have any idea how extraordinary that is?"

Charlie stared at him. She hadn't thought about it, framed in that way. Up until just a week or so ago, she'd merely been the displaced human aboard the Emberkind. Now, sure, she had proven herself on the Aetherfin mission, and now she, Tavi, and Maren were building something to bring to the Emberkind from Earth. But, overall, she hadn't thought of herself as carrying something valuable.

"I'd like to start that interview that we discussed," Orion continued. "I intend to make it easygoing, just conversations between you and me, in my library. I'll prompt you with either questions or conversation, you talk, and together we can build and add to information that's never existed in its purest form before. A true firsthand record of Earth, from someone who lived there. Howextraordinary."

Charlie thought about what Orion had said, about the importance and the excitement coming from just him. "What kind of questions will you be asking?"

Orion's face lit up. Somehow, the expression reminded her of how Katie used to look when Charlie agreed to watch a movie she'd been saving.

"Tell me about anything and everything," he answered. "Whatever you want to share. We can start anywhere." He paused, and then, quietly, he said. "Tell me about rain."

"Rain," she repeated wistfully.

"Rain," Orion echoed. "What does it look like? What does it sound like? What does it feel like on your skin? I've read about precipitation on other worlds, but Earth rain seems to be... different. Earth people write songs about it and dance in it. They have an entire emotional vocabulary built around whether or not water falls from the sky. I find that remarkable."

"Is rain a rarity here?" Charlie asked.

Orion took a deep breath before responding. "Out here in space, it's things such as plain precipitation falling on your face, or the feel of plant-life thriving between your fingers, that I and others miss most. Space is beautiful and vast and a sight to behold, but the simple things we leave behind are hard to forget and easy to miss." He sighed. "Pair that with the fact that rain, in the way that Earth has it, is so rare, the words you will use to describe it will be the most accurate data the Coalition has ever collected."

Charlie heard those words repeat over and over in her head. All that just over rain.How extraordinary indeed.

She leaned back against the console, crossed her arms, and let a smile spread across her face. "I would love to tell you about rain."

And she did. She told him about summer storms in Indiana that rolled in fast and heavy and turned the street outside into a river in less than ten minutes. She told him about the smell of petrichor, and then had the pleasure to explain that humans had actually given the smell of rain its own word. She continued to tell Orion about the way rain sounded on the roof of Frank's garage and how she used to sit there during those heavy storms and listen to the torrential downpour of water compete with whatever song was on the radio.

"You know, humans get a bad reputation in Coalition space, which I feel is wildly unfair seeing as your species doesn't even know we exist. But then you tell me things like the invention ofthe word 'petrichor,' and I marvel at the beauty humans see that others tend to ignore."

"That may be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me about the human species since I've been on this ship."

Orion smiled. "Well then, I hope you will spend time with me more often now."

Charlie chuckled. "I just might."