Page 9 of I Married A Syllen

The creature stared at me, then at the little boy pointing a finger at her while looking up at his mother. The poor woman, visibly frightened, tried to hush her son.

The Kalrin suddenly waved a hand towards the north, back whence we came. The leaves rustled, beckoning us towards the fastest way to the exit. I exhaled a shuddering breath.

“Thank you, Kalrin. Thank you Great Mothers,” I said.

The creature closed her eyes as I quickly ushered the others towards salvation. We walked increasingly fast, some of the men almost breaking into a run as the gates out of the garden appeared a short distance ahead. The whole way out, I continued thanking the Great Mothers.

As soon as we walked out, half of us broke down crying. A part of me also wanted that release, but I just sat on the ground, shaking. The guide activated the emergency lockdown of the garden.

“What the fuck happened?” the young man asked. “Why did they attack us?”

“Someone royally fucked up. These trees shouldn’t have been moved here. It’s not just the Syllens who are awakening. The rest of this planet is also stirring, and it wants us gone,” I said grimly.

Chapter 3

Mirella

Iwove my way through the throngs to one of the front seats of the university’s main lecture hall. Shaped almost like an amphitheater with balconies for extra seats, the room could accommodate over a thousand people. As the discipline I taught here in Acadia had a lot fewer attendees, I worked in a far smaller room.

Here, giant screens and a phenomenal sound system allowed everyone to perfectly see and hear everything. Exceptionally, they had allowed a mix of people other than just the students to attend this extraordinary town hall. I had never seen so many frightened and distressed people gathered in a single space. It struck me then what a sheltered life I had lived until now.

On the dais, Governor Monroe, Chief Constable Daleus, Ambassador Mares Heixina, and Professor Ludwig sat at a conference table. Off to the side, Master Kayog Voln had settled in a discreet enough spot not to draw attention to himself while having a perfect view of the attendees. While the Ambassador’s presence didn’t surprise me, seeing the Temern blew me away. He had to be here as both an observer and advisor. In large part due to Kayog’s efforts, the United Planets Organization—for whom both he and Mares worked—had invested a lot of resources into protecting the Syllens. Whatever the outcome of this town hall, the UPO would want to have a say in the next steps.

As the amphitheater couldn’t welcome everyone who wanted to attend the proceedings, more people went to sit in adjoining lecture halls where they could see everything on giant screens. Moderators in those other rooms would allow them to ask questions once the Q&A session began. They broadcast the entire thing in real time for everyone else who stayed at home.

Governor Monroe, a lanky male in his late fifties, with salt and pepper short hair, and a pointy face with soft blue eyes raised a hand to request silence.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for gathering in such an orderly fashion despite the disturbing events that took place today,” Governor Monroe said in a somber tone. “You’re familiar with my panel, Chief Constable Myrna Daleus, Ambassador Mares Heixina, and Professor Peter Ludwig. They will help give you an update about the situation as well as answer any questions you may have. The floor is yours, Chief Constable.”

The woman of African descent nodded graciously at him before turning her obsidian gaze towards the crowd.

“Hello everyone. As you all know, the flora of Mazeria launched a series of attacks against our citizens. No animals or pets were harmed. They only targeted people. Sadly, we can confirm eleven deaths, and two dozen victims are currently being treated with severe injuries, three of them in a critical state.”

She tapped a few instructions on the interface of the table, and a map of the city and inhabited areas filled half the screen, leaving the left side with a zoom in on her face.

“The dots on the map indicate the location of each attack. As you can see, they all took place in parks, gardens, and areas with elaborate landscaping involving a lot of the more exotic plants of Mazeria,” she explained. “For this reason, we have blocked off all such areas and request that everyone avoid any such spaces. Please steer clear of clusters of flowery plants and bushes while we pursue our investigations as to the cause of this tragedy.”

“But why did this happen?” a woman shouted from the back. “Are the Syllens attacking us? Do they want us gone now that they’re awake?”

I flinched, having expected people would instantly jump to that conclusion. And the approving murmurs from the crowd around me confirmed it.

“Surveillance cameras have not indicated the presence of any Syllens near those incidents,” Chief Constable Daleus countered carefully. “I caution anyone from jumping to such conclusions. We have no evidence linking them directly to any of this. Yes, the timing is odd. But the attacks took place far from their lands. So we have no reason to suspect them at this time. However, we will not exclude any possibility. We just do not want anyone going on a witch hunt purely based on speculation.”

“While I respect your cautionary words, I believe it would be a disservice to the population not to get them mentally prepared for the dark reality that the Syllens might indeed be trying to drive us away,” Professor Ludwig intervened.

My jaw dropped that he would publicly challenge her like this. The same shock fleeted briefly over Chief Constable Daleus’s face before she quickly regained her composure. Under the current circumstances, our leadership needed to present a united front. In what world did he think it was acceptable to undermine her like this and sow further doubt in the minds of thousands of frightened people?

Then again, the professor had shown some misogynistic tendencies since I got here.

“The timing is too convenient,” Ludwig continued with a borderline mulish expression. “For centuries, nothing ever happened. Now, they awaken, and two days later our citizens are getting slaughtered?”

“Correlation does not mean causation,” Chief Constable Daleus argued gently. “Countless major changes performed by our colony happened over the past few days. Some of them directly impacted the soil and flora of this world. Those changes may have nothing to do with these incidents, but maybe they do. Either way, it would be extremely dangerous to lay such serious accusations at the Syllens’ feet at the risk of being proven wrong later. Recklessly jumping to conclusions could cause irreversible harm to any future relationship we may have with the aboriginals.”

It boggled my mind that she would even have to bring that up. I also appreciated how careful she was not spelling out what those major changes were to spare the people or companies involved getting unfairly blamed. Among other things, I was aware of a new natural fertilizer that had been expanded over the local farmlands and gardens in the past week. One could infer that maybe it had a negative impact on the flora. But as the product had been extensively tested in an enclosed environment on these specific plants, the likelihood that it could be the cause was extremely slim.

“I agree with the Chief Constable,” Mares chimed in. “I had the honor of speaking with some of the Syllens shortly after their awakening. We left them with the means of contacting us. If they had any grievances, they would have reached out to us instead of simply launching an attack.”

Ludwig waved a dismissive hand.