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Crew’s voice filled the quiet around us, and I jerked in surprise before considering him. I liked the sound of his voice much better than my own voice, which I’d always found to be just a touch too low. “I didn’t do anything spectacular. I had her drink water and made her puke. That was really miniscule help and, frankly, I got lucky. I could’ve killed her, with what I did.”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t have thought to make her throw up, and neither would anyone else. I’m grateful to you. Everyone is. Plus, you stayed calm, which was really something, too. Thank you.” I smiled at him. “Don’t thank me for doing so little. I’m glad I could help. I’m shocked you don’t have a med machine.”
“It’s not for lack of trying. Actually, that was the last thing I said to Amias. I even told him, when he had enough of traveling and was ready to come back home, I’d appreciate it if he found a med machine to bring home with him. He needed some space, he said. Said he needed to breathe in the universe, and that he wasn’t returning. But I didn’t believe him. I don’t think any of us did. I thought he would be back, that it was just a matter of time. Only I was wrong. He never came back.”
I smiled. “Well, he found med machines. Clarke has more than I can count.”
“Figures. Fucking asshole. Sorry, language. I never liked him, though. He wasn’t that good at his job, and he endangered lives. But, whatever, I don’t suppose it matters anymore. You saved one of the little ones here. It would be hard to explain what children mean to all of us, to anyone outside our planet. They’ve become a sign for us, I guess. Of life moving on. Of a normalcy we’ll never have but we appreciate nonetheless.”
I squeezed his hand. “Children are a gift where I’m from, too, even if we know what life they’re being born into.” I sighed. “How did this even happen? How did we end up trapped in an existence where no one gets to live safely anymore? You guys shouldn’t have to stay away from people. I shouldn’t have to…do what I do. Kids shouldn’t be born into this mess. How did any of this even happen? It’s not fair.”
I realized what I’d said, and regret flooded me. I never talked about any of it. What was the point? It seemed like whining, because as an adult, I understood life was what it was. Railing against unchangeable facts was a waste of everyone’s time.
But Crew nodded, his gaze sympathetic. “We lost. That’s how this happened.”
It was an answer I hadn’t heard before. “Your corporation decided to terminate you, and you guys escaped.” Or so it had been explained to me over and over when I dared ask. Afterward, they struggled to find places to hide, so they ultimately disappeared to quiet planets or took over other ones.
Or they’d been forced into some kind of subjugation.
“Yes,” Crew agreed easily enough. “That’s what happened after we lost. First, we were sent to the other side of the galaxy, where we fought in a war with the people of planet Earth. We lost that war and got pretty much herded out. When we lost, we came back here. I thought we’d regroup and go again, make a second attack. They were building things that should have made a second attempt easier, more successful. Technologies that eliminated the need to travel through the black hole for such an extensive period of time... But then, some shit happened. Sorry, language.”
I waved my hand. “I say shit all the time.” Or at least I thought it.
He tilted his head in acknowledgement before he continued. “There was some problem with the corporation’s intellectual property, so they were forced to shut down. Executives at the top made the decision to terminate us and end the problem, as it was an easy solution for them. Some of us got away, despite their decision. But getting away wasn’t the hard part since we weren’t exactly welcome anywhere. Some of that is on those of us who behaved like the uncontrollable monsters they thought we were without Evander, the corporation that created us. Some of us came here, and we determined to stay out of the way.”
They lost. There was such a tone of sadness when he admitted it. “Earth. Wow. I guess I always thought that was a myth, that it didn’t really exist.”
“No, it’s real, and the people there were fierce enough to beat us, thoroughly. I mean…it was complicated? We were betrayed because some of our own people turned on us and sided with them. I could never figure out why. Some listened to a recording that changed their minds about everything, or so I heard. I listened to it myself, but it didn’t have an effect on me. Still, those that were moved by the recording turned on us. Their changing sides made a huge difference, so we lost. First time in my life I lost, still not really over it.” He sighed. “Maybe I won’t ever be. Anyway, yes, Earth is real. Blue, green, beautiful and not a myth.”
I tried to revise everything I knew based on his words, but I’d have been lying if I said I could process it all that fast. “I never heard any of that,” I said, the only thing I was sure of in that moment.
“Ah, so Amias didn’t share everything with you.” He winked at me. “I’m not totally without my own stories to share during our time together.”
We made our way back toward their bar turned- home and went inside. I took a deep breath, still wrapping my mind around his words. I’ve always been good at moving forward, at not holding onto thoughts that might drag me down inside, but it was as though I hauled the world behind me. “Well…give me a job,” I said finally, flopping my free arm to my side.
“What?” He tilted his head, dropping my hand. “A job?”
“I’m going to be here for weeks, right? I need to be useful. Hopefully, there won’t be any more need to treat poisoned children, since I’m sure you will find that man. So…please, tell me how I can make myself useful while I’m here, since I’m going to be eating your food, using your water, and basically draining your resources. A job. I need something, since I can’t do what I’d normally do.”
He shook his head. “If it wasn’t your choice, no one should have to do what you were doing. Unless the credits were going in your pocket by your will, it was despicable.”
I swallowed. “I wouldn’t…I wouldn’t choose it. I normally try not to think about it, because it’s just my life. Regardless, my skill set isn’t useful here, so I feel like I can finally take a breath about it.”
I hadn’t thought about it before, but once I said it, I found I meant the words.
“So why don’t you take a day or two for relaxation? The idea was impossible to digest when I first came here, and it was a good three years before I truly appreciated downtime. But every so often, we all need a day to ourselves. Take one. Take today. You just saved that girl’s life, even if you are going to dismiss it as getting lucky. One day, where you just eat, take a nap, whatever. Then tomorrow, as you requested, I’ll see if I can figure out something for you to do. Sound fair?”
I was going to answer him, but his expression suddenly went distant and sharp, as if he heard something I couldn’t. “What?”
“You have a visitor coming,” he said, nostrils flaring as if he could scent the stranger on the breeze.
What? I touched my chest. “Me?” I didn’t know anyone on their planet.
The door hit the wall with a bang, seconds before Mace strode into the room, dragging a non– Super Soldier with him. I recognized the man instantly: Bill, the pilot who failed to mention I wouldn’t be able to leave the planet for weeks. He held my bag in his arms and shook like a leaf ready to fall from a tree.
“Raven, Bill has something he’d like to say to you.” Mace released the man, who slumped to the floor, and behind me, Crew chuckled quietly. Bill, for his part, didn’t seem amused. He looked terrified.
“I…I shouldn’t have neglected to tell you about the electricity storms, and I should have explained how they would make it impossible for you to leave. Truthfully, we probably shouldn’t have landed. That was…dangerous of me, and it isn’t okay that I did it to take your money.” He held out my bag, shaking it impatiently for me to take. “Here is all your stuff.”
