CHAPTER 22
ZAREK
Emotions should not get in the way of proper archiving procedures, but emotions seem to get in the way of everything.
I was hoping the three hours from Lyons to our last destination in Moutiers this afternoon would be…relaxing? Sexy? Fun? But so far it has just been packing, planning, and overthinking.
Ellie was able to acquire us a hotel reservation within a walkable distance to Vanoise National Park, and then I used her phone to check Reddit for the best places on the west side of the park to search for edelweiss, reading anecdotes from both hikers and botanists.
I have spent so many nights dreaming of edelweiss, and the way it can help my people, but now I am not sure I care.
That is a lie. I do care, but I also care for Ellie an equal amount (if not slightly more) and that terrifies me.
I wish we were the same species. Actually, I would not mind if we were a horse and donkey, so long as we were in the same barn.
We could have been born as seeds, growing and blossoming together, like a marigold and a tomato.
Not the same, but mutually beneficial. Anything but this future where I am on Terilia, and she is on Earth.
I cannot even ask them to bring her to Terilia. She could help the sapphiro with all sorts of research, they honestly might even agree, but I refuse to do that to her.
If she said yes, which I doubt she would, it would be miserable.
Her research focuses on humans, but even if she wanted to transition to studying sapphiro, there is no opportunity to. We have only been there for two generations; there is nothing of substance yet, and if there was, we would have already archived it all.
Terilia is not suited for human life.
Ellie could breathe on Terilia. The atmosphere is a little denser, her body would tire more quickly, and the temperatures are awful, but that is not the core issue.
I am not sure it is suited for living at all.
Terilia is a place designed for survival.
Most of us spend our days—stuck inside the safe, habitable zone of the twilight ring—in laboratories, libraries, artificial parks, gyms, or pools.
Our entire society is focused on science and technology, history and language, and health, because that is all we have.
When we left Sapphiron, we left everything. I was not born, but my parents told me what their parents told them. Art was left behind, music was left behind, and there was no time or energy to create again, not when we had to figure a way to make our new planet habitable.
Thousands of sapphiro died in the process of migrating onto Terilia.
Unlike Earth, where they give each other the space to mourn and grieve, and play ukulele by a campfire like on television, we just keep going.
We are taught not to cry, for crying does nothing for those we lost. Keep learning, keep studying, keep rebuilding.
And for most of my people, this works. There are sapphiro, ones who were orphaned, or whose parents were too sickly or injured to hold careers, who volunteer to go out onto the star side, where the conditions are unbearable, and do work on our artificial tectonic plates.
And there are also those willing to do the same on the dark side of our planet, knowing very few return.
And then there is me. I was chosen to study humanity, and instead I found a way to help my people. With the assistance of Zul, and Ellie, I think I have made a miraculous discovery.
I think I can really make a difference. Except, I cannot even seem to do that right, because I am probably less than twenty-four hours from acquiring the sample I need, and all I want to do is run away with the first fucking human I made contact with.
Damn it all.
“Do you want to get food in Moutiers before we head to the hotel? It’s about forty or so minutes away. I figured you might get hungry by then,” Ellie says, interrupting the self-deprecating cyclone spinning through my thoughts.
“Yes please,” I reply, feeling the train as it comes to a halt. “Are we here already?”
Ellie nods, looking a little somber. “Yep. Dinner, bus, sleep, breakfast, hike?”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” I grab the backpack with my DIRC and other belongings, put my BLEND into its port, followed by the awful contacts, and then nod.
We disembark, heading through the busy train station and out onto the streets of Moutiers, where Ellie uses her GPS app to lead us to a local restaurant. The sun is still out, and I enjoy the way the warm light and fresh air feels despite the sadness lurking in the depths of my mind.
Just like all of France, the architecture here is stunning, with medieval-like buildings. The view is further heightened by the mountains on the skyline, and the smell of fresh pine as well as faint whiffs of cheese.
We pass a series of murals, and I stop to stare at them, enjoying the different paint strokes and styles. And as I stare at the art, I realize just how much my view of humanity has shifted.
I used to think of humans as lazy and destructive, envious of their planet, and disgusted by the way they take what they have for granted. I thought the sapphiro were better, more advanced, but that could not be further from the truth.
The sapphiro have created a system that has made development, employment, and even reproduction more efficient.
There is a guaranteed spot in society for everyone.
A partner is chosen for you if you desire one, a career path is forged for you from childhood, and we ensure that every living being is taken care of.
Humans do not ensure that. Many planets allow people to starve, and go without their basic needs.
Meanwhile, we choose to study other planets and people, learning their languages and archiving their history, and we lead the Intergalactic Unity Senate. Sapphiro might have the most advanced society in the entire Milky Way Galaxy.
And in many ways, we are. These are strengths of my people, and it does set us apart from other species and planets, but we are deeply flawed, too. I am not even sure we realize it yet.
As I made this trip around France with Ellie, I could not help but notice all the art. And the music, and the architecture. Humans are so creative, always admiring the beauty of the world around them.
And I am lucky. I had learned about many of these things in school, and could appreciate their efforts properly, but this was only because I am supposed to be an expert of Earth and humanity.
But I know nothing about the architecture of my own kind, prior to Terilia. There are few public records of our art, and very few songs we pass down from generation to generation now.
How can we call ourselves advanced if we do not leave room for dreams? Or art? Or love?
We get to the restaurant, and Ellie and I take our seats at a booth in the corner. It’s not a fancy place, and that somehow feels more comfortable. There are patrons talking loudly, and music playing in the background, and I feel free to actually be myself here.
The server comes by to take our orders, his mustache wild and curly, and Ellie orders for both of us in French, leaving me to wonder what she got me.
“Are you much of a hiker?” I ask while we wait for our food.
“I enjoy a good view, and I’ve had to hike a lot for work, so I’d say yeah. I’m not a thrill seeker though, I just like to hike regular trails. You?”
“The mountains on Terilia are really steep and well below freezing. Think Everest, but worse,” I explain.
“And we were all required to run the line between the twilight ring and the star side as children, back and forth, the interval times continuously decreasing, until we could not run any longer. I would say I am comfortable with running, but I have never enjoyed it.”
Ellie’s brown eyes look like they are going to pop out of her head. “I’m sorry hold on, they made you all run back and forth until there was one child left?”
“Yes?” I respond hesitantly, feeling a little judged.
I do not agree with the practice, but I am feeling a little defensive of my people. I have seen how some humans behave toward others.
Ellie smiles before she lets out a laugh. I balk, unsure of what is so funny.
“I’m sorry, it’s just like…you guys essentially did the alien version of the FitnessGram PACER test,” she says.
“The what now?”
“There’s no way I can explain it without doing the voice, so I’m not even going to bother.
It’s this stupid test we all had to do as children that starts with an audio recording from before I was even born that says ‘The FitnessGram PACER test is a multistage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues,’” she explains in a very strange, deep tone, while wiping tears from her eyes as she fights back another laugh.
“Everyone hated it except the one kid in every class who went on to join track.”
“I cannot believe they did not teach us this in school. Is this everywhere on Earth?” I ask, smiling over the similarity between humans and sapphiro.
“I think it was just in America, but I’m sure other nations traumatized their kids with some other form of forced exercise,” she says.
The server brings us both cold, yellow beverages, and I take a sip, enjoying the citrusy taste. “Lemonade?”
“Derek, if you tell me you’ve never had lemonade until now, I might explode.”
My mouth forms a thin line. “Oh, lemonade? Of course I have had lemonade. We have lemons growing on every street on Terilia.”
“Do you even have streets?” she asks, one eyebrow quirking up, and I half-laugh, half-sigh.
“No. We have walkways and these—transportation tubes—I guess you could call them, that are built above our residential and organization structures,” I say.
“That’s really cool—”
The server comes out with our food, and my chest warms at the sight of the juiciest cheeseburger I have ever seen. I am having a hard time deciding if I’m happier about the food itself, or the fact that Ellie knows my preferences so well.