CHAPTER 5
Ferrok looks tired when he rejoins us a few hours later. We’ve gotten a table at a restaurant that just started serving human food—apparently the station administrator has encouraged it for unknown reasons.
“She’s staying,” he says with a full body exhale as he sits beside me. “She wants to talk to you in person, so she’s learning English, and wants to meet for dinner in three days.”
“She’s going to learn English in three days?” I ask, trying to reconcile the idea of it with years of Spanish classes that I barely retained.
“Like I said, your language isn’t difficult.”
“And she knows more languages than he does.” Mooralan says.
“She wanted two days, but Mooralan has to work, and I am not taking you into that conversation alone.”
“Should I be afraid of her?”
Ferrok shakes his head. “No, but it’s the three of us. She needs to understand that.”
“She’s definitely going to ask more kid questions,” Mooralan says, watching me like he has similar questions of his own. “So maybe we should have that discussion first?”
“Is it even possible?” I ask.
“Yes.” Ferrok thanks the waiter who brings out a glowing pink drink for him and colas for Mooralan and me.
When he doesn’t elaborate, I say, “You can’t just say ‘yes’ and not follow it up.”
“I’m sorry. I thought you knew. That’s why we have to take my…” He glances around and seems to decide the other patrons are too close, so he clears his throat and looks down at his lap, “out before anything.”
His clitball.
“That’s why I accidentally swallowed it. Because it got pitched into me like a…” I don’t know how to finish that sentence.
“Yes.” He looks a little sheepish when he says, “It has my eggs in it.”
“Your eggs?” I was not expecting that.
“Phantom says children are possible.”
“With the right help, I could too,” Mooralan says.
“Phantom said something about physiological anomalies and the child only having X chromosomes, whatever that means.”
“It means the child would be assigned a female gender at birth on Earth.”
“Would you consider it?” Mooralan asks. “Kids,” he clarifies unnecessarily, “with us?”
“I mean, never say never, but… not for a while.”
Nodding, Ferrok says, “She has other children who can give her grandkids while you decide one way or another.”
“We can keep practicing,” I offer.
Mooralan grimaces. “I have to go back to work tomorrow.”
“Me too.” Ferrok shakes his shoulders like he’s trying to loosen them up with a shimmy. “Sirin has been understanding about… everything, but I think I owe him more than just returning to my desk for the screed he put up with while we spoke to Phantom.”
“You don’t have to work anymore, I remind them.”
“I would not do that to Sirin,” Ferrok says. “Especially right now. Though he might want to fire me depending on what my mother said to him.”
Mooralan nods, “And I won’t put the crunch on my guys by completely abandoning my place on the line.”
I like them a little more because of it.
“But…” Ferrok says, “I could imagine a future where we didn’t have jobs. Would you like to visit the twelve wonders of Uvolia?”
Laughing, I tell them, “I don’t know what those are.”
“Well… maybe we’ll let you find out,” Mooralan says before he asks, “Are you going to keep working at Phantom’s?”
“I’m not sure.”
“We will support your decision on that, either way,” Ferrok says, and Mooralan nods in agreement.
“Good.” But it is a decision for another day.
“Now, are we going to eat? Or should we give up the table?”
The waiter hurries over, looking relieved that I’ve finally picked up the menu again.
Mooralan makes jokes with the waiter while I find the small list of options available to me, and Ferrok relaxes back into his seat. After I’ve ordered, I look up at them both, looking at me.
This is my life now… and I couldn’t be happier about it.