by Guerin Zand
“I did not massacre anyone on Claorin. It would be nice if you people would at least take the time to get your stories straight.”
“Whether it’s true or not doesn’t matter. The audience on Earth ate it up.”
“I thought you were going to help with the advancement of humans, at least that’s what you told me the last time we talked. How is bringing the Rebellion to the internet helping with that?”
“Ok, Guerin. I’ll try to explain it so you can understand. People on Earth pay far more attention to entertainment than politics or science. If we want to reach them, we have to know our audience and cater to what they want. Through the game, they get a view of what’s going on in the greater universe. When first contact happens, the idea of aliens and other worlds won’t seem so foreign.”
“You think you can prepare humans for first contact using a fantasy role-playing game? Whose bright idea was that?”
“Steve suggested it during one of our meetings. I looked into it and it made sense.”
“You’re getting ideas from Steve?”
“Yes?”
“I really don’t know what to say, Nancy.”
“Just think about it and get back to me. We really need to get moving on this.”
My eyes rolled, and I shook my head. I started to wonder who was truly the greatest threat to humanity. What had I done? I’m sure the blame would come my way eventually.
Sly stood up. “It was nice seeing you again, Guerin, but I have some things I must attend to. Hopefully, you’ll stick around for a while and we can hang out a little more.”
Sid stood up next, following his father’s lead, and made some lame excuse for running out as well. His wife also excused herself along with Nancy and her husband.
“Wait a minute. You guys can’t leave me alone here with these women. What’s going on?”
None of them responded. Sly simply shrugged his shoulders while the group made haste towards the exit. How many times had I gone to bat for Sly, and this is how he pays me back? We were going to have a serious talk about this over several Gluarks. I was left all alone with Stella, Milly, and Maria.
I stood up. “I should probably be...”
“Sit back down, Guerin.” Stella motioned for me to take my seat. I didn’t like the look she was giving me, so I just did what she said. “We have a few things to discuss with you.”
“Why can’t I have these discussions with the men? I’m sure they’re capable of insulting and lecturing me on the error of my ways.”
“Because, we all know that the men will simply encourage your bad behavior. They seem to think that your antics are amusing, and we don’t need you encouraging their bad behavior as well.”
“Really, Stella? You women are all the same. You see a single man having fun, and it threatens your way of life. What would happen if other men started thinking they could have fun too, right?”
“Whatever, Guerin. We’re here to talk about you, and not me.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t invite Julie to this little gangbang!”
“She told me about your little talk last night. I don’t think she was in the mood for more of your abuse.”
“Oh, that’s precious, Stella. I’m the one abusing Julie?”
“Please, Dad. We’re all worried about you.”
“I’ll talk to you later about your betrayal, daughter, but there’s nothing to worry about. I’m fine. I’m still an asshole, I still like cheeseburgers, I still don’t like Julie, and I hate these interventions. So see, I’m totally normal.”
They didn’t seem to be buying it. Stella asked, “What about your paranoia, Guerin? An unseen power in the universe is guiding you and your thoughts?”
“I don’t remember saying it like that. I just mentioned to my daughter, who seems incapable of keeping a secret, that things seem to be a bit more than just coincidence.”
“You accused Julie of having programmed you to do these things.” Stella raised what I assumed was he eyebrow. Maybe it’s just how I perceived her reaction.
“I didn’t accuse her. I said it was a possibility, and I didn’t say that she was the only one behind it, Stella.”
“So you don’t think that’s a little bit paranoid, even for you?”
“Not if I’m right.”
“Let’s move on, Stella.” Milly decided it was her turn. “Being paranoid isn’t really that unusual for him.”
“Damn it. How many times do I have to tell you people, I’m not paranoid. I just like to consider all possibilities so when you pull your next bullshit stunt on me I’m prepared.”
“Like I said, let’s move on. What about the killings? Let’s start with the murder of Heesa. What were you thinking?”
“I’ve already explained that to Julie and I’m not going to repeat myself here.”
“But murder is not in your character, Guerin.” You could see the concern on Stella’s face, but I was angry that they were treating me like this.
“I don’t have to sit here and justify my actions to you three. If you’re all convinced that I’ve lost it then just lock me up, or whatever it is you do with mental cases like me.”
“Dad...”
“No, Maria. I’m tired of having to explain my every little action. I’m tired of being the alien’s human guinea pig. If the three of you, especially the three of you, don’t have faith in me or trust me anymore, then there’s really is nothing more to say.” I stood up. “Thanks for the lunch, Stella.” And I walked off.
I was almost to the transport pad when Milly yelled out from behind me. I guess she had followed me out. “Guerin!”
I stopped, turned around, and waited for her to catch up.
“What is it, Milly?”
“You didn’t need to be so hostile in there. We really are just concerned about you.”
“Did you think what the three of you pulled in there was going to help?”
“We didn’t know what else to do. You’re not fine. You haven’t been for a while. Is it so hard for you to simply talk to us without getting so upset?”
“I tried to talk with my daughter, and look what happened. Was it too much to ask her to keep it between the two of us?”
“She’s worried, Guerin.”
“I know, but it’s no reason for her to go behind my back like that. And what about you and Stella? What the fuck? You keep going on about how you all expected me to come back all different, but I guess expecting you people to change is too much to ask?”
“What are you talking about, Guerin?”
“When will you people get off my ass? I’ve been out on my own, with no adult supervision for the past few centuries, and guess what? Both the universe and I survived. I didn’t rip a hole in the fabric of reality or start a galactic war. Since I set foot on this ship I’ve spent every fucking second being interrogated and criticized. You people have been able to piss me off more in a couple of days then the entire universe could in 200 years. And some of those people were trying to kill me!”
“We’re sorry. We didn’t mean for you to take it that way.”
“How did you expect me to react? It’s the same shit you pulled on me after my first meeting with Heesa. Aren’t you the ones who are supposedly the smart ones here? Is it too much for me to expect that maybe you would have figured out a better way to handle me?”
“Alright. I suppose we could try. Why don’t you have dinner with me tonight? Just you and me. I promise I’ll just listen without judging, and I’ll keep everything you say just between us.”
“Really? Are you asking me out on a date, or to another debriefing?”
“A date. We can talk about whatever you want. We can go to the restaurant you liked on the night side of the ship. I promise it will just be for fun.”
“Ok.”
“Come on. I’ll give you a lift to your residence. It’s on my way.”
Chapter 9
It’s a Date
As I was getting ready for my dinner with
Milly, it occurred to me I hadn’t really been on a date with a woman in, well, centuries. The last real date I went on had to have been with Anna. Even if you don’t count it as a date if she’s your wife, the last woman I actually dated was my wife. I don’t count hanging out and having sex as a date. I certainly don’t count what happened on Erandi as a date. In my mind, a date is more of a formal event. I don’t mean you have to dress formally for it to be a date. No, but you have to meet certain criteria to actually consider it a date. Perhaps my view on dating was influenced by the Japanese culture and my experiences with Anna. I was nervous about this date, and all the thinking about Anna wasn’t helping.
Milly arrived a little before 7 PM to pick me up. We hopped on a transport pad, headed down to the ground level, and took the elevator to the other side of the ship.
As I’ve described before, the ship is actually two small domed cities slapped together with the spaceport in the middle. Through the magic of Bree gravitational manipulations, what’s up on one side, is down to the other. It is rather confusing, and I always found it simpler to accept such things then think too much about them. As you cross this gravitational boundary in the elevator you actually flip around, not noticing it because of some other magic. You know it happened, but for me, I was always confused about what actually happened. It always made me smile though, and just like a kid, a lot of times I tried to do something stupid to mess with the elevator’s operation. This would of course always make Milly laugh, and this night it was no different.
After the fun in the elevator, we grabbed a transport pad and headed to the restaurant at the top of the city. This was the equivalent of the restaurant at the top of Seattle’s Space Needle. The odd thing was, that even though it was evening for those of us who normally lived on the day side, it was early morning there. It always felt weird going out for a nice dinner in the morning.
The hostess led us to our usual table. It had always been obvious to me that Milly had some pull in her little world. Once again, we were seated at a small table next to the window over-looking the cities green area. It was probably the best view in the restaurant. Our waitress arrived only a few minutes after we were seated.
“Guerin Zand.”
I stood up and gave our waitress a hug. “Sarah. It’s nice to see you again. I would have thought you would have moved on since I was last here.”
“Heavens no, Guerin. This restaurant is part of my life. Not all of us choose to be rocket scientists you know.” We both laughed. “With all the new human visitors the restaurants are doing even more business now. For some reason they find the food synthesizers, I don’t know, boring I guess?”
She motioned me to take my seat and she took a seat next to me.
“That’s probably because no one taught them how to treat a replicator properly.” I referred to what the aliens called food synthesizers as food replicators. I’m sorry, but every Star Trek fan must feel the same. I think all the humans referred to them as replicators. I passed my terminology down to my team and I’m sure they passed it on as well. Being the first human to set foot on this ship, I believed I had the right to name things.
Milly smiled. “Yes, Guerin seems to have a rather strange relationship with the food synthesizers. He treats them like sentient beings, and I think he actually believes you have to be nice to them in order to get good food in return. It borders on an obsession and he actually flirts with them.”
“It’s not flirting, Milly. I’m just being nice.”
Sarah and Milly both laughed. “He says the same thing when he’s caught flirting with a woman, doesn’t he, Milly?” Milly nodded in agreement. The two women were starting to gang up on me.
Sarah stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Milly has ordered ahead so I had the chef start on your dinners when you arrived. It shouldn’t be too long of a wait. Can I get the two of you something to drink? How about a Gargle Blaster, Guerin?”
“That sounds great.”
It wasn’t really a Gargle Blaster, but it was the closest thing to it the people on this ship could come up with. When I was first brought to the ship I was surprised how ignorant the aliens were when it came to space shit like that.
“I’ll have the same.”
“Ok, I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
Milly reached for my hand across the table. “Do you remember the first time we came here?”
“Of course I do, Milly. I think that was the first night you got lucky.”
Milly was laughing. “That’s exactly how I remember it too.”
Sarah returned to the table with our drinks. As she placed our drinks on the table she asked, “What’s so funny you two?”
“Milly is just thinking about how she got lucky after our first dinner here. She’s probably thinking if she plays her cards right she might get lucky again.”
“That’s strange, Guerin. I’ve dated a few of the human recruits and none of them have ever suggested we play cards.” From the sexy little look she threw me, I knew that was probably the truth.
“It’s just an expression, Sarah.”
“I know, Guerin. I was just teasing you.”
“Oh. I forgot for a minute that was the favorite past time for you Bree women. Sorry.”
“It’s ok, Guerin.”
“So just how many human recruits have you dated, Sarah?”
“Please, Guerin. What kind of woman would talk about such things? What kind of woman do you think I am?”
“I’m sorry, Sarah. I guess I’m the only human whose personal life is broadcast openly on the stream?”
Both of the ladies laughed. The fact that everything I did was made public wasn’t funny to me. I just learned to accept it. It did bother me that I was the only human they did this to.
A couple of the staff arrived with our dinner. When they removed the cover, I was surprised to see a nice medium rare slab of prime rib on the plate. It was accompanied by a loaded baked potato and served au jus. Sarah could see my surprise.
“It’s real, Guerin. We get our meat from Earth, via the twins import service, and we have a human chef working in the kitchen now. As I said, we have a lot of human customers, so we’ve expanded our menu to include a lot of Earth dishes. If you should decide to stay with us for a while I’d be glad to send you a menu. We can add you to the mailing list we send out with the daily specials as well.”
“That would be nice. Thank you, Sarah.”
“My pleasure, Guerin. Enjoy your dinners. I’ll check up on you a little later and we can discuss the dessert menu. Bon appetite.”
I looked over at Milly’s plate. It was her usual vegan delight. Some things never change, but I decided not to give her a hard time about it.
The prime rib was cooked perfectly, and it was delicious. We did grab steaks on our little grocery runs to Earth with the Vengeance, but we never bothered with a rib roast. When I lived on Earth, I would make this at least once a year for the family Christmas dinner.
“Are you enjoying your dinner, Guerin?”
“Yes. I am, Milly. I really needed this. I guess biting down on a piece of blood-soaked beef is almost as good as killing someone.”
Milly’s expression quickly changed from a smile to a look of concern.
“Lighten up, Milly. It was just a joke.”
“It’s hard to tell sometimes, Guerin. You can’t blame me though. We’ve been apart for so long I don’t really know what you’re thinking anymore.”
“Why? You know it upsets me that you feel that way. I can deal with Julie always thinking the worst, but why you? What have I done to make you feel so different about me?”
“I thought you didn’t want to talk about this stuff, Guerin?”
“I don’t have a problem talking with you about anything, Milly. What I have a problem with is when you interrogate, criticize, judge, and lecture me. That’s not talking to me.”
“Ok, so will you tell me why you killed Heesa and ran off afterward?”
I took a sip of my drink. “That’s actually two questions, but I’ll try and explain it to you. I killed Heesa because someone had to. I couldn’t let him get away with killing my wife, Tim, and all the other people on Earth who died because of his actions. You people weren’t going to do anything about it.”
“So it was revenge then?”
“Of course, that was part of it, but not the real reason. He wouldn’t have stopped if I just let it go. You people could have prevented all of it if you wanted.”
Milly started to say something, but I cut her off. “Please, Milly, don’t give me that bullshit about the rules. It’s not about any rules. You want us to be able to handle our own affairs when it’s possible. I can kind of understand that. Just don’t sit there all high and mighty and judge us. If you have a problem with how we handle these situations, then you should step in.”
“I understand, but I can’t help worry that it has changed you.”
“I haven’t changed, Milly. I’ve had to do things I’d rather not, things I’ve never done before, but that doesn’t mean I’ve changed. I’m still the same person. I haven’t turned into some bloodthirsty homicidal maniac like you all seem to think.”
“But you’re planning to go to the outer moons and use force to take out the Alacians. You were much more hesitant to use force during the Chinese crisis on Earth.”
“Because, in that case, I wasn’t facing an enemy as dangerous as the Alacians. We had removed the Trogan agents from Earth prior to the crisis, but we also screwed up. We should have made removing them a priority when we first found out about them. Maybe we could have avoided the loss of life that occurred. I’d be fine if the Collective were to remove the Alacians for us. Then I’d just pop down and talk with Mei to solve the problems between the core alliance and the outer moons.”
“I’m not judging you, Guerin, but don’t you think that you’re a little quicker to turn to violence as a solution than before?”
“It’s impossible to not change the way I react based on my past experiences. I think I was a little naïve back then. Sure, I could just do nothing and wait for something to happen like I did last time. If I do that, we both know a lot more people will die than if I just go in now and take care of the problem. You think I’ve changed, and now I turn to violence too quickly? You’re wrong. Yes, I’ve changed my thinking a bit. I’m just not as quick to rule out using violence. You were at the meeting. I was open to any alternatives. No one had one.”
