by Cara Wylde
There was a tense pause. Avery shook her head, while Kaylee simply studied her for a while. Eventually, the redhead conceded.
“You did a great job, agent. Thank you.”
This time, Avery was the one who started laughing, which made Kaylee cross her arms over her chest and furrow her brows.
“What’s gotten into you?”
“Just say it. Come one! There’s no joke without the punch line.”
“I wasn’t joking, idiot.”
Avery’s laughter died. She cleared her throat.
“Oh. I… I… Err… Thank you for thanking me?”
The redhead pinched the bridge of her nose and made to leave, not before throwing over her shoulder: “You need better manners for the matchmaker job.” Just as she was thinking that was, actually, a good punch line, Kaylee bumped right into a short, stocky man dressed in a uniform that displayed too many medals to count.
“You’re right about one thing, Miss Kaylee. Agent Tonkin will have to dedicate herself to a new vocation, soon, but I doubt she’d make a decent matchmaker. I hear Kralia Studios is still interested in her acting skills and adequate face.”
Avery’s wide smile at the sight of Ben Shaw fell quickly when she registered his last words.
“Adequate face? That’s… hurtful.”
Captain Shaw laughed and extended his hand as a peace offering. Avery shook it firmly.
“Captain, you’re on the Hordaa.”
“Indeed.” He turned to the redhead for a moment and gave her a polite nod. “Miss Kaylee, what a pleasure to finally meet you.”
Kaylee nodded back. “You… know about me?”
“I found out too late, and for that I am deeply sorry. We are deeply sorry.” He tipped his chin toward the rest of the SPG team, who was just joining them. “We’ve failed you. All of you.”
More women had gathered in the common room. Most of them were Terran, but there were some purple-skinned and ivory-skinned women, too. No one said anything, and Kaylee certainly didn’t feel like speaking for anyone.
“It’s too soon,” Avery whispered.
The Captain nodded. “Agent Tonkin, they’re waiting for us.” He looked around the room. “Please, join us. This meeting is open to everyone. If you ask me, the hard part starts now. We’ll need all the ideas we can get to bring so many races together on the same planet.”
Almost half of the women in the common room followed Captain Shaw, Avery, and the SPG to the conference room they now dreaded so much. The other half went to find their alien husbands and children. After all, the man had said everyone was invited, human, Kralian, Valgan, Norgavian, Cattalian, or Minarian.
No matter how hard she tried to focus, Avery couldn’t ignore the empty feeling in her stomach. She’d known she’d lose her job the second she’d told the SPG about her relationship with the Kralian captains, but now Ben Shaw had confirmed it. It wasn’t fair. It really wasn’t. If it hadn’t been for her, they would have never gotten to where they were. By this time, Araime would have probably convinced the others to strike Earth once and for all and put an end to the cat and mouse game they’d been playing for far too long. She was the one who’d brought Kryan and Aedar to their side. She was the one who helped the Kralians stall the Alliance, so they could follow their hearts and do the right thing. They found out about the Vinča culture and discovered the translation of the Danube Valley Tablets thanks to her. It was true that her methods hadn’t always been politically correct, but who cared about that? They were looking at peace when they had been this close to a war Earth couldn’t have possibly won! And not just any kind of peace. Peace with five extraterrestrial races! The Kralians helped humans beat an evolutionary plateau thousands of years ago. Avery could only imagine what Earth could do with the technology and knowledge the aliens would offer in exchange for a new home and the chance to rebuild their society. Not to mention the incredible trees and plants the Hordaa grew in its impressive greenhouse.
She smiled to herself. “Whatever. If nothing else, at least I know I did all this. What more can I ask for?”
Avery took her seat at the conference table, as expected, between Kryan and Aedar. Looking around the room, her heart grew. Each ship captain had his wife at his side, and all the crew members and civilians attending were a nice mix of humans and aliens. Together, they made it look like all the colors in the universe had found their way to each other to create a unique space rainbow. It was quite the view!
Captain Shaw was presiding over the meeting, and his SPG agents were sitting close behind him, in chairs that had been brought especially for them.
Avery caught Lisa’s eyes, and they smiled at each other. She remembered she owed the IT girl a coffee and a long chat.
“Tomorrow is a new day,” Captain Shaw began. “But if we want it to be a good day for all of us, then we need to start planning for it now.” He looked at every ship captain in turn. “You’re coming to Earth as friends, not invaders. For now, we will have to establish two things: one, how we can show the governments of Terra that you come in peace and you will actively help keep this peace, and two, how we can show the same thing to the people of Earth. If we want to succeed, then we all need to be all in. No half measures. New rules will be born, agreements will be signed… We will be sharing our planet with you. Make no mistake, I’ve worked this case long enough to know Earth is your only chance at survival. We get this right, here and now, and you will see that what we’re offering is more than survival. It might take a few years of working together and learning from each other, but your people will have homes, jobs, families, rights and responsibilities. What are you offering in exchange?”
“Now, this is what I call an offer you can’t refuse,” Avery whispered in Aedar’s ear. She earned herself a crooked smile.
Kryan was the one to speak first.
“The database stored on our ship contains knowledge of the universe, of technology, biology, botany, history, and science beyond anything you could imagine. You will be free to study it as you please.”
Captain Shaw nodded. He was about to turn to Eldav when Avery intervened.
“How about your greenhouse, Captain Kryan?”
Kryan cocked an eyebrow, and Aedar chuckled.
“Of course. Anything you need.”
Avery addressed Ben Shaw: “You won’t believe what they have there! They have a tree… it’s all black and makes purple flowers… and if you boil the flowers, you get a sort of healing tea that can knit open wounds back in a matter of hours!”
Captain Shaw crossed his arms over his huge chest. “Interesting, Agent. May I continue now?”
Avery shrugged and leaned back in her seat. Her job was done. Kryan and Aedar had told her they never shared the Rima Daren tree with anyone, no matter what. If she had to lose her job over them, then it was only fair that they lost their beloved healing tree over her. Fair was fair.
“You know we would have done that anyway,” Kryan whispered in her hair.
Avery clenched her jaw in an attempt to resist the hot tingles spreading all over her body. He couldn’t let her have this small victory, could he?
Eldav listed all the technology, knowledge, and even precious metals and stones he was willing to share. Cattalia had been a rich planet, and the Verto had managed to save quite a lot before abandoning it. Then, followed Gorgan and Drav. As for the Minarians, Araime’s second in command took it upon himself to speak for them. Seeing as how their own captain had betrayed them, the Minarians wanted to hold an election later. For now, the Second Officer would do, but it only made sense how they weren’t sure they could trust him fully.
One hour later, they reached the most burning issue of all: how they could best ensure that the people of Earth would welcome and accept five alien races among them. The Kralians, the Cattalians, the Minarians, the Valgans, and the Norgavians had already done the necessary work. Kryan and Aedar had the entertainment industry eating out of their
hands. Eldav’s scientists were already working tȇte-à-tȇte with the best Terran scientist, having pretended to be from Earth for years, wearing their wrist bands day in and day out. Gorgan had some of his Valgans in good political positions, and Drav’s Norgavians were controlling a fair part of the banking system. But all that had been done secretly and methodically. They couldn’t just suddenly change their mind about how they’d been operating and reveal to the world: “Oh, hey! We’ve been living, working, and plotting among you all along. Sorry for lying to you for the past ten years. But we’re good now, right?”
“What about the Minarians?” Avery turned to Araime’s Second Officer. “What were you guys supposed to take control of?”
“Religion.”
“Oooh!” Avery threw Zadie a quick glance. She vaguely remembered the Dreamland scientist showing some interest in the new spiritual groups and movements popping up in the past years. “Any progress?”
“Well, the Terrans are talking about enlightenment now more than a decade ago.”
She laughed out loud. “I can’t believe you! This is what you are selling? Enlightenment?”
“Were…” The Minarian coughed lightly, trying to hide his embarrassment. “I made a call just a few hours ago and pulled all the… err… spiritual teachers we had on field. They’re on the Verto.”
Avery shook her head. “I can’t even. Please, go on Captain. I’m sorry for interrupting. Truly sorry. It won’t happen again, I promise.”
Ben Shaw huffed. “Sure. I believe you.”
“The obvious solution is to re-frame this,” Aedar said.
“Re-frame, or re-write the whole story, Captain?”
Aedar waved vaguely, as if to say “whatever is necessary”, and his suggestion was left hanging in the air. Avery, for one, knew it was the only strategy that had a chance to work. She looked at the Terran women in the room and saw in their eyes that they knew it, too. Ultimately, it would be their call.
After they all spent another half hour chasing their tails because they were too uncomfortable to attack the issue directly, Avery sighed, stood up, and placed her hands firmly on the table.
“We all know what needs to be done. Re-frame the story, re-write it… it’s all the same. History has been manipulated since the beginning of times, okay? We’re no strangers to changing this, eliminating that, or straight up inventing whatever to get an advantage when we need it. I know you hate to hear it, but this is no different. The question is: are you up for it?” She looked Ben Shaw straight in the eyes. “Are we up for it?” She motioned toward the ex-slaves now standing next to their former masters as if getting kidnapped and trapped on a spaceship hadn’t been that bad of an experience, anyway. “Are they up for it? I’m sure Kralia Studios is ready to abandon the project they’ve been working on and start writing and filming a documentary instead. We could tell the world about our visitors’ plight. We have a terrible plague, we have barren women, entire races facing extinction! We have enough drama to make the world cry. I can already hear it. ‘It could have been us!’, ‘These poor guys…’, ‘I can’t imagine not being able to have children!’, ‘We’re destroying our own planet every day!’ Do you need more? I can come up with more. It wouldn’t be the first time when history is written by those in power for the supposed highest good of humanity. And I’m sure those who did it before believed they were right to meddle. Just like we believe it now.”
She made a pause and waited for a few seconds to see whether there was anyone who might contradict her. When there was only silence, she looked at Grace, Kaylee, and Ginny. They were as close to representing the interests of the wives and mothers as anyone could get.
“The real question is: is this what you want? Do you think you can handle it? This would be your story being re-written, a story about being taken against your will, about being forced into slavery, forced to carry the babies of the very men who took you away from your families. Are you ready to sweep all of it under the rug of fake history for the good of all? Are you ready to say that you weren’t kidnapped, but in fact fell in love with these handsome, broody, and perfectly broken men from other worlds and faraway planets? Are you ready to write books and make movies about how you agreed to go live on their spaceships for years and keep their secrets for fear of your beautiful love stories being taken the wrong way? If we decide to do this, it will be huge. And there will be no coming back. At least, not for generations to come.”
Once again, she was met with silence. Avery checked in with herself to make sure that was all she’d wanted to say, and satisfied, she sat down and crossed her arms over her chest. No one was even looking at her, except for Kryan and Aedar, who stole quick glances once in a while. She furrowed her brows and pouted. “Why are we even wasting our time here if no one is ready to make the final call?”
Slowly, whispers and murmurs started rising from the small crowd. A young blonde tapped Grace on the shoulder and whispered something in her ear, then Grace turned to Kaylee as if she needed her advice. Five more minutes passed. Avery was getting ready to throw in the towel and just ask Kryan and Aedar to take her out of there. Tomorrow was another day. The main threat had been eliminated, so the aliens and their wives could as well resume their lives on the ships until they gathered up the courage to land them on Earth. She sighed deeply and turned to tell Aedar she wanted to go when Kaylee stood up and cleared her throat. Her voice was low and a bit shaky, which was very unusual as far as Avery was concerned. Kaylee was a tough lady. She wouldn’t have expected her to falter; not even when it came to such a complicatedly unfair situation.
“We could… take a vote?”
Avery rolled her eyes and shot to her feet.
“You’ve all already voted. Once, before Araime started shooting at you, and then again when you cheered at the Minarian fireworks and ran into your ex-masters’ arms. Most of you changed your vote then, didn’t you? When you needed the Valgans, the Norgavians, and the Cattalians to come to your rescue.” She pushed her chair aside and walked to the door. “You didn’t have a choice when they took you, but you have a choice now. Call me when you’re done changing your minds every five minutes.”
She didn’t know what had gotten into her, and she felt like she had just accused them of something she was guilty of, too. Just a few minutes before, even as she’d been talking about fake history, she’d shown compassion, right? She was stressed, tired, and suddenly hungry. She felt like all these meetings were like pushing a huge, heavy rock up the slope of a mountain, Sisyphus style, and she just couldn’t do it anymore.
“Agent Tonkin is right,” said Ginny. She stood up slowly and looked around her, studying everyone intently before she continued. “This is the only way. It’s hard, and it will be hard for many years to come, but what isn’t? I say we are ready. We can do this. Let’s fake it till we make it.”
Avery cocked an eyebrow and closed back the door she’d just cracked open. She would have never expected shy, quiet Ginny to step up. The universe was full of surprises, wasn’t it? She walked back to her chair but didn’t sit down. She saw no reason for this meeting to last for more than another five minutes, and she was right, too.
Captain Shaw sighed deeply. On the one hand, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. On the other hand, though, he needed to ask again:
“Are you absolutely sure this is what you want?” He addressed the Terran women. “If you have anything to say, this is the time.”
The heavy silence was broken by answers of “yes”, few and weak at first, but then growing stronger by the second. The atmosphere in the room changed. Suddenly, all the humans and aliens present felt like they could breathe more easily, relax, and finally allow themselves to feel and think positively about the future.
Avery smiled and placed her hands on Kryan’s and Aedar’s shoulders. She squeezed rather hard and demandingly.
“Let’s get out of here. I’m hungry.”
Kryan smi
rked. “For what?”
“Self-important A-hole…”
EPILOGUE
Four Months Later
Avery could barely contain herself. She ran down the stairs, almost tripped over her own feet, and held onto the railing for dear life.
“Shit,” she cursed under her breath. “Get a grip, woman. If you break your neck, you’ll have to play the bad news-good news game.” Except… the good news would probably not apply anymore.
She composed herself, straightened her back, and smoothed down her beautiful, pink Kralian dress. She’d decided Kralian dresses were great for wearing indoors a couple of weeks before, and since then, she’d started wearing them outside, too. No shame in walking around in a skimpy leotard covered by a transparent veil-like thing! Not when purple Kralian women were walking around in similar clothes. At least, those who hadn’t adopted the Terran fashion. Lately, there had been enough alien women – purple-skinned, green-skinned, blue-skinned… it didn’t matter – who’d showed great enthusiasm at the culture of jeans and sneakers. The world was changing!
Avery made it to the living room of the Walsh Residence in one piece. Instead of throwing herself at her lovers, though, she stood there for a minute, in silence, a smile playing on her lips as she watched them working feverishly, bent over papers, books, and plans scattered all over the table. The mess was mostly Medo’s fault. She’d left twenty minutes before, after having spent the morning helping Kryan and Aedar with the book and documentary they were working on. The book, at least, would have been done long ago if Aedar hadn’t had to interrupt himself every time a journalist wanted an interview, a TV station invited him on a show or another, or someone wanted some piece written on the Kralians and their culture. Aedar was the nice and social one, so these annoying duties always fell on him, while Kryan did his absolute best to avoid the media just like he’d avoided it before, when he was only known as the producer behind Kralia Studios.
