"Marlon, why don't we lie back down," said Dr. Karl. He helped Marlon up and dragged him to a bed. Like Jillian, in just a moment he was out. Dr. Karl returned and asked Lynette how she was feeling. "It affects everyone differently. No shame in it whatsoever. Myself, I'm feeling a little peaked."
"I'll stay up with the kids," Ralph said. "Go on and get some sleep. I'm guessing we're going to have one hell of a day tomorrow." The doc nodded and shuffled to his bed.
"I want you all to get rest tonight," Christophe said raising an eyebrow in my direction.
I nodded, then a thought popped into my head. "Hey, Christophe? Is there news? You know about the fah'ti?" I asked.
Christophe hesitated a second, then shook his head. I felt a stab of disappointment. It must have shown on my face. "Chin up. We only had a rough estimate on the timeline, and no concrete proof that we could reactivate it. I'm sure it's just a technical speed bump."
"Oh." I sighed. "Okay. Thanks."
"We'll let you know as soon as we know anything," Reginald promised. "Deal?"
It was something. "Deal."
Reginald bid us good night, and he and Christophe left.
"Where are they going?"
"Big brass gets the fancy digs," said Ralph, as if that explained anything. "You okay, Lynette?"
She nodded. "Yeah. I'm feeling more solid."
Ralph looked at me. I nodded. He knew I was fine. He checked the clock. "An hour, then I expect you two to be tucked in and sleeping. I mean it. It's going to be a whopper of a day tomorrow."
We went and sat on a bench by the window. No tinting was on the glass at all anymore. It was night. There was no reason to tint, no sun to filter out. One by one, the lights in the ward dimmed until they were barely glowing, just on enough so that people could find the bathroom in the night. It let us see the lit city below. It was actually...well...beautiful. Completely different from Laak'sa, especially at night. But there was something so arresting about the city all lit up in different colors, the lights on the vehicles zigging and zagging, the signs announcing businesses, some blinking, some just glowing. We sat on the bench and watched.
"What do you think?"
"I...don't know. It's different, that's for sure. What city is this?"
"Houston."
"Where's that?"
"Texas." I just looked at her. I didn't remember a Texas. "In the United States," she said. "In the southwest."
"Why are we here? I didn't think this was the capital." Was I wrong?
"It's not. But most of the space craft lands here. Something having to do with reentry or something?" She shook her head. "Maybe it's just habit from the old NASA program. Whatever. We land here, then we go to wherever our meeting is."
"Where's that?"
"I don't know. The IOC has headquarters in all participating nations."
"How many countries are in the IOC?"
"About thirty." She shrugged. "I'm guessing we're going to the one in Washington, DC since we're in the United States. But not necessarily. There may be a call for a more neutral location, like Montreal or Lima. Or even a European neutrality, like Oslo or...anywhere. I guess it doesn't do much good to speculate, does it?"
I shook my head. "Not when you have so many cities!"
"They don't have a lot of cities on Laak'sa?"
"No. Really it's kind of like one huge city that wraps around the ocean. There are provinces, I guess you would call them."
"What do they call them?"
"Kanhi." That tug, that pull. That longing. Home. "The rest of the planet isn't very habitable. Wild. Free. Wet and heavy and broken by river after river after river."
"That's why you like the marsh."
I smiled at her. "Yeah."
"We have marshes here, you know."
"Are we going to any?"
She paused for a second. I think she considered lying. "No. Probably not."
I sighed. "Is it all going to be stuck in buildings answering stupid questions about things I really don't know?"
She took my hand. She just grabbed it, like I did for her on the ship. "No. I'm sure there will be a ton of that at first. But I know for a fact they've cleared your house for you to move in to."
I didn't want to argue with her. I already made it clear to them that I was not moving in to anywhere on Earth. A house? My house. Part of me laughed inside and part of me wanted to cry. "I still don't believe I have a house."
"Oh, you do," she assured me. "Actually, it's more of a mansion."
"Is that good?"
I watched the city below us, but I could feel that look. You know the look. The look people give you when they can't believe what you just said. I was getting more familiar with that look by the day.
"Yes," she said eventually. "It's very good."
"Why?"
"Because it means you're rich."
I sighed. "Oh. Money again."
She laughed. "You don't have to sound so upset about it, Jake."
I wasn't upset about it. I was...bored, I guess. Later Ralph ripped into me good. He had been coming back from the bathroom when he overheard the conversation and took time later to tell me just how rude, mean, and insensitive I was. Oh, and an ass.
"It doesn't matter one bit what you think about money, kid. Here it matters. Here it's a big deal. Here it feeds or starves. People with money live, people without die. You have a big, comfortable house? There are millions who live under cardboard in the dirt!"
"Then they can have my house!" I shouted right back.
"Great. Do it. So that takes care of what? A dozen people? You've only got millions more. What are you going to do for them?" He slumped. No fight left. Which was very good, because it was starting to dawn on me just how much of a callous ass I had been and I probably couldn't have taken any more of Ralph at his angriest. "Jake," he said more calmly. "Listen to me. You don't want the money? That's great. You're just like your folks. They didn't care for it one way or another. But do you know why?"
"No."
"Because they never had to worry about it. They never wondered where they'd get their next meal. They never had to break their backs working a farm or a transport or garbage detail just to scrape together a few credits for some rice or beans or milk. Of course they didn't care for money. They didn't know what it was like to run out."
"So give the people my money."
He gave me a sad smile he said I'd understand when I'm older. "It doesn't work like that. You give a lot of your money already."
"I do?"
"Yes. You've got a whole foundation established with the Cosworth name that does nothing but give money to needy people." That made me feel a little better. "But it's not enough. It can never be enough. We've got a society based on credits. Money. Things." He shook his head. "It's not like it is on Laak'sa. It's not survival of the fittest, it's survival of the richest.
I had time to mull it all over later. Ralph was wrong. The Qitani way was survival of the fittest, but they placed just as high a value on their riches as humans do on credits. Everyone eats on Laak'sa, that's true...until it's not. Until they are too weak to contribute, until they can no longer benefit the society. And in that case, they are cut off. They do not get rations, since they did not earn them. They had to figure out how to feed themselves. While most did, and seemed to be doing fine to an outsider, there were those who did not. Ashnahta and I would see them when we'd wander the rivers we weren't supposed to. Some of them even resorted to eating the fishes, a great breach of culture that spoke volumes. They fell from society and fell hard. Ralph saw that as the survival of the fittest. It wasn't. If any one of them had just one of the jewels that were embedded into Ashnahta's collarbone, they would have eaten like queens for the rest of their lives. Ralph was wrong.
But then again, so was I.
I wish the conversation with Ralph took place before mine with Lynette. I look back and cringe at how I must have seemed. We talked about money. I talked, that is. She listened and frowned. And pulled her hand away. It wasn't until then that I knew I offended her.