"First, no one knows you exist. You're a rumor, one that gets resurrected every few dozen years by conspiracy theorists, but one no one really thinks is true. Giving birth off world is strictly forbidden."
"Why?"
"Because not enough is known about it yet. Because the population must be strictly monitored. Because what happens if space germs get in and taint a newborn's undeveloped system and he mutates and..." She must have seen the look of horror in my face. "Calm down. I didn't say that's actually what happens. I said we don't know. And until we're sure, it's illegal."
"So I'm...an outlaw?"
She gave me a half smile. "Don't let it go to your head. You had nothing to do with it. But why do you think Mr. Buttrick is so hell bent on having you at peak, nice and strong?"
"I'm getting there," I said defensively.
"You are. And you're doing great. But for your own sake, keep it up."
"Got it."
"Good. Next thing you need to know is that no one knows about what your parents have discovered."
"But they've been sending communications for years!"
"Maybe. And maybe S.T.'s been getting them. If they are, they aren't sharing it with us."
"Why?"
"Kid, I already told you I'm low on the totem pole." I had no idea what she was talking about, but she didn't bother to explain. "I can't possibly know why. I'd have to at least be an E or an F for that. Who knows? Maybe the geeks are busy working on things. Maybe they think we can't handle it. My point is, no one knows what you know. I've never heard of that Kitten place."
"Laak'sa is the place, Qitan are the people."
"Whatever," she said, which annoyed me. "I've never heard of them. My point to you is that you can't be offended by that. Have you ever been to Toledo?" I shook my head. "Do you even know where Toledo is?" I shook my head again, slowly, getting her point. "Oh, you don't know about Toledo? Well everyone who's anyone does! How could you possibly not know that?"
She was giving me a wry smile. I got her point loud and clear.
"Laak'sa is a planet, on our star charts v-2447 in the unnamed galaxy simply marked V through wormhole vector 417." It all went over her head since she was not a scientist or navigator. It didn't matter. She was taking the information because she knew I had to talk about it.
"Laak'sa?"
"Yes."
"And you've been there?"
"Yes."
"And you miss it."
It wasn't a question. I nodded.
"Then tell me about Laak'sa and I'll tell you about Earth and then maybe we won't miss them so much." It sounded like a good plan to me. "What's Laak'sa like?"
"Green. Very, very green. Not like Mars. Not even like Earth. They call Earth the blue planet. Dad called Laak'sa the emerald planet."
"Are there oceans?"
"Yes, but small ones. There's far more land than sea, with great networks of spider web rivers instead. Maybe there's about the same amount of water, now that I think about it. It's just all broken up. My HuTA showed me pictures of Earth from space."
She gave me a smile. "You have a HuTA?"
"Of course. How else would I learn?" She laughed again, which I didn't understand, but she told me to keep talking. "Anyway, you know how Earth looks blue from space? Laak'sa is the deepest green you could imagine. We didn't think it was hospitable at first, since we didn't see the water. We actually landed on v-2445 first and met our first real intelligent life, the Ehkin."
"What were they like?"
I got up and crossed to my bunk. I took out my holocom and called up some pictures. I found a silly one of Little Blob playing a prank on his sister and handed it over. "That's Little Blob."
Her eyes went wide. "Uh...apt name."
"Yeah. It's just a rough translation, but it works."
"And it's...he's your...friend?"
"Yes. First one off ship." I took the holo back and smiled at the face looking back at me. "See how it's sandy there? Lots of oceans on v-2445, but not a ton of plant life. They are an algae based society. They eat it through osmosis."
"I...see..." she said, though clearly she didn't.
I smiled at the pic, then scrolled ahead to a file on Laak'sa. "Oh, here. Forgot I had this. It's a download screen grab from the plasma display as we approached Laak'sa." The familiar green orb, like a stab to the chest.
Lena looked at it and gasped. "Oh, it's beautiful! Are there two suns?"
"Yes, though one's very small and offers very little heat." I took the holo back and flipped through, to the ones in orbit. "Here you can see the rivers. Lots and lots of rivers. And one large ocean. Almost all their civilization lives around the ocean's edge, because once you get into those rivers, things get pretty wild."
Lena studied the picture with deep concentration. "The cities...is that what I'm seeing around here?" She pointed around the ocean.
"Yes."
"They look enormous."
"The Qitan have a population of around seven trillion."
Her eyes went wide. "Trillion?"
"Yes. But they don't live long. About twenty years in our life."
"Oh," she said. "That's awful."
It was. I always thought so. I flipped ahead. "Here's the first look at their main city where we spent most of our time."
"The buildings look like ours!"
I don't know why she was surprised. Why shouldn't they? A building is a building is a building. The most sensible ones are boxes with different rooms. Why should we be the only tribe to have that basic idea? "They're buildings." I scrolled ahead. "Ah. Here's one of their transports. Their metal all has this opal shine to it. I think it makes their ships absolutely beautiful. You should see it when the suns both hit. I've seen all kinds of ore, and I think theirs is the best."
She looked at it and nodded slowly. "Yes, I see what you mean. I wonder what makes it that color?"
"Minerals. They have different ones than we do."
"But they have trees and water. They have to have some of the same."
"Some. But the base is something completely new that Stephan calls Laaksonium. I don't think he's got the right to name it, but it didn't seem to matter much when Mother presented the idea to Morhal."
"Morhal?"
"Yes. Primary leader of the Qitani."
"You met their leader?"
I frowned. "Of course we did. She invited us when we were on v-2445. Besides, Dad would have sought her out for permission anyway. It's only polite."
"I guess," Lena said. I didn't like the tone of her voice.
"Do you just go into other peoples' houses without asking first?"
She gave a laugh. "Well I guess not."
"Neither do we." I took the holocom and scrolled through until I found the pictures I took at the welcoming ceremony. I felt a longing, even for Morhal. "Here she is. Morhal. Next to her is Ta'al, the secondary, and their children."
She gasped. "They're green!"
I frowned. "I told you it was a green planet."
"But...they're green."
I shrugged. "And you're pink. And other people are brown. And some are kind of blue. So what? They have a vegetation diet for the most part. If all you ate was green food, you'd be green too!"
I suppose I sounded angry. I suppose I was angry. I felt like she was offending my tribe. "I'm sorry, Jake. I didn't mean anything. I've just...I've never seen an alien before."
"They are not aliens," I said through clenched teeth. I hated the word. I hated the word since HuTA taught it to me. "I was the alien. And they accepted me." I flipped to Ashnahta. "She accepted me, the royal daughter, the next in line to rule the empire as Primary."
It was a particularly beautiful picture of her in her official regalia. Gemstones were inset across her collarbone, her deep blue hair twisted around the golden symbol of the tree that was the royal seal. She wore the silken cloth they spun from the ma'ktu flowers that was as thin as flowing as the river water itself. And she had that look in her violet eyes that gets to me every time. I remember what she was thinking. I'd know it by the look even if I didn't clearly remember. She was thinking "Who are you, you pink little blob in a funny suit? Who are you to look upon me like that?"