Hitting upon this expression, which seemed to her to have a nice, philosophical ring to it, Emma felt a tinge of satisfaction. It was in fact an expression she’d heard Sol himself use, about a month previously – though she didn’t remember this.
Sol cast his eyes down, displaying his deep-green eyelashes.
The hair falling across his forehead was the same shade of green.
‘So you’re saying I’m different from other Meelians?’
His eyelashes lifted, and a pair of violet eyes peered out at Emma. Sol stubbed out his cigarette.
‘Don’t you think you’ve developed quite a temper, compared to how you used to be? My sister’s friend went to the same university as you. She was telling me how you used to be back then.’
Sol had entered university at the age of fifteen.
He adjusted his pillow and lay looking up at the ceiling. As she took in his profile, Emma thought back to the man she’d been with earlier on. She figured he’d wanted to sleep with her, but then he didn’t try and get her back to his room or make any heavy moves, not really, so now she wasn’t so sure. He’d approached her in the ice-cream parlour, asking her about Meelian sexuality.
‘They’re dirty as you like. Psychologically speaking, I mean,’ Emma had told him.
‘Do they do it like Terrans?’
‘It’s not like I’ve slept with hundreds of Terrans, and the only Meelian I know about first-hand is Sol. I couldn’t possibly know.’
The man had wanted specifics. Emma evaded his questions, giving playful answers. If he’d only responded with a little cunning and persistence, she thought wistfully, they could have had a lot of fun. As far as Emma was concerned, these sorts of amorous games were the among the best of life’s offerings. And, yet, it was only in the first three months or so of her relationship with Sol that he’d seemed properly into her, and that she’d felt truly happy. When it came to satisfying her sense of pride, Emma was more covetous than an old loan shark. (Come to think of it, Emma’s grandma was a loan shark!)
‘Maybe it’s the air here that does it. That chemical found in tiny quantities in the Terran atmosphere. That’s why you lot forget everything.’ Sol was mumbling as if speaking to himself.
‘I don’t forget things!’ Emma tweaked the flesh of his cheek and he turned to face her.
‘Not while they’re still going on, no. But as soon as something’s over, it’s as if it never happened. Same with war, even. I went back and looked through the records from 1950 onwards. What with us living in Tokyo and your parents’ commitment to their Japanese heritage, I decided to see how much people remember of the Korean and Vietnam wars. I looked into the records from the American side too.’
‘But we’re not in the age of Japan and America anymore! Now we’ve got a World President. I know a lot of people say it’s just for show, but still. Even the capital city moves periodically!’
‘Sure, on the surface it’s as you say. But in reality, people are more concerned with what country they’re from than the fact they’re Terrans. In the USA, people used to worry about whether they were of Italian or Irish heritage or whatever. Then there were several generations when people of all different heritages began to mix together, and now we’re seeing the emergence of an American race, although it’s still only in its formative stages. Which means that everyone’s only serving their own national interests, just like they used to in the past. Don’t you think that’s odd? In an age where there are so many spaceships being built and everyone supposedly has their eyes trained on what lies beyond their own planet, each and every nation is looking to become something like the British Empire. They all want theirs to be the empire where the sun never sets on the seven seas or whatever… I don’t remember the exact wording they used, but that’s the rough meaning. Now they’re looking for planets to colonize, just as in the past they used to claim other nations. Lots of Terrans have been showing up on Meele, too. The Meelians have had enough of it and have begun to restrict the influx.’
Both of them could get really passionate when they got talking, especially Sol.
‘It’s messed up. But doesn’t that contradict what you were saying before?’
‘In what way?’ he asked her, his eyes now tinged with blue.
‘What you were saying about Terrans being forgetful. The concept of nationhood didn’t disappear with the founding of the World Federation. Doesn’t that prove that people haven’t forgotten their love for their own country?’
‘Oh, Emma, what a naïve little girl you are. Can’t you see it’s got nothing whatsoever to do with love for one’s country? If anything, it’s a form of territorial egotism. People don’t like having a rubbish dump outside their front door, that’s all it comes down to. Isn’t the Tokyo Garbage War still going on to this day?’
Sol smiled wryly. The second part of what he’d said made zero sense to Emma.
‘But there aren’t any rubbish dumps any more, Sol! Even my mother and father have never seen one,’ she snapped back at him.
‘It’s a metaphor. Sheesh, talking with you is exhausting! I have to explain every last thing!’
‘I guess it’s like that with all of us stupid Terrans, eh?’
‘Hey, don’t get mad. You’re right, though, for the most part. Though it’s different with the telepathic ones. Then the conversation goes a bit smoother. Although in truth, the telepathic skills of the Terrans I’ve met are nothing to write home about, and they can’t read all your thoughts. Thank goodness – that’d be awful, no? If someone could see absolutely everything you were thinking?’
What are you saying, Sol? Are you trying to tell me you’ve got something to hide? Something you don’t want anyone to find out? That you are carrying out some kind of plot here on Earth, after all? But then as Emma was thinking this, a different suspicion crossed her mind. When she started down the path of doubt, there was no end to it.
‘So are you telepathic then?’ she asked with as much affected casualness as she could muster.
‘Nope,’ said Sol, plain as you like.
‘Not even a little bit?’ Emma looked at him probingly. He smiled, reached out a hand and mussed her hair.
‘My powers of understanding are greater than yours. That must be what made you think that. It seems to me that Meelians are better at understanding one another than Terrans. It’s the Mirinnians who have the greatest telepathic powers, although their comprehension of language and thought patterns is pretty low. Even if they can read the minds of people from other planets, there’s not that much they can do with that information.’
Sol’s hand drifted down from Emma’s hair to her cheek. As his eyes rested on her, they assumed that soft, slightly hazy look which she liked best of all. Just as she sensed he would, he leaned in and kissed her.
What did he mean that Terrans were quick to forget? What was he referring to in particular? Sol always found a way of glossing over everything. Now, when she thought about it, she realized that with his clever linguistic flourishes he’d managed to pull the wool over her eyes hundreds of times. She was finding it harder and harder to put the parts of Sol together and make sense of him as a whole. Was that because he expressed himself in such a complex way? And yet she was pretty sure that, at heart, he was a pretty straightforward guy.
But as he began to slip the straps of her vintage-style slip from her shoulders, Emma felt her concern for such matters evaporate.
‘Have you only ever slept with Terran women?’
Sol lifted his head from where it was buried in her chest. At first, he would roll his eyes and smile in exasperation when she probed him with questions like this, but not anymore.