Only Human (Themis Files #3)(57)

—What happened?

—Same thing that always happens. She … There’s a big protest scheduled for today. She wanted to go. I said no.

—I heard about it. It’s supposed to be peaceful. Esok is going.

—It’s always peaceful until it’s not. There are riots every day now. And I know about Esok, she’s one of the organizers. She asked me to come.

—And you said you were busy, I’m sure, but Eva’s not like that. Her friends will be there. She just wants to fit in.

—That’s just it. I don’t want us to fit in. I don’t. I know it sounds stupid after seven years, but I still hope the Council lets us leave. I’m not holding my breath, but we have to face the fact that it might be the only way we’ll ever see Earth again. Every time we get closer to someone, every time we get involved, in anything, we make it that much easier for the Council to say we belong here. I don’t want anyone to think we fit right in. And I sure as hell don’t want Eva to feel like she belongs any more than she already does. She’s already spent too much of her life here. She doesn’t remember half the things she did back on Earth, what a flock of birds looks like, what it smells like just before it rains. This is normal for her now, blue people, tapioca. She actually likes that shit. We made a deal to get her home, Rose, and I’ll do whatever it takes, but she won’t want to come. You know that, right? We’ll have to drag her out of here.

—I know, and I understand where you’re coming from, but you can’t ask Eva to live like that. She can’t keep everyone at a distance, not have any friends. That’s not a life. It’s our job to get her home. Hers is to be a young woman right now, and this is the only place she has to do it.

—I have a feeling something bad is going to happen, Rose. I thought the bombs, the riots, I thought it would scare ordinary folks away, but these protests are only getting bigger.

—In a way, it’s beautiful to watch. People taking their future into their own hands, demanding change.

—Listen to you! Not that long ago, you were all about the great Ekt society.

—I still think what they’ve built here is amazing in a lot of ways, but you and Eva were right. These people live here, they should have the same rights as everyone else.

—Yeah … It’s not gonna end well. What they’re asking for, it goes against the very principles this world is built on. You take that away, and it could all fall apart … I’m not sure they’re going to let that happen.

—What do you think they’ll do? The Ekt aren’t perfect, but they won’t exterminate half the population. It won’t get that far, you know that.

—It won’t. But at some point, they’ll consider it. Things will get bad enough they’ll actually consider genocide as an option. They’ll reject the idea right away because they’re not insane, but it’ll change everything. Every other bad option will look a whole lot better after that. I don’t like it, Rose. People blame us for what’s happening, or they blame the Council for what they did to us. Either way, we’re right in the middle of it. We need a way out before things get worse.

—We have to talk to the empress.

—We tried that. We can’t just walk up to her palace and knock on the door.

—We need to try again. Maybe someone else on her staff. She must have a secretary, something.

—Even if someone agreed to meet us, the empress can’t do anything without the Council’s say so. She won’t break the law just to help the three of us go home.

—Maybe she won’t.

—Then what’s the point?

—Well, the point is we can’t go home without her. We need a ship or a robot to get home. A robot seems easier. We can get Ekim to pilot if we know the coordinates.

—You think he’ll do it?

—Whatever it takes, Vincent, remember? But the robots, and I assume the ships, won’t go anywhere. They’re locked. We need to get Themis moving again, and the empress is the only one that can do that. I don’t think we can get it by force, so we need her help.

—Why would she help us?

—Well, for starters, I think a lot of people would be really happy to see us gone. That might be enough.

—And if it’s not?

—I’m not sure. I think this … uprising, whatever you want to call it, it’s an opportunity for her. She has to be aware of it.

—I’m not following you, Rose. An opportunity for what? What can the empress do?

—That’s exactly my point. She has no power to do anything. There’s no global government here anymore.

—There’s the Council.

—No. The Council doesn’t have the authority to plant a tree. They can only do something if it affects other worlds, and they exist precisely to make sure that doesn’t happen. The Council is designed not to do anything. They tried doing something on Earth, see where that got them. It’s different with the empress.

—Different how? You just said she has no power.

—That’s right. She’s an empress, and she has no power. She has no purpose.

—I don’t mean to rain on your parade, Rose, but the Ekt don’t strike me as the power-hungry type. They gave up an entire empire just to feel a bit safer.

—They did. Her empire. Think about it, Vincent. Her ancestors ruled this world. They ruled over thousands of planets. Thousands! A good chunk of the known universe is hers by birthright.