Only Human (Themis Files, #3)(23)

—You don’t know?

—I don’t know anything!

—This planet, it used to be a yatsak nest. You could barely walk these streets. There were people from many worlds, buying things, selling things. Then, thousands of months ago, there was a war. The emperor had done something very wrong, and the people that were hurt attacked this planet. Many died. Many, many. After the war, they decided that Esat Ekt would never interfere with other worlds again, in any way. Everyone not of this planet was sent away.

—How many?

—Yokokt.

—I don’t understand.

—Show me your hands…Both hands. This is how many people lived here before. Now put one hand down. This is how many people lived here after.

—Half? Where did they go?

—Anywhere but here. Most were born on Esat Ekt, but they were not Ekt. Many went to the planet of their ancestors, but many were not welcome there either. Many refused to go. Many many died.

—But you’re here. All these people are here.

—How do you know I’m not Ekt?

—You’re blue.

—Not blue enough. I couldn’t go to my ancestor’s planet, even if I wanted to. There they’d call me grey. My fifth father was really blue. My fifth mother was Ekt. Those with Ekt blood did not leave.

—They were allowed to stay.

—That depends on your point of view. My fifth mother would say they weren’t allowed to leave. My fifth father was not Ekt. He had to go. But my fifth mother could not go with him. My fourth mother, their daughter, was half-Ekt, so she could not leave either.

—Why?

—She could have babies on another world, babies with Ekt blood. The Ekt can’t have that.

—Interference.

—Yes, yes. It’s a very important word on this planet.

—I’ll try to remember that.

—I’ve seen you with a young girl. Is she your daughter?

—You have? Her name’s Eva.

—Good. She will like it here. There are other kids her age.

—There aren’t elsewhere?

—Not where the Ekt live. Most of their children go to school in the city, or they work.

—They work?

—Someone has to work. The only Ekt children left here are the little red ones.

—Red ones?

—Imperial cadets. They wear red. They train to be soldiers in the Imperial Guard. There’s one over there.

—You don’t seem to like them.

—Yes, yes. They’re still nice at that age. It’s what they’ll grow up to be I don’t like…

—Your pad. Another vote?

—Not for me. The Etyakt Council voted. You’ve been made citizens.

—Us? Why?

—You can’t be on this planet if you’re not.

—So it’s a good thing?

—It depends on whether or not you planned on ever going home.

—You mean we can’t leave?

—Yes, yes.

—What?

—I said yes. You can’t leave Esat Ekt.

—For how long?

—Forever.





FILE NO. 2116 (CONTINUED)


INTERVIEW BETWEEN MAJOR KATHERINE LEBEDEV, RUSSIAN MAIN INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (GRU), AND VINCENT COUTURE

Location: GRU building, Saint Petersburg, Russia —So you chose to stay there, for nine years…

—They offered to let us stay.

—And you said?

—We said yes. It was a unique opportunity.

—You stayed voluntarily.

—That’s what I just said.

—Willingly?

—Wholeheartedly. We’re gonna run out of synonyms soon.

—…

—What? Is that so difficult to understand? We had the chance to spend some time on a new planet with another species. We jumped on it. Rose and I are scientists, remember? It was a unique— —A unique opportunity. You said that already. Then one day you decided you wanted to come home and they just…sent you back, is that it? You didn’t have to do anything. You just asked: “Can we go home now?” and they said: “Sure! Hop on!” Nothing happened in between, nothing worth mentioning. At all. For nine years.

—I don’t know what to tell you. Everything was interesting. Everything was new.

—What did you do?

—What do you mean?

—I mean what did you do all day, for a decade? Did you have jobs?

—Eva did for a while. She worked in a soup kitchen.

—An alien soup kitchen?

—Well, it wasn’t alien there. But they did serve people from other worlds.

—That’s so nice. Eva feeding people without money. You must have been so proud.

—Was that sarcasm? I can’t tell. And yes, they were poor, but they did have money. In fact, they were the only ones who did. There’s no currency, officially, in any of the regions. Everything essential is more or less free, and you can trade for most other things. You only need money to buy things outside the system.

—Communism!

—Not quite. People own things. Some people own much more than others. If they produce something the government doesn’t regulate. Art, for example. Sculptors, dancers, writers, they all lived better than most if they were any good.