“Thanks.”
Wyn turned toward me. “Seth has told me about you. While I wish you hadn’t been taken, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Any friend of Seth is a friend of mine,” I commented, more to be polite than anything.
He smiled again, and Seth beamed.
A disembodied head popped up on the screen, and I jolted, my pulse jump-starting, at the sudden appearance. She was an old human woman with a tower of curls and heavy jowls.
I blinked. “Edith Smith.”
“No,” she replied, bouncing in a way that made me nauseous and brought unpleasant memories of picking up a head of an alien and chucking it into a furnace. “I go by Edith, but I’m a NAID who has become sentient. I’m friends with Seth.”
“Edith,” he said, pointing at us, “meet Vince and Teddy.”
“Hello.”
“Hi,” I said slowly. I’d followed Edith Smith on a couple of platforms. It was weird to see her face here, and to see it so blue.
“You know my grandma?” Caleb asked.
“Your grandmother was a computer?” Teddy asked. “I thought you were a ghost?”
Caleb laughed. “No. Edith Smith.”
My mouth opened. “You werethatCaleb? She mentioned her grandson who died a couple of times.”
“Yep,” he said.
“I followed her on social media before…” I trailed off. I really didn’t need to talk about that part.
Edith bounced on the screen as she began to relate the newest information to Seth about his child, the emperor and empress, the eldest prince, and anything else she thought he would like to know. Seth asked questions, and Wyn contributed as he sat beside the tube with the fetus.
I watched the interaction closely. Seth had made friends. He’d made a life. Something inside me relaxed. He was happy. That was all I’d ever wanted. Maybe Icouldgo home? I didn’t want to leave Seth, but if I went back to Earth, I could be free from my memories. I wouldn’t have nightmares, because I wouldn’t remember any of it. It would be like going back in time before all this shit happened. A quick and easy fix.
If Seth and Teddy were safe, then maybe I could go home to lose what I’d experienced.
I sat in the cafeteria with Camden and Brad. We’d invited Pierce and the rest, but they begged off. Pierce had been comforting Shannon, the other woman who’d been rescued from Xome. When she’d been taken from Earth, she’d left her children and wife behind. Now, she was desperate to get back.
Brad and Camden had both already decided to stay. It had taken them no time to come to that decision. Shannon and one of the other men, Randall, had decided to go home. The rest were undecided, which made sense to me. I was still bouncing back and forth, so why wouldn’t everyone else?
Brad and Camden, who were rooming together, seemed to get along well enough, despite their vast age difference.
“So what are you going to do on the drakcol planet?” I asked, leaning as far away from them as possible while I kept glancing around the room.
Brad shrugged. “No idea, but it’s better than whatever I left behind on Earth.”
“I’m thinking something with science. Once I’m a citizen, I can attend school. It would be fun to wander the stars,” Camden remarked, leaning back effortlessly in a model-like fashion. “I like the idea of working on a ship. I mean, it will probably take years.”
“Probably, but if that’s what you want,” I said, “then you’ll like it.”
“Yeah. I think it will be nice. Figuring out how everything works.”
I nodded, but that didn’t sound particularly interesting to me. If I did stay, which I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to, I’d have to find something to do. What that was, I had no idea. I had interests, but none that translated into the work field. Tarot and fashion didn’t scream a job to me, and I didn’t really want to have to turn my hobbies to something for profit. But I would have to find a job. There was no way I was trusting this government to help me.
“I don’t ever want to set foot in space again,” Brad grunted, crossing his arms. He, like all of us, had been forced to adopt Drakcon fashion, which was plain trousers, boots, and high-collared, sleeveless tunics. Brad wasn’t particularly muscular, but he was toned enough and his arms were decorated with Classic American style tattoos. I spotted a ship and anchor on one bicep, an entwined mermaid and merman on the same arm, and a dagger on the other, but he was covered in them.
“It’s not so bad,” Camden replied.
