by Laurel Night
Shanii’s dress was similarly cut to Shaline’s, and besides the difference in color appeared to be exactly the same. She wore a crown similar to Shaline’s but much smaller. Half of her corn silk hair was styled into an elegant twist that resembled a crown, and the tips of light pink crystals protruded from the plaits. The rest hung straight down her back. Her face remained a study in gentle indifference. She held no expression aside from a millimeter of a smile. I understood why she did it; If she didn’t smile at all, she would appear too severe, perhaps even angry. This way she looked more benevolent, but not weak.
Shaline’s smile was also small, but wider, more noticeable than her daughter’s. Her lips remained closed, and she gazed out at the assembling crowd, her eyes roving back and forth along the benches.
They waited patiently as people continued to file in. The vast assembly room was large enough to seat easily twice the 800 vimpiri that existed. I heard, rather than saw, vimpiri file along the bench behind us and seat themselves, speaking softly in their native language. There was a good deal of shuffling and gentle conversations taking place behind me, creating a soft cacophony of noise. I identified three human languages besides the Vimpiri and wondered if learning multiple languages was another part of how they adapted. Those that integrated into human societies preferred to remain in that form. It struck me as odd that there were very few in vimpiri form, given that they were now safely hidden on their ship inside a mountain in Austria. Wouldn’t it be a relief to resume their natural shape? I made a mental note to as Mick about it later.
When the sounds of thudding footsteps receded and the only noise was from whispered conversations, Shaline rose, lifting her hands above her shoulders. The noise in the room ceased immediately, and all attention focused on her.
Shaline began speaking, but I didn’t understand a word. She spoke entirely in the lilting language I recognized as Vimpiri. I realized, late, that I should have expected that. She had only ever spoken English around me before, but English wasn’t her first, second, or likely even third language.
I must have looked confused, because Mick squeezed my hand gently and whispered, “She’s thanking everyone for coming to take part in the hearing.” He paused, listening. “She is explaining what happened with Todd and Emily. She is not concluding one way or the other if they are paired,” his expression darkened slightly, “she says that is part of what she will reach a determination on after the hearing.” He paused again, listening, then his expression brightened. “She is saying that she will conduct the rest of the hearing in English, as there are ‘interested parties’ present that do not speak Vimpiri.”
At this announcement, Shaline cleared her throat and began speaking in English, stepping around the stage in a slow, deliberate walk. “And so I will begin. We have asked you all here today to discuss a change in our situation, and what it could mean for the future of our people. As I just explained, we have a Lost Bachelor who appears to have paired with a human. We will discuss whether this is or is not a fate we wish to open to all Lost Bachelors. There are nearly five hundred vimpiri who arrived here without the possibility of a mate. As the years have passed here, some have felt that our adaptable nature could lead us to closer relationships with humans. Some have reported increased sensitivity to humans, their emotions, and their subconsciousness.
“Several months ago, a Lost Bachelor believed he had found a mate in a human. He believed this so strongly that he was willing to sacrifice his life for the possibility that it would work. The two arrived here, both gravely ill from the genetic mixing that occurs during pairing, and they completed pairing here, in the Hall of Records.”
A ripple of conversation spread behind us, a low murmur that died out as Shaline raised one hand. “Peace, please. We are not here to decide whether he should have. It is done. What we will discuss is whether to allow others this opportunity. First, I would like to allow him to speak for himself.” Turning to Todd, Shaline gestured for him to join her. Whispers erupted around us.
Emily glanced at Todd, clearly as surprised as I was. He gave her a small smile, then kissed her gently before standing. He walked up the stairs on the right side of the stage and stood in the center, gazing out at the crowd. Shaline resumed her place on the bench behind him.
Todd cleared his throat, his rockstar charm on full display. “Hello. For those that don’t recognize me in this form, I am Vanjubilay Vralishena, known here as Todd Benson. I, like most of the Lost Bachelors, have spent the last many years traveling this planet, living among and interacting with humans. Several others and I formed a musical ensemble, and we tour small venues, playing rock music and meeting people. We’re not that good-” he paused as laughter erupted from the crowd, along with a smattering of applause and an encouraging shout in Vimpiri that I didn’t understand, but it sounded positive. “As I was saying, we aren’t that good but we draw a decent crowd, and it allows us to avoid sun exposure while still appearing mostly normal, as far as humans go.
“Another part of this gig we enjoy is that there is no shortage of human females that want to get to know us.” Another small chorus of laughter. Todd rubbed his hands together, his expression sheepish. “I’m not proud to admit it, but I took advantage of my ‘rockstar’ status to engage in… relations… with my share of them. We had no reason to expect we’d ever find a mate, and our nature compels us to seek companionship. It was a compromise.” He had avoided looking at Emily until now, likely hesitant to speak of all the women he’d ‘had relations’ with before her. Now, his gaze landed squarely on Emily’s face. “One night, I felt something different as I stood on stage; the air, the atmosphere, was unusual. I recall my human heart beating faster than it normally did, and I found my eyes searching for something in the crowd. That’s when I saw her.
“She was another pretty girl, for all intents and purposes, not that much different from the dozens that attend our concerts every night. However, there was something special about this girl. Once my gaze locked on hers, I knew it immediately. I felt the glow behind my eyes spark to life. As you know, this helps us recognize our mates in any form. I didn’t understand how it could be, but I knew immediately that something had happened to me, something different, when I saw this girl.” He smiled warmly at Emily, his eyes shining. “I invited her backstage; I wanted to find out more about her. I had to know her, there was never a choice in my mind.
“So we hung out between sets, and after the concert, we hung out again. At this point the rest of the band had guests, and we drank vishut and carried on as we typically do after concerts.” Todd’s cheeks turned pink again, and he quickly skipped past the details. “I felt it as soon as my glands broke her skin. This was not normal, this was… special. I didn’t have words for it. Never having paired before, and given the differences between us, I didn’t believe we could actually pair. I just assumed she was unique somehow, and unlike the rest of the human females I’d met, I wanted her to stay.
“After that first time, I thought I just needed one more, and I’d get over it and move on. One more time became two, then three, and then I wasn’t thinking about anything at all. The only thing that occupied my mind was missing her when she wasn’t there and counting down the time until I’d see her again.
“I became careless, fearless, obsessed with being with Emily. I didn’t stop to consider how ill it was making her, how it was affecting me. All I knew was that I needed her with me. My friends attempted to save me from myself, and separate us. I’m sorry to say they underestimated our resourcefulness,” another smattering of laughter, “and while I appreciate that they tried, I’m happy that they failed.
“We ran off together. We figured that if our friends wanted to keep us apart, then we didn’t need them. We only needed each other. It was heaven, euphoria, to have her with me, at my side, day and night.
“And while we celebrated our closeness, I ignored Emily’s failing health.” Todd swallowed, glancing again at Emily with a concerned expression in
his gleaming blue eyes. She beamed up at him, encouraging, and he nodded and continued. “Emily was just as obsessed as I was, scarcely able to understand the need that drove her to be with me. But she was becoming very ill, and at one point even I couldn’t ignore it. When I received a message, imploring me to bring her here to consult The Records, I agreed.
“By the time we arrived here, Emily was nearly gone. I was already grieving for her, not understanding but desperate to save her. After consulting The Records, we determined the best way to know the truth was to test the strength of our bond and complete pairing. Either we should both survive, or we would both die. At this point, I didn’t want to live if she was gone. We completed the pairing.” He swallowed again, hard, shoving his hands in his pockets. “At first, I thought we had failed. Emily wasn’t breathing, and pain radiated through my body. I was consumed with guilt; feelings of loss and anguish overtook me, and I welcomed the end.”
The crowd was absolutely silent, hanging on every word of this story.
Todd sucked in a deep breath, then continued. “The next thing I knew, I heard Emily breathe. Over every noise in the room, my poor mother crying over my still body, I heard that breath. Every pain, every emotion that had weighed me down disappeared, and I was suddenly better than I could have imagined. Emily sat up, her skin glowing, her eyes bright, and I knew we had done it.
“Physicians examined us for weeks. Well, mostly they just made sure Emily wasn’t ill and then focused on me. They determined I gained some of her human attributes, which included the ability to withstand sun exposure without injury.” An excited whisper ran around the room at this information. “However, I can no longer change shape. I am locked into the form I was when I completed pairing; human.” The buzz was now so loud that Todd paused.
Shaline rose, her hands in the air. “PEACE! Please allow Todd to finish.” The crown on her head flashed, and her voice amplified somehow, despite the lack of visible audio device.
The vimpiri on the benches silenced immediately. Shaline gestured that Todd should continue, then resumed her place on the bench.
“That’s pretty much it. I have spent little time outside during the day; I am still a rockstar, after all.” He smiled roguishly and received a smattering of laughter. “However, I do not have ill effects from the exposure to sunlight. We have been living a mostly human existence ever since.”
Todd glanced back at Shaline, who stood again and spoke. “Are there any vimpiri who would like to ask Todd a question?”
A shout rose from the back, a male voice. “So now what? Are you human? Will you die soon?”
Shaline answered. “We believe that he, and his mate, are now something between human and vimpiri. We have more testing to do to truly understand the change that has taken place, but we don’t believe they will have a human life cycle, or a vimpiri one. It will probably fall somewhere in between.”
“What do you mean you paired? How are you sure? You can’t have formed brashule with a human.” A female voice rose from somewhere in the middle.
Todd glanced at Shaline, who shook her head slightly and responded to the question. “We are still verifying the depth of their connection. However, Todd believes they have formed brashule. That is what you need to know for now.”
Why did she state it that way? I wondered. Shaline told us they had formed brashule, that they required it to create offspring. This made it sound as if they didn’t know.
Chatter around us was loud, echoing in the stadium-like room and bouncing off the surrounding crystal. With nothing soft to absorb the sound waves, it seemed amplified in the space. I caught fragments of conversations, mostly in Vimpiri, as people discussed what was said. This had many people excited. What remained to be seen was if it was in a good way.
“If there are no other questions, I will invite another to the stage who would like to speak. Jakob?” Shaline gestured to the front bench, nearer the stairs we had descended. A distinguished-looking man stood, wearing a dark grey suit and a maroon tie. His hair was silver at the temples, and dark otherwise. He smiled warmly at Shaline and greeted her as a friend with kisses for each of her cheeks while he grasped her hand. When he released her, she resumed her spot on the bench with her small, close-mouthed smile.
There was a round of applause that rose up when he climbed the stage—he was popular. Todd had received no such welcome, which was slightly concerning. However, his story was compelling, and a lot of others were thinking about it if nothing else.
When Jakob opened his mouth, a line of Vimpiri rolled out quickly, and there was a lot of laughter in response. Todd's cheeks grew red and Mick squeezed my hand, but otherwise they didn’t react.
Jakob spoke again. “My apologies, I forgot to speak in a foreign language for the convenience of Todd’s guest. I mean, mate.” More laughter.
This didn’t bode well. He was coming across as a jovial comedian, but I couldn’t help catch the flash in his tawny eyes. His gaffs were well-placed barbs, intentional, to remind everyone that Emily wasn’t one of them. I better understood Mick’s desire to pretend I was vimpiri now. Shaline also knew what Jakob was doing. Her benevolent smile fell by a few degrees and froze on her face, somewhere between a smile and a grimace.
Jakob continued. “I am here to talk about the future of the Vimpiri.” He paced the stage like a college professor, taking up the entire space and walking uncomfortably close to Shaline, Shanii, Benjamin, and Drake on their bench. “When we departed our planet, we came here seeking refuge, a place for our society to grow and flourish.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t realize until after we departed that so few unpaired females had made it out. So few of our people survived. We were a small race, on a small planet, with long lives. We had never been a large society, but now we have become a fraction of what we once were.” Jakob spoke with feeling, but it felt false to me, somehow. My reporter spider-sense tingled, and sensed, rather than knew, something was off.
Jakob continued, “To realize that we had such an excess of unpaired males, our ‘Lost Bachelors’, was also a tragedy. Here we had so many that would never be fulfilled, never complete, without a mate. We sympathized with them, grieved for them, and offered them every comfort we could imagine. When we arrived here, we encouraged them to go out into this world and seek peace and happiness among the local population.
“What other choice did we have? They had no mates, no happiness to find among us. Who were we to refuse them the chance to find happiness and companionship in this world?” Heads nodded, people murmured their agreement under their breath. “And so we scattered them to the wind like so many seeds, and hope they would take root somewhere that makes them happy. If not happy, at least content.
“There was a rumor for a long time that many of us held on to. When it was revealed that we had a second ship, the hope existed for years that perhaps our missing females, our Lost Warriors, would join us here. We waited and hoped, but with every passing year, it seemed less and less likely until people stopped hoping entirely.
“So, who are we to judge this young male,” he gestured to Todd, “for finding a source of happiness? If this satisfies him, and he believes himself to be whole now, I truly am happy for him.” Jakob beamed at Todd, then smiled benevolently out at the crowd who applauded.
His words seemed to be positive, but something worried me about his tone.
When the applause toned down, Jakob continued. “Yes, we are happy for you, Todd, and wish you all the best.” He turned and strode back to the other side of the stage. “However, it does not stand to reason that this is necessarily the only option for the rest of our Lost Bachelors. As Shaline said, we are not here to lay judgment on Todd. We are here to determine if his path is one we should allow all Lost Bachelors to follow if they so choose.”
A shout sounded from somewhere behind me. It was a young male voice, and I was willing to bet it was another Lost Bachelor. “Well, why not? If it worked for him, why wouldn’t we let others have a
chance to find a mate?”
Jakob smiled again, and it reminded me of the expression ‘the cat who ate the canary’. His smile wasn’t warm, and it didn’t touch his eyes. They were flat disks of topaz, no hint of the good humor that curved his lips. This was the question he was hoping someone would ask. “Because they would be throwing themselves away.”
“What do you mean? It’s not like there are better options.”
“Oh, but there are. Right now, there is a ship full of vimpiri females bound for Earth, hoping to meet up with us and pick up where we left off so many years ago.”
***
MICK
Panic. Pure, mindless panic. As soon as Jakob took the stage, I realized what I’d done; I never told Lucy about the theory of incoming females. It didn’t seem relevant, as I didn’t believe it. But I also didn’t tell her about the rock, drifting toward Earth, that may or may not be an alien ship. I worried about how she would take it, and I put off telling her until I could come up with the right strategy. I knew Jakob might mention it at the hearing, but I hoped he would be put off by Todd’s story. I should have known better.
When he said it, there was an uproar in the room. Many voices rose simultaneously, trying to shout over the others. I saw my mother jump to her feet and gesture to everyone to calm down. I heard her magnified voice demand peace. But the sound that shook me the most was Lucy’s small, sharp inhale in response to Jakob’s statement. She squeezed my hand tightly and turned her brilliant hazel eyes to me.