“Oh . . . I’m sorry about that. Thank you for getting me out of jail though.”
“I don’t regret it if you’re wondering.” Daven tightened his lips into what he probably thought was a smile. “But there’s something else.”
“Okay?” Tiera wasn’t sure what was coming next. Do they not want me to live here anymore? Tiera had to relax her shoulders again.
“My parents wouldn’t let me use our family’s influence to endorse you. They didn’t want us to be associated with—well—they’re not entirely sure what Kert did to you, and—”
“But you already endorsed me, didn’t you? You introduced me in my essay.”
Daven’s face turned red, and he decided to study the carpet. “I actually didn’t.”
“But—”
“I’m sorry—I just didn’t want you to be worried! I thought maybe you still might get accepted without me.” Daven looked up at her. “I—I’m sorry, but I took out my introduction before you sent it—when you thought I was just taking out the last few seconds after you spoke. I didn’t want to tell you because I was afraid that you might get nervous if you didn’t think you were guaranteed to be accepted. Or you might have given up if you knew. I’m sorry, Tiera.” He stopped talking and stared at Tiera, probably waiting for a response.
Tiera wasn’t sure exactly how she felt—she was still trying to process what Daven just said—but she didn’t want Daven to beat himself up more than he already had. “It’s okay,” she said in monotone. “It’s not your fault; it’s your parents’.” And what are my chances of getting into the university without Daven’s family? I don’t even know what their acceptance rate is, let alone their entrance requirements.
“Are you okay?” Daven asked, and Tiera realized that this time she was the one staring at the carpet.
I don’t know. Tiera didn’t exactly like that she was lied to, but she also didn’t want to upset the only person on this planet who had offered her a place to stay. “Yeah,” Tiera finally answered. “I could apply to other humanities universities, right? Less prestigious ones? You said there are others outside of Faroa City.” Tiera decided she’d figure out her options before letting herself get super upset about this.
“I mean, maybe eventually you could, but right now you’re supposed to stay in Faroa City, remember?”
“Oh . . . right. I knew that.” Tiera tried to think, but her thoughts were sluggish, like her mind was shutting down. “But I might still get in, right? How long do they take to get back to you when you don’t have an influential family?”
Daven grimaced. “Maybe a few months at most? It depends on how impressed they are, really. I have a friend from Rencin of all places and he got accepted just two weeks after sending in his application, just because of how impressed they were with him. You’ll actually meet him tonight—his name is Darshy.”
“Yeah? What’s going on tonight?” Tiera decided to change the subject, seizing the opportunity to stop thinking about what she would do with herself before Leon finally let her go home. I’ll still go home though. They have to let me go home eventually. Tiera held onto that thought like a lifeline.
“Darshy and Byrani—my friends from Kert’s research lab—are coming over for dinner. You know, technically you’ve met them before.” After seeing Tiera’s confused expression, Daven quickly added, “I mean, you haven’t met them, per se. But you saw them. They were in the lab with us when you first got here. Byrani was the woman who was speaking over the intercom.”
Tiera thought of those confusing moments between when she left Earth and when she learned Original. She knew a lot of people had been arguing about what to do with her when she first arrived on Faroa, but she couldn’t remember any of their faces—the video on her phone only really had the audio of that part. “The name ‘Byrani’ sounds familiar, but I’m not sure I remember what she looks like. What time will they be here?”
“Around 19. Darshy and Byrani will be doing all of the cooking—don’t worry.”
“Um. Are they a couple?” Tiera hoped this wasn’t going to be some sort of awkward double date.
Daven let out a laugh so loud that Tiera jumped. “No no no no—definitely not. They are roommates, but Darshy and Byrani see each other more as competition than anything else.”
Good. Tiera looked at her smart glass to check the time. It was 18:20, so they had about 40 minutes before they got here.
As hard as she tried, Tiera couldn’t stop worrying about whether or not she’d be accepted to the university, so she decided to just give in and be productive about it. For the next 40 minutes, she browsed the Faroa University of Humanities class catalog for the political science classes she could take. She found one about recent history, covering the past couple millennia, and another about the Original government—both of which she definitely wanted to take. Other than those two, she wasn’t sure what she should register for, so she made a list of any that sounded even mildly interesting. Tiera had added about 20 classes to her list when a soft chime announced Byrani and Darshy’s arrival.
Daven got the door, and as soon as it slid open he was practically assaulted with a hug from a man Tiera could only assume was Darshy. He was a shorter man of a very muscular build—though he still had a belly—with and earthy skin tone and black ringlets of hair that grew out of his head in every direction. The exchange that ensued between him and Daven was so muddled that Tiera could hardly follow it.
“How’s it going, man?”
“Hey! How’re you doing?”
“I’m great! I had to finish an assignment on aircraft design—as if I’ll ever use that—otherwise we could have come sooner.”
“No, no—it’s fine! We had stuff to do anyway, so 19 was a perfect time.”
A woman’s voice cut into the exchange, and Tiera recognized it. Daven was right—this was the voice she had heard over the intercom while they were in the wormhole generator. “Are you going to block the door all night or are you two going to let me in?” Byrani sounded a little exasperated with them, and they finally stopped hugging to move out of her way. She was a hearty woman, about a head shorter than Tiera, with a round face and almost the same skin tone as Darshy. Her black hair would have fit right in with 20s fashion: short, wavy, and slicked to the side. “Hello, by the way,” Byrani added as she stepped through the door, handing Daven a heavy-looking tote bag before turning to face the living room. “And you must be Tiera.” She gave Tiera a quick smile and a nod before making her way upstairs and to the kitchen.
“And you’re Byrani?” Tiera asked as she walked past.
“Yup.” Byrani didn’t even look at Tiera this time, she just marched right on. Once she reached the kitchen, Tiera could hear her messing with the oven. “You have all the toppings, right Daven?” she shouted down, and a suction sort of noise let them know she had opened the fridge.
“Yeah!” Daven shouted back, hauling Byrani’s tote bag with both hands as he hurried after her. “Goodness!” he exclaimed when he reached the top of the stairs. “You don’t need to pull everything out of the fridge!”
Did I do something wrong? Tiera wondered if Byrani usually greeted new people this way.
“It takes her a while to warm up to people, don’t worry.” Darshy smiled at Tiera as he stepped down from the entry and into the living room.
Tiera realized she had been frowning toward the kitchen. “Oh! That’s alright,” she said, turning toward Darshy and smiling back. “I hadn’t quite ruled out whether or not it was a cultural thing. I’m still getting used to Faroa.”
“Well she’s from Osya—and that’s a whole different game.” Darshy laughed. “Just give her a few months and she’ll probably start speaking to you. I’m honestly surprised she remembered your name!” Darshy let out another chuckle—he really seemed to crack himself up.
Tiera wasn’t sure what to say, so she gave a polite laugh.
“Man, I wish I could have been there though.” Darshy shook his head, then sat down o
n the couch, and Tiera followed suit.
“Been where?”
“Your planet! I only got to see the images and videos that Daven and Professor Yematoro collected—Daven got to go because he had seniority in the lab. More likely it was because of his family. That would make more sense to me anyway.”
“You mean he got special treatment because he’s rich?” Tiera wasn’t sure she followed his logic.
Darshy raised his eyebrows at Tiera. “Hasn’t Daven told you about his family yet?”
“I mean, I know they’re pretty influential. And rich.”
“But did he ever tell you why they’re rich?”
Tiera shook her head.
“They have a virtual monopoly on WG tech! Our little excursion wouldn’t have been possible without the parts they had donated.” Darshy gave a single, incredulous laugh. “Why am I surprised you didn’t know? Daven never tells anyone he’s a Theo until he has to.” Darshy raised his voice so that Daven could hear him in the kitchen. “If I were you I’d be bragging right and left about my family! Do you even know how many dates that could get you? Bah!”
“Damn it, Darshy—are you telling her about my family?” Daven’s reply echoed from the kitchen. Tiera turned around and saw his face peek over the railing of the balcony-like second floor. His annoyed expression was just barely decipherable through what looked like a thin coating of flour. Byrani appeared next and shoved a mixing bowl and rolling pin into Daven’s hands, so he just huffed and went back to the kitchen.
“Just the essentials!” Darshy shouted back. He turned back toward Tiera and lowered his voice. “Which I guess means I should tell you he’s the youngest of four children and both his parents are prudes.”
Tiera laughed, and Darshy laughed back, clearly pleased with himself. They both glanced up to see Daven was back at the railing and scowling at them, but that only made Darshy laugh harder.
“Anyway,” Darshy said, fighting to breathe normally again, “have you had any luck figuring out what Professor Yematoro did to your brain?”
“I’m not sure I’m allowed to tell you,” Tiera started, “but no, I haven’t.” Now that they had stopped laughing, Tiera wanted to ask Darshy something. “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but ever since my run-in with Kert, nobody has called him Professor Yematoro except you just now. Why is that?”
Darshy sighed, then leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. “Listen. I’m not into what the insurrectionists are doing. I think we should obey the law, understand?” After Tiera nodded, he continued, “Right. So, that being said, I think people are overreacting. They won’t even call him ‘professor’ anymore for goodness sake—as if calling him that makes them terrorists!” Darshy leaned back. “I guess I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Back home the insurrectionist movement is a pretty big problem, but—” He looked up toward the kitchen to make sure Daven and Byrani weren’t listening. “But a lot of them are still good people! I have some childhood friends that got mixed up in all of that, but they didn’t do it because they wanted to hurt people—they just wanted to change things.” Darshy sighed. “I think it’s harder for people here to understand. Faroa is about as luxurious as Origin itself compared to Rencin. It’s hard to understand these sorts of issues when you’re so far removed from them.”
“I didn’t know—I,” Tiera took a moment to complete her thoughts. “I guess I didn’t realize that other planets had it rougher than this one.” Tiera still wasn’t sure if she should feel sympathy for the insurrectionists though. “Darshy?”
“Yeah?” He seemed completely calm.
“Why are you so comfortable telling me this? It probably isn’t the most popular opinion to have around here, and we only just met.”
“Well,” he frowned. “I dunno. I guess I figure if Professor Yematoro trusts you with the secret to his revolution, I can trust you with an unpopular opinion, right?”
“Are you guys going to get up here and help or what?” Daven yelled from the kitchen.
Darshy’s lips pulled up into a smile, and he shrugged at Tiera. He stood up, then offered her a hand.
“Right,” Tiera said tentatively. She took Darshy’s hand and he pulled her up. She felt like she was back at her childhood foster home, sharing secrets with the girl who slept in the bunk below her.
He and Tiera climbed the stairs and crossed the dining room, approaching the messy island countertop. “What do you want us to do?” Darshy asked.
“We just need to put on the sauce, cheese, and toppings at this point,” Byrani said, gesturing toward the four circles of dough in front of her.
“You guys have pizza here!” Tiera shouted excitedly. She hadn’t even been away from Earth for a whole week yet, but the thought of pizza made her nostalgic for home.
“You have pizza on Earth?” Daven seemed surprised.
“It’s probably a lost colony thing,” Tiera said dismissively as she grabbed the bowl of sauce. Instead of finding tomato-based pizza sauce, however, she found what looked and smelled like some sort of pesto sauce. As she and the others assembled their personal pizzas, Tiera saw that they used slightly different toppings as well. Sure, there were vegetables, mushrooms, and meats—but there were also fried eggs, pickled banana peppers, and chunks of some sort of pink fruit. Tiera had never seen anything like that at her local pizzeria.
For almost the rest of their visit, Darshy and Byrani talked to Daven about schoolwork, mutual friends, upcoming concerts—regular topics for 20-something–year–old students—and Tiera was content to just listen. There’s so much to do here. So much to learn, she thought. She had almost forgotten about her anxiety over being accepted into the university—but then Darshy started asking her questions.
“So what are you up to right now, Tiera?” he asked, finally noticing that they hadn’t really been talking about topics she could contribute anything to. He was sitting right next to Tiera, so he turned his chair so he could see her better. “What are your plans now that you live in Faroa City?”
“Well, I’m waiting to hear back from the Faroa University of Humanities to see if I’ve been accepted or not—and hopefully they get back to me before the end of this week, otherwise I’ll miss the registration deadline for the next semester.” Tiera took a drink of water before continuing. “But if I’m not accepted I’m hoping I can find a job. That will probably be hard though—and not just because I’m foreign. I’m not sure anyone would want to hire me when I could leave any day.”
“Leave? I thought Daven said you had to stay in Faroa City? At least until further notice, right?” Darshy looked between Tiera and Daven, but Daven wouldn’t look up from his empty dinner plate.
“Yeah,” Tiera started when Daven didn’t respond, “but we don’t know how long it could take to figure out what it was Kert put into my mind. It could be as soon as this weekend—though that’s unlikely. But once we get all of that figured out I’ll go home, back to Earth.”
“Uh.” Darshy opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked extremely confused, and an almost palpable awkwardness began to fill the dining room.
Tiera decided she might need to backtrack. “I mean, maybe we can figure something out so that I can visit you guys. It’s not that I don’t like it here; it’s just not home.” What Tiera said didn’t seem to help Darshy at all—he looked just as perplexed as before, but now he looked concerned on top of that. Darshy glanced at Daven, then back at Tiera, then back at Daven. Daven still wasn’t looking up from his plate—and Byrani, sitting diagonally from Tiera, just looked bored.
“Daven . . . did you not tell her that . . . well . . . ” Darshy didn’t seem to want to finish his sentence.
“Clearly he didn’t,” Byrani said. “She has a right to know, Daven.” Byrani leaned forward and gave Tiera a level look. “I’m sorry, Tiera, but you can’t go back to C2406—to Earth—because once our parliament hammers out the details, there won’t be anything to go back to.”
Daven scoffed. “D
on’t say it like that—they still—”
“You know that’s all just for show, Daven,” Byrani interrupted him. “Our entire research team was just for show. Or do you really think they would trust a bunch of students with something that big?” Once it was clear that Daven had nothing else to say, Byrani returned her gaze to Tiera. “I’m sorry, but sometime within the next several months the Parliament of Origin will pass this bill. After that happens, you won’t have a home to go back to. They’re going to destroy the entire Milky Galaxy, Tiera. I’m sorry.”
Chapter 12
Tiera woke up on the carpeted floor of the bedroom Daven was letting her use, and she immediately wished she hadn’t. Sleep was the only reprieve Tiera could get from her thoughts, and, if she was being honest, Tiera hoped that if she slept enough she might just wake up to her apartment in Salt Lake City—or better yet, the spare bedroom in her parents’ new house.
The small part of Tiera that still cared wondered what time it was, but Tiera didn’t move. It was probably still Friday morning—it didn’t matter. She just lay on the floor, staring up at the ceiling as the scene from two nights ago began replaying itself in her head.
They’re going to destroy the entire Milky Galaxy, Tiera. I’m sorry.
“But you’re not, Byrani,” Tiera whispered to the air. You're not sorry. How could you be? Earth isn’t your home. Earth isn’t everything you know. It isn’t your entire life. How could you possibly be sorry?
Of course Tiera never said any of this Wednesday night. After Byrani told Tiera about the Earth’s fate, Tiera shut down. She just stared blankly at Byrani until Darshy cut in, thinking that perhaps Tiera still didn’t understand.
Our galaxies were set to collide, Tiera. Sure, it wouldn’t have happened for billions of years, but Origin wanted to take care of it before it became a crisis—especially since we already have the technology to deal with it. We have eight life-sustaining planets to think about here, Tiera.
“‘Were,’” Tiera told the bedroom ceiling. “Darshy said the galaxies ‘were’ set to collide.” He was talking about it as if it had already happened—as if my galaxy had already been sucked into black holes from the farthest reaches of the known universe. Byrani had explained the black holes next, as if it might console Tiera to know exactly how her galaxy was going to be destroyed.
Tiera's Earth (Andromeda 9 Book 1) Page 12