Page 11 of Shadows of Stardust

Her smile grows even wider. “We’re going to make you a star, Roslyn. You’re the first human to take part in Mate Match, and we’re going to have the whole sector rooting for you by the time this is all over.”

Oh.

Oh,fuck.

Juni was absolutely right, and I give myself a mental pat on the back for accepting her help, even as my mind races with the implications of what Sella just said.

She starts pointing out all the different pieces, explaining that she’ll be my personal producer while I’m here, and I can come to her with any questions or concerns.

A whisper of suspicion trickles down my neck, slimy and unpleasant.

Beyond studying Eritin and the terrain surrounding the Mate Match production zone, I studied the show itself, too. I watched any season I could get my hands on, researched past contestants, listened to interviews, and read tell-all articles. Anything to learn more about what exactly I was getting myself into.

And I know enough to know this is… odd.

They don’t roll out the red carpet like this for just anyone, and it’s one more brick to join the wall of dread going up in the back of my mind, one more pair of eyes I don’t want on me.

Again, though, there’s not a single thing I can do about it. Being difficult and refusing my own ‘personal producer’ will only put more scrutiny on me, so I hold my tongue.

“You’ll have to pick out something fabulous for the welcome party tonight,” Sella says breezily, walking back into the main room. “And if you need someone to help you with your hair and makeup, we can—”

“No,” I interrupt. “It’s fine. I’ve, uh, got a friend coming over.”

“Friend?”

“Yeah. Juni. Met her on the transport.”

Sella thinks for a moment before her jaunty smile returns. “Great! Our audience loves to see the friendships that formhere in addition to the love matches. You two will be perfect together.”

She prattles on for a little while longer about the rest of the amenities, and though she seems friendly and harmless enough, I keep my answers short, polite, neutral.

At least until she starts showing me around the living space. I forget myself for a moment and ask a question that’s been on the tip of my tongue since I saw the cast accommodations. Since I learned what Mate Match was, really, and the strange familiarity of the whole concept.

“Why does this all feel so… human?” I ask, clumsily, trying to find the right words to describe what I mean. “The whole premise of the show. These bungalows. It all seems… familiar, somehow.”

Sella nods. “You humans definitely had a knack for putting together a compelling vidcomm show back on Earth. I believe when the original creators of Mate Match were coming up with the premise, they were quite inspired by the news of your planet and all its many forms of entertainment.”

The answer hits me like a fist to the gut.

Of course, it makes sense.

As far as I could tell from the timing of Mate Match’s initial seasons, it started up right around the time the Seventh Sector Council made First Contact. Back when humans were thrown into the existential chaos of learning we weren’t alone in the universe.

It all happened a little before my time, but not by much. And even though I was only a kid when we boarded one of the last shuttles off that dying rock, I heard the stories.

Now, though, I don’t know if it makes me feel better or worse to be a part of this strange imitation of pre-Collapse entertainment.

I’m lost for a moment in some gut-wrenching combination of grief and longing, homesickness for a place I can barely remember.

Earth.

Humanity’s abandoned homeworld, desolate and uninhabitable after the ruin war and capitalism and unfettered environmental destruction made of it, left in its lonely orbit around the Sol Alliance’s namesake sun thousands of light-years from here.

“Alright,” Sella says as she strides for the door, apparently unaware of the turn my mood has taken. “Settle in, get ready for tonight, and don’t hesitate to use your comms screen to contact production if there’s anything you need.”

She gestures to a small screen mounted on the wall beside the front door, and I nod.

It’s not until the door swings shut behind her that a tiny bit of the tension in my chest loosens and I take my first full breath in hours.

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