Page 65 of Fighting Gravity
“The fucker you sold me to on Tao.”
“Ket-ram?”
“Whatever. I hope he’s dead.”
“It’s likely.”
“Who the hell puts kids in an arena like that?”
Rhone chuckled and it drew my eyes like two sharpened darts to a dart board.
“All children train in arenas on Jol’dahn and Gathea.” He glanced back at the boy. “I asked him about the knife he carried. He carved it himself from stone to help protect his mother. He has a lot of potential as a warrior.”
“What? So it was ok?”
“No, it was not ok. Ket was scum. He had no right to these two and the boy’s training should have been carefully monitored by his own kind. Which is why I am turning them over to the embassy.”
“And they’ll do what with them?”
“They will likely rehome them. Lin said they are from Kjellik. They’ll probably send them back.”
“What’s Kjellik?”
“A wet region on the south side of Jol’dahn.”
I really didn’t want to be fascinated by gek’tal planets, but I found myself wanting to ask more questions. However, I didn’t like the idea of him thinking I was remotely interested in his culture. It wasn’t as if he was interested in mine. At least, not in anything that didn’t help him fight humans.
“Why is it that you care about a gek child?” he asked as we approached the boarding ramp. “We are your enemies.”
“One,” I held up a finger. “Humans never considered gek real enemies until you blew up that freighter so we didn’t exactly choose this. Two, that kid back there is just a kid. He’s never seen a human in his life. I can feel his big eyes staring into my soul from behind. Children are children. They deserve better.”
“You understand that he will grow up to hate valerians like all gek do. In turn, he will hate humans for allying with them.”
“Yeah, well,” I sighed. “Until then, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt.”
Outside the ship, the air was humid and warm like a sunny day in Hawaii. I breathed it in because it smelled just as fresh as tropical air, too. From the docking bay, we entered a wide tunnel built in a tall arch with metal and when we came out the other side, I was hit with a blue-tinted sunset that washed everything in a cool hue. I shielded my eyes for a moment with my hand to let them adjust to the sudden brightness, which forced my eyes down toward my feet. The ground was pure black and felt like packed mud or clay under my boots.
On either side of the walking path were trees taller than ten-story buildings. Like palm trees, they had long, slender trunks with a bushel of fan-like leaves at the top the color of dark sapphire. Thin tendrils hung down like silky ropes and blew in the light breeze. Beyond the trees were buildings, each one with a slanted roof facing the blue twilight and reflecting the cerulean sky back toward the horizon.
“This is a port?” I said.
“Kahten’nak is an outpost. It is a trading center for many travelers. There was a time that many species came here to trade, but that time has passed. The valerians played a large role in that.”
“And the planet?”
“Not a planet. A moon. Fiir. Named after a demi-god.”
“Strange that you all believe in gods when your technology is so advanced. In my experience, advancement is the death of religion. People stop believing in supernatural beings if science takes their purpose away.”
“Purpose?”
“Well, yeah. People believe in gods so they don’t feel alone. So they feel like they have a purpose. A path. It’s a security blanket.”
“A security blanket you don’t need?”
“Huh?”
“You said you don’t believe in gods.”
