Page 6 of Malliko
In front of the shuttle stood a woman with short hair and large earrings. She was as tall as the two uniformed men on either side of her.
“That’s Tania,” Cacala said. “I’ve never spoken to her, but I heard that she’s part human and part Eidron. Must be a difficult situation for her.”
The roof opened and with a last smile to Cacala, I stepped out and planted my feet on planet Earth.
CHAPTER 3
The Agent
“Welcome to Earth,” Tania said and quickly introduced me to the men who were with her. “This is Kyle and David. Their job is to make sure agreements are kept. Permission was given for you to arrive and they’re making sure you’re alone.”
Using our formal greeting, I placed my closed hand above my eyebrows and nodded my head.
Tania reciprocated. “I'm Tania, your contact person on Earth, and I'll be running over any question you might have as well as going over the protocols and the do’s and don’ts.”
“Thank you. I did read up on the material that was given to me, but I still have questions.”
“It would be strange if you didn’t. I’ll do my best to answer.” With a serious expression on her face, she held out her hand, signaling for us to start walking. “How do you feel? Arriving on Earth can be a tough one for most species because of the density.”
I gave her a faint smile. There was no need to complain about the physical queasiness I felt. As a soldier I had experienced much worse. “I feel the difference but it's tolerable. How long have you been here?”
She crooked an eyebrow. “Didn't they tell you? I was born here. My father did research here thirty years ago and I suppose his curiosity extended to how it felt to have sex with a local. He says that he didn't know it was that easy to impregnate a human woman. I guess that's his way of saying that I wasn't wanted.”
I didn’t comment on her last sentence but asked, “And what about your mother? I assume you grew up with her?”
Tania stopped in front of a strange shuttle. “Yes, I grew up with my mom and for the first many years I believed my classmates when they said she was a freak for believing in aliens. We didn't have any pictures of my father and my grandparents never believed her either. But every time I didn't develop according to plan, she would tell doctors and teachers that it was because my father was an alien. Eventually, rumors reached the right people and when I was thirteen, I was contacted by the agency that deals with extraterrestrials. They were the first ones to take my mother’s story seriously and helped me track down my father. I would like to tell you that it was a happy reunion, but he wasn’t very enthusiastic about his human child because he got in a lot of trouble. As you know, breeding programs are strictly controlled and require a special license from the Federation.”
“Yes, I’m aware. But what happened to you then?”
“I spent a few years in one of the hybrid colonies, but despite the diversity there, I never fitted in because I was somehow too human.”
“But you met your father. How was that?” I asked because it was something I had never been lucky enough to experience.
“Yes, I’ve met him.” She shrugged and left it at that so instead I asked, “Do you still see your mother?”
Opening the door to the shuttle, she signaled for me to get in and answered, “My mother isn't doing too well. She used to be a very successful and well respected neuroscientist, but that affair with my father isolated her. Once she understood what he was, there was no going back for her. With everybody considering her mentally unstable, work opportunities dried up fast. For as long as I can remember, she's been doing random jobs to pay her bills. Most nights she sits in a local bar and tells stories about the time she was in love with an alien. She wrote a book about it, andit crushed her soul to see it placed in the science fiction section of the bookstore.”
Tania closed the door on my side and moved around the shuttle to get in on the other side. I watched the control panel in fascination and did as she said when she asked me to put on a seatbelt.
“You’re a pilot then,” I said with a smile.
“This thing doesn’t fly. It’s a car,” she said and pressed a button.
“What do you mean it doesn’t fly?”
“It drives forward and backward. Technology isn’t as advanced on Earth as what you’re used to.”
Her hands touched a stick between us and then she placed her hands on a round wheel in front of her and took off.
I leaned forward to look out and understand how the car worked.
“They have roads that make it possible to drive cars,” she explained. “You’ll see.”
Frowning, I commented, “You saythey. Does that mean you feel more Eidron than human?”
Tania kept her eyes on the road. “Depends which day you ask me. I grew up here, so things feel more familiar, but there are days when I want to flip humans a bird and leave.”
“What happens if you flip a bird?” I asked and remembered reading about the feathered creatures that lived on Earth.
