“Thankyou, but I can observe the process from here as well.” My voice was even.
“Iknow you can see it. But sooner or later, you’ll need to do it yourself.Everyone gets a turn.” And all of them laughed.
“Whatare you performing?” I asked.
Awoman turned toward me but continued her work. “We’re making flour. This one isfrom maize. We’ll use the flour to make bread.”
Ileaned in closer. The bowls weren’t empty. At the bottom of each was a mixtureof yellow grains and powder.
“Yes,I tried your bread yesterday evening. It was very good. Very dense.”
Theyall laughed again. I looked around the group, not understanding the laughter,and took a small step back. Then one man lifted up his hands up in front of him,his palms white with powder.
“Hey,it’s not my fault! It wouldn’t rise. What could I do about it?”
“Putin some yeast, perhaps?” said a woman sitting opposite him.
“Idid!” The man shook his head and said in a lower tone, “As if that’s the firsttime I ever made bread.”
“Rafael,we’re joking,” said a woman. “I know it sometimes doesn’t work. And anyway, itwas very good, perhaps even because it was so dense.” Then she turned to me andasked, “You liked it, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Thereyou go,” she said, looking at Rafael. He nodded and smiled.
Theman who spoke to me first turned to Rafael and said, “There’s always some joyin making fun of a famous chef. You know that, don’t you?”
Rafaelshook his head but was laughing now.
“Youknow, Tony, if I ever get to open another restaurant, you’ll need to pay doublefor the meals!”
Tonylaughed. “That’s fine, buddy. It’ll still be worth it!”
Thenthey all laughed again.
Iwas lost. All of this was spoken in a friendly, bantering manner, but I couldn’tfollow half of it, let alone understand the jokes they shared.
An alien.
After thousands of years of targeted geneticmanipulation, remarkable technological achievements, and dominion over two hundred terraformed worlds, I am finally back on Earth, theoriginal cradle of life and I’m—an alien.
Again.
Islowly turned away from the group and continued on my way, making even largerloops around other groups I met. None of them talked to me, but almost all ofthem looked at me, apparently fascinated by my piercing green eyes. After awhile, I stopped looking back at them, feeling self-conscious and alone.
AsI continued walking through the tree village, I learned that it was quitelarge, or at least larger than what I expected. It was ellipsoid in shape, itsmain axis aligned with the path of the sun crossing the sky. My cottage was onthe edge where the sun shone in first.
Ashort distance away from the tree village, there was a clearing: a large,square-shaped field where the vegetation was very different from the rest. Itlooked like a matrix where different plants grew in different parcels. I sawmany people walking along the paths between these wards or crouching in themidst of them. I realized these must have been specifically planted, and Iwondered where the colony had gotten the seeds from.
Ishielded my eyes with my hand to see better. Some ofthe field parcels held rigid green plants that grew taller than any of the Humans.They had green tube-shaped structures that people seemed to be harvesting. Someother plants had broad but short leaves, reaching not even up to one’s knees. Afew of them had been dug up, and I could see their round roots dirty with thedust and soil.
Thinkingof food, I automatically touched my right thigh, the place where food bars werestored on my skinsuit. Instead, my hand touched the beige cotton material ofthe thin dress that flowed around my body, carried by the soft breeze. The toppart of this dress had an uncomfortably wide neck opening, and long sleevesthat almost reached my fingertips. The cut around my legs was so broad that Ifelt the fabric on the skin of my legs only while walking. Everybody waswearing something similar to me, but I still felt uncomfortable without my skinsuit:the sensory and tactile sensations from the Human clothes were trulydistracting. The only thing I still had was my E-band. I had no real use of itbecause it lacked a connection to the mainframe, but in a strange way I needed theslight pressure the E-band strap made on my wrist. It was a link to the world Iknew all my life. And it reminded me that this beautiful world was not just adream.
“Areyou Human?”
Iheard a tiny voice on my right. I turned and looked down. Asmall girl—long brown hair, deep, dark eyes—looked at me intently.
“No,I am not.”
“Iam Lemony.”
“Iam Dora,” I said. Then I smiled without any specific reason, simply to see thislittle girl looking at me and addressing me so directly.
“Sowhat are you?”
“Iam Senthien.”
“Sentient?Does that mean you’re smart?”
“No,this name was chosen many years ago for my specific Descendant species.”
“Inour world, sentient means smart… I think.”
Ididn’t know how to respond to that.
“Whyare your eyes green?” Lemony continued, deeply focused on my facial features.
“Thisfeature appeared as a side effect of the genetic transformation used for the particulargenetic coding in Senthiens.”
“Whatis genetic trans… ration?”
“Genetictransformation?”
“Yes,that.”
“Itis a change in your own genetic code with different genetic material insertedinto your cell structure to change your physical appearance and your mentalstate.”
Shewas silent for a little bit, as if grasping what I just said.
“Whatis a genetic code?”
“Agenetic code is a chemical structure in every cell of your body that determineshow your body is developed, physically and mentally.”
“Ican see you two are having a real scientific discussion.” I heard Tania’s voicebehind us. I turned around to face her.
“Mommy!”Lemony came close to Tania, hugged her around her waist, and looked up into hereyes. “Dora says that she is not smart and that this is because of the greencolor they put inside her body.”
“Isthat so?” Tania nodded and looked at me with a smile.
“Thiswould not be an exact description of our conversation.”
Tania’ssmile broadened, and she took Lemony by her shoulders and started guiding herback to the village.
“Lemonyis seven years old,” Tania said and started toward the village herself. “Westart our school at the same time we remember from our lives before freezing,when
