‘This, here, Te’r’ok, that’s Te’rnu’s whole life! I’m just a visitor! Let’s face it, I was going to leave soon anyway, and chances were that I wouldn’t come back.’
‘You wouldn’t?’ Ra’ntu asked.
‘Are you kidding? No! There’s a whole galaxy out there, and you think I’d want to come back to the one village that you live in?’
Whoops. Maybe too far. Dial it back.
‘I’ll happily leave and not come back if that’s what you want - but Te’rnu should be able to stay.’
‘Our decision is final,’ Ra’ntu insisted.
Exasperated, I turned to Te’rnu, and began to plead with him. ‘Come on, say something! Make your case! This is ridiculous.’
He only shook his head. ‘There’s no point. As they say: the decision is final. It always is.’
‘You will be gone within the hour,’ Ra’ntu instructed.
And then, the Elders, having apparently decided that the conversation was over, left the building.
Only Elder Or’ane stopped to look back. ‘I am sorry, Te’rnu. If I had had my way…’
They trailed off, went silent for a moment.
‘I am sorry,’ Or’ane repeated.
10
One Person Can’t Change A Galaxy
I sat at Te’rnu’s side, hand placed on his arm, and hoped that this was considered a gesture of consolation on Z’h’ar, as it is on Terra.
‘It’s OK, Te’rnu, you’re too good for here anyway,’ I told him.
There was no response - no verbal or non-verbal sign that he had heard me. It was as though he had gone into shock.
I spent the majority of our allotted hour trying to get through to him, but nothing worked. He remained still, barely a sign of life in him.
Soon, the Elders came for us. A shadow loomed over the doorway as the Arellians blocked the light.
‘It is time,’ Ra’ntu announced, clearly taking great pleasure in informing us of this.
Do you want to be any more smug about it, maybe?
I tried to budge Te’rnu, to lead him out of the building - but he wouldn’t move.
Before long, the stares of the Elder grew piercing. They began to advance on me. I could sense that they would next resort to physically removing Te’rnu and me from the village.
I had to give up. I stood and began to walk to the door.
Behind me, Te’rnu followed with his head held low, staring at the floor. Even in his hollow state, he finally recognised that he had no choice here.
We proceeded in silence, the two of us walking through the village as the rest of the inhabitants looked upon us. Pair after pair of sad eyes followed us - or, rather, followed Te’rnu.
We left the town without turning back, and I moved in the direction of the shuttle-bike. It was only two rotations previous that I had abandoned it in my sunstroke-inflicted haze, but it felt like a lifetime ago.
Te’rnu continued to follow, his head still hanging low, towards his chest.
‘How we doing, there, buddy?’ I asked him.
I got no verbal response from Te’rnu, but he did at least make eye contact with me. And then, eventually, he sighed. His sigh carried all the pain of a lifetime lost.
‘I’m sorry, you know. That I convinced you to do this,’ I told him. ‘It was stupid, really. For a moment there, I thought we could learn something which would change your world, make things better for you guys. I really did think that.’
Te’rnu remained quiet, brow furrowed. I could sense that he was considering this thoroughly. I continued to proclaim my regret.
‘But our plan was doomed before it even began, wasn’t it? People can’t change things, not really, not on their own. Life just works that way - it crushes you, puts you into a hopeless job, into a broken family, into an uninspiring existence. I should have remembered that.’
I shook my head, trying to rid myself of these depressing thoughts.
‘Anyway,’ I continued. ‘I’m sorry.’
Te’rnu looked up at me. ‘It is not your fault. At some point, I would have done it anyway. The truth… must always be known.’
I flashed Te’rnu a hopeful smile. ‘I couldn’t have said it better myself.’
My Arellian friend laid his eyes upon the abandoned shuttle-bike.
‘Where are we going to go?’
We?
I paused for a moment. ‘You’re coming with me?’
Te’rnu shrugged. ‘You said it yourself, back there, in the trial: you are the only person that I know, now. You are my only friend.’
He hesitated on this last point.
‘You are my friend, right?’ he followed up.
‘Of course, Te’rnu. Of course I am,’ I reassured him. ‘But… are you sure you want to come with me? I won’t be on Z’h’ar forever, and much less in the Wastelands…’
‘There is nobody else I know,’ Te’rnu repeated, his voice hollow.
I took a moment to process this. I couldn’t abandon Te’rnu here, after he had saved me, after he had agreed to help me in that doomed mission. My case could wait; I had a friend in need.
‘OK. Well, how about we visit another Arellian village? Maybe we can rest there, figure out our next move?’
And maybe you’ll begin to realise that there are plenty of other places out there that you can call a home.
‘OK,’ Te’rnu replied.
I started up the shuttle-bike. ‘So, erm…,’ I began, ‘Where is the next village?’
Te’rnu pointed to the west. ‘Nu’r’ka. It is that way.’
‘Alright, hop on,’ I told him, doing just that myself.
He stood still, didn’t move.
‘You alright?’ I prompted him. ‘What’s the hold-up?’
‘What do I do?’ Te’rnu asked, looking terrified by the prospect of sitting on a shuttle-bike.
‘Just sit behind me, leg either side, like I am. And hold on to me - tight. So you don’t fall off.’
Te’rnu, cautiously, did as instructed, sitting on the bike behind me and putting his arms around my torso in order to hold on.
‘OK, great! I’m just gonna…’
I pulled Te’rnu’s hands away from my breasts, where they seemed to have ended up, and moved them down to my belly.
‘Perfect,’ I assured him. ‘Now keep holding tight, yeah?’
I started
