Conics Unfortunately: 62

Crane and Shell told me later, after the trials—in both the scientific and lawful senses—began, that they had known most of the important details before Ellie told us everything. And by important, I mean the awful parts.

It was Andra who changed their minds about the job.

I remember having downloaded as much officially-released information on Elliott Bei’s disappearance as was available. There were interviews and articles and op-eds, and the most recent of them were all at least a few days old. Crane, in his usual gruffness, told me to be careful about publishers and bias, and Shell, with a flick of his tail, commented that I must have heard the message a million times already.

The Ink was passing by Neptune in all of its deep blue glory when I pulled up the single official interview with Andra Bei. Andra-Media’s news outlet was naturally the only one to score an interview with the celebrity, and it ran all of seven minutes. I could not decide if this was long or short; there were only so many questions to ask regarding Elliott’s disappearance, but plenty of other celebrities had interviews that lasted upwards of twenty minutes. Andra themselves had done a full segment on their first big album.

Shell floated nearby, curled up in a ball to inspect his pristine white tail for dirt, and his ears flickered the moment Andra’s voice came out, slightly grainy, from the tablet speakers.

“What publisher is that?” he asked.

“Andra-Media. This is the only interview with them I could find on the fold monitor database.”

“Restart it. I want to see.”

I thought little of it at the time. Shell made a point of joining me while I read up on earthling news, and had been the one to show me how to search for and download stories from station databases.

As the Andra-Media news opener flashed across the screen, and synth violins belted out rapidly changing chords, Shell maneuvered himself to curl around me and narrowed his eyes at the tablet. The opener changed to a small, intimate newsroom with Andra seated in a white, plush chair across from a reporter with a too-perfect face, backlit by a wide television screen.

The music faded out.

“Hello, Titan, and all our viewers out in the universe,” the reporter said in English, face sternly neutral. “After the disappearance of Elliott Bei, the lesser known younger sibling of universally famous singer Andra, the eponymous company has been relatively quiet.”

It sounded like bull, coming from that very company. Shell snorted into my hair.

“But with us now, we have Andra themselves, here to answer questions about their sister’s disappearance, and how this has affected them personally, as well as how the disappearance may affect the company in the future.” The reporter turned away from the camera and pinched his lips in restrained sympathy. “Andra, it’s an honor to have you on air with us. I hope you’re not feeling too under the weather with everything going on.”

Andra smiled awkwardly. I think they wore dangling earrings for the interview, but I could be wrong. I heard later that Andra tended to feel more manly when Elliott was in trouble.

“It’s been a frightening experience,” Andra replied, face still pinched in discomfort. “But I’d imagine that my fears are nothing compared to whatever Ellie is going through right now though.”

Shell let out a low grumble. “Andra is acting.”

That was a given. It was hard to believe that any of Andra’s public appearances were not scripted and heavily coached.

“Yes,” the anchorman agreed. “I’m sure everyone is hoping for her quick and safe return.” He shuffled a few papers on his desk and leaned forwards. “Now, very little is known about your sister. What can you tell us about her?”

Like flipping a light switch, Andra’s face lit up. “Ah, well, she’s fifteen. She’s probably smarter than me, if we’re being completely honest. I’m really proud of her, since she’s been keeping up with school work on the Andra-Media satellite.”

“And you haven’t?” The reporter quirked an eyebrow like it was a joke.

“No. Unfortunately it’s hard to keep up with everything when you’re always travelling and learning dance routines.”

There were a few more questions about Elliott Bei’s personality and what she looked like. Andra claimed that they looked dissimilar, but anyone looking at the two now would know without a doubt that they’re siblings. It can be hard to remember that they ever looked different.

All through the interview, the anchor remained stoic, showing only twinges of concern in the occasional twitch of his lips or a well-placed blink. “Now, everyone’s curious to know,” he said, as a prelude to a change in topics, “how do you think your sister’s disappearance will affect the company?”

Andra paused. In retrospect, this was a revealing moment. “I think there will be some issues,” they said, words careful and slow. “There’s the fact that all my music is heavily influenced by her. I think the next album will be very different without her hand, if she isn’t found before then. And, well, it looks bad, doesn’t it?”

The anchor tilted his head.

“I mean, you have a giant organization with influence across the universe, which isn’t something a lot of earthling corporations can say. And to have a teenage girl disappear? Well, it raises a lot of questions.”

“Mmm. Everyone has theories.” The reporter shifted and adjusted his cuffs. “There’s a lot of curiosity regarding the way Elliott’s bounty is worded. It implies very heavily that she ran away. What do you think would cause her to do that?”

I remember that Shell largely ignored this part. He and Crane already had ideas about those causes, many of which turned out to be true. It wasn’t until the next question that Shell showed any indication that something piqued his interest.

The reporter received a close up shot, and the angled showed in great detail how his eyes narrowed and his mouth pinched. “And how would you say this is affecting you personally, Andra? It can’t be very comforting to know your little sister is out there on her own.”

Andra let out a defeated breath. “It’s not. It’s definitely not.”

Shell leaned in here.

“I just… she’s very capable, but Ellie will always be my little sister, you know? I miss her, and I love her, and even if this wasn’t a big fiasco, I’d still be really worried about her being on her own.” Andra took a breath.

“Something is wrong,” Shell murmured. To this day I don’t understand what facial cues he put together, but he was correct, as always. “Of all the things in this interview, how is this the part where Andra’s acting is the most obvious?”

It would make sense for this part to be scripted but entirely genuine. That was my original thought on it, but once Shell made the observation, I paid closer attention. Andra’s careful stoicism turned wilder, and their eyes kept flitting about, never quite making eye contact with either the anchorman or camera. Their cheeks flushed, and the Titan accent to Andra’s English turned stilted, more like an American copying the accent than a native Titan slipping into old habits.

Shell curled closer around me, tails pulling across my chest. “I do not like this. There is more to this than a justified runaway.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, pausing the video. “What are we going to do?”

Pressing his nose to my head, Shell let out a quiet, reassuring rumble. “Ideally, we find her and see what happened, and act from there.”

- A Life Unfolded by Tejal Sethi