Young Writers Society

After the positive reception in Sauron—the whole time we were leaving, Tejal kept giggling about the earthling name, which I still do not understand—we headed for Earth again. In part, it was because we thought we might give a few more areas of the planet a try, and also because we were hoping to sit in on the final legs of Ellie’s trials.

We sat through meetings in Silicon Valley, Shanghai, Bengaluru, Nairobi, and Berlin. Each city threw me off guard with their distinct local architectures, and the soaring buildings gave me a queasy feeling, like they might topple over. It is difficult to imagine other planets having varieties of cultures, and just as difficult to imagine tall buildings existing under the full effect of gravity. The surface-scrapers on Sirena have water’s natural buoyancy to help them stand.

The grand tour of Earth’s tech cities ended in London, just two train rides away from the Hague in the Netherlands. I thought we should have started in London and ended in Berlin, but then Tejal reminded me that earthlings are bad at crossing oceans.

At the end of the tour, we waited in a train terminal that had a name rather like the pseudo-useless earthling organ, discussing how the various meetings had gone. The station had an odd, steel-frame interior considering the old-fashioned masonry outside, but I heard that it was common for buildings in old cities to mix the styles of the ages.

“Nairobi definitely went the best,” Tejal declared, looking at the meeting notes in his lap. “Ellie was right to suggest that we seek out investors who have strong commonalities with us.”

“Mr. Omondi’s office was very accessible,” I added. “And his prosthetics were impressive.”

“I wish I could have gotten a better look at them.” Tejal shuffled his papers around, looking for the numbers. “But I’m sure we’ll see him again. He actually gave us money.”

I adjusted myself on the seat; the armrests prevented me from stretching my tail out, and it was uncomfortable to sit straight up like an earthling. Crane and Shell told me before we boarded the earthbound shuttle that I should watch out for this kind of thing, but I had not believed them until I experienced it myself.

“It is incredible that our board of investors includes only two people so far,” I mused.

“And Ellie isn’t even really an investor.” Tejal flipped through the notes until he reached the stack from Shanghai. “Hey, what if we did a big teleconference? We’d have to get more interested parties from other systems to really show off, but it would probably help get more confirmed sums.”

“Setting it up would be a lot of work.”

Tejal considered that with a small nod and then glanced up at the giant, circular clock hanging from the wall. At the time, I still could not understand analog earthling clocks. Why use them when the digital ones were easier?

“I think our train is about to arrive,” he said, beginning to pack up his notes.

I flopped off of the seat, glad to stretch out the kinks in my spine and rub out the soreness in my dorsal fin, and watched as Tejal shoved everything away. Then he twisted around and slung his bag over the back of his wheelchair. “Ready?”

Tejal understood my confirmation without having to wait for Mouthbot to speak from the tablet, and so we set off for the platform elevators.

“I wish I could have talked to the Google programmers more,” I told him, “and the blockchain people in Bengaluru. They were fun.”

“You’re giving me flashbacks to the time I thought Ellie was going to leave us for Google Translate.” Tejal rolled to a stop by the elevator doors and pressed the down button. An old woman with a walker stopped behind us and gave me a shaky smile.

“Do not worry.” I patted the wheel of his chair. “Ellie and I would never leave you for Google, even if they have more money.”

The elevator doors slid open, and Tejal sent me a look of faux hurt. “Now you’re just teasing me. I miss ganging up on Ellie with you. You didn’t make fun of me then.”

The train ride from London to Paris was quiet. On Earth, people do not talk much on trains, which is strange, because people riding the undersea currents on Sirena sing to each other nonstop. Earthlings in general are less comfortable with each other than us sirens. I always need some reason to hug Ellie or Tejal, even after all these years.

The plush train seats were just as uncomfortable as the terminal seats in St. Pancras, but it was not as long a ride as the trip from Los Angeles to Shanghai, at least. Sometimes I wonder if that plane ride permanently squished my fins. When at last the train pulled to a stop, I had to fight every twitch in my body that told me to just get on the floor and get moving already. But Tejal and I had to wait, of course, to avoid the other passengers stepping on my fingers.

We stepped off the train with little fanfare, though I had to give Tejal a push to get him across the gap between train and platform. The inside of the station looked just like the one in London, all steel beams and glass ceilings. It seemed to be a pattern for European train stations, since every one I had been in looked like this.

Tejal glanced around for a sign listing the outbound trains, and I flopped into the open, eager to get a move on. A few earthlings sent me odd looks before ignoring me in favor of staring at a saur tour group.

“The train to Rotterdam leaves in thirty minutes,” Tejal announced, rolling up to me. “We should head over.”

“I thought Ellie was somewhere else,” I said, following him off the platform.

“We have another connection from Rotterdam to the Hague.” We moved in silence for a few seconds before Tejal looked back down at me. “Where should we go after this?”

“The Gant shipping season is starting again soon,” I offered, carefully wriggling down a ramp. “They would probably be interested in the pinpoint fold generator.”

Frowning, Tejal paused at the bottom of the ramp. “I really hope we get to see her. It’s been so long.”

There is something about expecting a long wait which predispositions people for pessimism. Perhaps that is why neither of us noticed, as we approached the train to Rotterdam, that someone was waiting for us. Tejal and I did not think to look at the benches that ran up and down the center of the long, stone platform.

- A Rough Translation of Focci's Ballad