Family, page 17
Toni just looked at her. Her mind locked on that idea. Simple, elegant, put controls on, and it would allow them control.
"Hell," Perc said slowly. "You spin it right, and the governments will make it so they encourage people to go what, populate other planets? Migrate? Not sure what it would be called but it makes it open, logical and legal. Speed and enough of your people would be the only issues."
"You would be able to lure the people you really want or help stagger the immigrations so planets get the right types of people: scientists, builders, etc." Cass suggested, her eyes bright at the idea. "It might work. But still we need to talk to more people first."
"Yep. And building them, talking to the governments. We might need the Secretary of State’s help, but that would be on you. You do have ambassadors, people who do this, right?" McKenna asked a bit of panic in her voice.
"Yes. We have," Alinis said. "This idea. It is good. We can build fast. We have machines and templates and can put up full buildings in days. Other countries like that?" Her speech was improving as she spoke.
They learn fast. I hope we learn from them as quickly.
McKenna shrugged. "Given what we are seeing, if you offer immigration options, they might leap at it. Or they might not. I'm guessing here. Let me call the reporter and see what he can do, see if he knows of people we can go talk to and start getting a feel for it. Then maybe we see what living would be like there."
Toni loved the idea of going there, feeling that breeze on her face, but a niggling idea pulled her attention away.
"I think we're going about this slightly wrong." Toni said breaking the thoughtful silence. She felt the eyes directed towards her as she resisted nibbling on the pieces of lasm she'd saved for the kids.
"What do you mean?" McKenna asked.
She looks exhausted. We all need a break.
"Anything that we are involved with is going to be tainted. We're all famous, we're Shifters, and anything we even look like we support is going to make people shy away from it. The reporter might be able to get the word out, but I don't think that's what we need." Toni talked slowly, feeling out what she meant even as the words slipped out.
"What are you thinking, Toni?" JD asked. Toni opened her eyes to see everyone focused on her. She swallowed but pushed forward.
"We've just been attacked by aliens. Gorgeous aliens that reach into our media and fantasies. Right now, Shifters are the enemy because we’re easy to find, while the Elentrin are mostly under government control. Only a very few people know Rarz exists. Nothing was filmed at the Target really, and in it, for all the grief it is has caused me, most people haven't seen Rarz. If the Drakyn want this to work, it needs to be splashy, attention catching." Toni paused and smiled as it finalized in her head. "It needs to be competitive theater."
The others nodded, intense looks on their face as they listened.
"Keep going, Toni. But I think I see what you are getting at," Perc nodded, his hands stroking down McKenna's arm in a comforting gesture.
With a grin and a sparkle in her eye Toni leaned forward. "Look, the world is reeling right now. Dragons are exotic and exist in most of our mythologies. Play on that. You will need multiple ambassadors and you'll need to hide, or at least not reveal, the fact that you can change shape. Humanity will be cautious about that for a while. But dragons? We almost can't resist them. Look, right now you have the US, Britain, Japan, India, maybe Egypt, Brazil, and Mexico that have huge hubs of people. All these have embassies for other countries. Send a delegation to each of them. Make it splashy. Fancy colors, elegant gowns and tell them the truth." She knew most of the Drakyn disliked lying; it didn't fit with how they viewed the world.
"The truth?" McKenna blurted. "What good will that do? Everyone will just hate them and start to attack them also."
Toni shook her head, still smiling. The years of psychology courses were finally becoming in useful for more than just manipulating her kids. "The truth. That they are here to offer an alliance to resist the Elentrin. Then ask if they can build embassies – show off the machines that tap into the asteroids. Then, build inhumanly gorgeous buildings. Trust me, pull out the best and most glorious designs you can pull off, but every embassy should be different. Then when everyone is clamoring for your attention and science, mention you have worlds you need help rebuilding, but it could be dangerous with limited medical facilities. They know what the Elentrin do and would be honored to offer their victims homes. Then you start the immigration process."
Everyone stared at her, jaws open as they processed what she said. "It would work," Perc said slowly. "You'd be able to vet everyone, make sure of the type of people they were. Let them know they could bring families. We get some people to go over first, people we trust." He nodded at Toni. "Like the parents and start small. But if this keeps going the way we fear it will, the government will throw money and supplies at us to help encourage the migration." He took a drink of water, continuing with that idea. "People like me sell our homes, spend all the money on supplies we need - planting, animals, anything else we might need, and walk through the portals to a new world, a chance to start over."
"Holy shit." McKenna murmured with her eyes wide. "It could work. It could let people escape and you could have auditions in other cities. If you put out that any violence against Shifters would prevent you from going to that city, it would help cut back on it. After all, those that hate us want us gone more than anything so the last thing they want to do is prevent you from coming."
Alinis looked from one to the other, her scaled ridges pulled together creating a deep vee between them. "If understand correct. We have your Shifters come to us? What mean by vet?"
JD sighed. "Humans are not as similar as your people seem to be." That elicited an odd sound from Rarz, but he ignored it. "We are more violent, selfish, fearful, and prejudiced than I've seen in your people. Even the Elentrin aren't as problematic. They treat anyone not Elentrin as lesser, regardless of their species. Humans? Humans find multiple reasons to hate. While I don't want to bar people in fear for their lives, neither do I want you to pull in people with these attitudes. I don't think your people could handle it and the way your cities are set up, we will need your help for a very long time."
"You would? If you can manage portals as Rarz say?" Alinis was confused.
"People, well humans, aren't as static as I think your people are," Cass said trying to explain. "We have moods and we vary a lot from person to person, day to day, even minute to minute." Her mouth quirked up a bit. "And our teenagers are even worse."
Rarz nodded. "From what I have witnessed, humans are amazingly changeable. Where one of our people would take decades to be diverted from their course of action, humans adapt and adopt different strategies in minutes if not seconds. We would need to make sure the ones we have are of a good heart. It might be worthwhile to have an empath on each interview team to ensure those that come to our worlds are not harboring dark hearts. While we are not perfect, some of the traits humans have don't really exist in Drakyn."
McKenna perked up at his comment. "You mean like what you said Nam might grow into?"
"Yes."
"One of your children is empath capable?" Alinis had gone rigid either with excitement or attention.
"If what Rarz said was true, yes." McKenna replied with a lift of one shoulder. "But speaking of the kids, I think they'd like to taste the few remains we have and meet you."
"I would be delight. Is rare meet other beings' nestlings." Alinis seemed excited and she fumbled the words more than normal. Toni couldn't help but glance at Rarz, a question in her eyes.
"Nestlings are relatively rare. Your world has incredible fertility. I am one of three children."
Alinis nodded. "Eggs not hatch, nestlings die. We try but so few live to hatch, then make it to two leg form."
23
Pivot
A record number of business have declared bankruptcy in the last few weeks. While some are expected given the damage and deaths in some areas of the country, most Shifter specific enterprises have seen a loss of customers to the point they say it is no longer viable to have their economic model be based on a small unimportant subsection of the population. While some are redirecting their efforts and aiming at a wider audience, most are just changing into a new startup idea. The main business model that is exploding is anything related with cremations and ash disposal. Funeral urns and memorabilia have taken off. ~ TNN News
* * *
Toni felt her heart contract at that. She remembered how many people told her how long they'd tried to get pregnant and she and Jeff had made twins within months of her going off birth control. She'd always known she was lucky, but maybe she was luckier than she thought.
"Many are never hatched and the first year or so, our nestlings are fragile and can die easily. After that it will take significant physical damage to kill us. The one planet where we seemed to have a high ratio of living nestlings," he swallowed then continued, "the Elentrin killed every Drakyn there and destroyed all our nests. We lost over twenty-five percent of our total population."
All of them winced at that, the sheer magnitude of deaths. "Then definitely kids. Ours are pretty great." McKenna said, glancing at Toni.
~Kids. There are some people we'd like you to meet.~ Toni sent it as McKenna arranged a platter with what was left, specifically the lasm she had also set aside.
~Everyone?~ Jamie asked, a half-distracted tone.
~Yes.~
There wasn't a response, but a moment later they heard and felt the running of feet up the stairs and through the kitchen. The pounding slowed and she could all but feel them peeking through the door to verify who was on the deck. Paranoia had become a way of life. Toni didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.
The door opened and Charley walked out first, his eyes locked on Alinis, but the other three were right behind him.
Does he look like a king leading his followers or the guard protecting his charges? Or both?
The contrasting image between Charley's white blond hair that didn't seem to be getting darker, and the three space black heads following him had an odd composite. Toni shook her head. With her Peruvian genes, both of her kids would always be tan with dark hair.
Unless they become dragons.
She shivered at that thought, but was it from fear or excitement? Toni pushed away the thought and focused on the kids.
"It's another dragon," Nam whispered. She'd darted to the side and climbed up next to McKenna. Toni noted McKenna's arms were already around the little girl and a soft smile turned up the corners of her mouth. But what was more interesting was Perc petting her hair lightly and Nam leaning into it.
"Yes. This is Alinis. She is Rarz's mother," Toni told them watching her kids like a hawk. Jessi was Jessi, as always.
"Cool. Hi, Mrs. Rarz. Is that fish?" Her head tracking to the table.
Toni fought the roll of her eyes, reminding herself the kids had no idea how odd it was to have alien beings sitting down to eat with them. At this point it would seem almost normal. Jamie, however, tilted his head, looking at her, eyes narrowed. But his thoughts, whatever they were, stayed in his own mind. Or at least weren’t shared with her.
"Food?" Charley had followed Jessi, deciding the strange dragon wasn't that interesting. He slipped in between McKenna and JD looking at the offerings.
"You guys act like you're never eaten." Cass protested. "But yes, this is food from another planet. Want to try it?"
While the largest amount of saved food was the lasm, there were small amounts of everything left, enough for the kids to try a little bit of everything.
"Is that an insect?" Jessi didn’t sound outraged, more curious.
"Yep. From their world. Tastes like vegetable snacks really." Cass offered. The three older kids all stared at it dubiously, but Nam picked it up and crunched into it.
They all looked at her. "Grasshoppers are a treat. This is yummy."
The three kids gave her side eye glances but all of them tried it with much fewer facial gyrations than the adults.
"Oh, it is crunchy. These are good." Jamie declared. The lasm, fruit, and honey all met with equal approval. The lasm, as expected, was the most popular.
"I guess this solves any worries about the food not being compatible though I can tell you, one of the first things people will do is learn to make beer. Humans love their brews." JD grinned as he said it and Perc nodded, a smile on his own face.
"Heck, maybe I’ll start a small home brew thing or mead with the honey."
That started a whole new conversation where they needed to let Rarz and Alinis try various drinks. Rarz could see the enjoyment, but Alinis preferred the wine they had.
The kids had left after waving at the 'dragon lady.' She had watched them go, her eyes greener and bluer than before. "I see you cherish them."
"Yes. Most humans are protective of kids. But ours are pretty great." McKenna piled up the now empty dishes and looked at the two aliens. "So are we going to do this? You come to major cities, all pomp and circumstance, dazzle them with bullshit and we do this quiet?"
Rarz glanced at Alinis, then he dipped his head down.
"Yes. We will go talk to our leaders, but they have heard much of this as we talk. They are discussing the idea. But we would like to rely on your clan to find us people to go see our cities and decide if they think it will work. Live there for a few months and make sure there isn't something we haven't thought about, before people immigrate in volume." Rarz glanced at his mother and tilted his head. "But overall, we are in favor of the idea and may adopt it with other worlds."
"There is an aspect we haven't addressed, you know," Perc said as they were processing what Rarz said.
Toni glanced over at Perc, frowning. It seemed like they'd been talking for hours, or maybe just the world sharing took forever in subjective time.
"What would that be?" JD had settled back down, though he kept glancing with a wistful look towards the empty honey jar.
"Families."
"What about them?" Toni asked, a bit confused as that had been what they’d been talking about. Why was Perc saying they hadn't talked?
"What about those who can't change? Lots of siblings, parents, spouses? Do we change them? Is it required? Can we change them without McKenna?"
Everyone fell silent, looking at each other. Alinis broke the silence. "I do not understand. Why is families not being Kaylid an issue?"
Rarz heaved a sigh this time. "Oppay, humans age. The stories of old people were not fiction." She tilted her head, frowning at him. "They age, get frail and die. The average life span is about eighty." He glanced at Toni for verification and she nodded.
"Eighty? Cycles of the sun? Eighty!" Alinis seem shocked and almost horrified by this information.
"Yes, it is a short time. So any spouse or family that is not infected will die while their family lives on after them." Rarz's voice was heavy with a strange weight. The colors in Alinis’s eyes spun in rapid changing colors.
"Not realize," she broke off and shook her head. ~This is too important to risk using incorrect or inaccurate words. No one should suffer due to cellular decay. Our old ones only get larger and wiser. They pull back from society and live in the math games and off the stored energy in their quantum spaces. We would never expect you to leave your families behind, or require them to watch their loved ones die. Can something not be done? This is not acceptable.~
Whereas before Toni would have pegged Alinis as mild, even meek, the power and intent in her voice ripped that idea out of her head completely.
After the shock, Cass spoke up a bit shaken, hesitant even. "Your people basically grow larger and retreat? Don't you ever die of old age?"
Rarz and Alinis looked at each other and she rotated one shoulder. ~In a way yes. Some of our older ones live for thousands of your years. But we have noticed, as our means of staying in touch have improved, about after eight or nine hundred years, they retreat and fall asleep and don't wake up. Though more and more lately they say they are going to travel to other worlds, even if they never have before, and we do not hear from them again. Whether they die or simply do not return is unknown.~
"There is a limit on your Speech?" McKenna asked.
"Of course. If there is a path open it can go down it but for practical matters, unless you access a quantum space area, it is limited to a planet or solar system."
"Elaborate?" Cass responded, her gaze intent as if trying to extrapolate more data with her eyes.
"We can create a quantum space for specific conversations. Like your group, but on a quantum level. They usually are only used for elections or the math games. One was created for me to pass information to. But they require someone to maintain it at all times, so they are used rarely. The concentration overhead involved in keeping a quantum space open outside of your personal one can be draining. One of the elders volunteered to keep it open. He said he needed something interesting to do." Rarz shrugged.
"So you don't really die of old age, but more just let go of life. The idea of people growing old horrifies you. Your speech has limits, but micropaths or quantum spaces keep it possible across great distances. You don't really have winters, but live in mostly spring/summer conditions. And you live static quiet lives." Toni recapped looking at the two aliens.
Rarz tilted his head. "Those are the essentials."
"Then here are the problems we need to overcome. How do we allow people to change without McKenna having to bite everyone? Do you want people that don't want to change? Are you okay with our idea about the show with multiple portals? And what do you want us to do?"
Silence fell and Toni waited for someone to add to her list, or pull apart what she said, but everyone just sagged a bit and sank down.
"I have been asked to come back and talk to my people in person. It may be a few days before there is an answer." Rarz voice sounded almost apologetic, but Toni shrugged.
