Talosian Chronicles 1: Olympus (12 page)

“But...” Beth said. 

“Beth, I love you, but you of all people should know that size has nothing to do with a loving heart. Besides, we're getting to know her now, and so far, I don't see anything about her that I don't like, but it's only been a few hours.”

“The kids are right, Beth,” Bill said, he cocked his head to one side while looking at Beth. “Are you wearing your make up differently, Beth?”

“I’m not wearing any make up, Bill why? Is something wrong?” Beth replied.

“No, you just have a different look about you today, I can't put my finger on it.” Bill said.

Further conversation was interrupted by a very sleepy looking Talena walking out, and climbing into Beth's lap.

She looked up at Beth. “I’m still hungry, can I have some more to eat?”

“Did you eat all of the oatmeal, sweetie?” Beth asked.

Talena nodded, “I wanted more, but Cindy said I had to wait for a little bit.”

“Did you feel sick at all?” Beth asked.

“No, just really hungry.”

“Okay, well if you were going to have a reaction, you should have had it with the oatmeal. I’ll go wake sleeping beauty, if you’ll order lunch for us, Ian?” Beth said rising from her chair, and guiding Talena over to sit by Ian.

Jenny stopped her. “I’ll go get Cindy for you, Beth.” Jenny picked up a glass of water.

Everyone chuckled except Talena who looked confused for a minute, then started chuckling too.

Ian ordered a three-meat sub sandwich with mayo, lettuce, tomato, and bacon. He ordered a foot long, cut in half so he could share it with Talena.

“Since you’re not familiar with the food here, I thought I’d see if you liked one of my favorites. However, if you don’t like one of the toppings, just open it up and take it off.” Ian demonstrated by opening his sandwich and removing the tomato. He then picked up the sandwich and took a bite.

Talena aped his movements and her eyes lit up with the taste. Ian ordered two of Oly’s replicated Mountain Dews. Talena seemed to really enjoy those too. Shortly, Cindy and Jenny came walking out hand in hand.

“You look happy, and dry!” Talena commented, with a small grin.

Cindy grinned, “I was already awake when she came in. So she didn’t get the chance to use the water.” Her grin widened. “We decided to hold onto the water to use on you!”

“You could always use it on Ian!” Talena quipped.

Bill shook his head, “Oh Ian, you are going to have your hands full with these two. I think she and Cindy are going to be a pair!”

Still grinning, Talena calmly went back to eating her sandwich.

The comedy slacked off then so people could eat, and finally Bill asked Ian what time tomorrow they’d be returning to the ship.

“I’m afraid that trip has been postponed for a while, Bill. There is considerable damage that still needs to be repaired before I’ll allow anyone back on board,” Ian replied. He felt Talena shudder a little on his lap, so he caressed her shoulder with his hand to let her know he was there, and cared about her.

Bill frowned, “Well, there was something I wanted to get started with, but I guess it’ll have to wait.”

“Don’t worry, Bill, I’ll keep you so busy the time will seem to fly by,” Ian said.

“Doing what?” He asked.

“Well for one thing, we need to get some plans going. We need a mission statement for the corporation. I was thinking of something along the lines of ‘We wish to preserve and protect our world through the advancement and development of ecologically friendly technologies’, Ian said. “Then of course we’d have to list one or two paragraphs touching on the guidelines we’ve set for ourselves.”

The discussion continued until they had to get ready for graduation. Ian and Jenny had to leave early, and left the family to follow along a little later. Janet and Julie arrived just before the ceremony started and took seats beside Bill.

News of Ian and Jenny’s marriage had spread though the class and even the principal congratulated them - after making sure that Jenny hadn’t gotten pregnant. The little fib about her condition served to set the administrator’s mind at ease. Both Ian and Jenny had been asked to be valedictorian for the class but declined.

Once the appointed time arrived, the ceremony began. After long winded speeches about the future and how this class would be instrumental in making the world a better place, the principal finally got to the part the class had been waiting for; handing out the diplomas.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to deviate slightly from our rehearsed procession, tonight to honor two of our students. Would Ian Williams and Jennifer Laskar-Williams please come up here?”

Cheering broke out from the assembled class and it was quickly picked up by the parents and relatives that had come to witness the proceedings. Ian took Jenny’s hand and they walked up to the podium together.

“Ladies and Gentleman, most of you probably haven’t heard of either of these two remarkable young people, but rest assured that every one of their classmates has. In addition to having the highest marks in their class, both of these students gave up hundreds of hours of time to help tutor fellow students.

“Our football coach has made the claim that Ian is solely responsible for keeping our varsity players from dropping off the team to keep up their grades. Not to say that the players are not bright, but the extra assistance granted them by Ian allowed them to learn better study habits, so they didn’t have to worry so much about academics.

“I’m proud to announce that this is the first year in the history of the school that the entire senior portion of the team has been offered scholarships to many fine universities across the country.”

Principal Rawlins paused to let the applause die down. “Jenny’s achievements, while not as obvious, are equally as impressive. She selflessly helped so many students in her career at this school that it is my great honor to give her an award normally only given to staff: the Rutherford Hills Award for Academic Excellence for Teaching. In addition to the monitory award, Mrs. Williams’ name will be inscribed on the plaque on public display at the school district offices.”

Principal Rawlins had to pause again for the loud applause to die down. “There is one more thing to say about these two remarkable young people. Ian and Jenny have been best friends since the second grade.

“I’m sure it was unknown to either of them, but their romance has been the talk of the school for the last three years. Not because of public displays or anything like that, but because of the lack of it.

“To those of us who’ve known them, we could see the deep emotional attachment they shared, but neither seemed to know it. Most of us feared that they would graduate and move on to separate colleges without ever knowing how much the other loved them.

“However!” He chuckled. “I am very happy to announce, that Ian finally must have smelled the coffee, because he took his best friend to Las Vegas two days ago and married her! Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Ian Williams!”

He stepped back and clapped with the rest of the crowd as the superintendent handed them their diplomas and shook both of their hands. The assembled teachers and parents all stood as Ian and Jenny, once again holding hands, walked back to their seats.

––––––––

“J
eez! Did everyone but us know we were in love with each other?” Jenny asked once in the car.

“Pretty much. The cheerleaders hatched a plan to make you jealous by flooding Ian with date requests and unlimited attention during lunch and stuff. The cheerleaders were all set to do it until I had a talk with them,” Cindy said.

Cindy had been on the football team as a fullback since she was a freshman; making their school one of the first in the state to allow female players on the team. She had also been the homecoming MVP the last three years.

“What did you say to them? Once those airheads get something like that into their heads it usually sticks,” Jenny asked.

Cindy shrugged. “I just told them it would be a very bad idea. I couldn’t tell them it would make me just as jealous as it would you.” Cindy giggled. “When we got off the bus that night, two of the girls asked me out though.”

“Did you accept?” Jenny asked.

“How do you think I ended up going to homecoming with Annette and Shelly?” Cindy grinned.

“I don’t understand any of this,” Talena said looking confused.

“Sweetie, it’s pretty complicated and I’m sure you’d think it’s pretty stupid if you did understand it. Just be thankful you come from a society that is open enough to accept same sex relationships, and multiple partners,” Beth said.

“Those are not accepted here? Why not?” The girl asked.

Ian touched his earpiece. “Oly? Tonight, could you give Talena the history of Christianity and an overview of social customs in regards to the moral traditions of this society, specifically as it pertains to relationships, sex, and marriage? If she’s going to be stuck down here with us for the next couple of months, she might like to know how insane this place really is.”

“I had that already scheduled, sir, since she had asked about the customs earlier. I will be adding a few other subjects as well. It might interest you to know that, comparatively, Talena has the equivalent of a double Master’s degree; one in xeno-biology and the other in psychology. When she asks ‘why’ it is because she truly wants to know,” Oly said.

“Wow, beautiful and smart, too!” Ian said, looking at her in the mirror.

Talena blushed and smiled shyly as she turned away. “Where are we going now?” She asked Cindy.

“We’re going out to dinner to celebrate Ian and Jenny’s graduation. However, I think it’s mostly to meet the new attorney,” Cindy replied.

Talena was confused again. Though she knew the language, she wasn’t clear on exactly what an attorney was. “Olympus? Please clarify and define ‘attorney’?”

“I got this one, Oly,” Ian said. “An ‘Attorney’ you might know better as an ‘Advocate’; a person that interprets the law on behalf of a petitioner. In this case, the ‘advocate’ has specific knowledge of a specialized area of law, and will advise us on our best courses of action to accomplish our goal.”

Oly added, “That is correct. This advocate specializes in the laws governing the business practices of this planet. You will understand more after your lesson tonight.”

“Thank you, Ian and Olympus that helps. This place seems so strange sometimes,” Talena said, shaking her head.

“Honey, you don’t know the half of it, yet,” Jenny said.

––––––––

“C
ommander, it’s great to finally meet you, and congratulations on the graduation. I’d ask what your plans for the future are, but I don’t think that’s something you really want to discuss in public,” Carla said, grinning. “I did tell Janet that we could hold off this meeting until tomorrow so you could celebrate with your family, but she insisted I join you. I hope you don’t mind?”

“Not at all, Carla, and please call me Ian. Janet tells me that you’re ready to move up to the ship?” Ian asked grinning.

“If even half the stuff she’s told me is true, I’d still want to join. She was a little vague about why you’d need a corporate attorney though?” Carla asked.

Ian chuckled. “We can get into the details tomorrow, but we’re going to set up a corporation as a cover for recruiting people for the ship, among other things. But tonight, relax, get to know us a little, and enjoy the food, order anything you want; money really isn’t an issue.”

“I really appreciate that, thank you. Uh, if I can ask, Janet didn’t say much about the pretty silver-haired girl. Who is she?”

Ian smiled, “Congratulations Carla, you’ve actually met your first alien. Talena was born on Alpha-ca station before it was destroyed. She’s spent the last four thousand years in cryo-sleep on the ship. She’s still pretty new to the planet, and is having a difficult time with some of our more idiotic customs.”

“Like what?” Carla asked.

“Well, she doesn’t understand the bias against nudity, or same sex and multiple partner relationships. Where she comes from those things are common,” Ian explained. “Also the age of majority is sixteen across the board. There is no ‘legal age of consent’ and statutory rape is not one of their laws.”

“That just seems like a recipe for child exploitation,” the woman said.

“Did Janet or Julie get you a set of lenses and a communit?” Ian asked.

“Yeah, they gave them to me just before we got off the shuttle.”

“You’ll understand the Talosian societal structure better in the morning. But for now, try to keep something in mind; with the exceptions of you and Beth, Talena has the most education of any of us,” Ian said.

“That little girl has an advanced degree? What in?” Carla asked, surprised.

“Oly said she has the equivalent of a Master’s degree in xeno-biology and one in psychology, She's actually twenty-four, but all the time spent in cryo stunted her growth.”

“She seems like any other young teenager I’ve ever met,” Carla commented.

“She’s acting. Oly told me on the sly that’s how she gets people to open up to her so she can study them better. She’s also one of our fighter pilots; at least the closest we actually have to one. She’s all but finished flight school, the only thing remaining is her final test flight.”

“She sounds like a very accomplished young women,” Carla said.

Ian smiled sadly, “Yeah, but she’s having a few problems too. In the attack that stranded Olympus on our moon, Talena lost both her mother and girlfriend. I’ve offered her a place with my family until she reaches her majority,” Ian said.

“Uh, I was meaning to ask, but didn’t know how to approach the subject, but when I go back to get my stuff, do you think you might be interested in recruiting my girlfriend? Since, you don’t have a problem with same sex couples, I thought I’d ask.”

Ian chuckled at her tactics. “Even if we don’t need her, she’s welcome. But I’m curious what you would have done if I’d have said ‘no’?”

“Begged?” She said with raised eyebrows.

“Seriously, if she wants to come with you, she’s welcome. What skills does she have?” Ian asked.