Suzan's story: One is Silver
By Sage182
I'll admit, I might have been the tiniest bit responsible for what happened. Or maybe more than the tiniest bit... but I'm getting ahead of
myself. Let me start over...
My name is Suzan Band. I live on a ship called the Christa, exploring the galaxy, encountering new civilizations and getting into exciting space battles practically every other day (Envious yet?). My parents are Harlan and Catalina Band. You've heard of them, I'm sure. Practically everybody in the quadrant has. I'd like to think I take after them in a lot of ways--I've got my mother's hair-trigger temper, her hazel eyes and long, rainbow colored hair; my father's thirst for adventure, his smile, and his amazing propensity for getting into trouble. I'm thirteen years old, half-Saturnian, half-Earther, with toffee-colored skin. But enough about me.
I guess it all began in the Terran system. We were taking a break from the busy vocation of exploration to file reports with the Stardogs, and to visit the relatives and friends our parents had left behind. The Christa was filled to the brim with guests; Bova's, Rosie's and Dad's parents were visiting, along with Mom's sister and brother and their respective children. And of course, they all had to come here, rather than any of us going planetside, because there were just too many people on various planets to visit.
The only place I could find any solace was at Hary's place. Hary's my best friend, and the kid closest to me in age onboard ship. His parents are Radu 386 and Former Surola Elmira. I'm certain you've heard of them, unless you've spent the last few decades in a closet on a remote colony somewhere. They were the first (and only) known Andromedan-Spung couple. Which makes Hary the only know part Andromedan, part Spung in the universe. Unfortunately, there are a lot of stupid people out there who can't get past the Wars, and Hary knows it. He's a smart kid (smarter than me anyway). In fact, he's one of those
ridiculously kind, thoughtful, intelligent, and thoroughly moral people that make the rest of us look bad. Not that I'll tell him that.
I was basically killing time at his place, waiting for my relatives to go away. Not that I don't love them or anything, but after a while you just feel as if you'll go insane without a little peace and quiet. And an Andromedan household is definitely a good place to go for peace and quiet.
We were sprawled on the floor, immersed in holo-games, when a thought struck me. I paused my game and said to Hary, "You know, sometimes I think you're lucky not to have any relatives around to bug you." Actually, he didn't have any relatives at all. Radu didn't know his parents and Elmira's... well, that's another story.
"I was just about to tell you that you were lucky for having so many!" he returned.
"What good are they? They come in, invade your privacy, make a lot of noise, act like they know everything about you, then kiss you goodbye after a few days and say they'll send you something at Christmas or the Rejoicing Festival. Probably a doll or something equally useless!"
"Still, you have people related to you by ties of blood," he answered wistfully. "All I have is Dad."
"Ties of blood are over-rated. I mean, I'm way closer to you than any of my cousins, and your dad is just as much my uncle as Vieneid is! Hary, you've got family right here on the Christa! Remember what your dad says, 'A family is not only those from whom you were born, but--'"
"'--Those to whom you belong,'" he finished with me. "Yeah, yeah, I know." Hary smiled then, turning off his game and resting his chin on his hands. "But maybe you're right."
"My two favorite words," I returned. Then, teasingly, "But it doesn't take an engineering genius to figure that one out!" punching him on the arm at the same time.
He returned the jab, and so I was obliged to sit on him. Our conversation forgotten, this soon escalated into a full-scale brawl, which lasted until Radu entered the room and pulled us apart.
"Aren't you two a little old for this?"
"NO!" we answered simultaneously.
In answer, he tossed us up in the air as if we were still five years old. I laughed so hard, there were practically tears in my eyes. Laughing himself, he caught me as I came down and flung me back up in one smooth motion.
It was great to see Radu in such a good mood. I may be only thirteen, but I can see the sadness etched on his face sometimes, when he thinks we're not looking. I can tell he's thinking about Elmira. Hary's mom died when he was seven, and Radu won't even consider dating
again, despite how many years it's been.
As I fell, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was Mom and Aunt Thetla, standing in the doorway. Radu saw them an instant later, set me on my feet and straightened his uniform.
"Commander," he nodded to Mom, adding a courteous "Ma'am," to Thetla. The formal title sounded strange, since none of the adults usually bothered to use ranks. It was for Thetla's benefit, and indeed, she looked slightly uncomfortable being here.
With a barely concealed grin on her face, my mother responded with equal formality. "Commander Radu," she acknowledged. "I believe it's time for my daughter to come home and eat dinner."
"I don't suppose I could eat at Hary's?" I tried half-heartedly.
"I don't suppose so," she answered dryly.
I reluctantly followed her out, but my good mood came with me. I forgot all about my aversion to my relations, but my conversation with Hary sprung to mind. "Ties of blood are overrated," I'd told him. Little did I know that my theory was about to be put to the test.
A few days later, we prepared to leave the Terran system. The adults did so with a touch of regret, but the rest of us were anxious to get going.
It was then that my mother dropped a bombshell on me.
"Say that again?" I gulped in amazement, hoping I hadn't heard her correctly.
"Your cousin Vreen is coming to stay with us for a few weeks."
"Why?" I asked rudely, still coming to terms with the inevitable.
"Well, he's thinking about becoming a Stardog, and he'd like to have a little first-hand experience. Since his aunt is one, and since we're spending the next few weeks exploring a supposedly uninteresting, low-risk area of space, the Christa seemed the obvious choice."
"But...," I stalled, trying to think of an excuse, "but..."
"Enough is enough, Suz. Vreen is your cousin, the least you can do it to make him feel welcome here."
I sighed. "I'll try."
Sensing some hesitation on my part, she said again, "I mean it, Suzan, I want you to help him fit in. He may not understand how things work around here, so you have to put up with him."
"Mom!" I whined.
"Promise me."
"I promise." Maybe it wouldn't be that bad. I hadn't seen him much in the last few years, maybe he wasn't as bad as I remembered. Kids grew up, didn't they?
Vreen stepped through the airlock and into the unfamiliar halls of the Christa, craning his neck to take in all the new sights. Then again, it wouldn't be unfamiliar if he'd come to visit every so often. He hadn't come with the rest of his family for years, and his mother was always making excuses for him. He was sick, or at camp, or swamped with schoolwork. And now he was my responsibility. Perfect.
I rushed up to greet him.
"Cousin!" he returned warmly, slapping me on the shoulder.
"Vreen! Glad to see you recovered from the Xenexian flu," I responded dryly.
"Yeah, umm...right, the flu, sure..." He suddenly found the floor fascinating.
I took his bag from him and gestured that he should follow me, smiling to show that I was kidding.
We chatted politely for a few minutes while I showed him to his room, appropriated from my brother Rell.
Rell grumbled as he cleared out his things, but went to stay with the twins all the same. And considering how rambunctious my youngest siblings can be, I pitied him. But only on the inside. On the outside I was laughing. Then I laughed some more. Then I pointed and snickered for a while.
Eventually my brother's humiliation was complete, so, having done my job, I allowed him to leave. Vreen dropped his things on the bed, and I headed for the door, believing my job done.
"Wait!" he called, halting me in mid-step.
"What?"
"Don't I get a tour?"
"Oh...right." I felt like slapping myself. "I suppose you don't remember much about the Christa, do you?"
"It's been a long time," he admitted, then defensively, "but I've been doing some reading lately, so it's not as if I didn't come prepared."
"C'mon." I rolled my eyes gestured towards the door with my head. I walked out without waiting for an answer.
"And this is the team room," I finished. I'd saved it for last, knowing that the other kids would be there. I was right. Pulling Vreen along behind me, I walked to the circular couch in the center of the room.
I was greeted with comments like:
"Suzan! 'Bout time!"
"Hey! Thought you fell out an airlock!"
"Where you been?"
Hary came up and held out his hand, saying, "This must be
Vreen." He smiled in that vaguely-hopeful-yet-incredibly-afraid way that he always did when meeting new people, the one that practically screams "Beat me up! I'm vulnerable and I probably won't fight back!"
Vreen's face twisted into an expression I couldn't identify, which vanished so quickly I couldn't be sure I hadn't imagined it. Then he smiled brightly and shook the proffered hand in return.
"You must be Hary. Suzan spoke of you during our tour."
I blushed slightly and introduced the others.
"This is Aiden," I began.
Aiden is Admiral Goddard and Mrs. Davenport's son. He's
three-and-a-half years older than me and takes everything entirely too seriously, but I guess that's what makes him a good leader. For as long as any of us can remember, Aiden has always been the one with the plan, the one who knows what to do.
"Myra's the jumpy one."
Myra's the progeny of Bova and Rosie Ianni, and has done
remarkably well when you stop to consider that she doesn't have a split personality or anything. Her parents are complete opposites, but I guess they sort of compliment each other. One might think that she'd choose a side, but instead she just sort of stands back and laughs at the whole situation. She never stops cracking jokes. Unfortunately, she doesn't always seem to know when to quit. Myra is, however, the only one who can make Aiden laugh, a talent which never ceases to amaze me.
"What do you call someone who brings an eaty-monster to
dinner?" she asked brightly.
"I don't know," Vreen answered, "What?"
"An appetizer."
All the rest of us groaned. This was the thirtieth time we'd heard that particular joke.
"You know Rell," I then finished, everyone else having
been properly introduced.
Rather than greet Vreen, Rell turned and said to empty air, "She doesn't have to introduce you, you're not really here. What do you ca-- no I am not being selfish, I just--!"
No, Rell isn't insane. I think. At least, if he is, it has nothing to do with the fact that he talks to walls. *sigh* Mom talks to a woman by the name of Suzee, from an alternate dimension. And Rell inherited the gift. He talks to Suzee's daughter, Katalin, but no one else can see her. I know what you're thinking, but she really does exist. Although Rell
does get a lot of strange looks when we go to space ports.
They used to get along pretty well. When he was little, he was always giggling to himself and smiling at some private joke. But things are different now. Katalin's father died last year, and she hasn't gotten over it yet. Now Rell's conversations with his invisible friend consist of never-ending arguments and angry attempts to ignore her.
Well, that was all of us. I mean, there are other kids on the Christa, but our siblings are still too little to appreciate the team room. Even if they could, we probably wouldn't let them in.
We spent the rest of the evening in the lounge. I was beginning to like Vreen. He was friendly without being cloying, smart without being high-brow, he joked and laughed even though he hardly remembered any of us. He was a touch egotistic, but I'm beginning to suspect that this runs in our family.
The next few days went by quickly. Vreen was assigned ship-board duties so he could get a feel for space, and spent time in the classroom with us so that he didn't fall behind at home. I spent the majority of my free time re-familiarizing myself with my cousin.
As we walked to morning classes, Vreen and I talked and joked.
"You should come and stay with us more often," I informed him.
"Well, I'd forgotten that you were so much fun. The last time I was here, you put gelatin in my hair."
"I was five!"
"You were nine, and you know it! Besides.." He paused.
"Besides...what?"
"Well, your friends--they're never going to accept me."
"Yes they are; they've been practically civilized the entire time you've been here! Nobody's broken anything, or gotten into a major argument, or inadvertently blown something up, or anything. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's a record. They must like you."
"If you say so. But it wouldn't surprise me if they found things not to like about me. I've been take your attention away from them."
I told him he was an idiot and changed the subject. The idea that my friends wouldn't like Vreen just because I was paying attention to him was ridiculous. Wasn't it?"
The next afternoon, Mrs. Davenport announced that we were
going to hold our own little science fair. Normally, I would have worked with Hary, but Vreen asked me before I got the chance.
Hary was at my side a few seconds later. I knew he'd heard me agree(Hary could hear a pin drop on Saturn), but he wanted to be sure.
"Hary, you wanna be partners with Vreen and me?"
"Naw, that's okay," he said, trying to hide his hurt. "I'll just go with--with Rell."
"Aw, c'mon!" I urged, but he was already walking away. I
watched him attempt to carry on a conversation with Rell, who seemed more interested in talking to the air next to Hary's shoulder.
Vreen caught my eye. "Told you," he mouthed.
I looked uncomfortably at the ground.
I cornered Hary after class.
"What's going on?" I demanded. "Do you have a problem with Vreen?"
"No. Naw. No way."
"Hary, you're a terrible liar."
My best friend sighed. "It's just that...he doesn't seem to like me very much."
"Examples?"
"He ignores me most of the time. And when he does talk to me, it just sounds wrong, like he's trying too hard. And he looks at me funny."
"He sounds wrong! He looks at you funny!?! You're gonna have to do better than that."
"Well, the other day--."
"Forget it, Hary! Vreen said this would happen." I stomped off, furious as a pit bull on a hot day.
"Suzan!" Hary called plaintively after me. I was too mad to care.
I stayed angry for days. I hate being mad at Hary. And to make matters worse, things were strained with all of the other kids, as well. For some reason, none of them liked Vreen. And I was mad at all of them for not liking him and for putting me in the middle of this. All was not well on the Christa.
Just my luck, we had ComPost training. Usually I love it; I hardly ever get to help operate the Christa. But tonight we weren't working as a team, and it stunk. It didn't help that Aiden and Myra's science project had exploded in the middle of their demonstration and showered Mrs. Davenport with engine lubricant. Neither of them were in a great mood, particularly since Aiden was normally such a good student. It was odd, but surely a coincidence.
Hary and Rell's(and Katalin's) project was good, but ours was better. We won the prize--piloting the Christa, as it turned out. Great. I finally get a chance at helm and I can't even brag about it to Hary! Vreen couldn't appreciate this, of course, since the Christa hadn't bonded with him as it had with all of us.
Still, I couldn't help feeling a thrill of pleasure at piloting the ship, moving millions of tons of metal and synthetic flesh in perfect rapport, being one with the Christa. I envy my father, piloting her every day. Even when us kids had ComPost training, Aiden usually got to do the honors, being the oldest and most responsible (and the least likely to smash us all to free floating atoms). I generally contented myself with
navigation.
"Slow down, Suzan!" Bova chided me. "You don't need to
increase the odds of us running into something! Christa knows, they're bad enough as it is!" He was our adult supervisor. And with encouragement like that, no wonder I was doing so well. He wandered over to stand by Thelma, our ship's android (and baby-sitter extrordinare).
"Hary," I called back, "How's our course?"
"Fine," he said tersely. He was in navigation, since I'd vacated the position. He preferred engineering, but Aiden wanted to try that out today. In fact, we all seemed to be screwed up, testament to how wrong things truly were.
"Hey," said Vreen, from a position slightly behind Hary's
shoulder, "If you make a course correction two points to your left on the X-axis, you'll cut at least a couple of hours off the journey."
"Hary?" I checked.
"There's nothing wrong with our current course," he responded tersely.
"Is Vreen's better?"
"I don't know, it could be. But we haven't mapped that route yet; there could be unforeseen dangers."
I glanced at Bova, who gave me an "It's your call" sorta shrug. I considered a moment, then said, "Hary, you worry too much!" as I altered our course.
I knew, however, that this wouldn't be the end of it. Hary couldn't stay mad at me forever. Or could he? I waited over an hour for him to contact me, then growled lowly in my throat and made the first move. "Grozit! What is your problem, Hary?" I whispered in our private language, a bizarre mixture of the languages we know, barely moving my lips. I turned on the small earpiece I perpetually wore, and waited for an answer. I didn't wait long.
"My problem!?! You're the one who-- I mean, well, look at you!"
"I don't know what you mean."
"You'd agree with anything he said, for the simple reason that he's kin and I'm not!"
"You're crazy!"
"You didn't mean a word of it, did you?"
"A word of what!?! What are you babbling about?"
"You said that we were closer than family! That 'family ties are overrated'!"
My own words hit me like a blaster burst. I had forgotten all about our conversation of weeks past. But there was no way I could be guilty of what he said. Could I? I shook my head, confused. "Listen, what I meant was--"
"I know what you meant. Or what you didn't mean."
"Would you just shut up and leave me alone!" I
inadvertently shouted the words at the top of my lungs in Basic, sending the ComPost into stunned silence.
Before anyone could comment, the room tilted alarmingly and briefly shook; the sound of shrill sirens echoing through the room. I turned my attention back to the controls in front of me, my eyes widening in surprise.
"Screen on!" ordered Bova.
"Uh oh...," said Rell quietly.
"Hey, look on the bright side," Myra said glibly, "If we're dead, we can't get grounded!"
In front of us stretched a vast asteroid field, impossibly wide. I felt the ship tremor again, throwing me to one side.
"Aw, man!" I groaned, then straightened and attempted to
maneuver away from the field. "Let's get outta here!"
"I couldn't agree more!" Bova responded wholeheartedly.
I turned the ship around to face the way we'd come, only to see more of the same. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks, stretching infinitely before me.
"We must be in the path of a rogue asteroid belt," Aiden said, almost managing to keep his voice steady. "We managed to get right in front of it. Wrong place, wrong time."
"So what am I supposed to do?" I made no effort to keep the panic from my voice. "Where are the grown-ups?"
"The first blast disabled the jumptubes," Thelma said
disjointedly.
At that moment, the bridge was rocked by the biggest impact yet. I was jolted forward into the controls, knocking the air from my lungs. The other kids nosedived into their own stations, but Bova wasn't so lucky. With nothing to hang on to, he went flying to thud into the front wall.
"Dad!" Myra screamed in pure panic, leaping from her station before the quaking had stopped. "Thelma, help me!"
With effort, I turned my attention back to the asteroid belt.
"Hary! Plot a course and get us outta here!"
"Um... we could... weave our way out. No wait, that'll probably get us killed. We could--." He paused, a gleam in his eye. "I've got it! Suz, take us up 85 degrees on the y-axis, then straight down. We can go below the asteroid belt, we'll miss it entirely!"
"Great, perfect, we'll do that." I started to move the controls.
"Hold on a sec," Vreen stopped me, still standing behind Hary's shoulder. "There's no guarantee that the belt doesn't stretch below as well. Plot a course and take us to hyperspace, once we're in the tunnel, we can pass through this field in a half a second."
"That's too risky," Hary protested. "The asteroids are moving, plotting a set course through them won't assure that we won't hit any."
"It'll work!"
In desperation, I called, "Aiden?"
"They're both plausible solutions, either one could work. Or get us killed," he mumbled.
"Suzan, I'm studying navigation, I know what I'm talking about!" Vreen urged.
"'Closer than family', Suz. Trust me?" Hary's eyes stared straight to my soul.
I nodded once and turned to the controls, my mind made up.
Vreen seemed to know this, his final argument desperate.
"C'mon Cousin, who're you going to believe, me or this Spung?"
My eyes flickered between them. "This Spung," I answered
without hesitation. I pulled hard, sending the ship almost straight up, then took us spiraling downward.
I felt my stomach jump into my throat as the Christa's gravity struggled to compensate. Fighting the urge to throw up, I stared intently at the viewscreen. My muscles were on edge, jerking the controls back and forth to avoid the asteroids that came into view. After a few eternal moments, I saw the most beautiful thing in the universe. Open space.
"We made it," I stated dumbly. Then, as it slowly dawned on me, "I did it! We're alive!" I threw my self into Vreen's arms. "Haha!"
Then I furrowed my brows in confusion. "Hey, what did you mean, 'this Spung'?
"I just meant... that we're family. That you could have trusted me. I still think my plan would have worked."
"Family." I nodded, still not completely convinced. "Right, yeah. But Hary's family, too. My family."
"But Suzan, he's--!" He stopped and lowered his voice to a whisper. "But he's a Spung, a--a half-breed!"
"Well what exactly do I look like?"
"I didn't mean it like that!"
"Hary was right about you. You've been trying to get between us all along, haven't you?" I didn't give him a chance to answer. "You've probably been screwing with all my friends! Did you sabotage Aiden and Myra's project?"
"Well I--you don't understand--."
"I knew it!"
Vreen looked ready to explode. "They're not like us! He's just a Spung! We're practically natural enemi--."
It was at this point that my fist encountered his face. Not the brightest thing to do, I'll admit, but it felt damn good.
The adults found their way to the Command Post a short time later. Mom and Dad weren't exactly pleased about me flooring my cousin, but they could tell that there was more involved than we'd admit. We kept our mouths shut about what happened, but they're pretty smart people. They let me off easy, with just a couple of weeks worth of dish duty. We even got additional ComPost duty, a couple of hours every week; apparently they were pretty impressed by the way we handled things.
Bova was alright, he had a concussion and a lot of bruises, a couple of broken bones; nothing that Rosie's caring ministrations hadn't fixed by the end of the week.
Vreen went home a few days later, and none of us wept to see him go. I'll never understand how I could have missed seeing him for what he truly is. How could I have been so blind? Anyway, Mom wrote a character report for the Academy, saying bland things like 'Vreen is a good worker who shows promise as an officer. He does, however, need to work on his people skills and his team effort.'
As for myself, I was only too happy to go back to Navigation. While I admit that holding the lives of everyone on the ship in my hands was rather thrilling, it was also pretty scary. For now at least, Aiden can keep helm duty. But tomorrow, that's another day...
A few days later, I went looking for Hary. We'd come to a tenuous peace, but I sensed that things were still not right between us.
Actually, I knew where I'd find him, perched on a lofty platform near the ceiling in engineering, his tool case closed beside him. He goes there a lot, mostly just to sit and think. He was there, as I knew he would be, comfortably swinging his legs over the side with total disrespect for gravity.
I sat next to him wordlessly. Neither of us spoke for a time, not wanting to be the first to break the silence. Finally, I sighed. "Hary, I... I'm sorry. I should have believed you. I made a mistake. I'm sorry."
Without looking at me, he said "You're right. You should have believed me, Suzan."
"I know. I can't explain why I didn't, exactly. I could sort of identify with Vreen. He was Saturnian, and--and family." I broke off and flopped backward to stare at the ceiling. "Hary, the thing is, he... he sort of reminded me of myself. I saw in him things I'd never seen in anybody but myself. He was like me! And he's a total jerk!"
Hary lay down next to me. "You're not like him, Suzan. I've known you for twelve and a half years, and as rude and obnoxious as you are," he smiled, "you'd never act like that, you'd never say...that. Besides," he smiled. "I'd never let you get away with it!" He elbowed me, and I couldn't help but laugh.
We began to talk over the events of the last few days, recapping on everything we'd missed in our days of self-inflicted isolation. I began to feel better than I had in weeks. Finally, during a momentary lull, I said something that had been on my mind for days.
"Hary, you know what I said before, 'Family ties are over-rated'?"
"Yeah?"
"I was wrong. Your family is more important than anything. But you choose who they are. We're not closer than family, we are
family." I fingered Hary's tool kit, and pulled a hydrospanner with a jagged edge out of it. "Gimme your hand."
"Why?"
"Ancient Earth tradition."
Hary shook his head in mock irritation and held out his hand.
I sliced a shallow cut across his palm. "Oww! What did you do that for!?!"
"Just wait." I sliced my own, then clasped his bleeding hand in mine. My own Saturnian/Earther blood mingled with his Andromedan/Spung.
"There, now we're blood brothers."
"Blood brothers. I like the sound of that."
"Forever and always."
"Forever and always. And beyond."
"You are so weird."
Make new friends but keep the old,
One is silver and the other gold,
A circle's round, it has no end,
That's how long I want to be your friend.
1/24/99