“Yes. But—your accent. ” It’s even stronger than Amy’s, with a rush and lilt to the words that makes them hard to understand.
“I’m South African,” Emma says, and I struggle to recall the battered globe in the Learning Center. “I spent most of my childhood in southern France, though. My ma’s British. Oh,” she adds, surprised. “She was British; my father was Libyan. ” She says the words in past tense as if they are bitter on her tongue.
“I see,” I reply. I don’t want her knowing that I hardly remember the names of Sol-Earth’s major countries, let alone the fact that its inhabitants could speak the same language and still manage to sound different.
She nods and resumes shepherding Godspeed’s former passengers along, her rate of speech only marginally slower than it was before.
I sigh. At least she’s trying.
I grab Tiernan, drag him back to the group, and have my people start passing on the word: stay on the path, keep up, let no one get left behind.
I make sure that everyone in the crowd is ready to go. Kit stays in the back with those on Phydus, the only people in the group who are not wide-eyed and fascinated by this new world. I wonder how much of this they will remember or if, when Kit takes their Phydus patches off, they will recall only the terror and panic they felt when the drug was first pressed into their skin.
A dark-skinned man with black hair approaches Kit. “I am Dr. Gupta, one of the medical officers on the mission,” he says formally in an odd accent, extending his hand. Kit shakes it, surprise evident on h
er face. “I understand you’re a medical professional as well?” he asks.
I watch the two of them as we all make our ways into the tangle of trees. Kit’s shy at first, but soon she’s happily discussing the differences in medical technologies. Dr. Gupta is fascinated by the Phydus patches, and Kit is eager to compare notes with another doctor—her apprenticeship with Doc had barely begun when she left him to come to Centauri-Earth.
I can’t keep the smile off my face—seeing the two of them talk makes me hope that the people from Sol-Earth and my people might soon find some sort of common ground.
“These trees look so familiar. ” I slip through the crowd, following the sounds of Amy’s voice. “But yet, somehow, different. ”
“They are,” a deep male voice answers her.
I pause, trailing a few people behind Amy and the young military man, Chris. When Kit was talking with the Earthborn doctor, I was happy, but seeing Amy and Chris together twists me up inside.
“I have to admit—I’m surprised,” Amy continues.
The trees seem unusual to me—but I’ve never seen a Sol-Earth tree to compare these to, at least not outside of pics and vids.
“They’re like banyan trees,” Amy says. “You know, the way that they look like a bunch of small trees all knotted together. ”
I don’t know what banyan trees are, but Chris nods in agreement.
“Different, though,” she says again. “Everything reminds me of Earth, but not quite. Like this. ” She pulls down a clump of straggly, string-like moss that wafts between the leaves of the trees, dangling in our way. “It’s like Spanish moss, but purple and sticky rather than dry and gray. ”
Chris plucks the sticky strings from Amy’s hand. “This stuff is getting everywhere,” he says, making a big show of almost getting it in Amy’s face.
“Ew, get it away!” Amy says, batting at the purple strings playfully.
“Why? Don’t you like it?” Chris teases, dangling it closer to her.
I want to snatch the purple stringy moss from Chris’s hands and shove it down his throat, but I don’t. I hang back, glowering, and even though I know I’m being loons, I can’t help but to keep listening to their conversation.
“I wonder what kind of animals are on this planet,” she continues, blithely ignoring the look of adoration on Chris’s face.
“You mean other than large, reptilian birds that try to eat people?” Chris asks, his voice still flirting and playful. I roll my eyes.
“Yeah. ” Amy looks up and around at the treetops. “There should be other birds. Animals. Something to eat that purple stuff, nests within the limbs of the trees. Squirrels and snakes, deer and rabbits. ”
“This isn’t Sol-Earth, Amy,” Chris reminds her gently.
“Oh, I know,” Amy says. “But it just seems like . . . something’s missing. ”
“I’m sure there are other creatures,” Chris says, and he really does sound positive of it. “But Colonel Martin was right: most animals would hide when nearly two thousand people go tromping through the forest. And besides, those reptilian birds would have needed something to eat before all of us tasty people got here!”
Amy squeals as Chris lunges at her in false menace. She jumps back, tripping on an exposed tree root. Chris grabs her and pulls her close to him, wrapping his huge, muscular arms around her in safety.