Part 20: Being There

: It's... a call from Isol. When was the last time I spoke with Isol?

: It was... last night? I hung out with her last night, didn't I?

: ... Was that last night?

*Brrrrrrrrrrrt!* *Brrrrrrrrrrrt!*

: I... I can't. I don't have the strength for this right now.

: Isol is an adult. She'll understand.

*Brrrrrrrrrrrt!* *Brrrrrrrrrrrt!*

: ... But that doesn't mean I should ghost her. She doesn't deserve that.

: Maybe I'll just run this one out and I'll text her later. Tell her I was asleep. It's not untrue.

*Brrrrrrrrrrrt!* *Brrrrrrrrrrrt!*

: ... *sigh*





: ...





: Actually, that's kinda why I called.

: I was thinking recently on when you and I used the night together, talking until the sun returned, and I was–





She was worried Ezra just ghosted her, wasn't she? That, or maybe she was pining for more of that robo-obsessive nerd charm.

: ...

: ... Are you okay, Ezra? I need you to talk.

: ... No.

: I'm not okay, Isol. I don't know why I answered you.

: I'm not in the mood to hang out. I'm not going out drinking tonight. I'm going to hang up and go to bed.

: Wait. Answer one question.

: ...

: Are you getting in your exercise and nutrients?

: Good night, Isol.



: I'll block your number.

: I'll drag Carla into this.

: ...

: Why are we clashing on this? What's occurred to get you in such a state?

: ...

: You clearly aren't talking to Carla, either. Otherwise her designation wouldn't grant you silence.

That's actually a good point, Carla hasn't called Ezra either. Maybe she feels Ezra is partying it up with her folks? But she's a family friend, surely she'd have visited or called to see how the family is doing back together... It is possible that it's Carla herself who's currently still on a bender and/or staving off the mother of all hangovers.

: This isn't the Ezra that talked all through the night a week ago. You can say what's got you like this, you know; I'll listen.

: It's not something that concerns you. It's a family matter.



: Isol, please – I just... I just want to go back to bed.

: Ezra, it's six o'clock. Twilight hasn't occurred yet. No twenty-ish-year-old is looking to hit the hay at this hour.

: You don't need to say what's gotten you in such a condition. You're right in that it's not where the concern should lie.

: I just... this isn't like you. I want to assist.

: What can you even do for me? All I want is to w–

: ... I was about to say 'all I want is to “waste away in bed”.'

: Mom wouldn't want this for me.

: It hurts. It still hurts. But... I have to make the first step.

: I can do the one thing I had trained to do this last decade.

: Create a kick-ass cuisine.

That's true affection right there. How many of your friends would up and say "I'm going to come by and feed you" when you tell them you aren't well?

: The last thing I need in my stomach right now is something 'kick-ass.'

*Ezra's stomach growls.*

: Although... any food at all sounds like a good time.

: I know just what to create. A thing that's gentle on the gut yet will turn you awake in a second.

: All I need is your trust.

: You already have that, Isol.

: ... And your address. I'll need that, too.

: Heh... I'll text it to you, alright?

: I'll hold you to that. Renege, and I'll hunt you down!

: Coming from a race of people that look like dinosaurs, maybe I should take her seriously.

Playing to stereotype again? No! Bad Ezra!

: I'll need two-quarters-in-an-hour to get the dish ready, alright?

: ... Yeah. I'll be here, trying not to go to bed.

: It's sooner than you think, Ezra. Just hold on.



: I just wanted to call it an early night.

*Time passes...*



: That's probably her.

: I don't... feel like answering the door. I'll just text her to come in.



: ... Hey, Isol.



: It took a little longer than I thought to get here, though.

: Yeah, it's... it's fine. Like I said, I wasn't going anywhere.

: Hnn.

: Well, it's not going to get any cooler. You should eat now; your strength isn't going to return without a thing inside it, you know?

: Am I eating alone?



: To go with that: good eating is the crowd you're eating with just as well as the actual dish. The goal is to correct your attitude – you're not well, and I want to change that.

: ... Thanks.



: It's a salad. Lettuce was the gentlest Earthling ingredient that I could think: low sugar and high essentials, such as carotene and...



: ...other healthy ingredients that I can't say.

: Okay, yeah, I know what a salad is. What's in the salad, Isol?

: Earthling salad doesn't contain any 'staying strength,' so I added in Ghian ingredients.

: The red chunks are a Ghian creature called a 'tilish,' a kinda ranch stock not unlike an Earthling chicken. Tilish is high in 'rotein and niacin, though unlike a chicken, it's also high in nutrient D, like an orange – or sunlight.

: I also added 'shoaack' slices: a shoaack is like an Earthling carrot natural to Ghi that's hard to grow, though they're loaded with diacetyl and allyl hexanoate – it tastes like ananas and lard. Shoaack is easier to grow on Earth and Galilei, and is considered a candy on Ghi.

: 'Ananas... and lard?

: ... Oh, pineapple and butter.

: I was trying to create a dish that was low in sugar and high in the nutrients that would grant the greatest energy quantity. Though the shoaack was largely to enhance the taste.

I've got to say that this have a very interesting flavor profile to eat.

: Isol, I have to say...





: I was going to say... it doesn't look very... appetizing.





: I created this to grant you the greatest nutritional increase I could without surrendering taste and without hitting your gut or your senses too hard. It's not required to look like a signature dish at a two- and three-star restaurant.

: I know it's not... quaint, like a usual Earthling salad is. I asked you to grant your trust; I will now ask you to show that I own it.

: This is what I had studied in.

: I don't have much of an appetite... but I also don't remember when the last time I had a good meal was.

*Ezra's stomach growls.*

: Sounds like my decision's been made for me.

: Good to know that I own your gut's trust!

*Ezra bites into the food with a "crunch."*

: ... Huh.

: What do you think?

: Well, it tastes a whole lot better than it looks.

: The task was a success, then!

*The salad slides across the screen to the other corner.*

: Like I said, I'll eat with you. The dish tastes greater with allies!

: You didn't have to go through all of this for me, Isol.

: I know I look like I'm in bad shape–

: You are in a shoddy condition, Ezra, you don't just look it. I wasn't going to sit around and let this occur to you without doing a thing to assist.

: Eat; we can talk once your attitude adjusts with the dish.

: ... Sure. That sounds good to me.

*Time passes...*

: This is a shock to you, surely, yet Ghians and Earthlings are not alike.

: Well... yeah, obviously. You're a giant scaly lizard and I'm a hairless ape.

: Yeah, that's one way!

: Another way is that our tastes aren't quite alike, either. Earthling tongues can taste sweet tastes easier than Ghians can, as one instance. Ghians are greater at detecting salts and scents.

: When I was creating the salad, I was guessing at how intensely I should include the unique ingredients. Tilish has a strong, long-lasting relish when it's readied a certain way, and I was trying to dodge that.



: Or I'm starving and I wasn't about to turn away a free meal.

: You can lie all you like; I saw the look in your eyes. You wanted a second dish. I had to hold on tightly to the one I had in case you thought to steal it!

: Heh... you're not far from the truth, I think.



: Heh...

: ...

: ... What day is it, again?

: It's–



: ... My mom and dad were both supposed to come home on Tuesday. The night after you and I spent all night talking downtown.

: ... Only one of them did.



: And you had stayed as you are since you had heard, I take it?

: ... Yeah, I... I didn't have the... the energy to do much of anything. I...

: I'm sorry, this... this got really difficult.

: I understand. There's no need to say anything in addition.

: Ghians treat death... a little distinctly with Earthlings.



: Though, what I understand greater than that is...

: It's not easy setting it to words.

So my theory is likely correct. Isol's parents are dead. They probably passed when she was stuck here during the entire war...



: Don't – don't try to tell me that she 'lived a good life' or that I should 'remember her how she'd want to be remembered' or whatever the hell, okay?

: I've been sitting here, stewing in my own shit, for the last three days straight. I've had every thought you could think of about it. I don't need – I don't need someone telling me how I should think or feel.

I know Ezra's lashing out, but Isol really doesn't deserve this. Especially when she's already got a shaky grasp of the language as it is. And Isol revealing she is, by Earthling standards, middle-aged, reveals quite a bit about her personality and earlier reactions to Carla chiding Ezra for thinking she's "too old" now that her early youth's been spent and wasted on preparing for a war that has ended. Isol is probably looking for a mate or loved one and she's been stuck on a world so far from her own she's desperate. Her sexual aggressiveness and pushiness could stem from her anxiety and insecurity...

: I wouldn't consider it. Sorrow is a thing that we all handle contrarily to each other – that's one thing that Earthlings and Ghians are alike in.

: What I was going to say is that... existence is short.

: I called you earlier today on the account that I hadn't seen or heard you since the week's start, and when I saw you... you were thin, colourless, and so low on energy that you tried to go to rest at six at night.

: I care, Ezra. I consider you an ally. I was arranged to exist on Galilei at the war's start and in the last thirteen years, you're the only non-Ghian that's tried to get closer like this.



: You said that your thoughts were on your doyenne since you got the news – which also says that no thoughts were on you this whole while. You're hurt and it's showing.

: ...

: I shouldn't say things like that. The last thing you need right now is guilt added to guilt.

: Just...

: Call when you're healthier again, okay? We can talk then. We can talk on anything you'd like. Like I said, I excel at listening.

: I...

: ...

: Well, you own the contact data. I'll talk to you soon, okay?





: I didn't tell you to leave.

: Look... thank you for the salad. I didn't realize how badly I needed it. And now that I have some food in my stomach, I'm feeling a little bit better.

: Better enough to know that the last thing I need is for you to say something and then tell me that I shouldn't feel 'guilt added to guilt' for it. I'm not going to let you walk away after saying that.

: Now that the words are coming out of my mouth, I kind of sound like Mom.

: She would give me a mountain of shit if I just let Isol walk away after she fed me.

: ... You said you wanted to hang out tonight. Let's hang out, then. Anything to get my mind off this week.



: We just ate! Something other than food. And other than alcohol; in the state I'm in, I'd throw up the second I smelt it.

: ...



: Do you recall us going to that Starseeker? It was nearly a week ago, I think.

: Uhh... I think so, yeah.

: You asked what I would do if I could use the telescope to see anywhere in the universe, and I said I'd use it to search for Ghi and its star.

: I don't think I can disregard that you said that. It was sweet on you to say.

: Although... at the time, I said it was because Earth will always be there, and I can look at it and visit it whenever I want.

: I'm not so sure I think the same way anymore.

: On that note.

: Do you also recall what we learned while we were there?

: Uhh... no. I'm drawing a blank.

: It's that we can see the Earth through the lens, starting today.

: ... Wait, I learned that before she did. I learned that–

: Oh, whatever, it's not important.

Ezra's confusing being with Nikita and Carla when she learned that, but Isol found out about the Observatory's timing window when Ezra went out with her the day before Nathan's arrival. Grief makes it all a blur.

: You just said that your attitude regarding the Earth and when you'll see it has changed. The window to see the Earth is only ajar this weekend; it'll close again and won't return until nearly a year has gone.

: We could go see it tonight. I would think your nurturer would like to see you, too.

: You kept calling Earth my 'nurturer' back then, too.

: Is that okay?

: No – yes, it's okay. It's just... after everything... that word hits a little differently now, I think.

: ...

: Sure. Let's go to the Observatory.

: Great! Getting out is great exercise, and the change in scenery will adjust your attitude!

: The Starseeker is taking guests all night long; we can slow our stride until we get there and we can slow down while we are there.

: Good, because I'd like to shower and change my clothes, first. I must smell like a sweaty locker room.

: Worse.

: ... How would you know what that smells like?

: I was inside one once. How else?

: I–

: Whatever, just... wait here, alright?

: I wouldn't think on going anywhere.

Isol is a really good person, just being there for Ezra. Giving her food and getting her out of the house is definitely a good idea.

* * *

Databank: Aerodrome Galilei

With the arrival of the Ghians and the interstellar Faster-Than-Light technology they introduced to humanity, earthlings had a reinvigorated interest in exploring their stellar neighborhood, and they did this by establishing settlements across the solar system. First was the Moon; then, they had settled on, and terraformed, Mars; and from there, they established locations elsewhere, primarily on moons orbiting other planets. With Venus's closer proximity to the Sun, it was the perfect planet for a habitable settlement for Ghians.

One such settlement was Aerodrome Galilei, established on the moon Titan, orbiting Saturn. It was named after Galileo, the Italian astronomer that is credited for discovering the rings around Saturn (a Dutch astronomer named Christiaan Huygens is credited with discovering Titan).

Aerodrome Galilei occupies most of the northwstern hemisphere of Titan and is slightly smaller than the country of Canada. As Titan is tidally locked with Saturn, Aerodrome Galilei was constructed on the 'light' side of the moon, facing the planet. The landmass inside the aerodrome is divided into four quadrants, called Sectors; the Sectors are themselves divided into approximately fifty smaller segments called Subsectors; and within the Subsectors are communities such as cities, boroughs, and neighborhoods, referred to as Blocks.

Life on Aerodrome Galilei has been engineered to resemble Earth as closely as possible, namely, the western coast of Canada and the United States. While the soil is engineered, flora such as trees, flowers, and grass are all born straight from seeds that came from Earth. Insects and animals have been imported from Earth for every reason from pollination to pets. The weather and temperature are dynamic and change day-to-day and season-to-season, and the sunlight is natural, amplified by a series of mirrors directing light from the sun directly into Aerodrome Galilei. However... for as large as the aerodrome is, and although the plant life is genuine, the oxygen is still recycled. Day and night rotations are determined by an administrator with a control panel to simulate the moon spinning on its axis on a twenty-four-hour cycle. The water that falls during the rain is real and clean, but the weather and atmospheric pressure causing the rain is manufactured.

Life on an aerodrome off Earth, including Aerodrome Galilei, is generally regarded as 'close enough,' provided you don't think about it too hard.