Epilogue

Classes and my normal ‘work’ at my part time job went smoothly, I’m sure some wondered why I didn’t quit, after all I found an ‘important’ job. But I considered it part of my study of human dynamics. They were a unique cultural element and this was the only way to study them.

Creative Writing continued and I’d see Lisa on a daily basis, in the days ahead I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that we would become good friends. All those little things though, they’re stories for another day.

Captain Bonny Red’s misadventures would become near legend in their own right, many of them I would be caught up in… wholly against my will, as this volume comes to its end, let me tell you this about the first evening taking her and her crew on the town… it was a night to remember. By then every member of the crew became a celebrity on Earth, after all, they and the embassy security teams were the only ones capable of playing Ballyball, and with the help of the late Percival T. Barnum’s organization, administered by his heir, Teresa, it reached a global audience and promised to spread much, much farther in the very near future. Complete biographies… less the parts that were to be kept secret back then, were composed, and Captain Bonny became the most renowned of them all even without her other misadventures.

So much more remains to be said, after all, it is a fifty year stay that I’ve written about, and I debated deeply in my hearts about where to close this volume out.

In the end it was my Creative Writing teacher who gave me the answer I sought. She would tell me this, “You should always end a story with something that makes a person want to read the next one, every end bears the seed of the new beginning, and you want everyone who reads the last word, to long for the next one more than they long for their next breath.”

So with that in mind, I will tell you what happened the very next day after a house full of rooooing Walkers and their guards disturbed the whole bloody neighborhood…

I was seated at the Heine Brothers Coffee House on the corner of Bardstown road, enjoying one of the local mocha specialties when I felt the glare in my direction. Like eyes were burning a hole in the back of my head. I turned around and saw what was totally unexpected.

A female of my species. This by itself wasn’t impossible. Captain Bonny Red was very female, and so were a number of her crew members. But those were all hard bitten merchant sailors. Or ‘gentle-folk-of-fortune’ as their Captain would put it.

But this one? She was closer to being like me. Smaller, softer looking, like an academic or just an everyday member of my species.

She wasn’t however, one that I knew, and that set her apart. That and the way she glared at me.

I quickly spun around to avoid looking at her further and focused on my coffee and my datapad. 'At least she's at another table, but do I know her? Should I approach her? No. She's just minding her own business. Maybe I remind her of somebody. Somebody she does not like.'

I made a point of ignoring her, burying my focus into my work and my drink, the comfortable cool air of the shop and the light instrumental music that played in the background.

Or so I tried to do. But her glare did not stop.

I don’t know quite when she got up, but it couldn’t have been long, I hadn’t even finished half my cup when I felt her standing over me. I shifted my attention to the digital table surface and tapped the menu option, I scrolled through, waiting for her to leave.

Instead of leaving, she spoke, "You finally see another of our species, and you don't even bother to ask what I'm doing here? You don't introduce yourself? Nothing?" She said, and at that, I had to stop pretending she wasn’t there.

“I’ve seen others of our kind here.”

“Of course you have, outlier.” She said, and I felt the bite of her intended use of the word.

"I'm sorry?" He asked, "What-"

"You are the one who goes by the name 'Bailey' here, aren't you?" She asked as if for an instant she was unsure she had the right one.

I gave a dumb nod and she sat down opposite me without so much as a ‘by your leave’ or ‘may I join you’.

“Can I help you? Do I know you?” I asked, whatever her issue was, it was clearly with me.

"You have the nerve to ask that?" Her glare intensified enough that her teeth were bared for a second longer than they needed to be when she spoke. "You take my spot at the University, then get a trip to Earth to study humans, and screw it up so badly that travel to Earth is prohibited for civilians and nonmarine personnel, other than the ones you gatekeep, thus sabotaging my entire planned career path... and you have the nerve to not even say hello, let alone know who I am?!"

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"Yes. I suppose the answer is yes." I admitted, I had no idea what she was on about, and I suppose what she said was true, so I had no choice but to acknowledge it.

I then tapped my choice on the menu, deciding to order a bacon and egg croissant since, angry dlamisa or not, I was definitely hungry.

She was tapping her foot on the floor while she glared at me.

"I picked up the name 'Bau' when I got here. I think it was some kind of a pun when a human heard me say 'wow' over one of their architectural wonders. Just call me that."

"So... Bau, I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about? And are you going to order something? It's considered rude to visit a dining establishment and take up a table while not eating." I asked, I tried to place her face, but all that happened was a tickled memory about Captain Bonny saying she brought a single female dlamisan passenger with her on her trip to Earth.

Still, she seemed to know me. But that was a one way street.

'She clearly seems to know me, did we go to the same interview?' My memory came up empty, but my criticism of her lack of an order seemed to fluster her enough that she quickly started tapping items on the menu before settling in.

"So you know their customs at least." She said, her glare softening a little, "But still, you have no idea what you cost me. How hard I had to work to get here." Bau seemed to practically shake with anger, her tail bristled and her scent was full of fury.

"No, I don't." I admitted, "I have absolutely no idea."

My admission did not mollify her.

“I joined a merchant ship, the Red Spark. I paid every credit I’d saved over years to get here, everything I had and that was cheap. I got lucky with even that much, I figured that if I joined a crew with an outlier Captain, sooner or later it would come here. I got even luckier that it was sooner rather than later, and I studied the local language for their capital region, I don’t even have a translator implant like you!” She growled and tilted her head to show that there was no mark beside her ear where it would have been inserted.

“That was hard. English is an insane language. I don’t have a host family to pave my way to an easy success. I’ve had to work for it all.” she leveled her arm at me with her unwavering finger far closer to me than I was comfortable with. I inched back in my chair by a finger width or two.

“But you watch me, Bailey. I will surpass you. I will rise to the top of Terran studies. I, not you, will become the galaxy’s leading expert on this species. You got in my way enough as it is!” Bau was seething when she said it, but I was no less mystified than before.

“I still don’t know exactly who you are…” I said, and she fell silent, staring at me as if I’d grown a second head on my shoulders.

“You… you infuriating male!” She snapped as soon as she could form words again. “You’re even more annoying than I remember!”

“You’re not helping.” I said, I was trying to be sincere, and for a moment at least we had quiet when the human barista approached and set small saucers down in front of each of us.

The rich smell of bacon, eggs, and fresh baked bread was enough to at least buy us a few moments of silence, and help her to settle down.

“My mother didn’t have the means to get me into the programs you got. My mother didn’t take the time to get me into the choice packs that would fasttrack me through to a higher education. My mother didn’t do any of the things for me that yours did for you.” She growled and drummed her fingers on the table while I ate.

“Your food is going to get cold. It tastes a lot better, hot.” I cautioned her, she huffed and threw the whole thing into her mouth at once. “And how do you know what my parent did for me?”

“Infuriating…” She growled again and accepted the medium sized paper cup the barista brought to her a moment later.

I cocked my head toward her and waited.

“You may have been young when I left, but I can hardly believe you don’t remember your own sister.” She said and leveled her steady gaze at me.

I don’t know what I expected her to say, but it wasn’t that.

Nor do I know what she expected me to say, and we had that much in common, so I said the only thing I could think of at the time.

“Would you like to join my family and I for dinner?”

Her jaw dropped, then closed, then opened. “Infuriating…” She said and drummed her fingers on the table.

Her stomach growled.

It was the only noise between us.

“Yes.” She answered, albeit reluctantly.

Thus began the next stage in a life I never dreamed of living until I had it, and wouldn’t have traded for anything in the world, even if it was a little chaotic.

And if I am being completely honest, and I should be, given the spirit of this text, I kind of liked it that way. It was enough to make a boring academic wonder if maybe… just maybe…

I was an outlier after all.