I checked Becky’s temp again. “Can I do anything else for you, Becky? I never saw you this sick!” The thermometer beeped. “It’s 103.5. Should I call an ambulance?”

“No. If I start seeing things, maybe.” What if she gets sick again? Miserable COVID. I’ve just got a little sniffle. Elsie’s not sick. Becky lost her sense of smell yesterday. She just wanted to smell a flower, she complained the other day to us. Not in January. Wish I knew first aid or something! It would happen to Becky. She’s the pretty one. Men watch her, the way her blond hair floats around her heart-shaped face. Graceful like a princess. We joke that she’ll find a handsome prince and move to some foreign country. My auburn hair is dry and this haircut isn’t working. I look like that end of a broom. Freckles aren’t attractive. My green eyes are like olives, not a pretty color.

“This is Emperor Ry’nao, speaking earlier today about the spaceship they found in Tullahoma, Tennessee. I’m Ryan White, reporting.”

“We think there may be a slaver’s mine somewhere in your solar system. The ship was the size of a compact car and had no occupant. We are looking for the person.” Glad we live in Atlanta!

“Every country on Earth gave us permission to run progs to prevent violence. We ran a test in Atlanta, Georgia earlier today.”

“Here is a tape of an encounter with a man who wanted to beat a woman in an alley in downtown Atlanta this morning.”

“No! Get away from me!”

“You haven’t got anyplace to run—hey!” Sounds of a struggle made me flinch.

“As you can see, the man couldn’t hit her and she was able to escape. The program also offers to bring a healer to the person, for free, and this lady did. Zheien healers touch a person’s head—”

A knock at the door startled me.

“I’ll get it. You expecting company, Elsie?” I need to go rescue Elsie. If she took a self-defense course, she’d be the one to defeat a bad guy. Not wimpy me.

“Not at 10:30 in the morning! Be careful.” She held that hot pack on her face. Poor Becky!

I rushed to the door. Elsie was glued to my TV I hooked up to my laptop. We’re all excited about SETI! Maybe there’ll be a handsome alien on the other side of this door. I smirked. Elsie’s too shy to answer the door. She knows I’ll just rush to it. How do I know it’s not someone out to steal something? Probably a salesman.

Pulled it open. Tried not to show my shock. Two handsome fellas in white suits! White sashes from shoulder to hip with sparkling pins. What’s that mean?

I shivered in my T-shirt and sweats. “Oh, hi!” Cold January day, but sunny. Morning sun made it hard to see their faces.

The taller one bowed like a ballet dancer, one leg far behind. “May I see Becky? I am Antomias, Diplomat Of Esta Faho.” He held a vase of yellow roses, Becky’s absolute favorite!

The other one had a mixed vase of flowers including petunias, my absolute favorite! He also bowed.“Bedelia, I am Jos Keil, Diplomat Of Esta Faho. These are for you.”

“Oh, thanks! These are beautiful! Antomias, maybe you want to give Becky these roses yourself. Elsie?” She leaned her husky self where she could see ‘em and nodded. I wished they had something for her! “Jos, you can put those on the table, if you would.”

“This way! Becky, these’ll cheer you up!” I led the handsome fella in. I closed the door behind them. Becky saw those roses, tried to sit up and she put her head down, fast!

He somehow put the huge vase on her rickety white bedside table without knocking over anything and held a hand on her forehead. She wasn’t as deathly pale.

But, I noticed their black eyes. Like they were all pupil in the white!

“Nae be frightened. Becky, you are very unwell! I wish to bring a healer to you, may I?”

She looked in his eyes and got a blank stare.

I got scared, but the other fella took my hand. “We will nae harm you, Bedelia.” He got tears in those black marble eyes.

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I walked down rows of men. Staring men who barely kept their twin-toed feet. I volunteered at Friends, a tiny slave rescue place in Little 5 Points that used to be a bakery. I helped a grandmotherly lady teach Elshars how to bake. They look like us except for the blue eyes that go dark when they hurt or get mad.

Sometimes they got hurt Zheien, the twin-fingered people. I learned the herbs they carry in those yellow pyramids, and this lady healer said I was good. That I should adopt one. I’d complained about my horrible job as secretary to a mean Elshar. Never told anyone at Friends how I found someone’s adopted slave sitting in the bus shelter. His slaver passed out and I sneaked him onto a bus. Took him to Becky.

Told him how she had cancer and needed someone to take care of her. Every time I went to visit her, that social worker gave me more of a hassle, and my boss threatened to fire me. Somehow, he knew where I went. I just wanted to see her one last time, and I rode that bus home every day. Tom could see my memories. He offered to stay with her. Because of him, I was able to get into the stairwell without that grumpy Elshar guard seeing us. She was on the third floor.

I felt awful. Becky wasn’t able to keep anything down, I knew from the tube hanging out of her mouth. I left Tom with her and sneaked down to the bottom floor. Five Elshars felt me up before I made my way down the soup line and asked for the way out. I always played dumb to get a free plate. This way, they had no way to know I wasn’t a Merit Colony refugee, too. I was, for a few months until I got that awful job.

At Friends, I could work as an apprentice healer. I quit my awful job. They let me off work there to go get an aandat. A diplomatic aide went with me. We stopped by Merit and they told me Becky wasn’t there any more. I planned to take them to Friends, where I had a cubicle. But, we went to the Spaceport and Molly’s was gone. You have to go on that ship to get an aandat.

On the way back, we stopped by Adopt-A-Slave. Keiley was in the first group. Blond curls like Tom’s, but his were darker. He was shorter and thinner. But, he smiled and I chose him.

The agent offered me an apartment. I didn’t expect that! He ‘taught’ me about Zheien and I realized I knew a lot more than he did! Played dumb. Keiley sweated while he talked.

That Elshar made an appointment to come check on Keiley in a week. Gave me the key and his red doctor coin and a coin with my food allowance, just like I had in Merit. Something wasn’t right about this.

I took Keiley to the clothing room and that agent wrapped his feet tightly with purple strips of cloth. Chose a pair of tennis shoes that were thin. Insisted he wear a slave tunic of gray cloth that didn’t cover his knees.

When I chose a coat for him, he put it back. “He’s been tortured. You can’t be nice to him. Slopfah! Stand up straight!”

He did, and he shook all over. On the way home, we walked to a tiny restaurant and I tried to get him a doughnut. That agent’s holo fussed at me. “Didn’t I give you enough food? Take him home now!”

For the next six months, I had that stupid holo to boss us around. I couldn’t go back to Friends. Keiley slept in my bed—a mattress on the floor. It was an efficiency apartment. There were ducks in the pond, and Keiley made friends with ‘em. But, the doctor gave him too many water treatments. That last time, his blue eyes stared up at me. “Bedelia, feel nae guilt. I am to die, but is nae your fault. There is too much nitrogen in Earth’s air.”

I knew that. Keiley lost weight steadily that six months. I couldn’t give him anything but amta. As I held onto him, he mentioned friends he would see again. “My parents wait for me. I feel their arms about me when you hold me, Bedelia. Pain ends soon.”

I smoothed his curls and green sparkles made a cloud. I never saw anyone die until that day. The doctor gave him a half-glass of water. Usually it was a fourth. Keiley didn’t hesitate, but smiled that trembly smile and tipped the glass. Didn’t swallow it, just let it fall down his throat. I let him lie on the bed. He thought he just went to sleep.

He gasped, and his body convulsed! Didn’t last very long. When his body went limp, green sparkles made puddles on the wooden floor.

I cried. But, he didn’t groan. I stared at his chest and it didn’t move.

I looked up and I was staring at Jos Keil’s chest. Then, moved my eyes to his face. “Are you well, Bedelia?” His voice had such concern in it, I smiled.

“I’m okay.” That’s what I said when stasis snapped on and the doctor coin vanished. Talking to myself, to convince me. Sure.

Outside, there were ducks. I got my stale bread I’d saved, just the end of the loaf, and went out to feed the ducks. Thought about getting on the bus, to go to Adopt-A-Slave again, to get another one. But, I hid by a boulder as two Elshars threw a Zheien down the embankment into the pond! When they left, I had Nespa. We went to Molly’s. There, I found out Keiley was still alive. This is Keiley! He’s younger. So am I.

Tom lifted Becky. That’s Tom that I took to her! “We go to healers, Becky.” So gentle. She leaned her head against him like she did that day. She’s not thin.

I clung to Keiley’s hand. Tom nodded for a green swirl of light. That’s a dimportal. Through it, I saw a crowd. Later, I’ll think. I smiled and held onto Keiley’s hand as we stepped, as warm resistance like bath water pulled at me, then a cool breeze blew on me.

We stood on a very crowded ship.