Deb hugged him. “Mom, Molly’s got a fella!” Then, she startled. Her hug nearly pulled Greg off his feet. She usually doesn’t hug him, he’s so formal, but he smiled, big! Mrs. Bruce frowned at me. “Aren’t you a little young for that?” I can't tell her that I married him at 16. Stay cool.
I smiled. “Well, I guess I’m a little young to be taking college classes, have my RN and work experience, and go to high school, but hey, Ben is already a diplomat. He’s very smart and he’s only 15, which is a little young to be a diplomat, right?” He went to Sigan Mas at 14 with his best friend, Eap. He’s First Prince, and all of them go to school early and finish four years in one year. How do I know he’s a full diplomat and not an aide? He’s wearing his Challenge Pin. Only diplomats have those. It sparkled like a little blue sun! He’s got a lot of pins, to be so young! Every one is earned, and a symbol of an accomplishment. Ben noticed me looking, and oranged. Zheien are modest to a fault.
Deb is an RN in a BSN/MSN program about to finish, and works in Obstetrics at Grady Hospital.
Mrs. Bruce nodded. “I suppose you’re right. I forget you’re twelve because you sound grown.” Her hair's still brown but getting some silver. I convinced her to let it show. Mom's hair is ruined because of all the dye and perms. She's old-fashioned, Ben, I thought loudly.
He bowed to her with one leg behind and that impressed her. “My father is also a diplomat, and my mother. They taught me, and I attended college abroad to learn Diplomatics and many languages. We represent the Colony of Fhiah. Not many diplomats earn this title at my age. Most are 20 at home, but there, legal age is 16, which I shall be in April on the 12th. Now Molly and I opened a formal Courtship.“ I heard the triple beats of his heart and hoped Deb and her mom didn’t!
“Wow! You sure can pick ‘em, Molly! Classy dresser, too.” She looked over the blue pinstripe suit with vest that he wore, and his sash with many pins laid neatly over it. So handsome! Blond curls and greenish-yellow eyes, but to her, they looked green because of his telepathy. Earthans don’t have neon green eyes!
“Thank you, Mrs. Bruce. You are too kind.”
I smiled. “I will be 13 on Feb 22nd.”
Binneas looked at Ryee. King Ryonne~, do you think King Theaspaura would allow us? His color paled. I kept smelling licorice, which worried me.
I speak with him. Ea, he will. He worries for your health, Binneas. Any king in Zheiea would allow it. But, I think Ry'nao wishes to avoid controversy during discussions in the UN about the Alliance Treaty. Molly, you are welcome to join us on our ship while we negotiate with your parents and Earth officials.
“The Pedersens offered to let me move in with them. They became foster parents with State Of Georgia, when Mr. Pedersen finishes their basement. But, their supervisor warned 'em that my social worker might not choose them because they live near here. My mom and Toni don't get along. She's always bugging Toni about buying one of her houses, or getting her friends to buy one, or giving her lists of her friends' phone numbers. Like she does me!”
Tan nodded. “If Molly no longer lives at home, this strengthens our case. Mrs. and Miss Bruce, I am Molly's lawyer.” He explained what he knew of how Fern Brown treated her. The Bruces added a lot more.
Mrs. Bruce frowned. “I often let Molly stay at our house while she waits for her parents to come home. She does all her homework, then reads ahead in all her subjects!
“When Greg comes over, she's asking him questions about biochemistry. He told me his graduate students don't ask him as many questions as she does! When her teachers have a workday, she goes to work with him and he shows her his research and how to do lab work. He says she's good!”
Greg laughed. “If I had a part-time position open and I could get her father's permission, I would hire her!” He lost the smile. “But, I think he would accuse me of impropriety.”
Mrs. Bruce looked angry. “I'd give him a piece of my mind! He absolutely grills Molly about what she does at school around boys. I take her shopping for modest clothes, which she likes. I've never seen her even look at the kind of things her mother wears. Most girls her age just look at what's fashionable and don't think about the attention that gets them. Or, they want it. Not Molly! She'll ask me to let's go to another store if she can't find anything modest enough.
“She looks at the price tag, then tries to find something cheaper, even though I tell her not to worry about that. Nathan makes good money, and he wants me to do it. Her mother brings her clothes she won't wear. Throws out all the stuff I buy her. I just take her shopping more.
“So does Toni. The Pedersens have a lot more flak from Fern because they're Mormon and she thinks their religion is evil. I've tried to explain to her that the Mormons on TV still think it's 1898. Toni's church gave up polygamy when Utah became a state. They only had it because women didn't have rights to own property!
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“I love the way Toni's daughter Angel dresses, and she's larger than Molly. When she outgrows something, she gives it to Molly. Like those straight-leg jeans and Save The Planet T-shirt. That shade of yellow just sets off your red hair, Molly.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Bruce! I love these planet earrings you gave me.” I put my finger behind the right one. So cool!
She laughed. “Those were my sister's, from the first Earth Day. I'll have to look and see if I have any more.”
“Your sister's? But those are heirlooms!” I didn't know. Wow. Her younger sister died at 15.
“Oh, Honey, I have a lot of my sister's things I treasure more. But my favorite is her old photo albums. Those are worth more to me than diamonds.”
“I really enjoyed you sharing your sister with me. I wish I could have met her.” I sighed, and thought of my father's mother, who sang like an angel. Deb’s mother and grandmother sing like that. Deb’s parents and her parents are all people I’d love to have in my family. Dad's parents were loving people, like Deb’s parents, not like Mom's family. Poor thing, being raised by them.
I squeezed Ben's hand. “We’re going to tell my parents about our courtship soon.” I trembled and he put his arm around me. His hand’s freezing! I kneaded it.
“I will help you all that I can, Love.”
“Thanks, Ben!”
“Oh, I shouldn’t be so rude! I’m Esther Bruce. Are you Ben’s mother?” She took Adia's hand.
Suddenly, everything that happened in that other future showed to Mrs. Bruce, Deb, and Greg.
Deb cried because her father had a heart attack and died. Briahh, Greg’s brother died and Greg nearly died of grief. They’re aliens, too!
Suddenly, I realized I knew things about Greg and his brother, Briahh, too. Greg helped my miracle healer, Pirad, in my healer colony. My healer colony? Memories kept coming. That's what Adia meant, about many people enjoying my voice. I'm gonna be queen of it! And, heal a lot of former slaves! Greg needed a lot of healing from me—
Deb’s mother got cancer shortly afterwards. Deb’s grief over her mother’s death was terrible to watch. She and Greg bought a house not far from here. But I went to visit and it was for sale! Greg brought his family and they tried to change him back to Ty’nirrhan but it was too late. They also changed Deb’s genetics to try to make her Ty’nirrhan. She became a slaver healer until they were left to die. I found this out long after I founded Rainbow.
Unaltered Ty’nirrhans can put out complicated scents and change their skin color. Their faces are blurred because they constantly change, it’s part of their language and the mindlink they all share.
The other altered Ty’nirrhans came to find anyone left behind and took Greg and Deb to live on their colony, on Mars. The colony had to flee slavers and came to Ryee's planet, but many committed suicide when they found out this new home was mostly desert and feared slow death from thirst! Greg was very disabled intellectually from what his parents did to him. All of the altered Ty’nirrhans used a process that’s meant to be for a few weeks. They’ve all been on Earth since the 40’s!
Their father’s a slaver. Did he have plans to take slaves from here? The device they use to send information fakes a radio signal and using it gives them cancer. Greg’s father left them all here to die, but decided some of them might be useful as slaves, to experiment on any Earthans who came with them. I shuddered. Greg’s brother-in-law in Scotland died from that. Deb survived and became half-Ty’nirrhan.
Deb’s mother fainted, but we caught her! Greg needed healing from Ryee because reminders of his former life injured him. Deb backed away. “Who are you people? What did you do to my mom?”
Ben hummed and she revived. Startled.
“I ne wish to frighten you! Adia sees futures. When memories come, they are unstoppable.” Ryee sat on the sidewalk and held Greg on his lap. Hummed. “O, I am very sorry, my friend! Ne think, but rest.” Poor Adia looked so dismayed!
He cried loudly. “I love Deb, but she will not marry me, now!”
When Deb saw her mother stand up, she came back and took Greg’s hand. Maybe she saw more memories, afterwards, like I did. “Oh, Greg, I’m sorry. I do want to marry you, but we don’t have to go there, do we?”
He looked down. “Briahh always said we cannot! But Earth is not safe for us. He is dying, and I work to find a solution—”
“Dying? Are you sick, too?” She hugged him. So did her mother!
“We have a Bisillipian healer, Pirad, who knows Ty’nirrhan healing. He thinks he can cure your brother, and you also. Wish you to see him?” Ryee hugged him.
“Yes! I must go to Briahh.” Greg was still pale. His hand shook.
“I want to go, too!” I stood, and my skates rolled me forward.
Ryee looked around. “We may port to our ship, if you are not frightened. There is green light, then we stand there.” He stood with Greg in his arms. Greg kept a hand on his forehead. Ryee kept humming.
“Sounds like fun!” I looked up at the full moon and said a quick prayer of thanks. I'll marry Ben and go to Rainbow! Not many stars in the city. I did see Orion.
We all nodded, and we ported. The whoosh startled me even though I was ready for it, and Ben’s hand went even colder! I rubbed the back of his head and it was cold, too! Like we stepped into warm bath water, then a cool breeze blew on us. Ben shivered. Now we stood in Pirad’s green lab, much as it was in Rainbow.