I didn’t answer; I just turned my attention back to the shuttle. I couldn’t see Aisha, but maybe she’d boarded while I’d looked away.
“I’ve been reading about monosexes,” e said, sitting next to me. “Boys, girls… they were almost never friends. They didn’t understand each other well enough, they were taught to want different things… It was really a scary idea, not being friends with your lover. I was really glad we’d gotten past that.” I said nothing. “E’s not going to stay, you know.”
I saw a figure in grey, slightly shorter than the others, walking toward the ramp, and reached for my nocs. It was Aisha, and she looked around before sliding up the ramp and into the ship. “I thought we were friends,” said Morgan. “We were friends for a long time, since we were kids. I thought we might even be lovers, one day. You know, you hurt me pretty badly, dumping me like that.”
“I’m sony,” I said, quietly.
“Especially dumping me for er,” e said, with some real bitterness in er voice. “A monosex. Someone who’s not even complete. How do you think that made me feel, knowing I couldn’t compete with half a person?”
“She’s not half a person,” I replied, dully.
Morgan shrugged, as the first bus pulled away and another crowd of al-Goharans filed into the shuttle. “Well, e’ll be happier with er own people.”
I opened my book: no new messages. Morgan opened er jacket as the sun broke through the clouds. “So, what happens now?”
I looked at er for the first time that day. “We’re friends,” I said, gently. “You’re one of the best friends I ever had, and I’m sony I hurt you.”
E smiled, and shrugged. I leaned over and kissed er. “And I’m going to miss you,” I said, and ran toward the shuttle, yelling “Wait!” at the top of my lungs.
The pilot was Jessi Vokes, Teri’s mother, and e knew that I was still nearly twenty weeks short of turning ten—but e also knew that there wouldn’t be another ship leaving for nearly four years. Faced with this dilemma and a strict schedule, e called my mother, who—to my astonishment—told er that I had er permission to leave, and woke Kris and Rene so we could say goodbye. Perhaps fortunately, fathers don’t get a vote in these matters. We lifted off only a few seconds behind schedule, and docked with Olivia with time to spare.
The human crew here are doing their best to keep the mafs and the Muslims apart, so I haven’t seen Aisha in a week—and, fortunately, her father hasn’t seen me. But I have seen Nerifar, and Chuh’hom, and I hope to see some Stigrosc when they’ve finished shedding their skins. The ship’s library is even better than the one on daVinci, and full of recent data about the planets we’ll visit.
The atmosphere on Marlowe is rich in neon and the aurora look like waterfalls of blood, especially during the season they call Not-and-Live. Aisha and I will legally become adults there, long before Isis arrives. I think I could be happy staying on Marlowe, despite the weather, but if Aisha decides to continue on her hajj, I’ll follow. They say Avalon is as beautiful as Earth was between the Ice Ages, but if Aisha doesn’t want to stay there, either… well, I’ve always wanted to see Earth. And after Earth, we have time. And worlds enough.