Page 9 of Xel: Broken Bond
I nodded, aware that there was a huge difference between the two Parliaments. Rendol 4 was a planet on the fringes of Alliance space, with a total population of one hundred million people, and our government, while capable and efficient, was restricted by our small population size and the scarcity of resources on a planet that had only been partially terraformed. The Alliance, by comparison, was a massive conglomerate of seven different species, along with about a dozen peace treaties with other star systems, which had laid claim to an area of space incorporating about three hundred stars and forty colonised planets. Which made me realise that by now, Aiden probably knew everything about me, right down to the colour of my underwear.
But he hadn’t known about my scars. That was interesting.
“The other part of the screening process is this conversation. I’m here to explain Xel’s needs and answer any questions you have, but also to just get a feel for who you are and how you see the world. As I said on the phone, the fact that you run an animal sanctuary is a large point in your favour. But before weget into the details of Xel’s requirements,” he went on, his tone turning diffident, “may I just address the elephant in the room, as it were? What I mean is, would I be correct in assuming that your scarring is the reason you didn’t want to come to the hotel?”
I blinked at him, not entirely sure how to respond. Having someone so bluntly – but also politely – reference the very obvious disfiguration on my face was unexpected. Most people went to a big effort to pretend it wasn’t there, avoiding referring to it, but also awkwardly trying to avoid looking at it… which also meant they tried to avoid looking atme. But Aiden was suffering from none of that awkwardness, instead choosing to acknowledge reality head-on.
“It is,” I said, my voice not quite as steady as I would have liked. “I realise this is an inconvenience for you, but…”
But the cold, hard reality was that anytime I went out in public, people stared at me like I was some sort of freak from a horror movie. And for all that I hated it, I understood why. The entire right side of my face was scarred, my right ear mostly missing and my right eye misshapen, the scarring pulling the edge of my eye closed so that it seemed like I was permanently squinting.
The scars continued all down my torso and my right arm. I was missing the pinky finger on my right hand, and the skin over the back of my hand was covered in discoloured ridges.
Aiden sighed. “I take no pleasure in prying into other people’s private lives. But at the same time, it’s my duty to ensure that the dimari under my care have safe and stable homes. So on that basis, could I ask you to explain what happened?” The question came out gently, a request, rather than a demand.
But even so, it pushed all the wrong buttons. I hated talking about this. “I would have thought that would be in whatever records you looked up about me.” Fuck, I was already turningsnarky, and he hadn’t even been rude. At some point in my life, I was going to have to learn to rein in my temper.
Aiden didn’t seem the slightest bit flustered by my attitude. “What I was looking for was obvious red flags; criminal activity, civilian court cases, that sort of thing. I don’t pry into people’s medical history unless there’s a specific reason to.”
Despite my apprehension, I was starting to like Aiden. He stuck to the point, didn’t get defensive, and didn’t object to my bluntness. He either had the patience of a saint, or he’d been working with idiots for a very long time and had got plenty of practice at it.
I sighed. I was going to have to answer the question, but I could make it as brief and factual as possible. “My parents died six years ago. My sister was sixteen at the time. I was twenty. I was given legal custody of her, at least until she finished school. When she was seventeen, our house caught fire. An electrical fault.” I flexed my damaged hand. “This happened while I was trying to save her.”
Aiden was silent for a moment. “I take it she didn’t survive?” he asked cautiously, when I didn’t say anything more.
“No, she didn’t,” I confirmed. And that was all I was fucking well going to say about it.
Aiden hesitated again, then pressed on. “You completed an ecology degree at the Hon University,” he said, smoothly switching topic. “Majoring in ecosystem management with a terraforming focus. Do you have any plans to-”
“No,” I interrupted him, knowing where the question was going. “I’m perfectly happy working here at the sanctuary. And given that there’s not likely to be a miracle remedy for stray animals needing homes, I don’t imagine I’ll be out of a job any time in the near future.”
He nodded, studiously examining the tiles by his feet. I felt uneasy, like I was failing to measure up to whatever standardAiden was expecting of me. After a heavy silence, he looked up at me again. “If Xel was to come and live here with you, what do you envision his average day would look like?”
My eyebrows rose as I tried to imagine him living here. Given that I knew very little about him, there wasn’t much to build a picture with. “I’m guessing at the moment that I’d put him on the roster to work here, help take care of the animals, clean out the stalls, that sort of thing. He can learn to work reception with Bo, if he’s interested in that, or if that’s too stressful, then I wouldn’t force him to do the customer service side of things. I don’t know a whole lot about what a dimari needs right at the moment, so I’m happy to adapt that to whatever’s most likely to suit him. But I’ve got a spare bedroom in the house where he can live, the government pays the wages, so he’d have a steady income, and he’d have two or three days off each week to go into the city, or work on a hobby, or whatever. It’s not a fancy life, but it gives him something useful to do and lets him earn some money.” I watched Aiden as I finished speaking, feeling oddly like I was waiting for his approval. Or dreading his criticism of the idea. I found it rather unfair that he expected me to put all my cards on the table before giving me any hints about what Xel actually needed.
To my relief, Aiden’s eyes crinkled in a smile, and he seemed to relax a little. “That sounds like a fine starting point. As you’ve said, there are a few adjustments we’d need to make, but it’s a solid foundation. There is a more complicated side to all of this, however.” His smile faded, and he was back to the stern military officer. “Dimari have a few specific psychological needs, some of which can make people fairly uncomfortable.”
I snorted, though perhaps that wasn’t the appropriate response to his statement. “Uncomfortable? I once spent six hours straight calming down an abused dog so that a vet could treat his wounds. Last winter I had to go swimming in a leech-infested pond to rescue a stranded donkey. And I’ve jacked off an Eastern Crested Reef-Lizard in front of a class of college students to collect semen for a breeding program. I think I’ve got ‘uncomfortable’ covered.” And that didn’t even include the discomfort I had to deal with every time I went out in public.
Now it was Aiden’s turn to snort. “I’ve heard those lizards have rather large, um…”
I grinned. “Yeah, they do.” The Reef-Lizards were some of the larger lizards native to Rendol 4, about twice the size of a domestic cat. And a few of the species had notably long penises – in the case of the Eastern Crested Reef-Lizard, about as long as his entire body. Demonstrating the technique in front of a bunch of students trying to take the lesson seriously had been memorable, to say the least.
But then Aiden sobered. “Seriously, though, the issue with dimari is that they very much see themselves as slaves. They have a deeply intrenched need to please their masters, and given our own aversion to slavery, a lot of people find it difficult to place themselves in that role. Dimari need direction. They need to be praised for their work. They need to be rewarded. I’ve developed an extensive instruction manual to help people understand how it all works…” He tapped at his comm, and a moment later, mine beeped. I opened the message to see that it contained a lengthy document which no doubt detailed all of those nuanced requirements. “But there’s no point in continuing unless you’re prepared to put aside a lot of your ingrained notions about fairness and decency, and work with Xel on his level.”
“If you want me to exploit him for his labour, I’m not going to do it,” I stated flatly. “Slavery is illegal for a reason-”
“I absolutely agree,” he interrupted me. “I’m not talking about exploiting him. I’m saying that dimari take pleasure in serving their masters. But if you’re determined to denyhim the opportunity to serve you, then you’re going to make him miserable. He should have all the same rights and considerations as any normal employee – fair pay, suitable meal breaks, time off if he gets sick – but he’s going to want to know that you’re pleased with his work. He’s going to want praise. If you give him a sandwich for lunch, it’s not just food. It’s a reward for his hard work that morning. A lot of people feel it’s a very manipulative way to get the dimari to do things, but that’s the level at which they understand the world.”
I considered that. “Maybe I’m missing the point here, but that sounds fairly simple. All I have to do is tell him that caring for the animals is the best way of serving me, then tell him that I’m very happy with the result, and he gets a warm, fuzzy glow in knowing that he’s pleased me, right? But at the same time, he gets food and shelter and a pay packet for doing those same things, which satisfies my need to obey Rendol’s labour laws.”
Aiden tilted his head, like he was trying to solve a puzzle. “You’re getting the hang of this a fair bit quicker than most people do,” he said with a faint smile.
I felt myself smile and reflected that it had been a long time since I’d smiled so many times in one day. “I work with animals,” I pointed out. “They all have the same basic needs – food, shelter, safety – but they all have different ways of expressing those needs. I guess I’m just used to adapting to the way each of them works. And so far as Xel is concerned, so long as I’m not harming him with any of these techniques, then I see no reason not to follow instructions.”
Aiden nodded slowly, and I got the odd impression there was something he wasn’t telling me. But then again, our afternoon was far from over.
“Right then. There are going to be more details to discuss, but I think the next step probably needs to be introducing you to Xel. Does that sound all right?”