“You see, Skarrians have special abilities that are given to us by the waters of our home planet. It’s all very woo, woo magic.” He waves his arms around as he says this, earning a skeptical look from me. They expect me to believe this, but they’re using terms like ‘woo, woo magic’? He turns to Eric. “Will you do the honors of pouring the coffee?” It’s been placed on a table at the side of the room.
“Sure,” says Eric. He turns, and while still sitting on the couch, gestures to the coffee pot. It floats up and moves toward the cups, steadily tipping over to pour coffee into each one. Out of my control, my mouth drops open.Holy shit, telekinesis! Or drugs? Could there be some kind of hallucinogenic in the air? That would be some next-level crazy shit.
“Milk?” he asks me, one eyebrow raised.
“Ye—yes, please,” I reply with a gulp. Another little jug floats to one of the cups, and milk pours out. The cup then lifts and floats closely enough that I can reach up and grab it. “Cool!” I exclaim.
“Is that proof enough for you?” William casually asks, leaning back with his arms stretched out along the back of the sofa. “Or would you like a more dramatic demonstration? I’m sure we could come up with something.” There’s a smirk on his face that fits his younger guy appearance, but it’s definitely not an expression I’d expect to see on mygrandfather.
“Holy shit! I can’t believe you can do that. Can all Skarrians? Were my parents Skarrians? Wow, I just …” I start to stammer, the words tripping over themselves as that malfunctioning common sense tries to kick back to life. Surely this can’t be real? I look around for invisible wires. I mean, weareat a circus. Am I really supposed to take everything they tell me at face value? Instant belief is not really my thing; being skeptical is much more my jam. “I just don’t know what to ask first, but I guess it’s safe to say that maybe there’s more here than I thought there was.” My heart rushes with emotion. I’m not sure if it’s excitement or terror, but adrenaline is certainly pumping its way through my system.
John gestures to his own cup, making it float over to him. “Let’s start with the personal stuff first, and then we’ll move on to business and the circus.”
I nod in response before taking a sip of my coffee. “What about my parents?” I ask cautiously, hope and curiosity outweighing the terror for the moment. “The lawyer said you were estranged.”
“Ah yes, your parents,” says John, a sad look on his face. “We’ll forever feel like we let them down. When our son married your mother, they were so happy and so were we. She was a lovely girl. Kind and gentle with a streak of fierce protectiveness in her. We couldn’t have asked for a better wife for our son, and together they made quite the couple. We didn’t have a falling out or anything; they loved being part of the circus. In fact, they were going to take over for us when the time came for us to retire, but running the circus does not come without its fair share of risks. When they became pregnant with you, they decided they didn’t want to risk your young life. So, the next time we stopped on Earth, they decided to get off and settle down somewhere. They thought it would be harder for anyone to find them. The plan was to wait until you and any other children they had were older and able to take care of yourselves before they’d join us again.”
Why would they be scared? What scared them enough to give up their lives and move somewhere astronomically different to what they were used to? Who were they hiding from and why?
“Unfortunately, someone must have gotten wind of this plan somehow. Our best guess is that someone used our very own circus as a means to get closer to your parents, traveling with us and taking advantage of our last trip to Earth. They must have waited until we’d left and then gone after your parents.” He stops and clears his throat before continuing, his eyes filled with unshed tears. “We’re just incredibly lucky that you hadn’t been in the car when they had their ‘accident’ and were staying with a friend of your parents. Whoever did this mustn’t have realized you were alive. We’ve thought about this a lot over the years, but we’ve never been able to figure it out. We’re not even sure if their murderer could be here now, having rejoined the circus after their business was done.” By the time he finishes his story, tears are running down my face, my nerves having turned to a heavy lump of sadness in my stomach.
“We really did think it would be safer for you to stay on Earth, away from anyone who may want to hurt you,” explains Eric softly. “We desperately wanted you, but not six months earlier we had also lost your grandma, and we were really struggling to hold the circus and ourselves together. We are very sorry, but we are also so very glad you are here with us now.”
I wipe at my tears with the bottom of my shirt, sniffling my snotty nose as I try to process everything they just told me.
A tissue floats over, and I pluck it out of the air, blowing my nose loudly. Sorry, if you’re looking for dainty, I’mnotyour girl. “Okay, I need to process all of that, so slight subject change. What’s with the grandfathers, plural?”
John and Eric shift awkwardly in their seats and look at William. “Pussies,” he whispers under his breath, but I still hear him. It brings a smile to my face. “Skarrians are a polyamorous society. We still have traditional one-on-one relationships, like your mom and dad, but multiples are much more common. One of the things that the Skarrian water also does is seal you into a bonded relationship, fully of your choice, of course. Mates are not predestined or anything, but a brand will appear on someone you’re attracted to and extremely compatible with and vice versa. You do not necessarilyneedto bond with this person, but it is a good sign that you should get to know one another. If the attraction wanes on either side, the brand disappears. It actually saves a lot of time. If you consummate this relationship five times, you become permanently bound.”
“It allows for a little try before you buy,” says Eric, winking. Having made the mistake of taking a sip of my coffee as he says this, I manage to splutter it all over the place as I cough. Well, ok then.
“All three of us were bonded to your grandma. Children don’t happen for Skarrians unless in a bonded relationship.” He starts to look a little uncomfortable, but I appreciate that he pushes through anyway. I’m guessing there’s a deadly steep learning curve, and I’m still sitting at the bottom with no idea how to climb up. “And even then, everyone in the bond needs to participate, so to speak, for a child to be conceived. It’s a weird side effect of the bond magic, but it means every child is wanted and loved, so it is a good outcome.”
Ew, ok, not something you need to know about your grandparents. “Um, ok, let’s just move on. My parents though? They were a couple,” I push.
“Yes, they were one of the uncommon occurrences of only two people in a relationship. They did love each other very much and had planned on having lots of children to make their family complete. Who knows? Maybe they would have ended up with more in their relationship, but staying on Earth put that on the backburner.” John looks quite wistful as he says this, and I imagine I might look the same. I feel a deep loss for the potential family I could have had; I can’t imagine what it must feel for all of them to be reliving the memories. I take a moment to breathe deep, compiling a quick list in my head of what’s been thrown at me so far.
“So, to recap—not human, telekinetic powers, polyamorous relationships... Is there anything else I need to know?” I laugh.
“Yes,” says William, looking very serious, “we also age very slowly, and mates can come from any race you encounter. And yes, it does affect you, Lila. If you drink the water from Skar, your genetic makeup would be triggered, and you’ll gain everything a Skarrian has. It’s something you have to think carefully about, but if you decide to, we should do it as soon as possible to give you time to get used to it. ”
“Well, fuck.”
“You know what, it’s a lot for me to take in today. Let’s just avoid talking about that elephant in the room and move on to the business side of things,” I say to my grandfathers. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I’m pretty sure I’ll drink the water; I mean, who doesn’t want powers? But it’s all a bit much at once, and the part of your brain that tells you to be wary is screaming at me. I don't want to make a decision when I have all these conflicting emotions running through my head. A girl’s gotta take even five minutes for herself before making a life-changing decision about magical power-giving water. Getting up from the chair, I walk to the big picture window that looks out over the arena.
“Tell me about the circus. What other rumors are true?” I ask as I turn to face the men again, eager to hear the history of the family business.
“We originally started out as just a circus, traveling throughout the galaxy, entertaining the masses with a rotating troupe of performers. We would take on any act that seemed interesting, so our show was always evolving. Eventually, we had visited so many different places that we were becoming well known, and that put a lot of eyes on us. Some of the galaxies that we frequented reached out, their governments seeing us as an opportunity for a source of unbiased negotiation and safe passage. We did this too, and it became quite popular,” John explains, pausing to take a sip of his coffee.
“Many races still use us to get from one planet to another, though there are other ways to get to most of those locations. Earth is the most difficult; it’s very inaccessible and technologically behind most other planets. They mostly don’t acknowledge aliens. Even though there are some government agencies who are aware, they are of the belief that the masses would revolt if they found out, so they’ve chosen to keep the general population of humans in the dark. In order to preserve that ignorance, travel to and from Earth must be as regulated as possible, and that’s left Galaxy Circus as one of the only approved forms of transportation.”
Walking over to the table, I grab myself a pastry to go with my coffee then head back to where I was sitting. I get comfortable on the sofa, waiting for more information.
“Earth also really doesn’t have much to offer other planets, so most aliens use it as a holiday destination. Some use it to escape to a new life. In return, Earth governments get options for technology that their countries are well away from creating on their own. They don’t realize that they’re not even scraping the surface of what our galaxies have been able to achieve.” William has continued with the story, smoothly picking up where John left off. I could easily see them doing that stereotypical multiple thing where they would finish each other’s sentences. “Governments get to bid on technology, and sometimes even private contractors make a play for what’s available. For example, Jobs got the technology for the iPhone from the Telazions.”
With another wave of his hand, over floats the coffee pot, filling up his cup again.
“Have you seen the movieMen in Black?" asks Eric. I nod in response, I mean, hello, Will Smith. Need I say more? “It’s a bit like that… Aliens who want to spend time on Earth have to learn to blend in, and they are policed by that agency.”
