“We are. The universe is much larger than many can comprehend.”
“Just the vastness of seeing my home planet is surreal to me. I mean, that’s my world. I know that those are satellites that we have for communication and stuff, but they look like toys.” She pointed to the satellites that were also in orbit around the world.
“It is hard to grasp the size of a planet until you truly see it from orbit.”
She sighed, and the holidays came to mind. “And they used to tell kids that Santa traveled all over the world in one night.” She shook her head.
“Santa?”
Jenny waved her hand. “It’s an old holiday tradition on Earth. Children are told that on Christmas, Santa Claus will come and bring the good boys and girls toys.”
“What is that? An army of some kind?”
She chuckled. “No. It’s one man. One man who is supposed to be magical enough to bring toys to all the boys and girls all over the world in one night. He’s also considered immortal and loves cookies and milk.”
Karuk looked like he was trying to figure it all out.
“He’s not real. It’s a story. It’s really the parents of the children who get the toys out for them and give them to the children for opening on Christmas morning.”
“So, it is a fable?”
“Yes. We have a lot of those. Stories of history that have been twisted and turned into legends and myths that we have built our world around.”
"Many worlds do that. Build their societies around fable and legends. And it works until the people learn the truth." He sounded bitter about it.
"Maybe it'll be detrimental, sure. But it may also show people that life isn't the perfect little thing we imagine it is. On our world right now, we're going through a transformation like that. The history is slowly being re-examined and re-learned about, and we're finding out a lot about ourselves and our cultures that we didn't know before. That’s why I love science. It’s the same way. Always evolving. I think that knowledge should be too."
Karuk nodded. "We should always be willing to learn new things and understand more new things."
"Absolutely," Jenny said. She glanced at her watch. "Oh, man, I need to get back to my apartment."
"Why, is something wrong?"
"No, I just. It's Mister Fluffikins. He's probably losing his mind right now."
"Your creature? The one in the box from before?"
"Yes, he's probably starving. Hopefully, he's not making a mess of things." She started to walk away, but stopped. "Wait. How do I get back there?"
"I shall lead you; it is not far from your residence."
"Why do you know where I'm staying?"
"I don't," he said. "I just know where the Earthlings section is. They put you on a different level than most of us, for your privacy."
"And probably to help us get used to all of this. We're not used to all the different ali--humanoids."
He smiled, and she was just blown away by the way he looked with that bit of a smile on his face. He seemed so very handsome at that moment. That jaw. Those lips. That sparkle in his eyes.
They walked in silence for a few minutes.
She was thinking about saying something. Anything. However, she probably should have been paying attention to where she was walking, because she stepped wrong and hit something that was on the floor. A piece of something slick, and her foot flew out from underneath her.
She started to go down, but then she stopped.
Karuk had her in his arms, pulled flush against him.
She could feel every bump and line of him.
