I sighed as I got up and stretched my back until it popped. It was three weeks after I'd gotten back from the trip with Dr. Isly and the days were dragging. Right now it was only one in the afternoon. I scowled down at the desk as though it was at fault for my predicament.
“Did it bite you?” The amused voice made me direct my scowl at the open door.
“Given how much you like sitting down and playing your goofy games, you wouldn’t understand.” Jaron knew I hated being stuck at a desk, so I decided some teasing was in order.
“Goofy games!” he exclaimed, “despite those games, which are fabulous war and strategy games by the way, I still managed to get my PhD six months before you.”
And he was two years younger.
“Yes, yes, I’ve heard it before. You can still have a PhD and be a dumbass.” Despite my sniping, I softened at my brother’s gentle teasing and easy smile and my shoulders relaxed. “I’m sorry, J.” I sighed. “I feel like I’m petrifying sitting at this desk." My life had been for research, and now all I did was sit or stand inside all day, grading or trying to impart amazing facts to students who didn’tloveit like I did. It was wearing on me.
“The animosity between our species’ has existed for a while now. You’d think they’d finally release your research back to you. It’s completely benign.”
I twisted my lips in a grimace. “It was benign, yes. But it also was on the culture and language of the vorpyr.” They wanted full control of all information related to the vorpyr. Why, I didn't know.
Jaron shuddered. “The demon species.”
I gave him a look. “They’re aliens, yes, but not demons.”
“Then explain why they have horns and black wings and evil dispositions.”
“They don’t have evil dispositions. That’s likely why my independent research on them was taken and I’ve been barred from continuing. Despite what the Consortium has portrayed them as, they’re not completely evil, no species is. They just seem like it from what we’ve seen and heard from the Consortium news reports.”
He studied me. “Have you seen what they’ve done to our troops? They tear them apart. You can’t tell me all the feed from the clashes we’ve had with them is faked.”
"They're terrifying enemies, but that doesn't mean there isn't some good in them." I said firmly.
“Well, in the meantime, don’t you just love teachingCultural Literacy,The Effect of Technology on Culture, andMicrocultures?” That impish smile was back.
“You forgotLinguistics.” I said dryly, thumping a seven-hundred-page tome on my desk.
“That’s because you actually enjoy teaching that one.”
“I don’t mind teaching,” I sighed softly, rubbing my sore neck. “I just hate not being able to research. I used to be in the field most of the time, not behind a desk.”
“You know what they say. Those who can’t, teach.”
“I hate you.”
“Yeah, yeah. Come walk with me to lunch before you become decrepit and dusty from all that sitting.”
I didn’t waste an instant, snagging my jacket and closing my door with a resoundingclickthat might have been a bit too enthusiastic.
“I haven’t seen you move so fast since mom said whoever got to the finish line first got a microscope.”
I sent him a look. “We ended up sharing the microscope. I think she was just seeing if I had it in me to do more than sit with my books.”
“And now you’re the researcher she was so proud of.”
Sadness enveloped me as I thought of the last research assignment I’d been on, the one that had ended my open welcome on most culture and linguistic expeditions. It was historic research. And then, after only a few days, it ended abruptly, wasting hundreds of thousands if not millions of grant dollars for the team, thanks to intergalactic political tensions. But still, I’d managed to bring a lot of resources home to study. I’d studied for months, barely scratching the surface of the complex framework of the vorpyr culture. And all of my months of studying had been for not when the government walked in and took it from me.
“I didn’t ask you to walk to lunch with me so you could wallow in bitterness.” Jaron said lightly.
“I’m not wallowing, I am… ruminating.”
He snorted. “Don’t forget I also have a PhD, you can’t wordsmith your way out of this.”
A smile stole over my face. No matter what, I could always rely on my brother. Whether it was to get me in trouble or brighten my day was anyone’s guess.
