Chapter 10: Deciemesh and the Human
Snip, snip, snip. Hair clippings fluttered down into the waste disposal unit and disappeared as they were sucked away into their proper category of waste. Everything was organized on this planet, even the trash. Roxanne stood in front a mirror as she carefully trimmed her burnet locks down to a shorter length. When she was done her hair would stop at her ears. She smiled when she thought about why she was doing this, thinking back to that night in the woods with Nigmadem and all of the things they had talked about.
She had cried for a good while after she had told him about her planets demise, and all the while he kept hold of her hand. He didn't let go after she had stopped, however, he held her hand for the rest of the night. Even though Roxanne wasn't used to touching others, she didn't object, she rather enjoyed it actually. Being around him, she was slowly growing used to such things.
"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, "I should have thought about why you were here sooner."
"No, it's okay." She had replied, still sniffling silently. "It's not something I tell people, I guess it's kind of a secret I keep. You're the first person I've told. The only other people who know are the people who found me as a baby, and my guardian."
He thought for a moment, and then smiled. "I've got a secret I could tell you too, if you want to hear it."
"What is it?" She had asked, giving a small smile back and facing him fully.
He nodded to Minion, who was busy doing flips in the open water of the lake. "Minion isn't just special because he's my minion; he's special because he isn't from Caelumar."
Her eye brows shot up, "I thought all minions were fish indigenous to the planet? Where is he from?"
As Nigma looked up at the moons, Roxanne had felt a story coming on. "My parents used to be marine biologists who were assigned to Dwomano, our second moon, which is, as you know, completely covered in water and ice. One day my father was investigating the life of one of the more inhospitable areas of the moon, deep down where volcanic vents spewed into below freezing waters under layers of ice. It was there he found a particularly resilient and intelligent species of fish, a fish that provided its own light and survived in family groups."
"Minion's species," She had guessed with a grin.
"Minion's species," He confirmed with a nod, "They were protecting a large cluster of eggs, and at that time I was still growing in my mother's womb. My father thought it would be a great idea to give me one of these fish as my minion, so he gathered one of the eggs from the cluster and brought it back here to be minionized. Of course it cost my parents their jobs, but we all feel it was worth it. Now they work as minion manufacturers. The reason we moved here is because the factory changed locations."
I'm glad it did. She had thought and unconsciously gave his hand a squeeze. Then she looked at Minion again, and smiled when she remembered the day Vivinie tried to impress Nigmadem with her own minion's superiority. She remembered her bragging about how Tasslers had started using his arms at age nine and started talking at eleven, and she chuckled when she remembered her face when Nigma told her how Minion had started using his arms at age four and started talking at age six.
"What's funny?"
"Nothing, I was just thinking about Minion. He really is a fantastic fish."
"I think the moon's themselves are pretty fantastic," He went on to say, "Dwomano, the blue moon of water, and Dwimani, the orange moon of sand. They're complete opposites and yet their orbits mirror each other perfectly. They work in perfect harmony with each other. Not to mention they're complimentary colors." He looked down at their hands, blue fingers tangled with peach. "They complete each other, really."
She blushed, but had looked away with a frown, "Everyone else seems to think blue does just fine without orange. Everyone else seems to believe blue would be a lot better off if orange disappeared."
"You know what's wrong with everyone else?" He asked, "Everyone else is jealous."
"Jealous of orange?"
"Jealous of you!"
"Why would anyone ever be jealous of me?"
"You're eyes. There're blue. My people are vain, Roxanne. Nothing is truly beautiful unless it's blue like we are. But our eyes don't come in blue. If a scirian could have natural blue eyes, they'd think themselves perfect."
"Well, my eyes may be beautiful, but that's about the only thing about me that is." She had replied with a sad smile.
"How can you tell? You're always hiding behind your hair, sometimes I wonder if you even have a face!" He said, laughing. "Isn't there something you could do about that? Some kind of hair style that would let you have both hair and a face? I'm sure there's an earth word for it."
She had giggled, "You want me to get bangs?"
"Yes! I think you would look beautiful with bungs. Um…what are bungs exactly?"
Snip, snip, snip. A few more snippets of hair fell from her face. After looking at herself from all angles and sides, she nodded to herself and approved. "There, that ought to do it." Now instead of long locks that fell in front of her eyes, her hair framed her face in smooth feathers. She wondered what Nigmadem would think when he saw she had gone through his idea. It was now thirty-two days since their night by the lake, and today was Deciemesh, the day the povoirans came over from Geoluperia. As always, she was going to meet him by the croscalator and together, with Minion and Abraham, they would travel to the center of the city where the landing platform for the povoiran ship was. Roxanne was excited to see the povoirans and for them to see her. She had seen them in pictures and videos, but she was sure it would be different in person. Right now, however, she was just excited to see Nigmadem and for him to see her new hair. With that excitement was a strange feeling in her chest where her heart was which she didn't understand.
After gathering Abraham onto her shoulders, she made her way to the door. There, Nannarry looked as though she had something to say, but before she could utter a word her voice was seized by a bout of violent coughs. She's been coughing a lot lately, Roxanne observed. Without thinking, she placed her hand on the older woman's shoulder, "Oh my life, Nannarry, are you okay?"
Nannarry swatted her hand away, "Get off of – cough – me. I'm f – cough – fine. It's just a cough, it'll – cough – pass." When she finally got her coughing under control, she continued in a steady, if not raspy voice. "I'm guessing you're going to Deciemesh?"
"That was the plan, yes. Why?"
The woman hesitated, and then continued with firmness, "I don't want you going."
Roxanne's eyes widened. "What! Why not?"
"I simply don't think it's a good idea for you to be seen by so many people. There's going be quiet the crowd,"
"You never want me to be seen, what's so dangerous about it? I finally have a chance to meet people that look like me, and you're discouraging it? I don't understand you Nannarry, don't you want me to be happy at all?"
Nannarry's brows furrowed and she seemed to be struggling with something, "Just trust me, Ritchi, I have this feeling. It's for your own good."
Roxanne balled her hands into fists, "You know nothing about my own good. I'm going, and you can't stop me." Actually I'm sure she could, but she won't. "And I'm sick of your silly premonitions; I've been seen by a lot of people over the years, nothing's happened."
"Fine," Nannarry sighed, giving in, "but at least promise me you'll stay to the back of the crowd?"
"Fine," Roxanne grudgingly agreed, "I'm leaving now." And with that, she left.
Once outside she allowed herself a few moments to cool down. She didn't want to greet Nigma in a bad mood just because Nannarry was always plucking her nerves. To Roxanne, she felt some kind of furry pet with an owner who was trying to be nice, but kept petting her fur in the wrong direction. Nannarry was always going against her. It was infuriating. Just think about the event. Just think about Nigmadem. "Nigmadem." She remembered about why she was excited to see him and reached up to touch her newly cropped hair. I hope he likes it.
She made it to the croscalator before him this time, but it wasn't long before she spotted both he and Minion sprinting down the other side of the busy street. He clamored up the croscalator and slammed on the brakes when he saw her. Minion nearly ran into him at the sudden halt. "Ah! Sir, what's the matter? Why did you…stop…?" Minion dropped his jaw because of Roxanne's appearance for the second time.
Nigma eventually remembered how to use words. "Roxanne! You're hair! It looks, you look…" he made it the rest of the way down the croscalator, "You look gorgeous." And to him, she really was gorgeous. Now that her hair was short, it didn't flow down her front and back, distorting her figure. He could fully appreciate her curves, though he tried not to be obvious with his staring. He could also better view her face now, round and rosey and soft with her new bangs veiling her small forehead.
Roxanne only flinched slightly when she saw him raise his hand to her face, but then let herself press her cheek fully into his palm. He smiled warmly and slid his fingers though her short hair, "So soft," she heard him mutter. "You went through with my idea after all," he continued louder.
She gave a small nod, his hand still exploring the top of her head. "A special new look for a special occasion."
"Indeed!" Minion said gleefully, "Just look what sir did to my suit! I think it's an improvement."
She blinked and noticed Minion's new look for the first time, and then busted out laughing, "Minion! You're a gorilla!" Minion's suit had been transformed from a sleek, scirianoid or humanoid figure, to a burly, furry gorilla shape. She smiled quirking a brow at Nigma.
He shrugged nonchalantly but beamed with pride, "I told you I liked the gorillas from earth."
"Clearly!" Roxanne giggled again, watching Minion strut around in his new gear.
"So! Are you ready to go welcome the povoirans?"
"Yes, but I was told to stay near the back of the crowd by Nannarry." Roxanne replied with a frown.
Nigma gapped, "What! Why? You won't even be able to see the ship touch down from that far away."
"She probably doesn't want the human stealing the spotlight from our guests." She balled her hands into fists, and then sighed, "But I did promise her I would. It was the only way she was going to let me go."
"You're mother is really strict towards you, isn't she?"
"Guardian. She's my guardian, not my mother." Roxanne corrected sharply.
"Guardian, yes, of course." He agreed quickly. "We'll, if we're lucky, one of the povoirans will fly by. Let's get going."
It wasn't a long walk from where they were to the center of the city. When they got there the crowd was already backed up pretty far. From where they were, they could only see the backs of blue heads. Some people were watching from the tops of buildings while others had brought hovering vehicles to park floating above everyone on the ground. The air was filled with chatter as people talked about how excited they were, or about how they were old enough to remember the last Deciemesh.
"How long do you think until they get here?" Roxanne wondered out loud.
"Well, they should be arriving any –"
"Hey there they are!" Someone shouted from the crowd.
Everyone grew silent and angled their eyes skyward. Coming closer and closer to the ground was a ship that looked like a giant golden egg with a white flame shooting out of the bottom. This was happening all around the world on this moment; Roxanne imagined the blue planet covered in shining gold dots.
Roxanne was staring intently at the nearing ship when all of a sudden she felt two cold hands grip her waist. "Aaand up you go!" Minion sang as he lifted her up and sat her on one of his new hairy shoulders. She gave a small "Eep!" and then gripped his glass dome, giggling. "Thanks Minion, the view is a lot better up here." Soon Nigmadem was on Minion's other shoulder. Abraham was still on Roxanne's own shoulder, surveying the surroundings with his normal protectiveness. From up here she could see the landing platform, though distantly. She could also see around the edge of the platform were people dressed in very official uniforms; they had flowing black capes and large black high collars. The collars curved around their heads like spoons and had a glowing white hem that seemed to pulsate. That was all she could see from that far, and she guessed they were special representatives of the planet sent to welcome the people of Geoluperia.
The glare coming off of the ship's golden surface was blinding and made Roxanne squint. It landed smoothly and silently, only with the sound of dying engines as it came to a stop. The crowd cheered at the successful landing and hushed again when three doors opened up high on the ships crown. She briefly wondered why there weren't stairs or a ramp for the povoirans to walk down from, and then she remembered they wouldn't need such things – povoirans could fly.
It was a sight to see when they finally emerged. Large, muscular young men and women floating out in a single file line, their bodies vertical and stiff, yet majestic. The whole thing looked rehearsed, and it may have been. They seemed hesitant to place their feet on the ground once they got low enough, as though it might shatter if they did. They all appeared to be completely uniform as they filed out of the golden egg; that was until Roxanne spotted what seemed to be two povoirans flying really close to one another. It almost looked like one was carrying the other, but they were so far away she couldn't tell. She watched them join the others and face the spoon-collared representatives.
Roxanne turned her head to make a comment to Nigma, when suddenly there was a collective "Gasp!" from the front of the crowd. She looked back and the entire first row was in some kind of an uproar. Then the second row was in a craze. By the look on Nigma's face, this wasn't supposed to be happening. The third row joined in. The commotion spread like a ripple until gradually the entire crowd started to shout Roxanne's name. "Roxanne! Roxanne! Is Roxanne here? Where's Roxanne?"
She gripped Minion's dome tighter in fear and confusion. "What the…?" Abraham hugged Roxanne's head and glared at the people in front of them when they turned around to face her, while Nigmadem placed a possessive hand on her free shoulder.
The people in front of them jumped up and grabbed at her, Roxanne screamed in shock and tried to kick them away, but they pulled her off of Minion and onto the ground. Nigma's hand was ripped from her shoulder and he reached out to her. "Roxanne!"
"Nigma, what's happening!" She was shoved and pushed and pulled through the crowd until Nigmadem was out of sight. "Come on, you need to get to the front!" Someone said.
"What? Why? What's going on?"
"Go, hurry!"
I'm not even supposed to be near the front, I'm supposed to stay in the back of the crowd! She screamed in her head as she tried to fight the current of blue hands pulling at her and failed. "Grrah! Let go of me!"
"There you are, Roxy!"
The voice didn't register until Vivinie had her arms wrapped around Roxanne's neck in a hug, making Abraham have to stand on Roxanne's head or get knocked off. Hug. This is a hug. Vivinie is hugging me. She needs to not be hugging me. Roxanne was stiff as a rod in Vivinie's embrace. "It took you so long get up here – a full thirty seconds in fact!"
Roxanne pushed her off, "What, you're behind this? Why did you have me dragged up here?" She demanded.
"But, oh, I'm so very happy for you. This is the best thing anyone could wish for!" Vivine went on to say.
Behind Vivinie to her left were Felleta and her minion, a silver fish in the shape of a whale with a hummingbird beak for a mouth. To her right was Tasslers, looking sinister as always. Felleta had a shy, but sincere smile on her face as she waved to Roxanne. "I'm happy for you too," She said in her flower voice. The smile on Vivinie's face was the kind of smile with an ulterior motive behind it.
Stomping her foot down in frustration, Roxanne shouted, "Why is everyone so happy for me?"
Vivinie turned her around a quite literally shoved her toward the row of povoirans. They all gasped in shock and recognition when they saw her, and all of their eyes directed to the center of the row expectantly. Feeling horribly exposed and extraordinarily curious, she followed their wide-eyed gazes. What she saw, and locked eyes with, left her frozen where she stood.
Abraham pointed and stiffened, and then seemed to short circuit. Forgot something. I forgot something. Robots do not forget. Error. Error. "Memory restored! It is the browned eyed infant! The brown eyed infant! Brown eyed infant! Infant! Infant! Infant! …." His black eyes turned blue and he fell off of Roxanne's head. She was too stunned to catch him.
It was then Nigmadem and Minion made it through the crowd looking frantic. He spotted Roxanne, and then wobbled when he saw what she was staring at. "…Another human!"