Demeter was a member of the AEW and an agricultural powerhouse.  I knew that.  Had no idea what it meant.  Apparently, it meant crops, and animals.  Alcibus and pomes and other things in endless rows, and animals like nothing I’d ever seen. I rode the buses all day that first day, picking up what I could in the way of conversation.  The large animals were horses.  Used for work and pleasure and sport – never eaten.  The small, fluffy animals were sheep.  Used for mowing and milking and cheese making – never eaten.  At least in theory.

As it turns out, we were heading to Demeter with a back-haul of prime quality horse hay from Viridia, whatever that meant, which we’d gotten from a ship heading to Calumet to pick up Mahogany …something. At that point it meant nothing to me. I sat in the launch chair I’d been assigned, smile plastered on my face, and felt the whole ship shaking itself to pieces as it prepared to escape the atmosphere. I had time to wonder what I’d been thinking to do such a foolhardy thing – I think I may have even asked that out loud, but the roar was deafening, and I don’t think anybody heard me.

As it turns out, we were heading to Demeter with a back-haul of prime quality horse hay from Viridia, whatever that meant, which we’d gotten from a ship heading to Calumet to pick up Mahogany …something. At that point it meant nothing to me. I sat in the launch chair I’d been assigned, smile plastered on my face, and felt the whole ship shaking itself to pieces as it prepared to escape the atmosphere. I had time to wonder what I’d been thinking to do such a foolhardy thing – I think I may have even asked that out loud, but the roar was deafening, and I don’t think anybody heard me.

She was ensconced in a tiny dark room not much bigger than she was, and when she turned her chair around to peer up at us from under a green visor, she was enormous. Her eyes were huge in a green face — and in that moment I loved her. She exuded mystery and adventure of the sort I’d longed for but never had.

I was with Azar for most of a year, I think. Through sizzling hot sidewalks and icy wind blowing trash down the street. We became friends, in a way. I sat with him and we would talk, and I learned more from him than I realized. I could understand that the letters on the menu meant phaselus soup, stew, soaked bread, fried eggs with biscuits. I knew that those symbols on signs in the window meant “Help Wanted” or “Contaminated, Enter at Your Own Risk.”

She was ensconced in a tiny dark room not much bigger than she was, and when she turned her chair around to peer up at us from under a green visor, she was enormous. Her eyes were huge in a green face — and in that moment I loved her. She exuded mystery and adventure of the sort I’d longed for but never had.

I stood, up to my elbows in hot water and mused. If I had a birth certificate and flying papers, I could…go. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it certainly had allure.

Walking out into that room was like swimming into the sea of no return. I stopped at the first table I came to and smiled as best I could through my chattering teeth. “What would you like to eat?” I asked.