Dock workers strapped Craze into his seat as if he were some addled war veteran who never fully came home. Struggling to push them off and do for himself, he could only drool and grunt. He groaned loudly when an aviarman with spiky blue hair stepped on his foot.
“Sorry, mate,” the aviarman said. His long sharp face came nose-to-nose with Craze’s. He spoke to the other aviarman, one with red cresting his head. “I think we want different seats, Lepsi. There’s something wrong with this guy.” Movements jerky and darting, he tapped Craze’s shoulder.
Craze’s head lolled stupidly and he moaned.
“What’s wrong with you?” the blue aviarman asked.
The aviarmen put their heads together, chittering excitedly. Their height was impressive, jagged and gangly. Jolting and stuttering, they stood close together, their sharp snouts almost touching. Their mouths cut deeply into their faces, rigid dark gaps rapidly opening and closing, voices rising. The sleeves of their overcoats flapped, reminiscent of wings as their arms emphasized words with passion.
Their gray trousers had more patches than original material, threads unraveling at the hems, and old dust staining the knees. Threadbare khaki shirts poked out from under the brown coats, which were faded and shabby with buttons missing. Their boots sported more scuffs than shine, attesting to the many other worlds they’d tread. The aviarmen could help Craze by telling him about those places. If only he could speak.
“Conductor!” Lepsi with the red hair said. “We want to sit over there instead.”
“You’ll take your assigned seats,” she said smooth as ganya bark. Her skin had a purple tint that clashed with the muddy green blouse, trousers, and cap marking her as the transport’s conductor. “The shuttle is full.”
“But ...” The blue aviarman pointed at Craze. “That, Miss. Look at that. What’s wrong with him? I don’t want to catch a plague.”
Whispers of disease and death filled the dingy white walls and rustled the faded blue seats. Something smacked into the back of Craze’s chair, jerking him as if he rolled over rocks, making his lips flap against one another.
“There’s no plague,” the conductor said, placing her pointy thin arms on sharp hips. Her high cheeks and piercing eyes combined with her limbs hinted at aviarman genes in her family’s history. Craze had no idea which race the purple tint of her skin came from.
She flicked a limp curl off of Craze’s nose. “He had a bit too much fun. Bachelor party his uncles said.”
The aviarmen laughed, slapping their knees. They pushed at each other, joking, carrying on as if no one else had boarded the transport.
The blue one stopped abruptly, backing away from Craze. “Well, he could still vomit on us.”
“Your seat,” Lepsi said.
“The universe hates me.” Moaning, the blue aviarman sat down and strapped in.
His friend stowed their well-used duffels, similar to Craze’s, in an open locker at the wall separating the passengers from the crew. The reflective paint on the divider was worn and chipped, mirroring the travelers’ faces in irregular patches.
“Hope you sober up before we get to Elstwhere, mate,” the blue aviarman said. “Your bride over there?”
Craze groaned.
“You don’t seem real happy about it.” He shared the laugh with his buddy when the red-haired one returned and buckled in. “I’ve heard some about you Verkinns. Marriage has to be approved by the council of elders, right? So, maybe she’s hideous? Loves someone else?”
Craze grunted, drool dribbling down his chin.
“Wow, you had a fantastic time. When you can, you’ll have to tell me all about it. Seems Lepsi ‘n I missed out.”
“Did we?” Lepsi said. “Your nose often leads us into nasty alleys, Talos. Ones I can’t ping to my brother in gloating triumph.” He thrust out his tab with the image of another red-crested aviarman on it. “I want him to eat my dust. Eat it, Federoy,” he said with a growl, before sliding the tab back into his shirt pocket.
“My nose led us to a ship.” The blue aviarman, Talos, beamed at Craze. “I’m promoting myself to captain if it works
out. No more spending a fortune going about on germ-infested transports. You’d better not have a plague, mate.” His elbow jabbed at Lepsi. “Lots of bragging to send to your kiss-ass brother soon.”
Lepsi danced in his seat singing, “Eat it, Federoy. Stupidest aviar boy. Damn to you, too, Kemmer.”
“His father,” Talos whispered to Craze. “Don’t ever ask. Lepsi will go on ‘n on about his nutty family for days.”
The spacecraft rumbled, hissing. It jetted off the landing platform, drifting up and out. When it was far enough from the docks, the boosters engaged and the vessel lurched away from Siegna. Craze stared out the tiny slit of a window at the lights of the city growing smaller. They diminished into a clump, then a spot, then a spec, reducing Craze to a man from nowhere.
Siegna became the past, a former life which would forget him quicker than liftoff. A tear trickled down his cheek. The stun wore off enough to allow him to brush it dry. He straightened in his chair and stretched his jaw attempting to ask the aviarman about the ship and the places he’d been, but only, “Bwa wo bwa,” came out.
“Seems you excited him with your ship talk, Talos,” Lepsi said, stretching his legs out into the aisle. “My family isn’t that loony.”
“Says you.” Talos fingered a pin on the lapel of his coat, orange words with wings on a deep blue background. It said, “Carry on.” From the twitchy corner of his eye, he studied Craze pointedly, on guard for plague probably. “His bride must really be atrocious. Perhaps he seeks escape.”
Craze nodded.
“Well, I didn’t buy the vessel yet,” Talos said. “It may be a real clunker. But we can talk about it later. When I get it. You got a tab on you? I can ping you with where we’ll be on Elstwhere when we know.” He showed Craze his code.
Craze fumbled to get into his pocket and pulled out the slim
rectangular tab, tapping a button to send his code to the aviarman’s device. Talos saved it, filing it away in his contacts.
“You fwom Thiegna?” Craze asked.
Talos blinked rapidly, sweeping a hand through his shock of blue. “You asking me where I’m from? I couldn’t make all that out, mate.”
“Yeth.”
“I’m from nowhere really. The aviarmen tried to settle on Doka, but we weren’t welcome. Ended up scattering, everyone out for themselves. Lepsi ‘n I teamed up looking for a new home. Elstwhere isn’t it.”
“Neither is Siegna,” Lepsi said.
Talos tugged down the sleeves of his shirt, the cuffs stained and unraveling. He fingered the pin on his lapel. “Carry on. The ship will help us find one.”
Judging from the clothing, the spacecraft would probably come apart as soon as anybody sneezed. Still, it was an advantage to exploit. If Craze charmed the aviarmen enough, maybe they’d let him tag along. He needed a new home, too, but he didn’t say it. He couldn’t speak about things he hadn’t reconciled in his heart and mind.
Why had his father turned on him? The council obviously bought every line Bast had fed them. That explained them, but not his pa. Craze didn’t think it could all be about one gal. Yerness glowed with dewy beauty, irresistible, but she didn’t inspire traitorous devotion. Did she? Craze shook his head, watching reality in front of him change from a world he knew to one he didn’t.
Siegna, lush and green, zoomed away. Elstwhere loomed ahead. Lusher and greener, dotted with great spans of blue, it was promising, as if a Verkinn could thrive as well there.
There was no knowing for certain, not until he arrived. The speculation drove Craze mad. To ease his nerves and to forget about his ruined past, he mentally arranged bottles of booze
by flavor, size, shape, and color. Orange with orange. Round with round. At first he rearranged Bast’s shelves, then he moved onto imaginary shelves in a new bar, the one he dreamed to someday own.
