Chapter One: The Proposition

Beginning of June 2008 on Alnilam. It was a dark and stormy night. No, really. The wind was whipping up and rain was pouring down in sheets. The weather had forced everyone inside, a fact not lost on Erik. Not only that, but she’d brought yet another to live in the house…he was strange with spiraled ears, but he wasn’t any stranger than the pale one with golden eyes.

Erik had been living in this place for three years now. It was odd when Lisa brought him here, to this large house full of other men and a bizarre – but colorful – creature and a feline. After arriving and having time to think, he’d found he had full memories of his past, up to and including when he traveled from Paris to this place on his horse, Cesar, and lived with Lisa…and memories of things he couldn’t recall doing. It was very off-putting.

Most off-putting, however, were all the people. Living here with Lisa alone the first time was fine even though she forced him to go outside when the weather was cooperative. But, again, they were alone. He didn’t have to worry about being stared at or considered a monster. That was why he stayed in his room most of the time. Lisa made him come out for some meals and…and parties, but the others ignored him for the most part after the initial introductions except for that once when they convinced him to sing to Lisa for her birthday.

Every so often, Lisa would come to talk to him, to try to convince him to leave his room and “hang out”, as she put it, with her and the others. He really didn’t want to and, even though he heard them pushing her to keep trying, she would let him be for a while.

There was a knock at the door and he heard Lisa’s voice on the other side. “Erik? Can I come in?”

“Yes.” Here she goes again.

She came in and shut the door behind her. “Hey,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “So, I was talking to Radu and, you know, he hasn’t been treated well by other people either.”

Erik simply looked at her.

“I’m serious.” She went to the door and opened it, revealing the boy with spiraled ears and long hair. Erik tensed as he entered slowly.

“Uh…hello,” the boy said softly.

“Erik, this is Radu. Radu, Erik.”

Erik was silent, eying him as he fidgeted uneasily. He looked exactly how Erik felt. Hm.

“I’d, uh…” the boy said, “I’d shake your hand but…I’d probably…crush it.”

“Radu’s Andromedan.” Lisa explained. “That’s another world different from yours and different from this one. He’s stronger than normal humans like Clark and Data are. His gloves have something in them to help with that, but I don’t think he’s quite got the handshake down.” She glanced at him, grinning, and the boy smiled shyly and looked down.

Erik understood the concept of other worlds…“planets” she called them. Other worlds beyond the stars far from Paris and the Opera House he’d called home for so long. He was even used to the wonderful advances in the everyday…the lights you did not need gas to ignite and the water that did not need to be pumped to flow. He no longer froze in winter or overheated in summer.

It was just the rest of them. Lisa’s “guys”…that was her word for them. Men whom she’d met in the past and were brought here to live with her. Her reasoning? “Just because”. Some part of Erik kept saying that he’d never be accepted or looked at past the deformity on his face though Lisa always insisted that they were simply scars and that wasn’t true.

“Anyways…” said Lisa, drawing the boy closer to her. “Go ahead. Tell him what happened to your people and how that affected you.”

“Uh…” he said softly. No matter what this boy was saying, he always spoke so softly. “There…there was a war. My people were made slaves and forced to fight…they even killed the father of a friend of mine. When the war ended, even though Earth and the Andromedans were at peace, we were still treated as untrustworthy. Lots…lots of people held grudges against us. That friend…he didn’t trust me for a long time just because his father was killed by my people. I wasn’t treated very well by anyone on the ship or in school. Until I met Lisa, that is. She and Rosie were the only two people who were nice to me at first.”

“See?” said Lisa. “Radu was treated badly because he’s Andromedan and Andromedans fought in the war and killed. But not by choice, I know. Now, you were treated badly because of some scars. You fought and killed in self defense.”

Erik noted that she didn’t mention the murders of Joseph Buquet, Ubaldo Piangi and the attempts he made to kill Raoul and Carlotta.

“And,” she continued, “as I keep telling you, you don’t have to hide in here since no one on this planet cares what you look like except you. I let you wear the mask since it makes you feel better…but I think it’s time you took it off for a little while.”

“No,” he said, standing and turning away from them. “I will not be the cause of undue fright.”

“Is it really that bad…?” Radu asked.

“Yes.” Erik said at the same time Lisa said, “No! Erik, I’ve seen worse, believe me. There are people out there who can’t even move or walk or speak because of things that happened to them, be it that they got sick or were born with it. Take Stephen Hawking, for example, one of the greatest scientific minds in the history of the universe. He got sick when he was young; he’s almost completely paralyzed and has to speak through a computer he controls with his cheek. I’ll introduce you one day. He has no qualms about how he looks. What you have on your face and under that wig is nothing compared to what some people have to go through. At least you can walk and speak and sing and all that other stuff a bit of the human race can’t do.”

Something about what she was saying made some sense, he had to admit. He’d seen the moving pictures on the thing called television and Lisa would often watch stories about other people…men, women, even children…who had deformities much more severe than his own.

“Ah hah,” said Lisa, most likely sensing that she was reaching him. “See? Come on, Erik. Take off the mask. You can leave the wig, I don’t care about that. Just take off the mask.”

He had the feeling that, this time, she wouldn’t leave him alone if he didn’t. Even with every pore of his being protesting all the way, he slowly lifted his hands to his face and removed the mask to reveal the deformity. He braced himself for the reaction of revulsion – not from Lisa but from the boy, Radu – but it didn’t come.

“She’s right,” said Radu. “It really isn’t that bad…”

“Toldja so. And stop thinking of it as a deformity, Erik. It’s not. It’s just scar tissue; a birth defect, yeah, but not a deformity. I’ll make a deal with you. If you come out to the Inkwell with us tomorrow night and keep the mask off I’ll almost never bug you about it again.

“ ‘Almost never’?”

“It’s not healthy for you to stay inside all the time. I’m not an outdoorsy person and even I know that. You gotta get out once in a while even if you just go for a walk by yourself. Will you do this for me? Please?”

The Inkwell…it was a bar, basically, that also had other recreational activities. So he’d been told. A friend of Lisa’s who also had “guys” always invited them to get together and socialize. Erik had never gone, naturally.

“Monday’s the absolute deadest you can get there. I bet it’ll just be us and part of V’s lot.” She looked toward Radu. “You’ll come, too? I can give you something so you’re not overwhelmed by the din.”

Radu looked rather uncomfortable as well, but he nodded. “If you want me to.”

“Erik?”

He didn’t answer for a long beat, then, finally, “Yes.”

End chapter one.

Back *~*~* Chapter Two