The Stars Blue Yonder Read Online Free Page B

good cheer and curious about Myell. Alice Romero was one of the few ill at ease, and stoodin the corner watching Myell with close attention. Osherman didn’t move from his chair but instead nodded at those who came over to pay their respects. Jodenny didn’t move either, though she felt like fleeing the house and heading for the hills without ever turning back.
    Someone put music on. Conversations grew louder. More beer and rotgut liquor showed up, and Lisa grew more frazzled.
Any excuse for a party
, Jodenny thought in dismay. The humid air built up like a sauna even with the fans rattling overhead. The kitchen, living room, and dining room weren’t big enough for the crowd, which spilled down the hall and into the bedrooms. It would have spread into the garden but for the rain that was slanting down harder and faster each minute.
    Myell, meanwhile, was pestered with questions to the point where he stopped answering and instead retreated to the corner. Brian flanked him, warding off would-be interrogators, and Baylou kept him supplied with wine. Finally dinner was ready, and Lisa shooed off just about everyone who wasn’t immediate family.
    â€œOff you go,” she said. “I can’t feed every single one of you.”
    The partygoers disbursed cheerfully, some of them stumbling off home to their own dinners, others moving the party to the town’s only pub. In the end there were several chairs, stools, and boxes set up around the dining room, with most of the grandchildren eating around the kitchen table.
    Wedged between Teresa on one side and Brian on the other, with Osherman right across from her and Myell next to Lisa, Jodenny poked at her food without any appetite at all. Myell didn’t seem interested in dinner either, though he dutifully pushed around bits of fish with his fork. Music played softly on an old machine while the rainy breeze sucked the curtains in and out of the window frames. Thunder and lightning rolled through the air, making Jodenny uneasy.
    Lisa struggled to keep the conversation going. The party had sucked up all the easy words, leaving only awkward ones behind.
    â€œTell him about the school, Baylou,” Lisa prompted.
    â€œHmm?” Baylou asked. “Oh, the school. Well, we teach everything to the best we can. The kids, they all have to learn medicine and engineering,and how to keep the fuel cells charged—we used hydroelectric and solar, though it’s not easy.”
    Lisa tilted her head toward the kitchen. “Kyle’s very good with engineering.”
    â€œStop talking about me, Aunt Lisa,” Kyle said around a mouthful of corn.
    â€œThey know all about the colonies,” Lisa said. “How all of the Seven Sisters and this planet, too, presumably, were made by the Wondjina to be just like Earth for mankind to colonize. It’s important that they don’t forget where they came from.”
    Thunder rolled through the air, as if in agreement. Myell didn’t answer. He and Osherman were vying for the Most Uncommunicative award.
    Teresa made a faint noise and put her hand on her stomach. Jodenny remembered how her children had kicked and fussed in her womb, and how sore she’d been from little fists and heels poking at her day and night.
    â€œAll right?” Brian asked her.
    She nodded. “Just a foot under my rib, I think.”
    Lisa offered a plate to Myell. “More corn?”
    Myell ignored the plate and said, “You’re not real.”
    Everyone looked at him.
    â€œWhat did he say?” Captain Balandra asked, mostly deaf these days.
    Jodenny’s hands tightened on her cup.
    Myell gazed miserably at his beer. “You’re real to you. You live here, in this moment, then the next, and it’s real to you. But soon I’ll be gone and forgotten.”
    Lisa put the corn down. “Maybe you should go back to bed.”
    He stood up but didn’t move away. Myell’s gaze swept the