Free Dark Energy by Robison Wells Page B

“Beautiful.”
    â€œPerfect name,” Brynne said.
    After a moment of processing, Coya spoke, and her translator—using a female voice—said the words, “It is too much flattery. My brother’s name means he is a great warrior.”
    â€œNot too much flattery. Good to know,” said Brynne.
    â€œWe’re going to be roommates,” Rachel said to Coya. “That means we’ll share a room, just the four of us.”
    She nodded and reached out to touch my hair again. “I would like blue in my hair.”
    I turned to the headmistress, who was listening to all of this. “That would be nice, don’t you think?”
    When we got back to our room we saw that some very helpful school administrator had taken down most of the Halloween decorations that could be construed as offensive. And admittedly, it made me look at everything in a new light. Was there a reason that we put up pictures of severed heads and rotting zombies and bloody skeletons? What was it about Halloween, and human nature, that made us revel in all things horrifying?
    Our succubi banner remained in place, as did the sexy devil, because gory corpses are one thing, but scantily clad girls with tails are something else entirely. If the Guides were going to get used to modern America, they were going to need to get used to scantily clad women. Or maybe that was what they were on their interstellar trek to teach us—that we all needed to be more modest. Either way, if Coya was bothered by the succubus on the door she didn’t say anything, and she didn’t ask anyone to translate the word—maybe she didn’t even recognize the letters as letters.
    The resident assistant was with us as we showed Coya her bed, her desk—which had a brand-new laptop with her name on it—and her closet, which was filled with a week’s worth of uniforms.
    â€œWe’re going to have to take you shopping,” Rachel told Coya as the resident assistant finally left us in peace. “We’ll get you some new clothes.”
    â€œI have clothes,” Coya said through the translator.
    â€œNew clothes,” I said. “More clothes. Did you guys always wear the same clothes, all the time? On the spaceship?”
    â€œYes,” Coya said, trying to respond to my question quickly to cover up the lag in translation. “Always the same clothes. I am not accustomed to these. May I ask a question?”
    We all responded at once with a yes, and she smiled uncomfortably.
    â€œHow do you sit down?” she asked. “With this?” She held out the hem of her skirt.
    â€œOh!” Brynne said, and sat down. We all did, and Coya smiled.
    â€œI’m not accustomed to my legs not being covered.” She gingerly sat down, keeping her legs close together and holding the skirt tight against her.
    â€œGirl,” Brynne said, “you came to the right place.”
    We quickly assessed her sizes and dug through our drawers. Coya wasn’t self-conscious about changing in front of us and quickly got out of her skirt and into a pair of designer jeans. We also switched out her top for a button-up shirt and a warm white cardigan.
    â€œSo we might as well talk about the elephant in the room,”I said. “Why did you and the ali— your people—land here?”
    Coya thought for a long time, and I exchanged glances with Rachel and Brynne.
    â€œWhy did you crash?” Rachel said, her words slowed down significantly.
    Coya looked up. “I can tell you why we crashed. I just don’t understand ‘elephant’ and how to talk about it.”
    We laughed, a little uncomfortably, and I said, “It’s an animal. An ‘elephant in the room’ means that there’s a big question on everyone’s mind. Something everyone is thinking about.”
    â€œAnimals are new to me,” Coya said, still fiddling with the last buttons on her cardigan.
    Brynne