Page 5 of Galaxy Circus Act One

“I don’t know who you think you are or why you think I’d buy this shit.” I look around the room, making eye contact with each of them. “Where are the cameras? Who put you up to this? This is fucked up. I can’t believe I quit my job and flew halfway around the world for this shit.”

I start walking to the door, grabbing my luggage as I go. Maybe I can catch a lift into town and find someone to take me back to London. Hopefully that damn plane ticket is changeable.

“Stop, Lila,” orders William. “I can assure you everything John told you is true, and we can prove it to you.” He’s still sitting on the couch, legs crossed, looking for all the world like we’re not having a conversation regarding aliens. “Prove to me you’ve got what it takes. Prove to me you aren’t a pussy and there’s Adams blood flowing through your veins. Sit down, and we’ll discuss this in detail.”

“John, you dickhead,” says Eric from his perch. If he hadn’t just spoken, I would have thought he was asleep. Arm resting across his eyes, his body is spread out along the sofa. “If I knew you were going to do it like that, I wouldn’t have let you take point. I thought you had it under control.”

“Agreed,” grunts William. He gets up and walks across to me at the door, keeping enough distance between us until some of the anger softens from my face. “Please,” he asks gently. Such a soft word from a previously gruff man makes me pause—call me a sucker, I know. I’m well aware I’ve got some sort of common sense or self-preservation instinct on the fritz, but I allow him to take my arm and walk me back to the sofa.

“I’m sorry,” John mutters, “you aren’t the only one who is nervous.” He has the grace to look ashamed while he says that, briefly glancing over at me while avoiding the gazes of his brothers. The other two still look a bit disgruntled when their eyes stray to their brother.

Eric picks up a phone from the table next to his sofa. “Yes, can I get a pot of coffee, four cups, and some pastries to the executive suite, please. Thank you.” He hangs up and settles back onto the couch. “While we wait, let’s start at the beginning. Humans are not the only beings in the world, and Earth is not the only habitable planet. In fact, our home planet Skar is the birthplace of what you would call the human race. Looking for new adventures, a group left our planet many, many eons ago. Their ship suffered catastrophic engine failure, but they were able to safely crash land on Earth. They managed to survive and thrive over the years. Unfortunately, they found out that when they were cut off from Skar and its magical waters, they lost any special abilities they’d once had. The process really happened over the course of generations, so the first of our people on Earth were not immediately bereft of their powers.”

Someone knocks on the door before bringing in a tray filled with coffee and pastries, not waiting for an answer. I don’t notice who it is, as my attention is completely riveted to Eric.

“Thank you, Max,” says John. I turn to look, but the person is already through the door, only his back now visible.Was that a tail?I’m staring at the closed door as William takes over the story.

“You see, Skarrians have special abilities that are given to us by the waters of our home planet. It’s all very woo, woo magic.” He waves his arms around as he says this, earning a skeptical look from me. They expect me to believe this, but they’re using terms like ‘woo, woo magic’? He turns to Eric. “Will you do thehonors of pouring the coffee?” It’s been placed on a table at the side of the room.

“Sure,” says Eric. He turns, and while still sitting on the couch, gestures to the coffee pot. It floats up and moves toward the cups, steadily tipping over to pour coffee into each one. Out of my control, my mouth drops open.Holy shit, telekinesis! Or drugs? Could there be some kind of hallucinogenic in the air? That would be some next-level crazy shit.

“Milk?” he asks me, one eyebrow raised.

“Ye—yes, please,” I reply with a gulp. Another little jug floats to one of the cups, and milk pours out. The cup then lifts and floats closely enough that I can reach up and grab it. “Cool!” I exclaim.

“Is that proof enough for you?” William casually asks, leaning back with his arms stretched out along the back of the sofa. “Or would you like a more dramatic demonstration? I’m sure we could come up with something.” There’s a smirk on his face that fits his younger guy appearance, but it’s definitely not an expression I’d expect to see on mygrandfather.

“Holy shit! I can’t believe you can do that. Can all Skarrians? Were my parents Skarrians? Wow, I just …” I start to stammer, the words tripping over themselves as that malfunctioning common sense tries to kick back to life. Surely this can’t be real? I look around for invisible wires. I mean, weareat a circus. Am I really supposed to take everything they tell me at face value? Instant belief is not really my thing; being skeptical is much more my jam. “I just don’t know what to ask first, but I guess it’s safe to say that maybe there’s more here than I thought there was.” My heart rushes with emotion. I’m not sure if it’s excitement or terror, but adrenaline is certainly pumping its way through my system.

John gestures to his own cup, making it float over to him. “Let’s start with the personal stuff first, and then we’ll move on to business and the circus.”

I nod in response before taking a sip of my coffee. “What about my parents?” I ask cautiously, hope and curiosity outweighing the terror for the moment. “The lawyer said you were estranged.”

“Ah yes, your parents,” says John, a sad look on his face. “We’ll forever feel like we let them down. When our son married your mother, they were so happy and so were we. She was a lovely girl. Kind and gentle with a streak of fierce protectiveness in her. We couldn’t have asked for a better wife for our son, and together they made quite the couple. We didn’t have a falling out or anything; they loved being part of the circus. In fact, they were going to take over for us when the time came for us to retire, but running the circus does not come without its fair share of risks. When they became pregnant with you, they decided they didn’t want to risk your young life. So, the next time we stopped on Earth, they decided to get off and settle down somewhere. They thought it would be harder for anyone to find them. The plan was to wait until you and any other children they had were older and able to take care of yourselves before they’d join us again.”

Why would they be scared? What scared them enough to give up their lives and move somewhere astronomically different to what they were used to? Who were they hiding from and why?

“Unfortunately, someone must have gotten wind of this plan somehow. Our best guess is that someone used our very own circus as a means to get closer to your parents, traveling with us and taking advantage of our last trip to Earth. They must have waited until we’d left and then gone after your parents.” He stops and clears his throat before continuing, his eyes filled with unshed tears. “We’re just incredibly lucky that you hadn’t been in the car when they had their ‘accident’ and were staying witha friend of your parents. Whoever did this mustn’t have realized you were alive. We’ve thought about this a lot over the years, but we’ve never been able to figure it out. We’re not even sure if their murderer could be here now, having rejoined the circus after their business was done.” By the time he finishes his story, tears are running down my face, my nerves having turned to a heavy lump of sadness in my stomach.

“We really did think it would be safer for you to stay on Earth, away from anyone who may want to hurt you,” explains Eric softly. “We desperately wanted you, but not six months earlier we had also lost your grandma, and we were really struggling to hold the circus and ourselves together. We are very sorry, but we are also so very glad you are here with us now.”

I wipe at my tears with the bottom of my shirt, sniffling my snotty nose as I try to process everything they just told me.

A tissue floats over, and I pluck it out of the air, blowing my nose loudly. Sorry, if you’re looking for dainty, I’mnotyour girl. “Okay, I need to process all of that, so slight subject change. What’s with the grandfathers, plural?”

John and Eric shift awkwardly in their seats and look at William. “Pussies,” he whispers under his breath, but I still hear him. It brings a smile to my face. “Skarrians are a polyamorous society. We still have traditional one-on-one relationships, like your mom and dad, but multiples are much more common. One of the things that the Skarrian water also does is seal you into a bonded relationship, fully of your choice, of course. Mates are not predestined or anything, but a brand will appear on someone you’re attracted to and extremely compatible with and vice versa. You do not necessarilyneedto bond with this person, but it is a good sign that you should get to know one another. If the attraction wanes on either side, the brand disappears. It actually saves a lot of time. If you consummate this relationship five times, you become permanently bound.”

“It allows for a little try before you buy,” says Eric, winking. Having made the mistake of taking a sip of my coffee as he says this, I manage to splutter it all over the place as I cough. Well, ok then.

“All three of us were bonded to your grandma. Children don’t happen for Skarrians unless in a bonded relationship.” He starts to look a little uncomfortable, but I appreciate that he pushes through anyway. I’m guessing there’s a deadly steep learning curve, and I’m still sitting at the bottom with no idea how to climb up. “And even then, everyone in the bond needs to participate, so to speak, for a child to be conceived. It’s a weird side effect of the bond magic, but it means every child is wanted and loved, so it is a good outcome.”

Ew, ok, not something you need to know about your grandparents. “Um, ok, let’s just move on. My parents though? They were a couple,” I push.

“Yes, they were one of the uncommon occurrences of only two people in a relationship. They did love each other very much and had planned on having lots of children to make their family complete. Who knows? Maybe they would have ended up with more in their relationship, but staying on Earth put that on the backburner.” John looks quite wistful as he says this, and I imagine I might look the same. I feel a deep loss for the potential family I could have had; I can’t imagine what it must feel for all of them to be reliving the memories. I take a moment to breathe deep, compiling a quick list in my head of what’s been thrown at me so far.

“So, to recap—not human, telekinetic powers, polyamorous relationships... Is there anything else I need to know?” I laugh.

“Yes,” says William, looking very serious, “we also age very slowly, and mates can come from any race you encounter. And yes, it does affect you, Lila. If you drink the water from Skar, your genetic makeup would be triggered, and you’ll gaineverything a Skarrian has. It’s something you have to think carefully about, but if you decide to, we should do it as soon as possible to give you time to get used to it. ”