Ishtar Rising Book 1 - Michael A. Martin [18]
Saadya counted to forty, just to be sure he wouldn’t blow up before he turned back around to face his technicians.
Chapter
5
“They called you a what?” Dr. Elizabeth Lense leaned forward, her hands splayed on the desktop.
“Singleton.”
Lense looked at Soloman, her eyebrows raised. She was trying very hard not to look amused, realizing that cultural differences gave the term much greater weight on her friend’s homeworld. “And this is an offensive slur on Bynaus?”
“The worst.” Soloman slumped back in a chair on the other side of her desk, looking for a moment like a petulant, wounded child. “A singleton is not just a person who is unbonded; it is someone who is incapable of being bonded. It is a rejected person. Someone who cannot fit into our society. A perversion.”
“But you know that isn’t you, Soloman,” Lense said. “You were bonded, and as far as I know, you fit into the society on Bynaus just fine. Not only that, but you are one of the few Bynars who’s integrated yourself into an outside society: Starfleet. You have to understand that their taunts are nonsense.”
Soloman sighed and opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. After a clear moment of reflection, he finally did reply. “I understand that I am not fully the singleton that they have identified me as being. But their comments do give me cause to wonder whether my decision to remain alone does not stem from my fear that I may not be able to become bonded again.”
Lense wasn’t able to stop herself from a brief laugh, though she quickly smiled in an effort to let the Bynar know she wasn’t laughing at him. “Sorry. I don’t mean to laugh, but you really have been picking up new traits from living among us humans. That’s a very human response, whether it comes from the death of a significant other, divorce, or a breakup. Everyone wonders whether they’re tainted, whether anyone will ever want them again. That’s just something that seems to be built into close human relationships.” She leaned back in her chair and propped her elbows on the chair arms. “Trust me on that one. I know from personal experience. You go through the five stages of grief, and then—if you want another relationship—you just have to get back on the horse.”
Soloman looked at her quizzically. “The horse? What does a Terran riding animal have to do with human relationships?”
“It’s a metaphorical horse, Soloman. When you’re learning to ride a horse, if it throws you off, you have two choices. You can either leave and never learn to ride, or you can get back on the horse and try again, until you get it right. That’s what relationships are like.”
He nodded. “Were you ever…thrown off the horse?”
“Oh yeah,” she said. “Almost everybody who comes out of Starfleet Academy has a doomed romance or two in their history. For example, I’ve got a short-lived marriage and an ex-husband in my past.”
“You’ve never mentioned that before.”
“No need to. He’s off in some other area of Starfleet and with luck, I’ll never have to see him again.” Lense put a fist under her chin and regarded the diminutive Bynar for a moment. “So, do you want to get back on the horse?”
Soloman thought a bit before answering. “I do not think so. My relationship with 111 was what made me complete then. Now, I feel that I am complete on my own. I do not feel that I need another person to be the—” he smiled “—the zero to my one.”
“Then that’s what you need to remember when those rude little Bynars aboard Ishtar Station start in on you again,” Lense said, returning the smile. “You’ve worked very hard to forge an individual identity for yourself, and it’s one that both respects the memory of 111 and helps you grow on your own.”
The Bynar’s features brightened for a moment, and then a cloud seemed