Jackson Kez - Space Diplomat Ch. 02

[From the author: Chapter 2 is here! There's a lot of information early on about the Sela and I hope you find it interesting. The emotional bond between Vera and Jackson is very important, and I want this to be romantic as much as it's hot and heavy. They need each other in more ways than one. Please leave a comment if you like the story or have any questions or suggestions! I'm always open to feedback. Enjoy!]

Having seen the way the Sela got around, by wedging their gelatinous forms into chutes and being pressure-blasted across the city, Jackson felt so relieved when he saw the building he was staying in had an elevator. A normal elevator with doors and buttons. This one was gigantic, towering over the other structures nearby. Based on the labels on the buttons it looked like it extended far underground as well. Strangely, there weren't very many floors listed. Each one must be extremely tall.

Vera, the Sela ambassador, must have noticed the look on his face and she giggled, it sounded almost musical. Tiny dimples formed in her cheeks as she grinned at him. "Don't worry, we're very accommodating here. We know all about the... needs of other species."

This was getting downright flirty. Jackson couldn't resist. "Is that so? What if I need something in particular?"

Vera looked at him with a serious expression, which only made her round face cuter. "Wow, you haven't even seen the room and you're already implying it's not good enough. Rude."

Jackson laughed. "If it's nice as you are, I'm sure I'll be very comfortable."

Vera smiled again. "I hope so! I prepared it myself. I'm a bit of a..." she stopped herself, suddenly embarrassed. Her pink cheeks flushed a darker shade, turning slightly red. "Oh, never mind." Her tone changed, once again all business. "We do have some important business to attend to, actually."

He was desperately curious to ask what she was about to say, but decided to let her change the topic. She was obviously uncomfortable getting into it, and they'd only just met. "What's up?"

"We were sent your file by the Stellar Alliance," she said, and as she spoke, the golden necklace suddenly slid inside of her body with a soft slurping sound. It traveled through her to her hand where it popped out with another slurp. What Jackson thought was a large, sapphire-like gem in the middle suddenly unfolded and projected a holographic screen in front of Vera. Clearly the Sela's technological prowess had been a bit understated. "And I wanted to make sure nothing of importance was omitted."

Jackson nodded. His eyes had just traced a line down Vera's front as the necklace traveled and he would swear her shirt had a lower cut than it did when he'd first seen her on his ship. Of course, it wasn't really a shirt, it was part of Vera's gelatinous body and she could probably change it any time she wanted. Or just get rid of it. He was staring again. He looked up at her eyes and saw her just grinning at him. He cleared his throat.

"Okay, sure," Jackson said, "ask me anything."

"It doesn't look like you have any food allergies and you have not requested Earth food only, is that correct?"

"Yeah, is that unusual? I always try to sample the local cuisine."

Vera giggled. "Well we don't really have cuisine, but since learning that other species eat food we have explored the fine art of cooking. I'll make sure your food synthesizer has the full range available."

Without moving her hand, the holographic screen started changing. It looked like she was manipulating it via the parts of the necklace that were still submerged in her gelatinous arm, probably via micro-movements. Or maybe a piezoelectric effect? Jackson had to admit, the Sela were fascinating.

"Next question," Vera said, "how much time do you have for sightseeing?"

The question caught Jackson by surprise. "Uh... well, I hadn't planned on doing any, since I'm here to resolve a conflict." Jackson's expression darkened and he looked away. He didn't want to mention the war, but they had to talk about it sooner or later.

Vera just nodded, her face solemn. "I understand. But I think it's important. The council thinks it's important. They want you to understand us." She took a step toward him in the elevator and put one hand on his arm. "None of us want to be in this war. We just can't see any other option. That's why you're here. Humans..." she paused. "Never mind."

Now Jackson had to ask. "What is it with you and humans?"

Before Vera could answer the elevator stopped so smoothly Jackson wouldn't have noticed without the soft ping as the doors opened. Vera beamed at him, all cheer once again. "I guess you'll have to wait and find out!" She stepped out of the door. "This way, please."

Jackson sighed. He hoped to get some answers out of her, this whole thing was not at all what he expected. Jackson followed close behind Vera, his eyes widening when he saw what awaited him. The whole floor of this building looked like an Earth city's downtown. Small shops, restaurants, and open plazas full of people. High above, there was a sky. It looked like it was dusk, with the sunlight just fading. Looking around Jackson saw it was mostly Sela traversing the area, all in human forms, but a handful of other actual humans were milling around in small groups too. They waved at Jackson enthusiastically and Vera returned the gesture. Turning around, Jackson could see the elevator doors were well disguised to look like the entrance to a transit hub.

"Well," Vera said, pirouetting in place to face Jackson, "what do you think?"

"It's remarkable," he said, staring at a sushi restaurant that looked particularly enticing. His stomach growled. "I guess I haven't eaten much today," Jackson said, glancing back to Vera.

She laughed. "Then let's get some dinner!" She bounced toward the restaurant, light on her feet and full of energy. Jackson had to assume she was involved in the creation of this place. She had that proud parent vibe.

"That sounds good," Jackson said, but he didn't move. He couldn't stop looking at everything around him. He was trying to figure out what time period this was based on, maybe mid-21st century? Before the Stellar Alliance, that's for sure. There weren't any brand names, but the aesthetic was definitely post 2030. That was a dark time in Earth's history, but not long before the dawn. In fact, the Stellar Alliance's founder grew up then. She saw the scarcity and the greed.

"Hey, are you gonna space out on me again?" Vera called out. She was holding the door of the restaurant open and looking back at him expectantly.

"Sorry!" Jackson did what he would later learn was considered humanity's signature move: the awkward half-jog. According to the Sela, no other species in the galaxy did that.

Jackson hadn't noticed when it happened, but he suddenly realized Vera had changed into more casual clothes. She was wearing something akin to a sun dress, adorned with beautiful geometric patterns in radiating fractals. Wearing wasn't the right word, Jackson knew, just as he simultaneously noticed her hair was up in a loose ponytail and reminded himself that it wasn't hair. Vera's dress even had hints of color, blue and purple shades coloring in the patterns alongside Vera's normal bright pink. The top left her shoulders bare, with two straps holding it up. It wasn't exactly revealing, but with Vera's curvaceous figure it was incredibly sexy. The top of the dress was down just far enough to reveal a hint of cleavage. Her digital tablet jewelry thing hung around her wrist. Jackson had to figure out what the Sela called it, because digital tablet jewelry thing wasn't cutting it.

"Wow, you look great. When did you—"

Vera laughed again, she did that so often. "While you were wide-eyed and wondering! I figured I'd relax a bit. Formal attire is hard, especially the shirt and jacket combo. I'm much more comfortable in a dress." She gestured for him to enter the restaurant.

Jackson stepped over the threshold and took stock. It looked like a fancy sushi bar. A few tables were scattered around the edges of the restaurant, and a long bar lined with stools offered upfront seating and a view of the prep process. The whole restaurant had a calming green and blue color scheme, reminding Jackson of the ocean. Behind the bar, the chef, a Sela in slightly portly human form smiled at him. The chef had a masculine body, which Jackson knew was uncommon among the Sela, but reminded himself that Sela prefer feminine pronouns. Spending time with Vera had been delightful, but Jackson wasn't a tourist. He was representing the Stellar Alliance and needed to be on his best behavior.

"Welcome, welcome! Two today?" The chef asked, looking at Jackson first.

"Yeah," Jackson said, "this place looks amazing."

"If you like how it looks, wait 'til you taste the food," the chef said, a wide, genial smile on her wrinkled face. She looked like human man of maybe 70 or 80 years, though her bright pink gelatinous body meant she moved with vitality and a spring in her step. Jackson thought if you did an image search on the net for 'sushi chef' she looked like the first result.

Vera took the initiative here, which Jackson appreciated. "Just the two of us today, Olla. Mind if we take the quiet table?"

"Anywhere you like, Vera!" Olla turned to Jackson and added, "Menus are on the table, let me know if you have any special requests. You'll find us very accommodating here." She winked at Jackson.

He smiled, Olla's good mood was contagious. Honestly, Vera's was too. "Thanks Olla, I'll do that."

Vera led Jackson to a table in the back, around the main bar and out of sight of the front windows. It was quieter here, and they had a bit of privacy, which was nice. Jackson sat down and picked up the closest menu, looking it over. It was divided into two sections: authentic and fusion. In this case, fusion meant a bit of Sela influence in the dishes. He decided to play it safe for now, despite his desire to try the local cuisine he just wanted to order quickly and focus on Vera and the situation at hand. Jackson tapped on the Pacifica roll, a dragon roll, and a picture of vegetable tempura.

Across from Jackson, Vera stifled a giggle and he looked up. "Sorry, sorry," she said, obviously not sorry at all. "I forgot to mention this whole place is a bit old fashioned, it's modeled on the time before total integration, when—" she stopped herself. "But you know all that," Vera said, blushing. "I just get so excited."

Jackson opened his mouth to ask what she meant, "Wha—"

Vera turned in her chair and called out to Olla, "Pacifica roll, dragon roll, veggie tempura, and three chef's choice cubes for me."

"Coming right up!" Olla yelled back.

When Vera ordered cubes for herself Jackson really wished he'd paid more attention to the briefing. He'd find out soon enough, he supposed. Anyway, there were bigger issues weighing on him. "Hey Vera," he said, pausing a moment.

"Yes Jackson?" Vera had her hands folded together in her lap, and she leaned forward as she answered. As she did, her arms pressed her breasts together, exposing more of her impressive cleavage. Very distracting, to say the least.

Jackson took a breath, then asked, "What's up with you and humans?" Sometimes it paid to be direct.

Vera looked away and sighed. A long moment passed before she met Jackson's gaze again. "I'm not surprised you don't know, but it's hard to explain. You can probably guess from..." Vera gestured vaguely to everything around them. "We're interested in other species. Other cultures."

Jackson nodded. The Stellar Alliance had first contact with the Sela nearly sixty years ago, and the Sela had been spacefaring for a while before that. They'd gained a reputation as cultural explorers, always looking for art, music, and other forms of creative output from the species they meet. But despite the fact humans had been visiting the Sela on Genoria for some time, Jackson hadn't heard anything about this building. This faux Earth.

"So," Vera continued, "what's the best way to learn about another culture?"

"Total immersion," Jackson said. "You visit them, live among them, and follow their customs."

"Right, because humans are monoform. You aren't shapeshifters like us." Vera was fidgeting in her seat, she was clearly nervous. She had her hands on the table, wringing them together, and she was struggling to make eye contact with Jackson.

Jackson reached out and put one hand on top of hers. "Hey, it's okay. I'm a diplomat, remember? Now admittedly I'm not the best at reading my briefings," he smiled when Vera giggled at that, "but I've seen a lot. And I know human history, I can't possibly judge you for whatever it is you're nervous to tell me. Even if it turns out the Sela all have a human fetish."

Vera blushed hot purple. "Oh, it's not like that! I mean, I mean, it's not like that for everyone. For all of us." She was stumbling over her words, and it was incredibly charming. Jackson felt her hands get warmer under his. "What I'm trying to say is that... Sorry, I rehearsed this explanation over and over and still didn't get it right."

Jackson started to reassure her but she shook her head so he just waited until she was ready to continue. It felt nice, his hand on hers. She was soft, smooth, and getting warmer by the minute.

"Right." She looked down at their hands together and blushed again. "I'm gonna need my hands for this," she said, and Jackson smiled and released his light hold on her. Vera took a deep breath and started gesturing as she spoke. "So," she put her hands together in a circle shape, using her fingers like a parent making shadow puppets for their kids. "Sela are born amorphous, without a form. We're just blobs. And everyone assumes that's our default, most relaxed appearance. That being in a shape takes more effort than being shapeless."

"Yeah, I assumed that," Jackson said. "Is that not the case?"

Vera shook her head. "No, it's more complicated. Have you heard of the infinity of choice paradox? I hope the translator got that right, it's a colloquialism here." She tilted her head when she was thinking hard, subtle lines furrowing her brow and her lips slightly pursed.

"You mean when someone has limitless options, it's harder to pick one than when they're choosing between two or three?"

"Exactly!" Vera leaned forward again, giving Jackson another view of her entrancing cleavage. She looked like a brighter shade of pink now, her whole body practically glowing with excitement. "Every society goes through this crisis as technology allows more and more individual freedoms in various areas, but we've struggled with it since day one. If you could take any form, have any kind of body, what would you want to look like?"

Jackson thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I think my human brain can't even imagine. Everything I can think of is relative to how I'm used to looking, changes I'd make to this body. Honestly a big part of being human is accepting ourselves, because we can always imagine things being better."

Vera held up one hand, index finger extended. Her hands were so slender and elegant, even when she was making dramatic gestures. "But! Humans are unusual in the way your body doesn't always match your..." she was looking for the right word, "your self. Who you are. And you're so adaptable you've found ways through science and medicine to reconcile that, to change your bodies so they are true to who you really are."

"Well, we haven't always done a great job of including people who are different from the norm." Jackson sighed. "The trans rights movement challenged some long-held beliefs about identity that people were clutching too rigidly. Castles in the sand and all that."

Vera nodded, smiling. "Castles in the sand, I like that. We'd call it running out of goo. It's when a Sela is trying to go past their mass limit and take on a form that's too big. It means you're extending an argument you can't support."

"Running out of goo," Jackson repeated. "Language is weird." He smiled and shook his head. "Anyway, point taken. I can see you're building common ground for us here about change and adaptability."

"Ambassadors and diplomats need similar skills," Vera said with a mischievous expression. "So as I was saying, Sela feel that way from the moment we're born. Well not the exact moment, it takes about a year for our consciousness to fully develop, but you know what I mean." Vera got more excited with every word, gesticulating in wider and wider arcs as she went on.

Jackson was enjoying the show. He leaned back in his chair, nodding for Vera to keep going.

"Our early years are spent exploring ourselves, shapeshifting into different animals, different species, and different sexes. Every Sela spends time as various living creatures, both native to Genoria as well as copying those from other worlds. We imitate everything we can, trying male, female, intersex, and androgynous forms. Pretty much the only thing we don't try are inanimate objects or plants. Sela like to move and sitting still for a long time just isn't for us. Oh, and we can't fly. Our bodies can't hold a rigid enough shape to make wings work." Vera looked a little sad, but only for a moment. "Aquatic forms are very popular, I spent a few months as a Genorian Cetapod. It's similar to an Earth whale."

Now Jackson was the one leaning forward, taking in every word. "Can you give my briefings from now on? You're doing a much better job of making this interesting than whoever does intelligence at the Stellar Alliance."

Vera smiled but didn't break her stride. "Thanks, Jackson. You can see where I'm going with this, I can tell, but I'm going to walk you there anyway. Every Sela has something we call their trueform, a shape that is so in tune with her personality and her sense of self that it requires no physical effort to maintain. When we find our trueform we experience such profound relief it's almost hard to describe. You know that feeling when you finally lay down after a long day and the tension just drains out of you?"

Jackson could remember an abundance of moments like that. "Oh yeah, I've been there many times."

Vera nodded excitedly. "Now imagine that long day has actually been years, or even decades. And when you finally get that rest, the tension vanishes and never comes back, because no matter how hard you work, you can get that rest any time you need it."

"Wow." Jackson couldn't imagine what that must feel like, the necessity of self-discovery driving the Sela every waking moment. "That's..." he let the sentence trail off. "There were humans that lived like that," he said, suddenly somber, "with that tension. But for us, it was because they didn't want to live the way everyone else lived, and we weren't ready for that." Jackson looked away, he couldn't keep eye contact with Vera. "They were denied their right to find their trueform, to borrow the Sela expression."

"I know," Vera said, "I've read about your history." Now it was her turn to reach out and take Jackson's hand. She was so warm now. "It's not all sunlight and joypetals here," she said, "we're at war right now, remember? All we can do is try to be better every day."

Jackson took a deep breath, centering himself. She was right. "You're right," he said. "Thank you for sharing, Vera. And thank you for listening, too." He smiled at her and gave her hand a light squeeze. "Whoever picked you to be my ambassador made the right call."

"Yeah," Vera said, "they sure did." Vera smiled and returned the squeeze, holding his hand a moment longer before letting go. "You're welcome, Jackson. So hopefully you can understand why we do things like..." for the second time in the conversation Vera gestured vaguely at everything around the two of them. "It's a place for Sela to find themselves. And it makes visitors feel more at home, so it's a win-win." She smiled at him, a hint of shyness in her eyes. "You've probably guessed, my trueform is... this," Vera wiggled a hand in front of her face, indicating herself. "I don't know why a human feels right to me, but It does. And so I've spent a lot of time studying your history, your culture, the Stellar Alliance, and, most recently, you."