Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

The Eye

Brought to you by The Silver Sky Network

I am Caelum, and you are watching the Nature Chanel

How long have you been doing this, biological research I mean."

"Well, if I am being honest, it's a little more complicated than that, or perhaps less complicated if you look at it. Sure, I have a master's degree in zoology, but I wouldn't call myself a researcher, I just.... love animals and bugs , and I love learning about the other species. Its so exciting to meet with something or someone new. I always just want to learn how they tick, how it all works."

"So you enjoy your job."

"The humans have a saying, if you love your job you'll never work a day in your life, and I love my job."

"That doesn't seem to be a philosophy you share with your brother."

"... ..."
"I'm sorry, I know you didn't really want to talk about him, but you have to give us a little bit of leeway. I mean look at it from our point of view. Mendex has done documentaries on humans before, and based on what you have said, the contents of those documents have been extremely harmful for human/GA PR."

"People like my brother are the reason that Tesraki get such a bad rap sometimes, obsessed with money and power. That's a misrepresentation of Tesraki culture, and a lot of Tesraki just sit around and allow it to happen, no, my brother would have you think that all Tesraki care about is money for money's sake, no matter the costs, but growing up our father did his best to teach us one critical thing, and that was to pick out something you loved to do and be good at it. Our culture is based around the economy yes, but do you know why that is....?"

"No.... I can't say I do."

"It's because Tesraki love to work. Tesraki culture is based more around competition to succeed than it is about money. Once upon a time being Tesraki meant being the best at whatever you set your heart on, but somewhere along the way some people got it into their heads that the sign that you were good at our job was how much money you make. This is not the case, and I stand by the values that my father taught me, and the Values that the average Tesraki follows. It really twists my tail that the kind of people who have power in the GA and in our government are the kind of people who can convince the rest of the galaxy that we're selfish and only care about the accumulation of wealth."

"You seem passionate about this."

"I'm passionate about a lot of things. It just, really bothers me that there are Tesraki who feel lesser because the job they love isn't lucrative. There were Tesraki involved in the Drev you know, real brave soldiers who went out to risk their lives, and here we have people saying that they only did that because they weren't smart enough to do anything else. I disagree.... I had a brother in the war you know."

"You did?"

"Yeah, I... I haven't seen him in a long time. I think, I think maybe he thinks that his family is disappointed in him for the choices he made. When he left to join the war he got into a big row with our parents, and things were said out of anger that I don't think any of them meant. They were really just worried about his safety, and because of that I'm not sure if I will ever see him again."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

***

Mid Mericanda

The sun rises over a marshy grassland. Mother earth is in a good mood today, and her skies are clear. She won't be plagued by electrical storms or blizzards. It is approaching winter, but the autumn sky is cool and clear, it isn't too hot and it isn't too cold. Deciduous trees are beginning to shed their leaves, preparing for the long winter months ahead, where the sun's light will be meager and temperatures could job to -20 degrees well below freezing, but today the weather hovers in the comfortable mid-sixties.