Inconstancy

Mirrh Yahn y Cona has just stepped off the shuttle onto a noisy Denver spaceport, the first Martian ambassador ever to set foot on Earth. The bright lights, crowds and frantic media leave him dizzy, and in the privacy of his small heptagonal apartment he sends a trembling holo‑message to his betrothed back on Mars, longing for the quiet serenity of home. Yet his diplomatic contract demands a stay that will stretch for two years, and Earth has already dispatched its own representative to keep the exchange balanced.

Leila Anderson, a sharp‑tongued member of the Terran Diplomatic Service, arrives to guide the alien envoy through the city’s under‑current of nightlife. Their first encounter—handshake turned awkward, song of parting cut short—exposes the fragility of interplanetary customs and the personal pull of an unfamiliar world. As the night drifts into rain‑slick streets and dim clubs, Mirrh must navigate a maze of protocol, curiosity, and the subtle tug of an emerging connection that threatens to upend his mission.