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Mimi Li: Welcome back to today's Prolific Exodans segment, where I, Mimi Li, interview Exodans about their work. Today I am joined by Eyas Parata, caretaker, and one of the creators of the ECEC, the Exodan Cultural Education Collective. Welcome M Parata, and thank you for being here.

Eyas Parata: Thank you for having me.

ML: Well, let's get straight into it. We are here to talk about the ECEC, which will soon celebrate its 5th standard as a collective. Congratulations.

EP: Thank you. We at the ECEC are very pleased.

ML: For the few unaware, the ECEC was created to promote the Fleet's customs to people coming to the Fleet. They offer workshops and other activities. The ECEC started out on the Asteria, but by now it's grown to every homesteader and it has even reached other parts of the Galactic Commons. M, could you tell us what inspired you to create the ECEC?

EP: Of course. Ever since the Humans became part of the GC, people have been leaving the Fleet to live planetside. This has not gone unnoticed. Over the past standards, many emigration resource centres that offered classes for Exodans who wished to live elsewhere in the GC popped up around the Fleet. But I also noticed that people came back. People were willing to take up Exodan professions and fill the empty homes in hexes. But we didn't accomodate them.

ML: Could you explain that part a bit more?

EP: [sigh] We've all heard about those "annoying young grounders or spacers" who come to the Fleet to reconnect with their lost heritage, right? Except they are very invasive and disrespectful of Exodan culture and ways.

ML: Oh yeah, I know what you mean. They come in, eat our food, live between our walls, and don't do anything for the rest of the Fleet. But you saw past that! Did you just wake up one day and realise that this wasn't fair?

EP: No. I did not. The thing that started all of this was the murder of Sawyer Gursky.

ML: [surprised] Really?

EP: By now some people may know that I was his caretaker, but what many do not know is that I actually met M Gursky before his death. He was walking around the Centre and when he spoke to me, it was clear what he was: an annoying young grounder who had no clue what I was doing. He even asked if I sold the compost!

ML: No!

EP: Yes. That's how ignorant he was of Exodan life. Except... he was different. He approached me because he wanted to help, even though he did not understand what I was doing. He wanted to learn. But no one taught him. He'd gone to find a job and declined sanitation work, because he didn't know how Exodans value sanitation work. Now, we spoke for five minutes, and I wasn't very kind to him. After all, he just asked me if I sold Human remains, which insulted my work. But I realised that he wanted to learn, so I told him why they gave him sanitation work, and what it meant to Exodan culture. I advised him to go back to the job office and ask for it. He was shocked, but so utterly thankful that I told him. He indeed went back and entered the sanitation lottery.

ML: He did?

EP: I only know because he sent a message to my scrib, to once again thank me for the advice. He said that after he did that, he met someone who offered a salvaging job, and he took it, since these people seemed to be the only other ones willing to show him how Exodan culture works. We all know how that worked out for him. The next time I saw him, he was dead and lying on my worktable. I asked to be his caretaker since I recognised him from the photos of the scene of the crime. He trusted me once, so I hoped he'd trust me with this as well.

ML: ... That's- Wow. I- Sawyer Gursky's death has been discussed at length many times, but I never- I didn't... know this.

EP: And that's what bothered me. After his death, Sawyer wasn't Sawyer anymore. He wasn't Human anymore. No, he was an argument. Once people found out he had been employed by an illegal salvage crew, the public opinion turned on him within a tenday. His death was no longer a tragedy. Some even said he deserved it. He was nothing more than an outsider trying to steal from us. People used him to argue for tighter immigration rules. Or they used him to confirm their beliefs about young annoying grounders. People had murdered him and thrown him out as if were scrap, but instead of sympathy, he got negativity. No one came for him. I remember the Archivist and I being lost during the lay-in, because no one came to mourn him except us and the Archivist's wife, until, luckily, the teen who told patrol about the crime came in. But we were all strangers. In fact, the Archivist told that boy that he was, at that moment, the closest to being M Gursky's friend.

ML: That's... Wow.

EP: [silent for a while]

ML: [waits respectfully]

EP: ... I never sent a message back to Sawyer. I read his when I received it, and I thought it was nice, but I had only spoken to the man for five minutes. So after I read it, it was out of sight, out of mind. I had never expected to hear from him again. Sometimes I still wonder if I had replied to him, if I had invited him into my life, if I had showed him Exodan life more, then he'd still be alive. But I didn't. No one did. And that led to people taking advantage of him. I know people put the blame on him for taking this job, but I don't think he even knew it was illegal, even when it didn't follow protocol. Because how could he know? He didn't know the protocol.

ML: [hums in understanding]

EP: After the funeral, that's what kept me up. We always scoff at outsiders. Exodans resources for Exodan problems, and only Exodans understand that! But people are leaving. Exodan culture is fading. This only made more conservative Exodans bog down on their distain for outsiders. And as a result, we dismiss the Humans who do want to come to the Fleet, who want to become Exodan, who want to learn our ways. But no one teaches them, so they fail, and then we can continue to scoff at the stupid outsiders who think they know better. They don't. They don't know anything. So I thought: "Let's teach them!"

ML: You wanted to help the other Sawyers out there.

EP: [nods] And they are out there. There is a reason we have existed for five standards. Others want to learn Ensk, want to learn Exodan work, want to come here. That's what Sawyer Gursky made me realise.

ML: Your work has gotten a lot of praise, but there are still Exodans who don't approve. They believe that only true Exodans should live on the Fleet. Immigrants, from Humans, either with Exodan ancestry or not, to other sapient species should not be part of the Fleet.

EP: I know. And I also know I won't change their minds. People may see this segment and say, "Hey, yes, but Sawyer Gursky still did a wrong thing!" and that is true. I know I am basing this entire story about Sawyer on a five minute conversation, a scrib message, and the testimonies of the people who killed him. Maybe Sawyer Gursky truly was an outside grifter. But we will never know, because the only one who could tell us got killed, probably because he didn't know better, and that is wrong. And again, reality has shown us that even if Sawyer wasn't honest, others are. Ever since the ECEC has started giving workshops, more and more people in the GC have considered the Fleet as a possible home. That also makes me believe even more that Sawyer was honest, because others have shown that our perception of grounders was wrong.

ML: And in turn, it has also shown others in the GC that they were wrong too. Our culture is not backwards or stupid. Our ways have merit and deserve respect. Other species have started to understand us too.

EP: True. One of my first students was an Aeluon trader who wanted to respect Exodans, since Exodans have made efforts to make xyr comfortable. Xe wanted to do the same.

ML: Yes, my collegue from the GC Showcase segment recently interviewed a Quelin who changed xyr views after attending one of the workshops at Port Coriol. A Quelin. A Quelin! Never thought I'd see the day. When my parents watched the segment, they nearly shat themselves- Or- Uh, I mean... er.. sorry, mom, dad... for saying... that.

EP: [laughs] Let's just say that they were shocked.

ML: They were shocked!

EP: I may be biased, but I think the work that ECEC does benefits everyone in the GC.

ML: Oh, I agree, M! I have read the testimonies of people who have attended your workshops, and it's touching to hear how people say they finally found a place where they belong, or how people met their spouses at the ECEC, or how even younger Exodans appreciate and value their culture more.

EP: Yes, even Exodans born and raised on the Fleet are welcome as students or, of course, as volunteers. We are always looking for passionate Exodans who want to help newcomers find their footing. We recently had a trip to the Asteria Archives where M Itoh, the head Archivist, gave a tour.

ML: People just... want to try something new.

EP: [stays silent]

ML: [waits patiently]

EP: [still silent, looking wistful]

ML: Uhm, M Parata?

EP: S-Sorry. Yeah. You're right.

ML: Did I say something wrong?

EP: No, no! It's just- That's what Sawyer Gursky told me as well at the Centre. He wanted to try something new. And even now, five standards later, whenever a student tells me that's why they joined our classes... I can't really explain it.

ML: You don't have to. I think I get it.

EP: I wish he had succeeded, but we cannot reverse time. All I can wish for now is that no one follows the road he unwittingly took. That's what the ECEC is for. For everyone who wants to try something new... to be given the option to do so.

ML: That's- That's a beautiful way to put it. M Parata, I wish I could ask you more, but our time is up. Thank you so, so much for coming in to talk about your work.

EP: It was a pleasure.

ML: Yes. Yes it was. The Exodan Cultural Exchange Collective will publicly celebrate its 5th anniversary in seven tendays at the technical school at the Central Plaza. Entrance is free and everyone is welcome. Other smaller celebrations are also being held at ECEC facilities all throughout the GC. Please check the Public Events feeds on your scrib for more information. If you are still debating whether or not you should go, then think about trying something new.

EP: [a surprised smile appears on her face]