Chapter 8

The small room was well lit, decorated in simple yet delicate colors, and filled sparingly with modern and comfortable chairs. Several cameras were pointing at the small podium, but for Mat everything was huge. Especially on the way there!

He was wearing his school uniform, which was used when a student was going to interact with the government to show respect. The uniform was dark green, while the bow tie was white, just like the shoes and the stripes on the pants.

Morris Goodhart and Ilona Stard. Talk show celebrities. Their job was to interview people, from politicians too well ... lottery winners. Both were around forty years old and had almost twenty years of experience working together.

Morris was tall with ginger hair. He was strongly muscular and wore a plain short white shirt and black pants. Ilona on the other hand had black curly hair and black skin. She was tall as Mat and proudly presented her assets in one piece of the red dress. She has zero cleavage though, but she didn't need it to look brilliant.

But in the end, everybody was lured by their smile. Even Mat felt more at ease when hit sat down and looked at them.

"Nice to meet you Mat!" Morris shook his hand and so did Ilona.

"Don't be nervous there are only a few hundred million people watching," Morris said, but Ilona nudged him with her elbow.

"He is kidding of course! So how do you feel about winning a planet?"

"Ah...overwhelmed..." he said with an awkward smile.

"Yeah, it must be a huge change! I wouldn't know what to do with it either! There is so many options!" Morris said.

"What would you do with it?" Mat asked, glad he could use his prepared line and it calmed him down.

"Oh, what would I do? I don't know... it is hard!" Morris laughs.

"I would make it a great vacation planet! Wait...what kind of planet is it?"

"Oh, right...sorry! It is Earth-like and has life!"

"Vacation it is!"

"Oh! Lucky! You can see aliens that nobody has seen before!"

"Yeah!"

"Ok, so let us know more about yourself. What was the first thing that came to your mind when you won?"

"Well, actually...I just turned fifteen so when I could do the lottery I just did it without reading the prices...so I was a little bit stunned..."

"No kidding! That is hilarious!"

"I have been playing the lottery always carefully checking the prices and the cost of tickets...you are a true gambler!" Ilona said.

"So did you yell when you got it?"

"Yeah, and I did swear a lot..."

"Swear?"

"I mean in a good way, you know, like in surprise,"

"Who was the first to know other than you? How did they react?"

"My dad! He was so surprised! Then I told my sister and mom! My mom schooled me for getting a lottery ticket debt, but everybody was in good mood,"

"I see, she is a good mother. You don't want to have debt like that," Morris nodded.

"So tell us more about you. What are your hobbies? Any partner in your life?"

"A partner? Nobody like that...my hobby is wood carving and boats,"

"How quaint!" Morris said in a fake old-fashioned accent.

"Where did you learn such a word?" Ilona asked him, but before he said anything, she looked at Mat. "That is a very interesting hobby! How did you discover it?"

"When I was little my family took me on a vacation to the sea and I really loved the boat. Then in school, we had a practical lesson and the teacher told us to carve some wood. He praised my first boat and since then..."

"Very nice!"

"So back to the planet! What will you focus on? Science? Culture? Economy?"

"I am not yet sure...there is a lot of information about the planet..."

"I would go for the Science! There is so much to learn from the aliens! Just imagine the possible cures and exotic minerals!" Morris said.

"Please! Think about the culinary culture! Just imagine being the first one to eat alien nobody has ever tried!"

"Don't talk about food Ilona! I am getting hungry!"

"Why not try everything and see what sticks?" Ilona asked Mat who nodded.

"What do you think about Pirates? Now you have a planet you might have to deal with them!"

"What?" he said little shocked. This question was on the list he got but not the part of dealing with them.

"You know the pirates, the freedom pilots, right?"

"I know about them, yes, but I don't want to do anything with them,"

"Good, good, what about self-governing?"

"I am too young and inexperienced to do that, I never thought about dealing with Pirates!"

"Yeah, letting the government do that is definitely better," llona nodded with a smile. Mat felt like he was just played to semi-officially agree to let the government take care of the planet. It felt strange.

"What about the aliens? Any info about them?"

"Not really, just a few photos..." Mat answered, still thinking about the Pirates.

"So what makes you the most excited about the planet?" Ilona asked and Mat felt silent.

"I guess there is a lot of it right! Whole planet lot!" Morris laughs.

"I guess the aliens, I am curious..." Mat said with hesitation, remembering the blurry pictures.

"Hmm, yeah..."

"But the gate is far away from the planet so it is not going to be easy to find more,"

"Well, you have your whole life to do that! Isn't that a great start to life? Knowing you have a fricking planet?"

"Of course it is amazing Morris!" Mat looked him in the eyes and smiled just like him. It took Morris by a surprise a little since Mat was looking mostly between him and Ilona.

"Since the gate is so far, there goes the idea of a vacation," Ilona said but smiled. "For now!" she added.

"I will definitely invite you there, after I built a gate nearby," Mat masked the obvious sarcasm with a beaming smile. However, Ilona was a professional and no hesitation was shown on her face.

"Oh, aren't you a true celebrity now! I will take you up on the offer!"

"What about me?"

"Of course! My mom will want both of your autographs anyway!"

"Yes! I will name an alien after myself!"

"Well then with that we are out of time! Thank you for coming Mat," Ilona took his hand again.

"Thank you," Mat said and took Morris's hand as well.