"You," the tall woman said. "You're awfully familiar."
Ellie pressed a hand to her chest. "I believe my Original may have been, yes. But I am not who you think I am."
The tall woman pushed to the forefront of the crowd, and Ellie remembered people like her. They had been guards, personal guards of the Originals, and genetically altered to be the best at their job that they could be. They were impressive warriors, but they had been trained to be like that.
The woman might have stalked all the way up to her if Proteus's tail hadn't lashed out, catching her in the chest and throwing her back into the water. It didn't escape Ellie's notice that the purple undine was the one to reach for her as she fell.
"No one touches her!” Proteus hissed, but then he turned on her, rage burning in his eyes as he hissed, "What are you doing?"
"Preventing you from making a mistake." Ellie clutched the folder to her chest, holding on to it with as much courage as she could muster. Her voice shook as she addressed the newcomers. "I know that I look like someone not to trust. Part of you recognizes that, and I'm sorry for what history has painted my face to be. But I am certain that you are here for a reason. Just like I am."
The silence that rang out after her words made her heart ache. Still, she plunged forward. This was the right way to do this. She was certain of that.
The holograms blinked to life. They weren't moving though, not like Proteus wanted. They were static images of what this room had once been. Frozen undine in the channels above them. Scientists leaned over the edges as they showed their work to the deep sea creatures who advised them. The tanks were similar to those in Tau, but they didn't house undine or monstrous, torn apart bodies. They were filled with small corals and fish that swam around them.
The facility was elegant, bright, and full of life. "We used to work together," she breathed. "This isn't programmed. This is a snapshot of what once was. Centuries ago when humans and undine worked together to fix what had been broken. Everyone here knew what was rapidly approaching, and everyone was trying to stop it."
With an angry sound, the tall woman yanked herself out of the water. "I know the past. I saw what our people did. No one was trying to stop it."
"Some tried!" Ellie insisted. "Perhaps that wasn't the people in charge who were trying to change the future, but there were still people fighting until the bitter end."
She held out the folder for the tall redhead to take, and she did without hesitation.
Ellie couldn't help but say, "There were people fighting even after the end, it seems. People who were more knowledgeable than any of us. They were trying to reverse the damage and what had been done to our world. People who left a legacy that only we can continue."
There it was. Her soul knew it. Her heart knew it.
The answer.
Words bubbled out of her lips. "I know it feels like you have overcome immeasurable battles. You have fought a war. You have defeated the corrupt people who destroyed all that we had. It is too much to ask you to do more, but that is why you are here.We can fix this. And wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't even try?"
The redhead frowned as she opened the binder. "What is this?"
"Notes from the scientists who worked here. They were trying to reverse the damage, like I said. There are many other projects as well that are... well, no scientist thus far seems to be entirely ethical in how they dealt with the end of our planet as we knew it, but still. So much knowledge is in this book. And I believe if we were to combine our efforts then?—”
"This is not what we are doing." Proteus's voice interrupted her, and every word dripped with rage. "They will take orders from me. They will learn through doing."
"You cannot ask them to trust you blindly!" Ellie had never shouted before. But it felt good to be angry like this. To challenge him when she had never done so before.
He stared at her, his mouth slightly open and those dark eyes flashing. "What did you say?"
"You have to give them the choice, Proteus. They have to know everything that you're asking of them, and they have to choose for themselves." She was clutching her hands so tightly her nails were digging into her skin. The pain grounded her. "We cannot order anyone to help us because then the help isn't genuine. They need to see hope in this future, just like you and I do. They have to choose this for themselves."
Then she turned to the other people, avoiding catching the gazes of the other women and instead looking at the undines. "I know you have spent so much time creating a world where undine and humans could live together in some sort of peace, but what if you could finally send them back to the surface?"
The blue one pulled himself out of the water, glaring at her. "That's not possible."
"What if it were?"
"I will not entertain any fool’s errand?—”
"Arges." The redhead turned toward him, the binder almost limp in her hand. "She's not lying."
The connection between the two of them was undeniable. It was almost electric the way they stared at each other, emotions palpable as their thoughts seemed to connect. As though they could read each others minds.
The redhead turned to her. "Where did you get this?"
"Here."
