“I need to tell you something.”
They knew each other well enough for Kaden to understand this was something serious. He pulled Joe down next to him.
“Before I left my planet, along with the rest of the crew, I had a signal embedded in me. I hoped that when I transformed, that signal would be lost or malfunction or stay dormant. But a small part of me suspected that…” He chewed his lip.
“Oh God.” Kaden’s face was white. “And you didn’t tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Joe!” He took hold of Joe’s hand. “Now they’ve contacted you?”
“Yes. A few moments ago. They’d have been aware the craft was lost here, that we’d crash-landed, but they wouldn’t have known anyone survived until they were closer and detected me.”
Kaden squeezed his fingers. “They’re not coming here, are they? This is…a query. A check. A question. Right?”
“I need to talk to them.”
“Tell them you had your wings eaten. You were trapped in a tank. This was a hostile place. You’ve barely survived.”
“You weren’t hostile.”
“Maybe almost everyone but me would have been.”
“The thing is, I didn’t bond with myother.”
“You can say you tried.”
“I’m alive and I didn’t complete my directive. To fail is unacceptable. I was supposed to obey and protect. At all cost.”
Kaden released a shaky breath. “Has this ship come for you?”
“No. They’ll be doing the same as we were, looking for planets to provide resources, checking out this planet becausethe readings we sent back were favourable. Gash liked the look of it. Checking for survivors would have been automatic.”
“Okay, so they know you’re alive but they don’t know what the Earth is like. You said that if you went back, you’d tell them not to touch this world. Can you lie? Tell them they’d have no chance here?”
“Keep holding my hand.”
“Always.”
Joe opened himself to the signal and sent memory. Slightly adjusted.
How three thousand had died. How ten of them had been trapped due to the Captain’s mistake—easily made.That was a lie.How his wings had been eaten to give Lanu a chance. How he’d been taken from the tank against his will. How unsuitable the planet was. How the people would react to an invasion with extreme violence. They had weapons of mass destruction. Chemical and biological warfare. He described the incineration of seven. The death of the Captain and chief engineer when they went into a human. How only he had survived, but in a restricted way. He advised against coming here. He accepted his fate.
Joe hoped that wasn’t piling it on a bit too thickly.
He didn’t say that this was his home. That he’d warn this planet of how to resist. That he would protect it and protect his human because that was his role. That’s what they’d engineered him to do. He was still performing that role. But now he was doing it with love.
Kaden put his hand on Joe’s heart, worry written all over his face.
294came the message.Planet unsuitable. Rescue will not be attempted.
Then they were gone.
Joe felt them leave and exhaled shakily.
“What did they say?” Kaden asked.
“That the planet was unsuitable and they weren’t going to rescue me.”
