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I tap the power on a small tablet, the only one to run. Although the video cuts in and out, she can hear enough of it.
A general stands before a camera. Instead of looking stern, he appears excited, even happy.
He clears his throat and begins speaking:
Welcome to Earth Federation. If you’re watching this, you have just landed on Avalon. She is a work of art you can enjoy at once. If you are worn out from a hard day, try relaxing for a day at the beautiful, private beaches. Perhaps you need some time to yourself? Go hike the tallest mountain in the region. There is much to do and discover on planet Avalon.
Hands planted firmly behind his back, the man clears his throat again.
So, let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we? We have discovered a cluster zone of life, hundreds of light years from Earth. From what our intelligence has gathered, there are complex life forms. Aliens. Yes, I know how difficult it must be to hear, but we have assigned you to this project to create a bio-weapon. In time, we will perfect this weapon, and before all predecessor nations, we will use variants of this weapon to attack and control the galaxy. You are the first team to build a path toward victory.
There’s more, but Naomi quickly shuts it off. “Okay, I get it,” she cries.
Colonization. That’s been the game from the start. Whoever controls the land gets the resources. Once you have those, you can make demands.
“I didn’t know it was this bad,” she says.
“They hid it from everyone on Earth,” I reply. “And even if they hadn’t, there was nothing you could do. I don’t understand the concept of money, but I do understand power. Those who h
ave it crave more.”
Zakar…
Fassbender…
Earth Federation.
She falls back into my arms, weak and trembling. Recanting her words, she whispers, “There’s a part of me that always knew. I was selfish. I wanted to leave Earth so badly I turned a blind eye to the possibility of failing this mission. I never thought I would ever be involved in something so...”
She swallows.
“So evil?” I ask.
She nods. “Yes,” she states. “I’m a lot of things, but I’m not evil.”
Evil exists on the peripheral of one’s imagination. It comes to you when you least expect it. The most vulnerable are the ones who claim to be good.
She has claimed no such thing.
“You are not evil,” he says. “You were hardly given a choice. You did what you had to do. Human authority does not reveal its intentions until long past their crimes are put on display.”
She shakes her head, smearing tears against my chest. “But I could have done more. Days ago, when we landed, I had the chance to stop Fassbender. I sensed something was wrong. I could have alerted Hugh or Roy, or even the captain. But I didn’t. I kept it to myself.”
She is thinking about this too much, which is exactly what I worried about from the start.
“None of that matters now. You need to move on from what you cannot control,” he says.
I can give her all the advice in the world. I’ll never understand what it’s like to be in her shoes. I’ll never know how it feels to be betrayed by my own kind.
My own kind does not exist. There are other versions, but they are all lab-made mutations. I guess that makes me a freak, too.
I stand down, feeling depressed for the first time in ages.
Naomi’s eyes are glittering with tears. “Don’t you get it? I can’t control anything. None of it. But if let myself accept that truth, it means turning my back away from the universe. It means giving up to chaos,” she says.
I hold her as she spills more tears. It’s been a hard day. A sad day of revelation. I’ve had many of those, but never under these circumstances.
Initially, I wanted her because of a primal hunger, but my desire does not stem from the same depths as Zakar’s subconscious.
