Prisoners of Sol

My eyes snapped open in a medical facility on Suam, jolted awake by some chemical strip the Elusians levitated beneath my nose. Applause filtered through the gathered spectators, a rare acknowledgement that they were impressed by something humans had done. I blinked in confusion, not understanding why Justiciar Colban was smiling. It was then that the truth sank in: the gray aliens didn't know what I'd seen there yet. There was still time to warn Sol—to get to Corai first, before whatever ambiguous fate she had came for her!

I grinned, trying to look lackadaisical. "I told you guys were wrong about us! You saw, didn't you? We fight side-by-side! We're your stalwart hope—I need you to go over those details with me. They're crystallized up in my noggin, if we can just untangle them."

"You need to rest, Preston," Mikri admonished. "You seemed rather distressed while observing these visions, though I do not know if this was the stress of the process."

Justiciar Colban paced, a practiced smile on his weathered lips. "All in good time. If what you say is true. What exactly did you see?"

"Oh. You don't know?" I feigned confusion, despite having known that the probe would take days to do its work. "Ah, in that case, I have some leverage! I did exactly as you asked. All I want is to tell Corai just how right she was; she deserves to be validated."

I had no idea how Corai would react to what I had just witnessed, other than that she'd be deflated. The fact of the matter was, humanity was fucked as soon as the Elusians got wind of what I'd actually seen. All I could do right now was try to save the people I love, and that meant not leaving the special person I finally found to die. I would figure out a plan with the one creator that might be willing to forewarn Sol in spite of it all. My mind was running wild with possibilities of what weapon Takahashi had wanted to build, and how it might knock out the Elusians with one fell swoop.

"Very well." Colban paused to make some sort of arrangements, likely finding it simpler to acquiesce to my straightforward demands. "I'd rather not fight through your obstinance. Do not tarry any further after this."

I clapped my hands together. "Excellent—and why would I? Humanity is innocent, baby! I'll shout it from the rooftops, secrete nanoconfetti from my armpits: I'm over the moon. I'm so over the moon that I could moon Mikri."

"Good!" Mikri responded, deciding to play along. "I still have the latex glove for that medical procedure. I would more than appreciate a clear shot."

"What did you see, Preston?" Sofia demanded, a skeptical glint in her eyes. "We…didn't do it, right?"

I forced myself to continue smiling placidly at Colban, though I directed my response to her and Mikri. "I don't want your reactions to tip them off. I'll tell you everything, but right now, we have to get out of here. Corai needs to hear this. She's in danger."

"Oh, sweet Jesus, that…wasn't a no. Preston, you need to tell me more than that! I truly am happy for you, but you've been with this woman for a few days. Whatever you're about to do, think it the fuck through."

"I have. I trust her, Sofia; we've been in her head. She's a good person. You know Corai cares, and everything that got us here—"

"I have been in her head and listened to her own words. That's why I know that you know that how she'll react, if her baseline assumption that humanity was innocent is not true, is anything but guaranteed. Corai does deserve better, but our priority is Sol, something that goes far beyond our personal connections. After seeing your zeal to protect our dimension at the Space Gate, I thought you felt the same way about not endangering humanity."

"Look, Sol is megafucked whatever I do. I can't leave Corai to die—I saw that she dies without my intervention, okay? It was implied, at least. You don't understand. I'm not someone who can just turn my back, and besides, she didn't when humanity was getting shafted. Name one other Elusian who might even help us get out of here: because we are gonna be executed if we don't."

Alarm flashed in Sofia's eyes. "Corai is a good person, but that's exactly why she won't want her whole species to die! I always stood by you, Carter, but I can't let you be brash and emotional now. We have to make impossible sacrifices. I'm sorry!"

"You should listen to Sofia," Mikri said, a storm brewing in his glowing eyes. "I am on your side no matter what. You cannot say the same for Corai, the ancient Elusian who has admitted that her kind lost the ability to care. That you value her over me is an egregious error. I can help you."

"I made Corai a promise to get her out of here. We won't abandon her, the way Elusians did to the Fakra when they didn't serve their purposes. You two are either with me or against me." I stepped through the portal to the prison cell, surveying the area and waiting for an opportunity. "I'm not fucking leaving this place without her. We owe her the truth. We owe her the chance to understand, like I know in my heart that she will."

Sofia's hands balled up into fists. "Goddammit, Preston! Corai better be more helpful to us than the immediate backlash you'll bring upon our whole species by going Sol on this place, or I'll…I have no words. You'd better be right."

"I am. I have to be."

"That's what Corai said about us."

"This is different!"

I could barely stop the nerves from making my body tremble, as I was, in earnest, terrified of Corai's reaction to the news that humanity was connected to their extinction. I couldn't risk her shutting down during the escapade, or worse. We'd have to get out of here first, and discuss it somewhere private. I forced myself to smile as the Elusian prisoner came to the slit, her eyes searching mine. The Watcher stiffened, sensing that something was wrong from my slight body cues.

"It's good to see you," Corai said verbally, switching hurriedly to mental chatter. "You look like you're about to punch someone. And Sofia looks like she wants to punch you."

"Yeah. How are you holding up?" I responded, struggling to switch between the mental tracks. "We did our job, but now, I need to get you out of here. I know you said not to do anything reckless, but I'm doing it with or without your blessing. You either can give me advice on the best escape plan, or we'll all be fucked."

"What?! I…I don't understand."

"There's no time. An escape vector, right now—because I'm breaking your cage in the next few seconds."

Colban stepped forward, having his guards raise their beam weapons. "What exactly are you discussing?"

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Just sweet nothings, sorry," I grunted. "Not safe for work stuff. I didn't think you wanted to hear about the kama sutra, but I can demonstrate exactly what we talked about if you'd like."

"I would implore you not to cause an incident. However, I can see the terror in your eyes, like when I first found you. While I'm not apprised of the situation, I couldn't ask you to face a burden of that magnitude alone. If you really need my help…" Corai trailed off, flicking her eyes downward. "Punch through the floor, through the base of the nanite canopy. Our nanobots have certain features blocked, so I can't warp us out. However, if you obtain raisers, we can use the metal debris to surf back up to a branch and hide."

"That sounds romantic. Right. Fifi, Mikrito, you ready?"

Sofia said nothing in response, a clear indicator that she was truly upset by my decision-making. To be honest, I didn't care. This was the right thing to do, and I knew which choice would haunt my conscience at night. I'd never been able to save anyone when it mattered; this time, it could be different.

Mikri offered a soft whir. "Preston! Snap out of this. She is an unnecessary risk."

"We're going," I responded.

I ripped the wall off of the egg-shaped cell with a deft curl of my fingers, and the Elusian guards raised their weapons in half a second. However, the gray aliens suddenly keeled over in distress, the way I had been in 5D space for prolonged exposure. Peering through the lens of augmented reality, I could see that Mikri had sent them each hundreds of simultaneous messages with videos of him hula hooping. That tin can was a robutt sometimes, but I could count on him to have my back when it mattered. There'd only be a few seconds before they got their notifications silenced though.

Corai hopped onto my back, and I jumped down to the floor that the pod had been levitated over. My shoes slammed into the nanobot floor with full force, trying to kick it away faster than it could rebuild itself. Sofia helped with extreme reluctance, deepening the hole into a fissure that we both could slip through. The Vascar had appeared behind us, boldly having pried a pair of raisers off an Elusian's wrist. He tossed them to me, and remembering who had the practice between us both, I fitted them over Corai's smooth hands. It felt good to have her body coiled around me for safety, and to be taking her out of here at last.

"You do the honors, milady," I coughed out, trying not to show how much I hated freefalling; that hadn't changed since dropping onto Jorlen.

"So I shall, my Knight of the Fuego." With a forceful tug, Corai snapped away a piece of plating from the Shifting City's underbelly. "Now, I couldn't be more serious. Preston, you need to tell me what happened."

"And I will, when you're not focusing on not dropping us to our deaths!"

The Elusian's blackened eyes were leery, although she cobbled together a makeshift board beneath our feet and slowed our momentum gently. We slowed to a hover about halfway down the base, and she floated us back up to a nanobot tendril that was tucked away. Casting a furtive glance over her shoulder, she herded us into a service tunnel and sealed the door shut. There was no light, but Mikri brightened his LEDs enough that we could just make out each other's outline. I settled down beside Corai, drawing several shaky breaths.

What if Sofia is right, and this Watcher will turn on us when I tell her what we found out? I couldn't bear it if she hated me, or hated all of humanity! And I know, no matter what, that it will break her heart to hear of our involvement.

"Preston. The Justiciary is going to assume that you're running away because of…human involvement in their demise." The Elusian's voice was stern, the warmth I'd gotten used to vanishing into the darkness of this room. "Are you?"

I hesitated, before performing a direct share of my memory files with Corai and Sofia; Mikri couldn't view them. "This is…what I saw."

A hand shot to Corai's mouth as she viewed the footage, before sobs racked her body. She shook her head furiously. I tried to comfort her with an arm around her back, but she stood up in a heartbeat, staggering away from me. Her eyes were stricken, maddened almost, by pure betrayal. She wagged an accusatory finger at us, before it faltered and fell with a deflating sense of realization. The Elusian finished the question on her lips, though it sounded more broken than anything.

"How could humanity do this?!" Corai demanded. "Everything I believed about you: this is all my fault. I've been such a fool!"

"I'm sorry, Corai." I flinched away from her words, wondering if they were…directed at me. Regretting…us. "I'm really sorry. Please tell me you can see that I want to stop this—I showed you my exact memory of it. I didn't want this."

The Elusian's legs looked like they might collapse under her weight. "I felt your fear over what I might think, and that you wanted to save me. I am…grateful that you still chose to trust me with the truth, despite the…phenomenal burden it tacks onto my conscience. I…need a moment."

Sofia shot me a purposeful look, before cautiously approaching Corai. "I just watched those visions for the first time too, but as for how humanity could do it; I think it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. General Takahashi said that we 'had to' build weapons to destroy them all, and sounded openly regretful about how it ended up. It might just be self-defense. The Elusians attack us, and…"

"You're right. It very well could be. Or perhaps that's simply what I want to believe as a defense mechanism, since it's the only explanation that provides humanity any justification. I believed in you so much, that I…I could never hurt you, but I cannot perpetrate my people's destruction further by siding with Sol! I've taken too many illogical risks as is."

"So have I by bringing you into this at all." I walked over to the Elusian and searched her features, fitting my hand into hers. "What we have is special. I believe our love can overcome anything, us together. We can't just give up; I mean, would you rather throw in the towel, or damn well try to make things turn out better for everyone?"

"I feel responsible for whatever comes next," Corai answered feebly.

"You're one person who gave it a heroic effort at peace. Even if they were right, they decided it much too early, and there's got to be more to the story. We aren't that species."

"I want to believe that, but the violence and horrors I've seen from your kind are also etched in my mind. I love you and all of your flaws, except when…our extinction appears inevitable."

"I think that 'inevitable' can go fuck itself! I've chosen my own destiny. You promised me, Corai, that you'd never give up on humanity. Never in a million years. Maybe it's not enough, but seeing the future for what it is means we have a chance to change it. So many people don't get that opportunity. Who are we to squander that, when we could save both of our species?"

Sofia nodded. "Maybe we can influence humanity toward a more non-lethal option. The Elusians must push our backs against the wall where we have no other choices. If another choice was introduced—"

"I have seen humanity in action. I know they would show you more compassion than you deserve, if they were able to," Mikri said.

Corai stewed in her thoughts for several minutes, huddling in the darkness of the service tunnel. Despite not being in her head, I wagered I knew what was circling through her mind; she was considering turning herself, and maybe us, back in due to her overwhelming guilt. She was weeping in her mind's eye that humanity, who meant everything to her, were destined to commit patricide. I prayed that I had said the right words to keep her by my side, because if I failed, then I'd have no chance to save this one Elusian. Somehow, despite my bold words, I sensed that was the best I could hope to do.

"I will protect you, Sofia, and Mikri for as long as I can, because I care about you deeply. I dragged you into this mess, and I know whatever happens, you will be blameless in this all," Corai sighed. "If these are the last days of the Elusian species, I wish to spend them with you. However, I won't interfere any further. I have enough blood on my hands as is."

I squeezed her hand adamantly. "We can stop this!"

The Watcher offered a sad smile, cupping her palm to my stubbly chin. "I know you believe that, Preston. I love you for it. However, my sense of optimism and determination is quite broken. I cannot support the destruction of my species knowingly."

"I understand. You need…time. I'm going to come up with a plan to keep everyone alive, and make you believe. I want to restore our trust."

"That was never broken—not between us. Have no fear."

I settled in alongside the Elusian, glad that the horrible truth was out there now. I didn't know how long we could hide out in the Shifting City before the gray aliens would track us down, and we couldn't go much of anywhere; this was why Colban had placed us back in our human bodies to start with, so we couldn't fly under the radar. Whatever my companions had thought, I'd known that Corai could never be our enemy. I drew comfort from her presence, and tried to think of a way to fix things: our destiny had to be changed.