A Space Story 79

            “Junitha why are we following Zai?” asked Janessa, “he just said he is going to help us.”

            “That is not what he said,” replied Junitha, “first Antalla trusted Zai completely.  I am not first Antalla.  I need to see for myself if Zai can be trusted.”

            They found Zai in a viewing room.  He was taking off his mask.  Zai opened his mouth and let out a roar.

            “Why?” he yelled into the dark, “Why did you ask me to do this?  I am your knight.  I fight when you ask me to fight.  I kill when you ask me to kill.  I would die if you ever asked me for my life.  Why would you send me to do this?  Who am I to judge them?”

            Junitha was smiling.

            “Why are you smiling?” asked Janessa, “can’t you see he’s suffering.”

            “I am smiling,” said Junitha, “because he is asking questions.”

A Space Story 78

            Evan Evaide waited by the door while Anyantha Whitecross entered the brig and talked to Vanz Kerrigan.

            “I believed in you,” she said to him, “My sister and I, our parents died when we were little.  We lost everything.  We had nowhere to go.  Nowhere but the Halcyon house.  We grew up there.  You were like us.  The world threw you away and treated you like nothing.  But you rose above it all.  You built something great.  You changed the world so that no one would have to suffer the way you did.  You were a shining example of what a person could achieve.  When I got older all I could think of was growing up to be like you.  But I did not really believe I had that kind of greatness in me.  So the next best thing I could do was do my part to help someone as great as you.  The day I was hired to be your personal assistant, it was the best day of my life.  It did not bother me that you were so calculating and manipulative.  I knew there was a price for what you were and what you did.

            “I can forgive you for what you did.  You hurt me but I can forgive you for it because I know that was not really you.  That was the horde inside your head making you do things.  Tell me they were still in your head after that.  Tell me they were controlling you when I saw you shoot Roweth in cold blood like that.  Tell me they were controlling you when you left me there to chase down Zai.  Tell me it was the horde that made you try to kill Zai while he was saving Janessa.  Tell me something you bastard.”

            Kerrigan did not answer right away.  Like always he took a moment to find the right words.

            “I did not know you had such high expectations of me Anyantha,” he said, “I tried to be better.  I tried to be the shining example you wanted me to be.  But it turns out I am just a man.”

            “No,” she screamed surprising him, “you don’t get to be just a man.  You put yourself out there.  You chose this.  You made yourself the face of the Solar Fleet.  You made sure your face was there for all of us to see.  Do you think I’m the only one that feels this way?  There is a whole generation that looks at you as the man who saved them, the man who saved the world.  Why would you do that if you didn’t want us to see you that way, if you didn’t want people to love you?  You don’t get to be just a man.”

            Anyantha refused to break down and sob or show how enraged and hurt she was even if her eyes were watering.  Vanz Kerrigan for the first time in his life as long as he could remember did not know what to say.

            “I’m sorry that I failed you,” was what came out when he opened his mouth.

            Anyantha ran away from him.  Evan was there for her.  Kerrigan was alone again.

A Space Story 77

            In the common hall Ryoko was still not convinced that Junitha had super powers.  Then Junitha made her blades appear out of thin air and made them fly around the room at her command.

            “Then this means you were holding back in our sparring match,” said Ryoko.

            “I wasn’t holding back,” said Junitha, “I just wasn’t using the power of Antalla.”

            “What if you did use it?”

            “Then I might accidentally kill you.  Can we talk about something else?  Hey are you sure you are okay Samal?”

            “I am fine,” said Samal, “My arm is better and they can grow a new ear for me when we get back to Earth.  Although I wish people would stop coming up to me and apologizing.”

            The others wanted to see more of Junitha’s abilities.  She demonstrated her ability to ‘time step’.  They asked about the Divine Roar.  She told them it was the most difficult of her abilities to master and tended to only manifest in the direst of situations.  Janessa was sitting off a little way when Duron came up to her.

            “Janessa I just want to say that I am sorry if I took advantage of you during the chaos,” he said.

            “Its okay Duron,” she replied, “we had our brains scanned.  We both had telepathic aliens screwing with us.  I have no idea why they thought it was a good idea to make us super horny but it was no ones fault.  Well it was the aliens’ fault.  I’m sure that if we had not run into each other we would have grabbed the nearest person around and tried to have sex with them.”

            “Are you sure about that?” said Duron.

            Janessa was not sure about that.

            “Because Zai said what the Spectral Horde was doing was like hypnosis.  They could influence us but ultimately they could not make anyone do anything they were not already capable of or anything they did not want to do on some level.”

            “Maybe we should just forget all of it,” said Janessa.

            “Do you really want to forget it?” asked Duron, “because I am not sure I can.”

            Janessa did not really believe she could either.  But what was she supposed to do?  Just forget their past?  Janessa could not do that.  But why could she not do that?  He wanted her.  And she was realizing that she wanted him too.  But he had hurt her before worse than anyone else her whole life.  And Janessa had never believed the saying ‘you always hurt the ones you love’.  How could she be sure things would be any different this time?

            “I have news,” said Zai, last of the Raath as he entered the common hall, “thanks to Suchin Markjon we now know where the Spectral Horde’s home planet is.”

            Zai handed a data pad to Duron and said, “You should input these coordinates right away.  It should not take us more than thirty six hours to arrive there.”

            “How did Suchin do this?” asked Duron.

            “Suchin Markjon is a latent telepath,” said Zai, “I believe she telepathically connected with the Spectral Horde during their boarding action.  I also believe the Spectral Horde to share a hive mind.  This is how she was able to stay connected with them over time.  However they were also connected to her and used that to gain a better understanding of how to attack a human mind.”

            “So what does this mean for us Zai?  What about your mission to judge us?”

            “I made my decision some time ago.”

            Zai, last of the Raath left them.

A Space Story 76

            Evan Evaide did not know what to say to Roweth Sinclair.  He had promised Anyantha he would tell Roweth what he had done.  He was nervous as he walked up to the man in the bed.

            “Mr. Sinclair…” he was cut off before he could get started.

            “You don’t have to apologize to me Evan,” said Roweth, “you did the right thing.”

            “But I could have helped you.  I left you there.”

            “Do you love her?  Anyantha do you love her?”

            “Of course I do.”

            “Then you did the right thing.  You know that old hypothetical philosophical question.  If there is a burning building do you go in and save one sibling or five strangers?  I know what my answer is.  You save yourself and the people you love first.  If you can go back and save the strangers then to it but if you can’t then let them burn.”

            Evan wanted to say something in response but Roweth was not paying attention to him anymore.  He was looking over at Suchin as she lay serenely.  Evan left the room.

            “I did this to myself,” said Roweth.

            Evan went back to Anyantha.  She had two bruised ribs and had some internal bleeding but Dr. Faction had fixed everything.  He said the human body was a lot more durable than most people gave it credit for.  Anyantha asked Evan to help her out of the bed so she could get dressed.  There was something she needed to do.