Choices

The god-spawn continued speaking in the hush that followed. “Do you know what this is?”

Lily waited.

“If you have guessed a battleship built to cross the stars, then you would be partially correct. It carries amongst its arsenal an impressive array of weapons, including something that could instantly destroy entire mountain ranges,” Virren said. “Yet above all, the Lionsheart represents a stunning callousness on the part of your people.” He paused. “Those who left you behind.”

It was hard to draw her eyes from the ship, hard not to imagine mountains exploding by some hidden weapon within, but Virren’s voice bore a new intensity. Above all, his final words were more than enough to shift her attention back to his face. “Left behind? What does that mean?”

Virren hissed. “What else? Always the same thing! Greed. Division. Hatred. Selfishness.”

She frowned back at him. “You’re not explaining anything.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, but I was. Even so, I will admit that the specifics have been lost to time. Very simply, then: when humanity realised that this planet could no longer support its ravenous hungers, they abandoned it for the stars.”

Lily felt her eyes widen. “Wait… when? I thought that the escape failed because no-one could agree.”

“Oh?”

“Yes! Everyone knows that the ships were all destroyed. The nations fought over them and…”

Virren was smiling at her, though it was a smile of pity. “Of course they did. Those that were left behind certainly squabbled, Lily.”

She blinked. “I don’t understand.”

“What is he talking about?” Sasha asked.

Gabriel had moved closer to Lily. His jaw was set. And while he was obviously following the conversation, since Virren’s voice seemed to penetrate Lily’s mind as much as her ears, her brother didn’t seem ready to ask his own questions.

“Very well, a little more history before you answer my questions,” Virren said. “The earth had been poisoned long before I realised that I needed to speed things along. Humanity saw their folly, and in their middling wisdom – in their cowardice – they built great arks and sent them into the heavens, entirely abandoning their responsibilities here.”

“Arks?”

“Yes. Spaceships that could support entire populations – but not all at once, you see. They were built at staggering costs to life, over scores of years. When at last ready for flight, many, many people were left behind. Only the ‘best and brightest’ were permitted on the first flight.”

[And those who waited?] Gabriel asked.

“Were promised their own flights within a short span of years. Just long enough to establish the colony in space, after which they would be collected to join their fellows.”

A sinking feeling dragged at Lily where she stood. “No-one ever returned, did they?”

“Of course not. The self-proclaimed ‘elite’ sent missives containing naught but false hope and lies about reasonable delays. In time, they sent only sabotage. Until finally, as decades more passed, after all that desperate fighting over the technology and resources needed to ascend, all that remained here on earth was the Lionsheart.”

More silence followed his words.

Somehow, the nearby water seemed so much colder.

How could people do such things to each other? she thought.

Part of her knew exactly how.

She’d seen plenty of similar, despicable behaviour in her time before Haven… but it was simply not the way. Not if survival was important to anyone. Survival meant banding together.

Survival meant places like Haven.

“It is a poor irony that such an exodus actually helped the earth survive longer,” Virren said with a sigh. “Fewer people meant less waste, less pollution. More space for things to grow.”

[But you want to put a stop to that,] Gabriel said. The snap to his fingers was accusatory.

At the same time, Sasha asked about the space colony.

“One at a time, my dears – though I believe I can answer you both quickly enough.” Virren glanced up at the blue sky. “Descendants of the original recreants still live. And for a long time, they have possessed the technology and ability to retrieve all who live down here. They have simply chosen not to do so.”

Sasha seemed to swallow back a vast outrage by the way she stiffened.

Lily had to agree, and she found that she’d clenched her own hand into a fist as Virren spoke.

“As to your question, Gabriel, I believe you know that I do not want the earth to become welcoming to humanity. Whether your species is down here or up there, sooner or later they will ruin this planet. Just as they have done so many times before. The only way that ends is if I end it myself. Put simply and cruelly: no more humans here, no more suffering here.”

Gabriel shook his head.

“I don’t accept that,” Lily replied as she folded her arms. “The Elder kami doubt us too, but I refuse to believe your way is the only way. We aren’t all monsters.”

Virren raised an eyebrow. “So you claim.”

“Yes!” she snapped back.

“Then do your best to prove as much. I will ask something of you, as promised. And depending on your answer, you will receive either my aid or my condemnation. Are you ready, Lily of Haven?”

“I am.”