27

'I'm sorry, we can't publish this,' said the editor to Airi, handing her written article back.

'But why?' said Airi, puzzled. 'Is it written wrong? Are there any mistakes I must fix?'

The editor sighed. 'It's not that. Your writing is perfect, and your argument is highly persuasive. This article raises a powerful question about the morality issues we humans will encounter while dealing with aliens, and personally, I'm really impressed.'

'Th—thanks,' said Airi. 'But, then, what is the problem?'

'The problem,' said the editor, getting up and looking out of the window sadly. 'What am I supposed to say...'

Airi looked at him worriedly.

'The problem is that the press isn't really as free as it's supposed to be,' he said. 'What you say is perfectly right, but it goes against what certain... personnel want.'

'You mean that they... they can control what you publish and what you don't?'

'Sometimes, in extreme situations like this, we don't have a choice. I'm sorry, Airi. I cannot publish this.'

'I understand,' said Airi shortly, and she took her article back and walked out of the office furiously.

What cowards they were! How was she supposed to get her message across if the press itself was biased or influenced?

She exited the building and crossed the road, still shaking her head in indignation, too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice the subtle noise of following footsteps as she walked on.

She turned corner after corner, a strange feeling of discomfort growing inside her as she sensed something was very wrong, but she couldn't tell what exactly.

Upon reaching an empty street, she stopped for a few moments, looking up and breathing in deeply as she gathered her thoughts. Suddenly, she became aware of a nearby presence, and a low sound that stopped almost as soon as she did. She turned around frantically and saw a tall and unpleasant-looking man smiling at her.

'What do you want?!' she said, frightened.

'You've got a lot to say, haven't you?' said the man in a hostile voice, eyeing the papers in her hand.

'None of your business!' she said, holding them tighter and retreating slightly.

'Oh, but it is,' said the man, walking up to her in a few swift strides and placing a chloroform-soaked cloth on her mouth before she could run away. 'You're coming with us, now. You will be told what you are allowed to say and write, and what you are not!'

Airi struggled desperately, but she was unable to break free, and gradually, her efforts grew weaker and weaker until she fell unconscious and was carried into a van and driven away to an unknown location.

*  *  *

When her eyes opened again, Airi found herself lying on the floor in an empty room with a sealed wrought-iron door. She scrambled up and ran towards it, pulling and pushing with all her might, but it would not budge. She dejectedly went back and sat against a wall, breaking into tears. What was happening?

After half an hour, or perhaps more, the door was unlocked and opened, and two men in uniform entered and looked at her.

'This is the girl, General,' said one of them, whom Airi recognised as the man who had kidnapped her.

'Well done, Smith,' said the general, but he didn't sound very pleased. 'Very subtle as usual, I see.'

'Well, what do you suggest I should have done, then?' snapped the colonel.

'Now that you've gone this far and brought her here, she may as well learn of our plans and help in them,' said the general with a sigh, before turning towards her. 'What's your name?'

'Airi,' she said nervously.

'Have some water, Airi,' said the general, offering her a bottle, and she accepted it at once and began to drink.

'Do you know why you're here?' he asked her when she had set the bottle back down.

'No,' said Airi coldly.

'All that talk about aliens and how they should be treated, well, I guess it aligns well with a certain humane perspective, but in real life...'

'What are you trying to say, Sir?'

'I'm trying to say that while we are in the midst of something this serious, we need all the help from the public as we can get; at least, their basic cooperation isn't too much to ask for, is it?'

'I am more than willing to offer my full cooperation and support, but only for a right cause,' said Airi, looking into his eyes with a determination that took him rather by surprise. 'But things like war, or the mistreatment of an entire race; I won't stand for it!'

'Where did you get these ideas about aliens, anyway?' said the general with a frown. 'How can you be so sure that they don't deserve the same aggression that the one in the room next to you has showed?'

'He's in the room next to me?!' said Airi in alarm.

The general smiled triumphantly. 'Not so brave now, are you? It's easy to criticise war from a distance, but when you look the enemy in the eye, you realise how important it is to have someone with the guts to fight them!'

Airi glared at him. 'I'm not scared! If you like, you can put me in the same room as him; I am certain I would be safer there than I am with you!'

The general grimaced and sighed deeply. 'You seem awfully convinced — a little too convinced, if you ask me! Don't you think so, Smith?'

The colonel chuckled evilly. 'Absolutely, General! It's almost as though she knows one of those aliens personally!'

'It's—it's not like that!' said Airi quickly.

'Really? When we interrogated the alien prisoner, he almost let slip once that there was someone else here on Earth with him!' said the colonel. 'We tried so hard to get it out of him, but he wouldn't relent.'

'So Smith here discussed this with me,' said the general. 'And I ordered the team who helped capture the alien to report any other strange thing they may have seen around that time...'

'And they said there was someone who looked rather interested in that particular meadow where he was caught...'

'Look, I have no idea what you're talking about!' said Airi, panicking.

'And I suppose you don't know him, either, do you?' said the colonel, handing her a photograph, which she grasped with trembling hands.

It was a photograph of her and Kenji, walking after school!

She was then handed another photograph which showed Kenji climbing through her window while she stood by.

Bother! She was in danger. And so was Kenji...

'Well? Cat got your tongue, girl?' barked the colonel.

'This doesn't prove anything!' exclaimed Airi.

'Oh, but this does...' said the colonel nastily, handing her a third photograph of Kenji in his true form, alone in a field. Was it from the day he had gone home?

'After that, he disappeared... and I suppose you know where,' said the colonel. 'You seem to be really good friends with him, after all... maybe more...'

'Oh, shut up!' said Airi, enraged. 'You have no right to be doing all this!'

'I guess I'll get to the point,' said the colonel shortly. 'We have clear evidence of you conspiring with an alien; and you can easily be put away for a long time for being a traitor and an enemy of the state — the planet, in fact!'

Airi stared at him, barely holding back her tears. The colonel noticed and smiled even more widely as he continued.

'You're young yet, and you don't need to suffer so much at this tender age. If you wish to avoid all these unnecessary complications and problems ruining your bright future and your perfect life, you have to agree to cooperate with us unconditionally from now on. No more little campaigns, no more debates, no more articles—' here he took the papers he had taken from her earlier and began to tear them into pieces. 'No more nothing! If you're so fond of writing, you will write what we tell you! If we tell you to write that the alien in other room is a savage and should be killed, that's what you will write!'

Airi's lip quivered as she barely held back the floodgate of tears that threatened to betray her calm front as she listened to her impending doom. What would Kenji do in such a situation? He wouldn't cry or beg, she was sure of that. He was good at handling these sorts of situations. No matter what was done to him, he would just keep that neutral poker face that never revealed what he truly felt. She needed some of his endurance right now. She took a deep breath and looked fiercely at the colonel, determined not to let him get to her.

'You may think you're very brave,' he said, raising his voice. 'But you're just being stupid if you think you can face this by yourself. No one can help you now! You're all alone and you're falling into your own doom unless you shake hands with us!'

Airi trembled as listened to his words. Calm down! she told herself furiously.

'It will take some time to get used to the idea, but it's not so hard,' said the general softly. 'And then, if you work with us, you will, of course, be rewarded handsomely...'

'Now,' said the colonel. 'When your alien friend returns from wherever he went, you just have to act as usual, and we'll be watching everything from afar. All you have to do is signal at the right time, and our team will take him away, and then you're free to go — after you share whatever you know about these freaks, of course!'

'NO!' said Airi firmly, rising up. 'I will not sell out my friend due to some pathetic notion of greed or fear! I made him a promise, and I will honour it!'

'Don't be foolish, you stupid girl!'

'I'm not foolish, and I'm not stupid. I'm doing the right thing!' said Airi, looking at them both. 'Aliens are not freaks, they deserve as much respect as we do; and I don't think you are so ignorant that you can't see that fact for what it is! I don't know the entirety of your sinister plans, but I do know that people do NOT want more war, more hatred; they want peace and love! You can try and spin this web of lies all you like, but the truth will out! And the day it does... people like you won't stand a chance. So I'm telling you, either change your ways and stand by what is right, or do whatever it is you're doing and suffer in the future! Because that's what's in the fate of evil people like you!'

'You chose the wrong path,' said the colonel, almost shaking with fury. 'And you will see just how wrong it is as the days go by! Come on, let's go, General — she'll see sense soon enough!'

The two of them left the room and shut the door with a bang, leaving Airi behind, still trembling uncontrollably from excitement and fear. What had she done? Was she really that dumb? She had just gone and landed herself into the sort of trouble it was impossible to get out of — unless her desperate prayers were answered and a miracle of some sort occurred.

Even now, it was easy to get herself out of this mess and go back home unscathed — but that meant giving up everything she stood for, everything she believed in. She shook her head firmly. She would not let innocent people die or suffer on either planet; and she would not let anything happen to Kenji, either. She made up her mind that no matter what happened to her, she would not sacrifice the truth at any cost — or the friendship which had begun to feel suspiciously like... love?