Oriphiel

Chapter Seventeen: Part Two

"We held a meeting, and discussed the matter. While some of us wanted to hold true to our promise and free our people, most of the nobles were in opposition. They believed that it was far too risky to ever free our people, and had grown very comfortable under the current system. They argued that releasing the people would be catastrophic, no matter how the waves had affected them; if they had lost too many of their memories, then releasing them would result in society collapsing into utter confusion, and if they hadn't lost enough memories, then the rebellion would begin again. Merrus tried to compromise with both sides, and proposed that we release our people in groups; every week, we would release a certain area from our control, and condition the people there to thrive once again. Looking back on it, it was a good plan, however... it was rejected by the majority." "Which side did you support?" asked Luke. After a moment of silence, Luke looked at Retix, and noticed tears running down her face. "It's probably difficult for you to understand. If you had seen the pain, the hate... the bodies stacked along the streets..." she said, wiping the tears from her eyes before continuing. "We were scared. We couldn't let it happen again. Like I said, we had grown comfortable with the ways things had become, and weren't about to risk having it all taken away. We were greedy, just as we had been in the days before the rebellion... and, once again, we paid the price."

"Time passed, and the people became more and more affected by their exposure to the waves. Eventually, our window of opportunity disappeared, and the people became too dependent on our control to ever hope of being released. Society changed drastically; while we were once a culture that thrived on innovation, with almost every member of our species able to create complex machinery, our people were now unable to perform any task beyond following orders, spending their days carrying out the most mundane of tasks. Without any conflict, there was no longer any need for weapons, and so only the nobles retained any firearms. Art, obviously, became utterly stagnant... everything that we had once cherished or taken pride in was now a hollow reminder of what we once had. In time, the Threx empire appeared and attacked, and their foreign physiology somehow rendered them immune to our device's influence. They were a civilization that took pleasure in adventuring throughout the cosmos, defeating anyone they came across and demanding a tribute from them. We didn't know of their existence before this confrontation, but as far as we could tell, they were not particularly adept at developing anything other than weapon-based technology on their own, and relied on stealing most of their tools from other cultures, forcing the scientists of conquered worlds to explain the nuances of their advances. We thought that our defenses would be enough to stop any invading threats, but we were mistaken. The only thing that the Threx had trouble with was our system of automated anti-spacecraft guns, which we quickly activated. However, after they destroyed them, we were left entirely exposed. Our mind controlled people had few weapons and no capacity for finite tactics, leading to them being completely outmatched by the seasoned invading soldiers."

After landing on our planet and routing us at every turn, they kidnapped a noble and used what must have been a very rudimentary translation device to communicate with him. He sent a message to the nobility, asking for us to meet the Threx aboard their flagship. Once there, we were to negotiate an unconditional surrender. As we had no choice but to oblige them, many of the nobles set out for their ship. However, I and a few others didn't trust the Threx, and we stayed behind. Merrus, oddly enough, decided to go with the others on the diplomatic mission, despite sharing my sentiments. I should have figured that he was up to something. And, indeed, he was. After the nobles arrived, the Threx trapped them inside the ship and slaughtered them. However, before the ambush, Merrus had used a few tools he had snuck in to scan the ship and it's databanks. The data he gathered is how we learned everything we know about the Threx, and we formed our suppositions and opinions about the Threx off of that information. Before he could be killed, Merrus used a teleportation node to escape. Not only that, but he also rescued two young nobles who had been wounded in the attack. One of them was Qez, and the other... well, he unfortunately died from his wounds not long after. Merrus had apparently surgically implanted the node within himself some time before, fearing that his opposition to the other nobles would lead to an assassination attempt. Keeping one in his pocket wasn't good enough for him, as he wanted to be able to jump at any time without delay." "What's a teleportation node?" asked Luke. "Well... I'll try to describe it briefly. My people could use computer modules to teleport, however your destination had to be calculated to an extreme degree, or else you would end up stuck inside of a wall, or have some other odd calamity happen to you. People grew tired of having to stop and find a module every time they wanted to teleport, and so nodes were invented. Basically, a node was just a hand held device that constantly scanned it's surroundings and did the calculations on it's own, allowing you to instantly warp to any module that had previously been synced with the node. Like I said before, you could still teleport to a place without any nodes or modules, but you would have to be very accurate with your calculations to pull it off. It's much easier to have a device on the other end doing the calculations for you."

"So, what happened with the Threx?" asked Luke. "After killing the nobles who had gone to meet with them, they grew even bolder. They must have thought that they had completely defeated us, killing our leaders and leaving behind a bunch of scared people who were eager to give up everything in exchange for mercy. They didn't know what we had done to our people, and they didn't realize that no number of acts of brutality could evoke any feelings of fear in them. Still, they sent out a message to our people saying that their leaders were dead, that they had no chance of winning this war, and that the Threx would spare any who assisted them in stripping the planet of all useful resources and technology. Meanwhile, Merrus had returned to us. In the data he stole from the Threx, he found various weak points on their vessels, including the flagship. He didn't believe that our mind controlled people had the capacity to fight the Threx, and demanded that they finally be freed, regardless of the consequences. He firmly believed it was the only chance of survival that we had, and that he could train a team of soldiers to exploit the weaknesses on the Threx ships, if given some time. The other nobles... disagreed."

"We killed Merrus, quickly, before he could even react, as we had other plans for our people that we knew he wouldn't ever approve of. Qez... we never told her about what happened. She was healing in isolation at the time, and as she was quite fond of Merrus, it's highly unlikely that she would ever forgive us. But it had to be done. Rather than free our people and simply hope that they could be reconditioned in such a short amount of time after being exposed to the device for so long, we decided to not leave our fate to chance. Our planet was lost, but the nobles could still escape and keep our heritage alive. We ordered all of our people to attack the Threx without relent, to serve as a distraction until we could find a way to escape. The Threx soon realized that our people were unable to be subjugated, and that not all of the nobles were dead. They also realized that our technology was so advanced that they couldn't hope of being able to understand and use it without finding the surviving nobles and forcing them to teach them. Even after the brutal rebellion, the population of our planet was still massive, and though our people were slaughtered in droves, the sheer numbers were enough to slow down the Threx in their hunt for us. Heyt sent out a probe and searched for a habitable planet where we could begin again, and he started refining the schematics that he had earlier designed for a teleportation device with enough range to instantly transport us to the best planet that he could find."

"The Threx were relentless in their search for us, and we had to stay on the run. This lasted for weeks, and even though Heyt had discovered a planet that we could survive on, Earth, our constant moving made it incredibly difficult for Heyt to make his calculations. The probe that he had sent out had a teleportation node in it, and after it had sent back readings of Earth, Heyt gave it the command to land on the planet, serving as a easy to access conduit. However, the probe happened to land in an alleyway in this city, where someone must have damaged it; the calculations it sent back were garbled and half complete. Still, it was able to send back proper scans and readings, including television broadcasts, and gave us time to learn more about your culture. Learning the indigenous language of this region wasn't easy, but we had certain devices and techniques to pick it up quickly. Heyt eventually completed the calculations, and we modified a module to have the power to send us there, as following his schematics. Right as the Threx were closing in on us, we began to make our escape. Most of us were killed, but six of us managed to teleport to Earth. Unfortunately, Gor had sustained a serious wound during the process, and he died upon arrival." "When we first met, Heyt told me that the Threx were coming to Earth. How would they know where you teleported to? And why do they care so much about finding you? Is it just a matter of pride?"

"No," replied Retix. "They want to find us because they need us, in a way. Like I said earlier, without our knowledge, almost all of the technology on our planet is useless to them for the time being. Of course, they could study it and learn to use it on their own, but that would take a very long time, and it's much easier if they simply force us to show them how everything works. Merrus' scans showed us as much. Unfortunately for us, the Threx managed to gain an edge... as I mentioned earlier, they captured one of us. A noble named Seht. He was tortured, and forced to serve them. We realized that his betrayal was a serious threat, as he could help them to find and capture us with ease, and so we eventually... assassinated him. I'd rather not talk about it. Regardless, before his demise, he revealed to the Threx rudimentary knowledge about our culture and technology. Luckily they can't teleport, but they can extract limited information from our modules. While we were teleporting to Earth, Heyt tried to make sure the module we used was as well encrypted as possible, but he knew that they had the ability to crack it within a few days. Apparently, he was designing a virus to wipe it clean after we had escaped, but he couldn't finish the coding in time. The Threx have our module, and though they can't teleport with it, they can still plainly see the coordinates of our destination. And that is how we knew that they would, in all likelihood, follow us."

Luke sat in silence, taking the time to process all of the information that he had just received. Eventually, he stood up, and said "I... can't help you." Retix looked up at Luke but said nothing, and he looked back at her as he continued. "This device you're building... it's pretty fucking obvious that it's the same one that you used to fuck up your homeworld. I mean, it is, isn't it?" Retix nodded. Luke narrowed his eyes, and said "I can't believe this. I'm sorry, but I just can't. After everything that happened to your planet, are you really going to let the same thing to Earth? Just... turn us into your slaves?" "It's not like that," said Retix. "We don't have a choice. Unless we can unite your world, the Threx are going to subjugate it." "Only because you led them here! You're making us pay for your mistakes." "'Pay for my mistakes'? I pay for my mistakes, every second of every day that I continue to live. I close my eyes, and I see the faces of each person that died because of my foolishness. I open my eyes, and I see a world that deserves infinitely more than I can offer it. I have done such horrible things that I ought to have died a thousand times over, and there is just one single glimmer of possible redemption that I see before me; I know it seems nonsensical, but I can spare your planet from the fate that befell mine. I can take something evil, like the device, and use it to accomplish something wonderful. You have to understand, by all indications, the Threx were expanding their reach at an alarming rate, and would have reached Earth in a few years whether we teleported here or not. But now, I can make the most of my past mistakes, and salvage some good from them. I can use this opportunity to save Earth from it's otherwise inevitable fate." "That's bullshit. You're going to save us by enslaving us? By destroying our minds?" "No. This time, we have more knowledge of the workings of the device. We have experience to draw from. We can design it so that it doesn't destroy the mind as quickly. We will unite the planet and fight the Threx, using Merrus' information to hit the weak points of their fleets, and then immediately free your people before any negative effects can take hold." "There are other ways to unite the world. You don't have to steal our free will." "We thought of that, but no other option could have possibly succeeded. By all of our information, your world is divided into factions that have spent years fighting each other, and convincing them to stop would take far more time than we have. Also, we have seen many of your television broadcasts, and we came to the conclusion that if we revealed ourselves to one or all of Earth's governments, we would end up being kidnapped and dissected. The only way to quickly unite the world is to use the device. We have to."

Though Luke was still angry and eager to disagree with Retix, he calmed down and took a moment to think. "You've made some questionable choices," said Luke, sitting back down on the bench, "and done some terrible things. But that's in the past. Right now, if those Threx assholes really are gunning it for our planet, then we're basically fucked. They'll catch all of the leaders of the world completely by surprise, and probably destroy our defenses before we can even flinch. But I would still rather die fighting a hopeless battle than live out the rest of my days as some soulless husk." Retix lowered her gaze and put her hands on her forehead. Though her moist eyes glistened under the scant moonlight, there were no more tears escaping them. "I have to do this. I don't have a choice." she said, although it was in a rather vacant manner, as if she was saying it to herself as much as she was saying it to Luke. He couldn't help but feel pity for her, despite everything that she and the others had done, and he felt his anger fade away. After thinking about it for some time, he came to realize that she had made what seemed to be a good point. The Threx were coming, and the only way to even have a chance at stopping them was to use the device. It still felt wrong to him, and thinking about it gave him a cold feeling. "I'll..." he began, before looking down, sighing, and continuing, "I'll help you." Retix looked up at him with a questioning glance. "You can't change what you've done in the past. I get that. And though using the same device that destroyed your world doesn't sit well with me... it's probably our only option. So I'll help you, but on one condition; that you only use the device for as long as necessary, and not for a moment more." "Of course," said Retix. "I never planned to keep it on for..." she started to say, before Luke cut her off by raising his hand. "I know," he said. "You didn't plan on keeping it on forever. But then again, you also didn't plan on leaving it on the first time around. Like you said, 'plans change'. And I just want you to know that if this plan changes, and you all try to take control of our planet for good, I will find a way to kill all of you." Retix took the threat rather well, and even smiled, though her eyes still expressed deep sorrow, replying "That sounds very reasonable."