Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 39 - A Universal Scale (Patreon)

Sometimes, I have trouble remembering their faces. Remy. My mom. A dozen others I don’t even want to think about. I can only imagine what it was like for Jeremiah. How lonely must he have been? How many loved ones must he have watched die? I don’t want to end up like that. And I’m terrified that Mira is already on her way.

Patrick Ward

I remained in the area for a little while longer, and in that time, I let my mind go blank. I didn’t want to think about the things I had just seen. I didn’t want to contemplate the future for those poor people who’d been sentenced to a life as livestock. Sitting on an overturned log and staring out at nothing, I felt a presence on the edge of my senses. Once it came closer, I asked, “Is it done?”

Alistaris – and I was certain it was him, identifiable by the light sound of his footsteps, the way he breathed, and the way the Mist swirled around him – didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he approached and climbed up to sit next to me on the log. For a long moment, he remained silent before, at last, saying, “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“Sure you are,” I spat, with far more venom than I really intended. “You’ve probably got a stable of humans stashed away somewhere, too.”

“I would…I would never…”

I sighed, then hung my head. “I’m sorry,” I said. “You probably don’t deserve that. It’s just…that was horrifying. I’ve seen some terrible things, Alistaris. Like, really bad. But this…this was worse.”

I really didn’t have the words to describe how I was feeling. The idea that human beings could be reduced to unthinking livestock had shaken my foundations in a way nothing else could have. The only thing that came close was when I’d tried to rescue Heather from the clutches of Edgar Russo’s experiments only to find that she had been converted into a wildling. But even that fell short on the horror scale, largely because, while Heather and the others involved in that experiment had been transformed, they’d still had some sort of agency. By comparison, the livestock people just remained in their cages with the completely blank expressions I’d seen in cattle.

They weren’t human anymore.

They weren’t even sapient.

They were simply human-shaped animals who had never known anything else.

“What the E’rok Tan do is a terrible thing,” Alistaris said. “I told you in the very beginning that most people across the universe see them as…well, villains. There are exceptions. Always, there are exceptions. But the race as a whole is barely tolerated.”

“But why? If everyone hates what they do, then why hasn’t anyone dealt with them already?”

“There are wider concerns.”

“Like cowardice?”

Alistaris sighed. “In a way, yes,” he answered. “I have spent most of my life fighting against civilizations like the E’rok Tan, but when I go home, do you know the reception I get? People look down on me. We are a peaceful people – at least on the surface. We can afford to be because of our technology as well as our allies. But a few of us, we choose to fight against injustice. We have dedicated our lives to it. And yet, at home, we are seen as barely tolerated barbarians.”

I looked away, trying to process that information. Then, I asked, “So, you’re the good guys?”

“No. Not with the things I’ve been forced to do. But our mission is.”

“And your mission is?”

“To fight against people like the E’rok Tan. To protect people who can’t protect themselves. To make the hard choices so people back home can continue to live their lives in peace, never having to see things like what you just saw.”

“So you say,” I muttered. Lots of people claimed to fight for the greater good. I’d run across plenty of that in the past few years. But every single time, I’d discovered that their so-called heroism was a front for something horrible. Sure, they sometimes managed to do some good, but it was always a side effect rather than a purpose.

“I don’t expect you to trust me,” Alistaris said. “In fact, I’d be very disappointed if you did.”

“Then why are we having this conversation if you know I’m not going to believe a word you say?” I asked. He was an alien, which was enough to garner my distrust. However, he had also threatened me, forcing me to do his bidding.

But he’d never really hurt me, had he? Was that simply a manipulation tactic intended to force me to do what he wanted me to do? Or was it evidence that he wasn’t as bad as my first impressions might lead me to believe?

“Ask your friends about the Ark Alliance,” he suggested. “Those people up in the Bazaar should be able to tell you all you need to know about who I am and what I represent.”

I sighed, then stood up before turning to face him. With his legs dangling a foot or so above the forest ground, he looked so small. Almost like a child. Of course, that aura of Mist hovering around him ruined that perception almost as much as the thick beard and bushy, white eyebrows.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked. “You want something else from me, right?”

“I just want to help you,” he said. “I want to help this world.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s my job. At this very moment, the worst people in the universe are poised to fall upon this world and turn the upcoming Integration into an invasion. And eventually, into extermination,” he stated.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I said. My uncle had always predicted that, when the Initialization ended and the Integration began, Earth would begin its descent into oblivion. That was his guiding star, and he’d spent years trying to prepare me for survival. So, having that confirmed by Alistaris was disappointing, but it wasn’t surprising.

“They’re called the Gomari Confederation,” he responded. “Hundreds of systems, all working toward a singular goal.”

“What goal?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Power. Influence. Survival,” he said. “They target newly Integrated planets. They’ll probably let some of the population survive. Some might even thrive. But most will be killed or enslaved. They’ll strip this planet of every available resource, then abandon it. That’s what I’m here to stop.”

I shook my head. “I was told that you were mining something,” I said. “That your people are –”

“I do not represent my people,” he stated. “In any case, what the other Dingyts are doing is not what you think. It is harmless.”

“According to you,” I said.

“Do your research, Miss Braddock,” he said. “Ask your friends about us. We are not your enemies.”

“But you want to be friends, huh?” I asked.

“I want to come to an understanding,” he answered. “I want to help this planet.”

“You’re the big, bad alien with all your technology, right? If you want to help, then you’ll help. You don’t need me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Until the Integration is complete, the system restricts us. The same is true of the Confederates, though they have a preponderance of people who can and will flout those restrictions. We do not.”

I didn’t believe that one bit. If the so-called Alliance was constrained by the system, it was because they didn’t want to pay the price of shedding those restrictions. Alistaris’s characterization of the issue was simply an attempt to paint his people as the sympathetic underdogs.

“We are fighting on thousands of fronts throughout the universe,” he said. “We are stretched thin, and your world is…”

“Unimportant.”

“I was going to say ordinary.”

“There it is. I bet if we had some nice, juicy resources that weren’t available anywhere else, your little club would be all over it, huh?”

“If that was the case, your planet would already be destroyed. That’s what happens to special worlds. The Confederates invade. We fight then. And eventually, one side or the other realizes that they can’t win. And when they do, they come to the inevitable conclusion that they would rather destroy the planet altogether than let the other side reap the benefits of control.”

“So you and yours do the same thing, huh? You want whatever we have.”

“We will work with your people to bring this backwater up to universal standards,” he answered. “That costs credits. Lots and lots of credits. We’ll take part of what we need from your resources.”

“There it is.”

“You find that unreasonable?”

“It’s a raw deal. It doesn’t matter if it’s you or the Confederates. No matter what, we get screwed.”

“That isn’t how it would work,” Alistaris stated. “We only want to help. We’ll show you how to build your infrastructure. We’ll help you with defenses. We will –”

“You’ll build a bright and shiny utopia,” I said. “A pretty, little cage for your pet humans. All the while, you’ll strip us of whatever resources we have. Just like the Confederates.”

“We’re nothing like them,” he growled, showing anger for the first time since the conversation began. “The E’rok Tan were part of the Gomari Confederation. What you just saw is what you can expect from them.”

“Slavery is slavery.”

“We don’t take slaves. We have partners.”

“When one side has all the power, and the other has none, there’s not really a difference.”

“You know that’s not true. We are –”

“You’re the good guys. Right. You covered that. Look, you can stop with your little pitch, okay? Right now, everything is just words. I’ll need to see actions before I’ll even begin to trust you. Starting with what you do with those people,” I said, gesturing back toward the abandoned amusement park.

“We already have an agreement on that,” Alistaris said. “Even if we didn’t, we’d help them. One way or another.”

I shook my head. I knew what he meant. In fact, over the past couple of hours, I’d wondered if death wasn’t a better option than living a life like that. Not only were there logistical questions about how to take care of them, but there were ethical ones as well. It was a complicated subject, but I knew that I’d rather die than live like those people.

Did that make me a bad person?

Or was I simply realistic?

I knew there were plenty of people who’d be horrified to hear my thoughts on the matter. To them, all life – even damaged beyond all recognition – was sacred. Patrick was like that, and it was one of the reasons I loved him. But I knew myself well enough that, if something like that happened to me, I’d hope that someone would show me the mercy of putting a bullet in my head.

Pushing those ethical concerns out of my mind, I asked, “Why do you want me, anyway? There are plenty of people out there who are stronger than me.”

“I think you underestimate your own strength. And your potential.”

My heart started beating a little faster. Did he know about the Tier-7 Nexus Implant? Maybe. After Disguise was replaced by the more active Mimic, I couldn’t conceal my tier unless I changed my entire appearance. However, pinpointing someone’s tier was no exact science, and the best anyone could do was to get a vague idea of someone’s power. For instance, I knew that Alistaris was somewhere around Tier-4 or -5.

“In any case, we have contacted others like you,” he said. “Negotiations are ongoing.”

That was as expected. Powerful people were, by nature, suspicious; the quest for survival dictated as much.

“I’m guessing they’re not going that well,” I said.

“They are not, but we are hopeful. The fact remains that if humanity is going to survive and remain independent, you will have to fight for it,” he said. “You don’t trust me. I understand that. But I hope that you will come around. In the meantime, I implore you to investigate my organization. Ask your friends in the Bazaar about us. And when the time comes, you will see that we are on the same side.”

“What about our agreement?” I asked, referring to the other two missions I’d agreed to undertake. “Are they going to be like this one?”

“They will be,” he said.

“Good.”

I didn’t have much choice in whether or not I continued to work for him. So, I was relieved to hear that, maybe, I could do a little good along the way. Perhaps I couldn’t really help the people who’d been enslaved by the E’rok Tan – they were probably a lost cause – but by killing the aliens, I’d prevented them from hurting anyone else. That had to count for something, didn’t it?

Finally, he slipped down from the fallen log and said, “Until next time, Miss Braddock. Please, consider what I said today.”

Then, without another word, he disappeared from my senses entirely. Even with Observation running, I could neither see, feel, hear, or smell him.

I really needed to get my hands on whatever he was using to conceal his presence. Was it a skill? Or was it some sort of tech? Either way, it was impressive, and I wanted it.

I remained where I was for another few moments before taking a deep breath, then heading back to the highway. After mounting the Cutter, I took off through the untamed wilderness. I was a little distracted as my thoughts centered on my conversation with Alistaris, but I still kept Observation active. I knew precisely how dangerous the world could be, and I had no intention of enduring an ambush. Thankfully, nothing attacked me, and I arrived back at the Leviathan unmolested.

Even so, I didn’t relax until I was onboard the Leviathan, and even then, my thoughts continued to race through the events of the last couple of days. First, I’d had the initial encounter with that terrifying wildling. Its cackling laugh had been some sort of ability, I was sure, but the memory of the resulting terror – artificial though it was – remained in the back of my mind. Then, there were the humans who’d become livestock for the E’rok Tan. The only solace was that they were probably incapable of understanding the injustice they’d experienced.

But still, I would never forget their docile eyes and unthinking expressions. Or the way they were crammed into their cages, naked and with barely enough room to move.

I shuddered as I pushed those memories to the back of my mind.

It was beginning to get crowded back there. Eventually, I was going to have to deal with all of my trauma. I knew that. Even with Combat Focus taking away most of its bite, it was still there, lurking at the edge of my perception and waiting to pounce on the slightest indication of weakness.

And finally, adding to my issues was my conversation with Alistaris. I’d always known there were aliens waiting to plunder the Earth, but until then, I had labored under the impression that it was an every-man-for-himself sort of situation. But if what Alistaris said was true, then my planet had a very difficult time ahead.

Wait – who was I kidding? Even if he was lying through his teeth, that was probably the case.

Whatever the case, I’d had a rough few days, and I was eager to take a few hours to simply relax. But first, I needed to get somewhere safe. The Leviathan was equipped with a superior defense system, but I had no doubts that plenty of the wildlife could overcome it. So, I took a deep breath and headed to the cockpit.

Only a few minutes later, I was zipping through the sky on my way back to Fortune. The trip took almost an entire day, so by the time I set the Leviathan down, I was exhausted. Physically, I could have probably kept going for a while longer. But from a mental perspective, I was absolutely beat. So, after letting Patrick know what was going on – keeping the details light – I retreated to the ship’s living quarters where I showered, changed, and then went to bed.

What followed was nearly twenty hours of blessedly dreamless sleep. Still, when I woke up, I was still groggy. So, I took a long, cold shower before heading to the kitchen and making breakfast. While I was eating some bacon and eggs – the real stuff, too – Patrick showed up.

He looked even groggier than I felt, with dark circles under his eyes and slumping shoulders.

“You okay?”

“Just trying to work through some unexpected issues,” he said, plopping down. He reached over and grabbed a piece of my bacon.

“Hey!”

“I’ll make some more,” he said. “So, I got the sense that you didn’t tell me everything over the Secure Connection. What’s up?”

I leaned back and said, “It’s been a touch couple of days.”

Then, I told him everything. When I got to my description of the human livestock – I really didn’t know how else to refer to them – I skated over the worst of it. But he knew me well enough to read between the lines, and he was suitably horrified by my story. Finally, I ended with a summary of my conversation with Alistaris.

“Do you believe him?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I need to talk to some of my contacts in the Bazaar,” I said. I intended to visit Kith when I had the time. If anyone knew the truth about the Ark Alliance and the Confederation, it was her. “I’ll talk to Gala, too.”

The way I figured it, I would get information from multiple sources, then cross-reference everything. If they all matched up, then I would start to believe Alistaris’s story. Until then, I would treat it as the unverified information it was.

After I’d finished, Patrick said, “You know what? I think we both need a break.”

“I can’t afford a break, Patrick.”

“I don’t think we can afford not to take one,” he said. “You’re burning the candle at both ends. So am I. If we keep going like this, we’re going to burn out. Besides, it’s not like there’s a time limit on any of this. If Caleb has survived this long, he’ll keep going for a few more days.”

Caleb. I’d almost forgotten about Cyrilla’s brother. And if I was honest, I didn’t so much care about his fate as satisfying my own curiosity about the Pacificians. It was just more evidence that I was a much worse person than I wanted to believe, I think.

But Patrick was right. Despite being a bit blind to my own nature, I knew myself well enough to recognize that burning out was a very real risk. I’d toed that line back in Nova City, and because of that, I’d made a ton of mistakes. More, I’d blinded myself to the implications of my actions, which was something I couldn’t afford to do again.

So, I said, “Fine. What kind of break did you have in mind?”

“You’ll see,” he said with a smile.