Simon was waiting for me when I got back to the warehouse, practically bouncing. He reminded me a bit of a puppy. I sighed internally. I didn’t have the patience for him right now. Of course, the moment he set eyes on me, he saw it, too. I could see him clamp down on his enthusiasm and adopt a somber expression.
“Are you alright?” he asked softly.
I almost laughed. If I didn’t want an enthusiastic friend, he would be a therapist. Whatever I wanted. There was something both comforting and disturbing about that. An important reminder that I really had no idea who this guy truly was. I knew what he had done. That hadn’t changed, but I didn’t really know who he was. As long as I was babysitting, I supposed that I might as well try to change that.
“I’m fine, Simon.”
“How did it go?”
“Could have gone worse. I need to get changed. Then we’ll talk about it.”
“Ok,” eager puppy again.
I changed out of the dress and into sweats in a corner behind a curtain, then grabbed some stale coffee and took a seat next to Simon on a stack of old crates. My eyes drifted over to the patients, resting on the cots across the room.
“How are they doing?”
“Pretty well, given the circumstances. I had a supervisor who served in the army as a medic, this reminds me of his stories of doing field triage. Most have only minor injuries and should at least be mobile in a day or so. The girl…”
“Sally.”
“Yes, Sally. She should really be in a hospital. But if she doesn’t get an infection she should recover, eventually. I wouldn’t count on any of them helping out any time soon, though.”
“And if she does get an infection?”
“We’ll have to find some antibiotics, I suppose. Or risk a hospital.”
“Thanks for treating them.”
“It’s what I do,” he shrugged.
“Well, it’s one of the things you do.”
“The one I’m proud of.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“What?”
“Joining the Domini. Want to tell me how that happened?”
His eyes dropped to the floor, and shrugged,
“It is hard to explain, now. You ever look back on yourself in the past and realize that you don’t like that person very much? Because I do. I was just a teenager at the time. Omega was older. He was charismatic and clever, and he was already pretty powerful in the Domini. I looked up to him. Wanted to be like him. And he paid attention to me, made me feel important. And when he introduced me to the rest, I wanted to fit in. They didn’t seem to think much of humans, so I agreed. After all, they were my friends. Why wouldn’t I? I hadn’t met many humans myself, at that point, and those I had met had seemed foolish and weak, so I had no reason to doubt them.”
“Why hadn’t you met many humans?”
“I was too young. Young ubarae don’t have any real control over their skills, which manifest in their teens. They can’t be around humans until they learn to control themselves, or they could easily expose all of us. Or hurt someone. So, there are sheltered little communities where the children are raised, where they can only meet other ubarae.”
“How do you eat?”
“We draw energy from the adults in the community. It is a passive process in that case, they sort of… bleed energy, and we absorb it from them. I guess it is like the ubarae equivalent of feeding a baby bird, now that I think about it. They don’t tell you about this?”
“No. We aren’t privy to most aspects of ubarae life. Your people are very private about some things.”
“Hmm. I guess I shouldn’t be spilling all of this, then. But I think I owe you the truth, after everything. So, if you ask you something, I’ll tell you.”
I thought about my next question carefully.
“So, do your parents raise you in these communities?”
“Parents?” Simon chuckled. “Those are really more of a human thing.”
“You must have parents. I know enough about your reproduction to know that.”
“Well, yes. I have what you would call a mother and father. I have never really met them, though. We are raised as a group by caretakers.”
“Really?”
“Yup.”
“So, your biological parents weren’t married or anything?”
“Wow, they really don’t tell you people anything, do they?” he shook his head. “No. We don’t get married. Actually, I shouldn’t say that. Some of us marry human partners, if we grow particularly attached to them. But we don’t marry each other, or even really bond. Ubarae don’t develop that kind of emotional connection to each other. Obviously, though, we can only have children with our own kind, so the Council operates a breeding program that pairs genetically diverse mates, and then the children are raised by caregivers, who care for them until after puberty when they can start to fend for themselves.”
“That is fascinating. I can’t believe there is so much I don’t know about ubarae.”
“It is odd that they keep so much from you. You would think it would help you do your jobs better.”
“Perhaps they don’t think it should matter. We only hunt killers, after all,” I shrugged. “So, do you have a mate? Any kids?”
“A mate, yes. We’ve met but we have decided to wait to produce children for a time.”
“Until after the revolution, you mean?”
Simon flushed,
“Not specifically. She is not Domini. As far as I know, she knows nothing about any of this.”
“What if she disagreed with this whole thing, once it was said and done?”
“I suppose Omega would have picked another mate for me,” he shrugged. “Not something I really need to worry about now.”
“So, you never wonder who your parents were?”
“No, why would I?”
“I would.”
“What is it like for you, with your parents?”
“Complicated,” I sighed.
“Why?”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Because my family was always close. My two brothers, our parents and I spent a lot of time together. Family vacations, barbeques, game nights. Family stuff. And I always told them everything. When I quit university to join the Organization, all of that changed. Part of it was that they were a little disappointed that I dropped out to join the pest control business.”
“Pest control?” Simon raised a wry eyebrow.
“Yeah, I always wondered if that was intentional. But either way, that was the start of the distancing.”
“They pushed you away because of your career choice?”
“No, it wasn’t them. They were disappointed, but they came around. I was the one who distanced. It was the lying that got me. I couldn’t tell them much of anything about my work, which honestly consumes most of my life. So, every conversation that I had was mostly lies and diversions. It was exhausting and I felt guilty about it most of the time. Gradually, I started calling and visiting less and less. Now I mostly only see them on holidays. We exchange small talk and go our separate ways. I… I think it hurts them. But what can you do?” I shrugged.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up something painful.”
“Don’t worry about it. You told me some pretty personal things, so it’s only fair I return the favor.”
Simon smiled, you didn’t have to be ubarae to tell that my sharing was making him more comfortable. Which, of course, was the point. Not to say I was lying, he would have known if I was. But I wasn’t exactly motivated by a need to unburden myself, either.
“I guess that is kind of the same as what happened with me and the Domini, in the end,” he mused. “When Omega sent me out to train as a paramedic, I started to make human friends. At first, I was just pretending, to fit in. But I have learned that if you pretend hard enough, it can easily become the truth. I made real friends. And I lied to the rest about it. Told them I was just manipulating them, for the cause. But it wasn’t true. And what started as a few friends became many and it was harder and harder to convince myself that they were the exception, rather than the rule. And my distance from the Domini grew. Want to know something funny?”
“What?” I drained the last of my terrible coffee, only to spit it out when I found that the bottom was full of grounds.
“I started volunteering for overtime just to avoid them. I spent so much time at work that they started forcing me to go home because I was violating labor laws,” he laughed.
“But you still didn’t turn them in,” I tried to keep the statement from sounding accusatory.
“No. I should have. But I couldn’t bring myself to turn on them. And maybe I was a little afraid, too. I had heard what they did to traitors. So, instead, I just convinced myself that they wouldn’t really do it. That it was all just big talk that they weren’t serious about. But I couldn’t delude myself forever. As it got closer and closer, I knew that it was really going to happen. And that was when I made the call,” he looked around the warehouse mournfully. “But I waited too long.”
“I wouldn’t say that. Not yet. There is always a chance that we can turn this around.”
He smiled sadly,
“I wish I believed that.”
“Give it some time, I bet I can convince you. Lost causes have always been my specialty.”
“Really?”
“Yup. Besides, they meant to wipe us all out in one clean stroke. So, they have already failed, as far as I am concerned. We just have to finish the job.”
Simon chuckled,
“You are something else, you know that?”
“I’ve been told that a time or two,” I took his mostly untouched coffee and stacked the dishes over in the corner. “Now, how about we get some sleep?”
It was angry voices that roused me from the fitful sleep I had finally drifted off into on top of a palate of crates draped with a blanket. The windows in the warehouse were covered, so I wasn’t sure whether it was morning or not, but I got up to investigate anyway.
“Why is he even still here, James?” Wallace snarled. “He’s told us what he knows. Now he is just a security risk. Send him away.”
“To where, Pete?” James’ tone was calm and measured. “He betrayed his people. We can’t exactly send him back there.”
“Exactly! He is a traitor. We can’t trust him. He could be a mole. A double agent.”
“Rayna doesn’t seem to think so.”
“And your pet could never be wrong, could she?”
“That isn’t what I said, Pete. But I trust her judgement.”
“And not mine?”
“You aren’t using your judgement. You haven’t even spoken to him. You’re just being an asshole. A trait that grows less charming with each passing year.”
“We can’t all be miss congeniality, boss,” Wallace sneered. “Someone’s got to say it like it is. Say what everyone else is thinking.”
“I’m not changing my mind on this, Pete. I think he can still help us to understand the Domini. Their motives, their plans. And he might be able to identify some of them by sight, if not name. But even if he can’t, we aren’t executioners, or even military, we are peacekeepers. We protect everyone, humans and ubarae, if we can.”
“They deserve our protection? After what they’ve done?”
“I’m done having this conversation, Pete.”
“What if I’m not?”
This sounded like it was about to get ugly. It was time to step in. I strolled casually around the stack of boxes and into the little room that had become the kitchen.
“Good morning, boys. Everyone have a good night?”
James seemed relieved at the interruption. Wallace seemed furious. He stalked away without a word, pushing past me as he did.
“How much of that did you hear?” James asked quietly.
“Enough.”
“Then I assume you know to watch out for your charge.”
I nodded.
“Good,” James turned back to the hotplate where he had apparently been frying an omelet. He gave it a flip. “Hungry?”
“Starving, actually.”
He slid an omelet onto a plate, and handed it to me. It looked pretty good.
“I didn’t know you could cook.”
“Everybody has to have a hobby,” he shrugged and cracked another egg into the pan. “Which is something I have been meaning to talk to you about.”
“I have a hobby.”
“Working isn’t a hobby.”
“You have too many rules,” I dumped hot sauce on my eggs. “Hobbies don’t need rules.”
“How is our incubus friend doing?”
“Better than I would be, under the circumstances.”
James nodded,
“Any word from Tom?”
“Not yet.”
“Tell me as soon as you hear.”
“Of course. What happens in the meantime?”
“I’ll have some of the first recon reports in this morning. Hopefully that will point us in a direction. Until then, breakfast.”
He retrieved his own omelette and we both ate in silence for a time.
“You’ve been awfully quiet, during our strategy meetings,” James stabbed the last of the egg from his plate with his fork.
“Maybe I just don’t have any new ideas.”
“Maybe. But I don’t buy that. I can see it in your eyes. You are thinking something. Why not just say it?”
“It isn’t a good plan. And it has a lot of complications.”
“But…” James prompted.
“But I am not sure we will have a choice. I haven’t said anything because I am hoping I am wrong. Maybe things aren’t as bleak as they look, and it won’t come to that.”
“How about you tell just me, then?”
I chewed my lip. James wasn’t going to like this.
“Ok. Look, bear in mind that I did say that this wasn’t good idea.”
James nodded indulgently. I took a breath,
“We need to go public.”
James blinked at me in surprise, so I plunged ahead.
“Look, they want us dead because we know the truth and they can’t control us. Their plan only works if no one knows that they exist, so that no one can stop them. The ubarae have always feared humanity as a whole finding out about them, because they can’t control enough people to protect themselves in that situation. It stands to reason that if we can’t stop them on our own, we only have one choice left. Expose their existence. Even the odds.”
“What you are suggesting would completely obliterate the Pact. And probably society as we know it. Can you imagine how people will react, if they find out? Especially under these circumstances.”
“I know that. But what other option do we have? Leave every human ignorant and defenceless? Let them become unwitting livestock for a group of ubarae overlords? Besides, after this, I don’t think that the Pact will survive anyway.”
James sighed,
“I hear what you are saying, Rayna. I do. But I think you were right to begin with. Don’t mention this to any of the others. If there is any way to avoid it, this cannot happen.”
I nodded and resisted the urge to say that I told him so.
“But…” he brought me up short. I hadn’t expected any further discussion. “Get it together.”
“What?”
“Gather what you’d need to make it happen. Try to get access our resources, evidence, as much data as you can get. Figure out where to upload it and what you would need to make it happen. Keep it quiet, we don’t want to start a panic. But if everything else fails, I want you ready to play our only trump card. Understand?”
I nodded slowly. It was a lot to accomplish, but to James I simply said,
“I’ll get it done.”
He nodded and the remaining agents began trickling in, attracted by the smell of food. We didn’t speak any more about it in front of the others, which left me to stew about it alone while everyone ate. There were a lot of problems with my plan. For starters, we couldn’t just call up the local news and announce all of this. It was an objectively insane set of facts, and no one would believe it on face. To convince people, we needed real evidence, but most of our records were in the Organization itself. And even with them, convincing billions of people that this wasn’t just viral marketing for a movie or video game wouldn’t be easy. I would need to put some serious thought in to how to present the information. The best way, of course, would be to have the various world leaders who already knew the truth come out and announce it to their people. That would add weight to the claims and combined with a massive information leak, we might even have something. But if Simon was right, the Domini already had people in place around those in power, so getting to them wouldn’t be easy, either. So, while the idea was straight forward, even obvious, making it happen was another matter. It would require careful planning. All for something I would be desperately hoping that I never had to actually do. Because James was right, if we did this, it would trigger panic, chaos. And who knew how it would turn out in the end? Would the general public come to accept the ubarae? Or would it end the way the ubarae had feared so long ago? With the humans attempting to wipe them out, for fear of what they could do. I had no way of knowing. What I did know was that, if it came down to it and there were no options left, I was ready to find out.