“I’ll just do it” Ilian stated after a long moment and stood.
“What?” Aura and Adan said in unison.
“I was planning on using the seeds to kill myself anyway. If it came to that. And this is worse. When it was just a war, there was still a chance that our numbers would run too thin before yours did. With this new way they’re planning to end your race. They’re guaranteed success. Me contaminating your planet for them is the only way there is any hope at all for your people” he insisted.
“Just stop, Ilian” Aura grabbed his arm as he moved to leave the room.
“It’s the only way” he repeated, though his voice faltered.
“You’re a scientist you said. Right? And we’ve got the gardens here, and you’ve got the seeds, and we’ve got the suits in the entry corridor. Can’t you use all those things to science it out?” she pleaded desperately.
“To do what?” he asked as he narrowed his eyes at her.
Adan clarified, “I think she means to find another way. A way that won’t kill you, or us” he finished.
Ilian just shook his head. “That’s a good idea, in theory. But the technology that created these plants? It’s so much more advanced than anything you have here” he explained sadly.
“Well then advance us. You figure it out” Adan argued. “Like your life depends on it even. Cause it sort of does, doesn’t it?” he stated in the same somber tone.
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Ilian had spent the rest of the evening in the gardens, trying to ‘science it out’ as it were. At around seven, Adan and Aura entered the garden room and moved toward where Ilian sat at a desk in the corner, running his hand through his hair and continuously scanning pages of information he had now sketched out before him.
“You missed dinner” Aura said softly as she held a plate out to him.
“And I’m not any further ahead than I was this afternoon. Anything I use to kill my own people, it’d be deadly for me too. We may just have to accept that I have to die too, in order for your kind to have any chance.”
“Well, we don’t accept that” Adan stated plainly. “You’ve been protecting us this whole time. And we’re not going to thank you for that by sending you out there to die for us. There has to be another solution.”
“Maybe you need to look at it another way” Aura said thoughtfully after a long moment.
“What other way?” Ilian asked, though didn’t honestly expect her to have that answer.
“I think, what you should be trying to do is finding a way to make it possible for you to survive this new plant being introduced onto our planet. Not the rest of your people, just you” she attempted to explain her thought process.
“Like an antidote for him being exposed to it, you mean?” Adan offered, going along with her on that subject.
“Or at least a way he could resist it. I mean, he’s the one that has to do this, ultimately. He’s the only one of us who can go outside until the blue stuff is gone. And he knows all about the plant and how it would have to be introduced into our world to make it unlivable for them. He’s gotta survive exposure to it, somehow” she thought out loud.
“But finding an antidote for anything, it’s difficult. Even if I still had the resources I used to have” Ilian warned.
“But not impossible?” she asked him hopefully.
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Ilian shook his head. “I don’t know, I’d have to do a lot more research, and find some way to test that research without dying along the way. It definitely won’t be easy.”
“Well, then you better eat your dinner and keep up your strength in order to do that, right?” Aura replied as she pushed the plate into his hands with a small smile.
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By midnight, Adan had drifted off to sleep in bed next to Aura. She was having her usual trouble sleeping, and had not yet heard Ilian return to his room for the night either. She sighed as she pushed herself up from the bed, slid into her robe, and decided to try and do something other than just toss and turn until she finally fell asleep.
When she reached the gardens, she had a moment of panic when she first saw Ilian. He was now dressed in one of the hazmat suits from the entry corridor as he studied a small black seed sitting on the desk in front of him.
“Am I about to die now?” she asked loudly.
Ilian looked back at her. “No” he told her without pause. “This is the one that’s safe for your kind, remember?”
“Well, you were wearing that suit, so I thought...” she shook her head.
“It’s not safe for my kind” he reminded her softly as he turned back to the desk.
“If only you were more like us, right?” she offered innocently, stifling a sad sigh.
Ilian then looked up at her quickly.
“What?” she asked as she caught the look.
He just shook his head and returned his attention to the seed. “Just thinking” he said distractedly.
“Vague” she said as she bit her lip. She then moved to peer more closely at the seed. “But there can be such a thing as too much thinking. You should probably at least attempt to get some sleep. Might even help you come up with an idea. I get all my ideas when I try to sleep. I have a lot of ideas. So I don’t sleep much” she sighed softly.
“Adan’s asleep then?” He asked as he moved to place the seed back into the glass container with the others, safely sealing them away again.
“Yeah, his mind doesn’t stay in permanent panic mode, keeping him awake all night, like mine does” she answered quietly.
Ilian then removed the suit as he looked back at her with a sad look of his own. “I’ll figure something out to save the two of you, and hopefully what’s left of your world. Even if I have to d---”
“Stop. We’re not gonna let you die for us, Ilian, OK?”
“Be careful” he stated as he set the suit aside. “I might start thinking the two of you actually trust me now. Like me, even” he managed a small smile.
“We do, Ilian. Especially if you’re actually willing to try and find some way to wipe out all of your own people just to save us, and our planet. That gains you quite a bit of trust, I’d say” she told him quietly, their eyes meeting as she spoke.
Just as they very nearly gave into whatever primitive urges they were both experiencing, he pulled away again. He stepped back, turning away and running a hand through his hair again. “Yeah, sleep might be something I need to get a bit of right now. Goodnight, Aura” and with that, he quickly left the room.
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When Ilian joined them for breakfast the next morning, he looked hesitant as he took his seat. “You were right, Aura. When I tried to sleep, I did think of one thing.”
“What thing?” Adan asked as they both looked up at him expectantly.
“It was because of something Aura said. It’s just a theory though. No guarantee it will work. But it’s the only one I’ve come up with so far, given what I have to work with here” he began attempting to explain.
“Well, tell us” Aura pressed.
“And testing it, or anything, it will be dangerous. I mean, if I’m wrong...”
“Then you die” Adan said softly.
“So don’t be wrong” Aura interjected loudly.
“The only way I can find out if I’m wrong is by testing it. And if I am...”
“What is it anyway?” Adan asked just as worriedly.
“The facts are that I can only poison your world for them if I first make myself immune to the dark strain. And, there’s only one thing I have access to here that might have any chance of doing that. And I don’t even know if it will until I actually do test it, then expose myself to the strain. I only get one shot at this. If I’m wrong... I do die” he agreed sadly.
“And then we die” Aura whispered, “eventually, anyway.”
“What do you have to do, Ilian?” Adan asked.
“Make myself more like the two of you.”
They both looked at him curiously. Aura spoke first. “Other than already looking completely like one of us? Completely” she couldn’t help adding under her breath.
“That’s only on the surface. My cells are all still mine. And all of them are still able to be poisoned by the dark strain” he attempted clarification.
“So, you need to change, inside too?” Aura asked as they both looked at him with more confusion.
“Can you actually use your abilities to do that?” Adan asked in shock.
“Not those abilities. But maybe through a more concrete method.”
“Like?" Aura asked.
“Science” Ilian stated simply.
“OK, care to elaborate?” Adan spoke.
“Human DNA” he stated as they both continued to just look at him. “If I introduced human DNA into my body, then there’s a chance that could protect my cells from the poison of the dark strain. A small chance” he stressed.