Earth

2027

It was still dark out when Rory opened her eyes. Theo wasn't in the bed, but he'd left a note in his place. Jace still slept beside her.

"I'm in the study," she read. "Don't worry."

Hard not to worry. Rory felt much better, at least, than when she'd first fallen asleep. Jace had been right about a few hours of sleep helping her recover. She could have gotten up, but looking at Jace now while he slept, she desperately wanted to stay right here. He looked peaceful like this.

One of her favorite things back on Lumiea had been curling against him on the rare day they could sleep in. It would have felt soothing to do it now. But Rory wasn't sure of what to do about her two lives colliding and knew she needed to figure it out. It was better to keep her distance until then, except that felt ridiculous. She and Jace had a life together. A child. And she had rarely slept a night apart from Theo in the last seven years. Distance with either of them felt wrong.

Lying beside Jace and simply staring at him made the foot of spacing separating them feel like an impassable chasm. Did having both men in her life again actually mean losing them? It couldn't.

Rory looked at his chest to see that the paste had dried well. Should she have used a seal over the deeper wounds? It was better not to worry. Jace had been through worse, even though she hated him ever being hurt at all. Soon, he would heal. But she wanted to use the excuse to let her fingers glide along his chest and rediscover the feel she once knew so well.

Jace's eyes opened. He glanced at her. "You're awake…"

It figured that he probably had been waking up and checking on her often. "Yes. Now you can actually sleep."

He smiled softly. "Do you feel better?"

"I'm fine now. You look like you're hurting. Want medicine?"

"Maybe later. Don't move yet. Stay here…"

Her heart twisted.

An entire life separated them, one where she'd fallen in love with another man, and where she hadn't seen Jace in ten years. They'd changed. Neither were the people they had once been. Not even close. With all that between them, it should have been an inseparable mountain. Should. Instead their life together felt so close to her, so deeply a part of her, that she knew it had stayed with her always. It had changed with her, buried deep and waiting, like an evergreen that needed no warmth to thrive.

They looked into one another's eyes and no matter the cost of the truth, Rory could not deny the undeniable. She was meant for Jace's arms. He for hers. Rory loved him deeply, forever, as they'd always promised. But she felt the same about Theo too. The two men were different, different to her, different within her heart, but each so deeply woven into her soul that she would have to destroy herself to rip either out.

Rory loved them both.

She lifted her fingers through air that felt as if it buzzed with electricity, holding Jace's gaze. Finger tips grazed his whiskered cheek. Longing zapped her chest. A pain as deeply rooted as their love swelled in his eyes.

Jace trepidatiously settled his hand against hers and drew it to his lips. He whispered against the soft of her palm. "I'm sorry I keep letting Vehru hurt you." His kiss wet her hand, mouth melting against her.

The air had fled her lungs so she struggled to find her voice. "I'm sorry too."

It didn't seem fair to Jace or Theo to be with either of them and it seemed just as unfair to not be. Rory needed to figure out how to put her world back together again. Back home, they had just started the most beautiful part of their life together. She had loved laying her head against his chest while the baby slept on him. The three of them could stay that way for hours. Alone together now, it felt dangerous, like they could easily fall back into what they'd had. But Rory didn't want to fall into anything. She wanted to do right by the ones she loved and actually figure this out.

One thing really crushed her, though, as she looked at Jace and the ways he had changed. "I don't think you're a cyborg." The hurt hung in her voice.

"You're still bothered by that?"

"You're afraid I don't want you anymore because you feel like you're becoming a monster."

The words seemed to have silenced Jace until finally, sorrow hardened into determination. "I don't want to see you do this to yourself. We already lost each other. It happened a long time ago. You shouldn't have to lose someone else you love."

"You're saying forget about you and just be with Theo? Won't you put up a fight for me?"

"That's what I'm doing."

Rory couldn't think about this right now. She covered her face.

"Alright. Alright." He gently pulled her hands away. "Let's think about something else."

She nodded. Blinked away her tears.

"Do you remember when I tried putting that damn crib together?"

Rory couldn't help smiling. "You mean when you broke two crib sets in one night?"

"It was not made for mere mortal men to assemble."

"Told you to let the engineer do it."

"Engineers are the ones who created such a flawed design. I wanted to surprise you."

"I was very surprised." The sorrow tried to creep in, but Rory wanted to catch hold of a fleeting moment of joy. Forcing herself to only feel the mercy of finally having her memories and having Jace here, she spoke in a soft voice. "Tell me about Levi."

"He's smart, Aerie." A wistful smile came over Jace's tired face. "So smart."

"He is?"

"Oh, yeah. Always has been. He can be a sneaky little bastard too. Very hard to catch when he's up to no good."

Rory bit her lip as she smiled. "But is he a good boy?"

"Very. He has your eyes. It was like being able to see part of you when I couldn't reach you."

Tears filled her eyes. "I bet he's sweet."

"He has your heart. Your brain too." Jace chuckled. "My thick skull. He wants to be a combat bioengineer. He created his own specialty."

"That's my boy," she whispered.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Jace told her stories about Levi until her heart felt like it would burst from all that learning about their boy filled it up with. For one precious hour, they forgot about the end of this world, and they lived in one of their own.

It made her miss Theo, too. When Rory went downstairs to find him in the study, he had three notebooks spread out in front of him and the data Jace had given them pulled up on his laptop.

"This is insane," he said.

"You didn't sleep, did you?"

"There's too much to learn." Theo turned and met her eyes. "Are you okay now? You look so much better."

"Yeah. Have you watched the news yet?"

He ran his hand through his hair. "It's not good. Vehru took control of fifteen bases in the United States, one in Germany, and two in Sweden. She released footage of all these supposed Lumiean hostages being freed. But I know those are the presidents who angered her during your meeting. It's a statement."

Guilt filled Rory as she caught herself running her fingers through his hair like she always did while he was studying. Soon, she'd have to figure out how to handle her two lives, but right now, she simply couldn't. "How did the public react?"

"Chaos. I know I need to keep watching but it made me sick. I had to turn off the news and focus on this work. This could save the people who are panicking." He started to flip to a new page and then looked back over. "Is Jace okay?"

"He will be." Rory sat down beside him and sighed. "In the morning, I'm going to meet with my squad. I need to see them."

"Yeah, of course. I understand."

"There's a lot to figure out…"

Theo looked at her again, his expression heavy, but not without hope. "You've lost so much. I'm never going to take anything from you."

"Theo."

"Never, Rory. We'll figure it out."

"It's not like figuring out what to have for dinner. Or where to live. Or–"

"Sh," he said, taking her hand. "Let's work. All that matters is we're safe right now. There's answers in here and we're all safe. The rest can wait."

Rory knew Theo was hurting, no matter how gracious he could be. The last thing she ever wanted was to hurt him.

"I guess this base is completely in Vehru's hands now," she said.

Theo's jaw bunched. "Yes. I'm sure she could take much more from the world in a matter of hours if she wanted to. We need to better understand this game they play."

"I want to find a way to talk to General Price. I don't know if Vehru will let us leave or communicate with anyone."

"Let's try at dawn. The world always looks clearer in the morning. Until then, we need to prepare ourselves."

They began looking through the data when the news alerts started pouring in. Popular fringe podcasts and news shows online were airing interviews of Commander Vehru. Major liberal and conservative shows had both dropped videos featuring her. No major media outlet in any country had agreed to host her yet, but Vehru didn't need that when she had plenty of other platforms.

"Why would you give voice to our alien invaders?" Theo cursed and slammed his fist on the table as he read the headlines.

"Click on that one." Rory pointed at a video from a popular podcast.

The clip started with the host speaking. "I have a quote from President Louis of Germany who says that Earth's poor track record proves that, in fact, we have failed to treat one another with the dignity all people deserve and that it is not a secret that human rights violations plague our world. However, another civilization which invades our world cannot be trusted to do better than we have done. As Rory stated before, no one will love this planet the way Earth does. The Ephemor Federation are not saviors but world invaders."

Vehru nodded. "It's a compelling argument. And a perversion of the truth. We gave the major governments of the world ten years to return our hostages and allow us to communicate with our ambassador–Rory as you know her–but they refused to compromise. Those who have power are not eager to give it up. We did not want to escalate to violence. We could not leave our people here to suffer any longer, though. That's why we prioritized non-lethal techniques in the operation to save our citizens from captivity."

The host eyed her suspiciously, but Rory could tell he was intrigued. One whiff of a juicy conspiracy seemed to be all it took for his curiosity to get the best of him. "Why would any government on Earth goad a much more advanced race into armed conflict?"

"They took advantage of our commitment to peace. I have to say as well, is it a surprise to see your government engaged in such behavior? A brief history lesson will reveal just how foolish this country can be. Moreso, just how committed politicians and the rich are to keeping their power, at all costs. It's a tragedy that our ambassador, Rory, suffered the terrible complication of amnesia from interstellar teleportation. The United States government clearly took advantage of a lost, injured woman and manipulated her. I can't expect one woman with amnesia to hold up to a military campaign to brainwash her."

"You said the Federation's goal is simply to offer humanitarian aid to Earth, teach us more peaceful forms of government, and give us the opportunity to join the Federation. Do you really expect us to believe you're an entire Federation of purely altruistic philanthropists?"

Vehru chuckled. "I'm sure that it's hard to imagine that there are worlds and an entire Federation that actually cares about the innocent and sees the value of taking care of each other. Think about why you have hospitals. Doesn't society work better when we all have what we need? Once Earth is a healthy planet, you will have the potential to be great contributing members of the Federation. We're stronger together. And I, personally, cannot live with myself knowing I left an entire planet of people trapped without help in a world that is marching toward societal collapse. I know you and billions of other people have been crying out for help and for change. We are the only ones who can actually save you."

The host was quiet for several seconds. This time when he spoke, his voice sounded more sober, lacking his usual bravado. Rory suspected he spoke as himself now, and not as this character he played. "World leaders have accused you of fabricating the evidence about hostages. They say all of this is a lie and we can't trust what we see on a screen."

"What do you expect them to say? We've encountered this on other planets. It's unfortunately the way of many governments to lie to their people. If I wanted to deceive you, then I've chosen a terrible way to do it. Appealing to you like this in an honest conversation… It would be more effective for me to completely take control of the media and create whatever world I wanted you to see. I'm not doing that, though. I'm a protector of the free press. I suppose the question you need to ask yourself is whether you trust your leaders and your government to do the same."

He shifted. "How can we know that you're here to help and not hurt?"

"You'll know by our actions. One of my generals took more than a dozen bullets to the chest because he refused to kill a single American soldier. We are not your enemies. Unfortunately, as much as I hate to believe this about anyone, it is clear from the Federation's perspective that your world already lives under tyranny. There are so many countries on Earth abusing their power. Look at your country. The United States to this day manipulates the entire world through their military power and the obvious use of economic and cultural neo-colonialism."

Vehru leaned in, staring deeply into his eyes.

"Do you really feel like you have a vote?" she asked. "Do you really feel like Congress works for you? Is this really a free country? Or have you felt helpless for so long that you've learned to accept and even be thankful for the crumbs your oppressors feed you? You are one medical problem away from bankruptcy. It's increasingly impossible to find reasonable employment without becoming a de facto indentured servant, bound by swelling student loans on parents and students alike. Your infrastructure is crumbling around you while your leaders further entrench themselves in partisan screaming matches, constantly bound in a stalemate."

These were his own talking points, repackaged and repeated back to him by someone who claimed to care. And it had him listening.

Vehru's stare shifted to the camera. "For those outside of the United States, do you trust this country with all the power it has? We all know the answer. Which country should we discuss next? This could be a very long interview."

"I think the point is very clear."

"President Saito of the United States has had a lot to say tonight. What I want to say is that I see what she and others like her have done. Corrupt politicians on both sides have worked to strip power away from the people and in a decades-long silent coup taken over the country. I, personally, do not trust her or her government. Not when the United States led the effort to capture and hold citizens of the Federation hostage. Your leaders have endangered you for your entire life. Now, they've endangered you again by provoking a powerful Federation, all because they won't let go of what they stole. They're traitors. Your president is a traitor. I believe each and every one of you should have a vote that actually counts. You choose. Do you want the Federation's help? Or do you want to leave the world broken like it has been your whole life?"

Rory bowed her head. This was a broken world. Vehru would take what little the people of Earth did have, though. Sure, she'd pretend she was helping and people would believe her, especially as generations passed. The desperation of ordinary people to change a system they have felt powerless in their entire lives would lead them to burn it all to the ground. Vehru would earn followers today. How many? It didn't matter. The commander didn't need to convince the world to follow her. She only needed to create division and mistrust. And whoever she convinced to help hand their planet over to her only sweetened the deal.

"What are we going to do?" Theo whispered.

"Like you said." She gritted her teeth. "Get to work. And we show the world who Vehru really is."

"Don't you think if we share the recording, she'll hurt Levi?"

"I have an idea. I need to talk to my squad in the morning."

They studied until rays of morning crept in through the window and it was time to face what the world had become overnight.