we will die, too. You have to leave at once
.
None of us move. I’m sorry to have put Addyen in this position, but I’m not sorry enough to leave. It’s light out there. Aliens are all around.
“I guess you better make sure no one finds us then,” Lindsey says.
“Yeah,” Michael says, “’cause we’re not leaving.”
I think Addyen’s husband considers killing us.
Let’s all calm down,
Addyen interupts.
Bathamous is not going to inform on anyone or force anyone to leave. I will make us drinks, and we will find a solution
.
None of us really believes the part about a solution, but we pretend we do.
Bathamous follows Addyen into the kitchen.
We listen to them. Though Addyen knows we can hear, she underestimates our ability.
They cannot allow them to live now,
Bathamous argues.
They will lose profits
.
We can get word out. There will be outrage
.
But it will come later. It will come after the product has been destroyed. What good will it do then? What good will it do them or us?
It’s wrong,
she thinks.
It’s wrong to slaughter them. They are not product
.
They are savages. They slaughtered each other. I’ve been reading about them on the voyage. They have been destroying each other and the green and blue of their world for a long time. They would have destroyed themselves without us. Or if they managed to survive each other, their machines would have conquered them. The One has not chosen them
.
They are not product,
Addyen thinks stubbornly.
When they come back to the living room, I say, “What would happen to us if you can convince your leaders we aren’t product? What would happen if we can stay alive long enough?”
You can’t,
Bathamous thinks.
Your pictures are in the minds of every person here in Lord Vertenomous’s capital. A million Sanginians disembarked here this morning
.
“But if we could,” I say. “Stay alive. If we could, what would happen to us?”
Perhaps,
Addyen thinks,
there would be land set aside for you. A small bit of land for you to survive and live out your time. One of your islands. Something remote
.
That is a dream,
Bathamous thinks.
“Like a reservation?” Lauren says.
Addyen doesn’t reply, but we know the answer. And I know that whatever the high-minded among their species wish for us, we cannot survive colonization. They might regret what has happened here, but most will shrug and say it was inevitable, just as Addyen’s husband is doing now.
Addyen passes around the drink. It tastes like motor oil, but we all try to take a few sips. When Addyen goes to make more for her husband and herself, Bathamous thinks,
You are not product. I am sorry you will all be killed, but there is no other way. It has gone too far
.
Like all Sans, he’s polite.
We go out into the backyard to get away from Addyen and her husband. The yard has a fence around it, so we hope we’ll be unnoticed. We’re all shaken by his pronouncement. Lindsey says she wishes she had a cigarette.
“You smoke?” Michael says.
“You think it might kill me? I had to quit when they invaded and I ran out of cigarettes. I don’t know which was worse.”
“So what do we do now?” Lauren says, looking at me.
They’re all looking at me.
“We can’t stay here. We can’t trust Bathamous. We can’t even, you know, tie him up or something. He’d make it a fight. We can’t risk that.”
“I say we go to New York City,” Lindsey says. “That’s the one place we might have a chance to fight.”
“It’s a long way,” Michael says.
“Do you want to hide or fight?”
She’s appealing to Michael’s macho side.
“How would we get there?” Lauren says.
“Same way we’d get anywhere,” Lindsey says.
We all kind of smile at this. We have no way to get anywhere, so I guess we could say we were going to the North Pole and it wouldn’t be all that less likely.
“There are rebels out West,” I say.
“We don’t know that.”
“I do,” Catlin says. She’s been
.
None of us move. I’m sorry to have put Addyen in this position, but I’m not sorry enough to leave. It’s light out there. Aliens are all around.
“I guess you better make sure no one finds us then,” Lindsey says.
“Yeah,” Michael says, “’cause we’re not leaving.”
I think Addyen’s husband considers killing us.
Let’s all calm down,
Addyen interupts.
Bathamous is not going to inform on anyone or force anyone to leave. I will make us drinks, and we will find a solution
.
None of us really believes the part about a solution, but we pretend we do.
Bathamous follows Addyen into the kitchen.
We listen to them. Though Addyen knows we can hear, she underestimates our ability.
They cannot allow them to live now,
Bathamous argues.
They will lose profits
.
We can get word out. There will be outrage
.
But it will come later. It will come after the product has been destroyed. What good will it do then? What good will it do them or us?
It’s wrong,
she thinks.
It’s wrong to slaughter them. They are not product
.
They are savages. They slaughtered each other. I’ve been reading about them on the voyage. They have been destroying each other and the green and blue of their world for a long time. They would have destroyed themselves without us. Or if they managed to survive each other, their machines would have conquered them. The One has not chosen them
.
They are not product,
Addyen thinks stubbornly.
When they come back to the living room, I say, “What would happen to us if you can convince your leaders we aren’t product? What would happen if we can stay alive long enough?”
You can’t,
Bathamous thinks.
Your pictures are in the minds of every person here in Lord Vertenomous’s capital. A million Sanginians disembarked here this morning
.
“But if we could,” I say. “Stay alive. If we could, what would happen to us?”
Perhaps,
Addyen thinks,
there would be land set aside for you. A small bit of land for you to survive and live out your time. One of your islands. Something remote
.
That is a dream,
Bathamous thinks.
“Like a reservation?” Lauren says.
Addyen doesn’t reply, but we know the answer. And I know that whatever the high-minded among their species wish for us, we cannot survive colonization. They might regret what has happened here, but most will shrug and say it was inevitable, just as Addyen’s husband is doing now.
Addyen passes around the drink. It tastes like motor oil, but we all try to take a few sips. When Addyen goes to make more for her husband and herself, Bathamous thinks,
You are not product. I am sorry you will all be killed, but there is no other way. It has gone too far
.
Like all Sans, he’s polite.
We go out into the backyard to get away from Addyen and her husband. The yard has a fence around it, so we hope we’ll be unnoticed. We’re all shaken by his pronouncement. Lindsey says she wishes she had a cigarette.
“You smoke?” Michael says.
“You think it might kill me? I had to quit when they invaded and I ran out of cigarettes. I don’t know which was worse.”
“So what do we do now?” Lauren says, looking at me.
They’re all looking at me.
“We can’t stay here. We can’t trust Bathamous. We can’t even, you know, tie him up or something. He’d make it a fight. We can’t risk that.”
“I say we go to New York City,” Lindsey says. “That’s the one place we might have a chance to fight.”
“It’s a long way,” Michael says.
“Do you want to hide or fight?”
She’s appealing to Michael’s macho side.
“How would we get there?” Lauren says.
“Same way we’d get anywhere,” Lindsey says.
We all kind of smile at this. We have no way to get anywhere, so I guess we could say we were going to the North Pole and it wouldn’t be all that less likely.
“There are rebels out West,” I say.
“We don’t know that.”
“I do,” Catlin says. She’s been
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