The Sirius Chronicles by Christopher Costanza Page A

thinking about something for quite a while now… I don’t think it’s safe to return to the Aurora.” They both looked confused and Kayin said “What do you mean?”
    -“Think about it you two… The ACI and our government had to have known about this. We killed the commander of this ship and the head of the science division that was given a very important assignment… I don’t think they’re going to be happy. And if they would knowingly promote something like this, then it’s safe to say they would kill all of us too…”
    I could tell they both knew that what I was saying made sense. Sara stood up and said “I didn’t even think of that… and you destroyed all the work he was supposed to bring back… You’re right Atlas..”
    Kayin moaned “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this! I was under the impression they’d be happy and congratulate us… what makes you so sure Atlas? I mean, we will be coming back with the chrysos.”
    I shook my head – “I think it’s about more than that… A while ago I figured out they planned to mine more than needed so they would have financial reign over Aeris. The next step was the intelligence experiments. Cyrus’ main goal in the end was to be able to advance our intelligence as well… Think about it, they would have superior intellect and a mass of the rarest and most valuable mineral on Aeris… They would be in complete control.”
    Kayin’s eyes widened and Sara said “Ok, even if you could be wrong we still need to be careful now.” Kayin stepped forward – “You said you had a plan. Let’s hear it. I think you’re right too.”
    I went on to tell them that I thought we should land the Sirius as close to the capital building as possible. Let everyone see that we’ve returned… and just go right to the leaders and tell them exactly what happened. Cyrus told me they kept a lot from the government so they can’t all be involved. Someone will want to help us and make sure the ACI’s disgusting behavior is brought to light…
    They both stood there and thought it over for a few moments, Sara was the first to speak – “Kayin I think it’s our only option… what else can we possibly do?” Kayin nodded and said “I agree, there is nothing else to do… I guess at this point I would put a lot more trust in the government than the ACI… We can only hope some of the higher ups at the ACI will support us too… they can’t all be bad.”
    I said “Yeah I was hoping the same thing; there can’t be too many people in on this. That’s why Cyrus was so secretive, even with his own team… You proved to me years ago that the majority of people are good and will do the right thing when it comes down to it… I think if we follow that course of action everything should be fine. Once the government and the public are behind us the ACI should be powerless.” We all agreed on the new plan, so Kayin and I headed down for another day of mining.
    When we made it to the site all the workers stopped and began to chant “Anu – Nnaki!” over and over. The two leaders ran out and dropped to their knees. As usual we went over, made them get up, and got to work.
    We had done our best to show that we were just normal people… We worked and even bled alongside them every day. They had plenty of opportunities to see we were no different than they are. We tried to make it known we don’t like it when they would kneel or bow, yet the praise and worship has only escalated. They were taking our actions as being displeased instead of understanding we just wanted them to stop.
    Sara had figured out some of their language but it was of little help. They were just too primitive to understand that our technology is what gave us our abilities. They still referred to us as “from the stars” and they used the same word for our transport ships as they used for birds. It was hopeless.
    Throughout the day they’d bring us little carvings and pieces of chrysos formed into