Tucked into a darkened doorway, Stephen and Anton watched the exchange unfold between the official and Bill Taggart.
A week of life on board an oxygen-rich ship had given Stephen a headache.
Why do you hate the humans? asked Anton.
Stephen stared after the investigator as he walked away. He switched to his voice; his head hurt less when he talked out loud. ‘Because they are killers.’
‘I’m glad you decided to help those people in the end.’
‘I came close to ignoring their screams.’
‘I don’t believe you would have let them die. You’re nothing like the vigilantes trying to make trouble for the elders.’
The vigilantes blamed the humans for everything.
‘Maybe they have a point.’ But he was tired of despising a race that had killed his parents and almost wiped the Indigenes from existence.
Yet, that hate had become a part of him.
Anton’s brow creased. ‘Pierre’s opinion of the humans seems to differ.’
‘Pierre is practical. He prefers the option with the least carnage.’
‘Maybe we should make our own mind up about them.’
Stephen smirked. ‘You sound like Pierre.’
‘He’s not an elder for nothing.’
‘The fact that they are also called “human” bothers me.’
‘No matter what they claim to be, we can’t immediately assume they’re enemies. A sentence without trial would make us just like them.’
‘But we are like them. That’s the problem.’ Stephen sighed. ‘Maybe not physically, but in other ways.’
Anton gestured after the investigator. ‘He’s alone. Why don’t we just approach him? Demand answers about why they’re investigating us? Why he followed you into the tunnel?’
‘I’m not ready for that yet.’ The thought of getting close to any human terrified him. ‘Besides, this Gilchrist and Deighton character appear to run things on Earth. I don’t want to tip them off about our arrival. We should wait until we get to Earth before we strike.’
His answer didn’t appear to satisfy Anton. ‘But what if we lose him after we disembark? We don’t know where he’s headed.’
‘It will be fine. When we reach their planet we can turn the tables and track him.’
Stephen remembered back to the event a year ago that had claimed the life of one of their Evolvers. The pair had been hunting away from the main party. It had been on that same night the humans had discovered the existence of the Indigenes.
Stephen had been out that night too, in a hunting party of six. The cries of the trapped wolf had alerted them to the danger, but the activity had also attracted the attention of the military patrolling the borders of their cities. Seeing the young pair trapped that night, Stephen had tried to help them. But a new source of light had frozen him to the spot.
The wolf put up a good fight. The young pair teased the wolf. One danced as a distraction, while the other fixed his eyes on the prey. But closing in fast on their location was a military human who stopped as soon as his light exposed the truth. When he surrounded the first Evolver, Stephen grabbed the second one and ran.
His ragged breathing broke him out of the memory. Stephen tilted his head back and pulled out the three sections of the filtration device, wiped them down and placed each in the recharger unit that hung from his belt. He grabbed a spare set and adjusted the larger part at the back of his throat with his finger.
He would not allow the humans to gain the upper hand this time. He and Anton would be one step ahead.
When the air filtration unit felt comfortable, Stephen asked, ‘Will the chips work at the exit point?’
‘In theory. Disembarkation should be straight forward enough,’ said Anton. ‘As for getting around the planet, I haven’t figured out that part yet.’