“You wanted to see me?” I resisted the natural instinct to add ‘sir'. I also made sure to make direct and clear eye contact. I decided to handle Telton the way I handled my cat. I wouldn’t blink until I had to. I wouldn’t let him know just how terrified of him I was. It wasn’t that I thought he’d actually hurt me, but I knew I couldn’t trust him. And yet my life, as well as Angie’s and Rachel’s, were in his hands. That in of itself was terrifying.
“You wouldn’t be my choice for her.”
“Oh.” I was supposed to say something here. Defend myself. “With all due respect, it isn’t your choice.”
“No. It isn’t.” He took a seat in one of the captain chairs and gestured for me to take the one Angie had sat in earlier. The others were off figuring out food options. At least that’s what we’d been up to when Telton asked to speak to me privately.
“Okay. Then what did you want to talk to me about?”
He grasped the arms of the chairs. “Do you have the ability to defend yourself?”
“Defend myself from what exactly?”
“You got lucky with the Fleshard. You will not get that lucky again.”
“I know I got lucky. Really I just acted instinctively.” I’d tossed the cup without really thinking it through—more of a surprise attack kind of thing. I was very lucky it had worked.
“Yet you protected Rachel. I am in your debt for that. I should have predicted they might find her first.”
“And I would do it again in an instant.” Throwing the water wasn’t the only thing that came instinctively. Protecting her did too. I’d never really felt that way about anyone before other than my sister. But this was different because it was completely tied up with the way Rachel made me feel. In the space of a few hours she’d managed to find her way inside parts of me I’d always kept locked away.
“Yes. You would. And I can see that.” He remained stock still. It was a bit unnerving as he didn’t blink the way humans did. “When I said I wouldn’t have chosen you, I wasn’t disparaging you. I was only speaking the truth.”
“That you wouldn’t have picked me. Got it.”
“There will be many who want you dead.”
“Fantastic.”
“This isn’t a joke. That is why it’s critical that you can defend yourself. I can train you myself if you’d like.”
“Train me?” I sat up straighter in my chair.
“In the art of defense. And offense. You sometimes need to take the offensive.”
“I can defend myself.” I hadn’t actually had the need to try out those skills, but in theory I could. I wasn’t a weakling or anything.
“Against other humans.” He stretched his legs out in front of him. They were insanely long. “Maybe. But not against the adversaries you will be facing.”
“And you think you can teach me the skills to do so?” In theory that was good. He thought I had potential.
“Absolutely.” He nodded. “At least some.”
“When do we start?” After facing a Fleshard once I knew I didn’t want to be caught unprepared again.
He inclined his head to the side. “What’s your story?”
“My story?” I put a hand on my chest reflexively. I thought this was going to be about him training me and teaching me his ways.
“Yes. Rachel sees something in you. She is motivated almost entirely by emotion and heart. Even more so than most humans. It is part of why she has always been so important.”
“I don’t have an interesting story.” At least not as interesting as Rachel’s. I did have a depressing one—but that wasn’t really my story. I was only a small part of a bigger story.
“I’m sure you do.” He leaned forward. “Your sister made quite the sacrifice for you.”
“Yes. She did.” And part of me still didn’t quite believe it.
“Why?”
“What do you mean why?” I searched his face for what answer he was looking for. “She’s my sister.”
“Would you have made the same choice?” He relaxed back into his chair.
“Why does any of this matter?” This wasn’t about me, or my family. This was about protecting Earth.
“Because I need to know what you are made of.”
“Of course I would have made the same choice. Just because I failed once, doesn’t mean I’d fail again.” Anger welled up inside of me, anger I’d hidden away for a long time.
“You do have a story.” Telton’s voice was emotionless. He wasn’t responding to my anger.
That only annoyed me. “Not one that anyone wants to hear.”
“Does Rachel know?”
“No. I haven’t told her yet.” Why depress her more than she already was?
“Is there a reason you haven’t?”
“No. We haven’t had a chance.” Not really the truth, but given the current situation, we hadn’t exactly had much of downtime.
“Are you sure that’s why? Are you sure you aren’t worried you’ll come across as a coward?”
“I’m not a coward. If I had known…” I trailed off before I could reveal too much. Why was I telling this guy anything anyway? I didn’t owe him any information.
“No one is calling you a coward for those actions, whatever they were, but maybe you are a coward if you are afraid to tell her.”
“Why does it matter?” Was there some hidden meaning to his questions I was supposed to grasp?
“Because she deserves to know all of you.”
“With everything else going on I need to rehash all that? Not that you even know what it is…”
“I know it is tragic. I know you have a common story with Rachel, and she may feel that. And no it does not need to be now, but if I were you I wouldn’t wait too long.” He finally blinked. “She doesn’t do well to finding out someone hid things from her.”
“This is different. She told me I don’t have to tell her. Plus it isn’t about her. What you did was different.”
“And you’re afraid it’s going to color her view of Earth.” He rested his chin on his fist. “That’s the real issue, isn’t it? You don’t want her to know that true evil still exists on the planet she longs for so much.”
“I never pretended it didn’t exist.” I’d have been completely delusional if I did. All you had to do was read one page of the daily news to understand that. “But is there really a planet where it doesn’t? How can you even have good without evil? Isn’t that the whole way things work? The balance of the universe?”
“A philosopher, are you?” He grinned. “And you are right. There is nowhere free of evil. The Lexa liked to believe they were, but power can corrupt anyone.” His expression darkened, and I assumed he was thinking of the Emperor. I tried to picture what that guy looked like. I was picturing a long cape and maybe a Darth Vadar mask or something. I was probably completely wrong.
“You really thought you weren’t evil? I mean, really? You stole natural resources from planets and destroyed them? That’s pretty bad in most anyone’s book.”
“Only when the planet was too far gone.”
“What about Earth? Didn’t it get close to destruction?”
“It did but not that close.”
“Close enough that you rationalized taking Rachel.” Which made it impossible for me to like Telton, even if I was getting used to him.
“I took Rachel because I could not bear leaving such an emotionally beautiful creature on a planet where evil took on such an insidious form. I knew what happened to her parents. I met them.”
“She never told me what happened to her parents. And you implied she doesn’t know.”
“She doesn’t. She was too young, and her aunt kept that truth from her. It was likely for the best. I don’t think five-year-old Rachel could have handled it and survived.”
“Who were you to decide how much she can handle or not?” My anger rose again. This time at him. “Besides, maybe she couldn’t handle it at five. But what about later? What about now?”
“You have no idea what you’re dealing with here. Telling her will change her whole view of reality.”
“It’s that much worse than being abducted by aliens and believing Earth was destroyed when it wasn’t? Oh, and being told she has to mate with someone who lied to her for years?” That last part really rubbed me wrong. Rachel deserved to make her own decisions. She deserved the truth.
“Both the background of what happened to her parents and what that means for her will have perhaps even far worse consequences for her state of mind.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I have known Rachel for thirteen years. You have known her a few days. I allowed you to come. I will allow you to stay. I will even train you, but I will not allow you to tell me what is best for my daughter.” He looked down at his watch. His face paled. There was a loud beep from one of the computers behind us.
“What is that?” The discussion about Rachel would have to wait.
Telton said nothing. He ran over to a monitor.
I followed him. “It’s bad isn’t it?”
“We can’t wait much longer. Kelby needs to get moving.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“We give it a few more hours. If he doesn’t come, we’re doing this without him.”
“And you still think we have a chance?” I didn’t really want to know the answer. It was Earth at stake after all.
“Maybe. Maybe not. There are no guarantees in life. You know that as well as I do.”
The beep went off again. I was officially in over my head.