Little Island Tales - Part 12

    "Johanas?" asked a familiar voice from beyond the foliage.
    The older man visibly relaxed as Joun, one of the warriors from the beach, pushed through the underbrush. He was bare chested, his shirt tied around his pants, and he was holding a spear tightly in his right hand. His face was flushed red and he was soaked with sweat from head to toe, no doubt from the growing, steamy warmth of the jungle.
    "And Diego." the warrior quickly added, glancing past Johanas. "The hell are you two doing out here?"
    Before Diego could respond, Johanas spoke for them.
    "Felt like going for a little walk." Johanas he said casually. "Little Diego here wanted to come with so it seemed like a good chance to show him a thing or two about tracking."
    Joun's eyes narrowed more in confusion than suspicion and he very plainly glanced down at the cripple's damaged leg and his cane. The older man, in turn, simply smiled wider.
    "Ain't that right, boy?" he said, glancing over his shoulder.
    "Eh...yea. That's right. My mother wanted to make sure someone was with him so I went with." Diego confirmed the half truth.
    Joun nodded.
    "That wasn't you we heard then, was it?" the warrior asked.
    "That popping sound? No. We were wondering ourselves." Johanas confirmed as he took a drag from the cigarette.
    "We think we have an intruder on the island." Joun stated flatly.
    "Explains the tracks." the older man said with a nod. "Was wondering why they looked so weird. Diego pointed em out to me."
    Joun glanced back at him again and looked a little impressed.
    "Really now? I would have figured it the other way around. Maybe you've got the workings of a hunter in ya, Diego."
    Diego shifted uncomfortably.
    "Maybe." he muttered.
    "Alright, you two head back to the village. We don't need anyone wandering around here while we're looking for someone, particularly not someone...eh..." Joun seemed to get stuck on his words for a minute before finishing. "...as venerable as yourself."
    Johanas burst out laughing which quickly broke down into a mild coughing fit.
    "Venerable! Ha! Yea, alright. Come on, Diego, let's get my old ass off this mountain."
   
    "Why did you lie to him?" Diego asked as they broke through the tree line and they stepped out into the blazing sun of the open beach.
    "What?" Johanas asked indigently. "Well I never! Ain't never lied in my life."
    "You lied to Joun, though."
    "Nope."
    Diego ran out in front of the cripple, stopping him from walking any farther.
    "You told him I showed you the tracks."
    "You did, didn't you? I didn't know about 'em til you told me."
    Diego faltered.
    "And that you were out for a walk."
    "And I was!" Johanas confirmed. "You even said it yourself: your mother didn't want me going alone. After all, he didn't ask why I wanted to go for a walk or what I was doing while walking."
    "But..." Diego stammered, not sure where to go with this. "You know there's an intruder!"
    "I figured there was based on the tracks and what you told me." the older man said, his grin threatening to split his head in half. "Joun only confirmed my suspicions further."
    Diego was speechless.
    In the moment, he had felt confused and even a little ashamed that Johanas had seemingly lied to the warrior. Now, with him plainly explaining how expertly he'd gotten around the man's questions, he couldn't decide if he actually felt better or not.
    "Listen, Diego, let me tell you something." Johanas said, his voice taking on an air of sincerity. "You're smart. You always have been. I blame your mother personally."
    The older man punctuated his statement with a short, barking laugh.
    "Problem is," he continued. "Most people think they are smart. Now this can mean that someone who doesn't know any better than you is going to make a decision that might effect whether you live or die. But, in return, it also means you can also use that same lack of smarts against em."
    Johanas tapped his head.
    "Make 'em think what they think is actually the case. People will always presume something. It's natural. Tell 'em what they want to hear and they'll believe it. Even if you tell em the truth to their face, if you tell em the right way, they'll do the lie for you."
    "I don't understand."
    "I know. But give it some time."
    Diego couldn't accept that.
    "But....why?"
    "Because..." Johanas began, his expression growing dark and distant. "Sometimes it's easier to let people believe one thing than face the pain of having to correct them. Sometimes people are scared to admit something to themselves as much as they are to others."
    Diego stared at the older man, stared at the normally vacant, smiling face, and how stern it had grown in a moment. The weary, sweat soaked lines and wrinkles and a horrible weight that seemed to lie across his entire being made him seem eternally older and more abused than he'd ever seen before.
    And, all at once, he wasn't sure they were still talking about the same thing.
    "So the tracks-?" he asked slowly.
    Johanas' face lit up again once more.
    "The tracks are fine. If we told em we were just following em, they'd get upset and worried. Easier to let em think we were just walking."
    The older man's smile returned in full force but Diego was still picturing the darkened facade from a moment prior.
    "Okay." he agreed softly.
    "Now come on." Johanas said with a pat on the boy's shoulder. "Let's get back to the village and see about stealing another bowl of stew from your mom."
    Johanas started off and Diego followed him down the beach. Occasionally, he found himself glancing back towards the woods where they'd come from, his mind chewing on the strangely cryptic and bizarre lesson that the older man had just imparted. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something about 'people too scared too admit something' continually rolled about in his head even after he'd gone to bed that night.

Xenophobia - Chapter 12

    "Have you lost your minds?!" bellowed the old judge at the holographic images of Guor-a and Juag-e.
    Darrian had never seen them side by side, but it suddenly struck him how much smaller in stature Juag-e was in comparison to the High Maister. He knew the little Juag-e was known for being a bit shorter than his compatriots, but he had to wonder if the Armada leader that he stood side-by-side with was not also larger than normal for his species.
    "You think I'm crazy?" yelled back Guor-a with just as much ferocity. "You're the ones that are out of touch with reality! All it seems that you ever do is talk and talk!"
    "Yes! We've been hosting a council to review information! Our purpose isn't to declare war on defenseless species!"
    "They're defenseless now, but what about in a rotation? Damnit! What about in half a rotation? These creatures move at such a rapid pace they might achieve interstellar travel in thirty cycles! Beating down our doors in thirty two!"
    "So you admit you'd be slaughtering a defenseless civilization." snapped A'alan't 32 with more emotion than Darrian had ever heard from the Bivvie.
    "Is it considered slaughter to vaccinate a victim from a disease? To give them medicine and kill an infection before they are cowering with illness?"
    "The humans are not an infection!" screamed the old judge.
    "Then why quarantine them if they aren't little more than a plague waiting to happen?"
    Murmurs whispered throughout the Consortium at that. A large number of the ambassadors had remained silent through the screaming contest. When the emergency council had been called, no one knew what to expect given the last time war was declared by anyone was many rotations ago. Now, sitting before this fervent anger, few even knew how to react.
    "To observe and collect data. To avoid outward influences." retorted the old judge.
    "And to keep us safe in case they proved themselves dangerous." growled Guor-a
    "Guor-a." said Illiquina softly.
    His scaled visage glowered back at her.
    "The humans are a terrifying race. Hell, the fact that they can breathe poison is unsettling enough. Yet, they are exceptionally young. We've already had observations regarding a majority population living in support of many ideals the Consortium holds dear."
    "We've seen many who are in support of peace and prosperity and ending the needless violence their species has suffered." she finished with a joyous lit to her voice that seemed to defy Guor-a's anger.
    "Would these be the same creatures that declare war on each other regularly? Would this be the same species whose only reason for trying to escape their atmosphere is in the name of competition?"
    "It's the same species who is learning to overcome their primordial instincts and move on to something greater. To look for something greater." said Cherryl with a level of confidence in her normally shaky tone that left several ambassadors staring with surprise.
    "Don't talk to me about what humans are or aren't like." growled Guor-a, pointing a clawed finger at no one in particular. "I've learned all I need to know."
    "And what does that mean?" inquired the old judge.
    "After Juag-e came to me some cycles ago, I decided to do some digging. I found out that a few of my fellow compatriots had already known about this monstrous little species."
    Any side discussion there was within the Consortium fell dead silent.
    "What are you saying?" asked Darrian in utter shock.
    "We've already known about humans for some time now. In fact, it would seem that our own survey was being conducted. We even have Tulguck infiltrators in a number of higher governmental offices learning all about..."
    "YOU TREASONOUS PIECE OF SHIT!" screamed the old judge, pounding the table with an echoing boom.
    Darrian stared in disbelief at the old judge. The old robot had been around for more rotations than Darrian would ever know. He'd been programmed with the ability to learn, but, at the end of the day, he had a base programming. Where or when the old judge would have learned such a fervent and emotional reaction was beyond him.
    "YOU MOCK US WITH THIS INFORMATION?!" continued the old judge. "HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN EVERY FACET OF THE CONSORTIUM'S AGREEMENTS?!"
    "And what would you be referring to?" asked Guor-a with a look of contempt.
    "Your government withheld information about a possible spacebound species! Not only that, but you're bragging that you've INFILTRATED their government?! Do you know that kind of damage you could be doing."
    "Look robot..." responded Guor-a in a surprising docile tone. "I'm not the one who made those calls. Hell, I'm not even sure I could find out who. But at the end of the day, we're talking about a plague. A pestilence. A virus that needs to be wiped from the galaxy before it can spread."
    "That's not your call to make! You're going against everything your species agreed to...everything this Consortium stands for!"
    "Then stop me."
    The old judge fell silent. No one on the Consortium maintained an Armada or Fleet anymore. No one but the two youngest species: the Tulgucks and the Gorderians. At best, each species kept a small defense force, but nothing that could even hope to stand up to Guor-a.
    What was worse: given the sheer amount of how often Jin'thun and Juag-e agreed on matters of state, Darrian didn't doubt the Gorderians would soon be joining the Tulgucks to cull the humans.
    And there was nothing they could do.
    "That's what I thought." continued Guor-a with a sneer when no one said anything.
    "If you do this, you'll be making an enemy of us, Guor-a." said the old judge in a low tone. "The Tulgucks will be stripped of their trade rights and positions within the Consortium."
    "Maybe so." said Juag-e. "Maybe it means our species has a falling out for now. But in a few rotations, after you've had time to think about how nice it is not being murdered in your beds, I'm sure we'll be welcomed back. With sanctions, of course...or maybe as heroes."
    "Time will tell." finished Juag-e with a small smile that suggested he really did believe they were in the right.
    "Don't do this." Darrian suddenly pleaded.
    The humans terrified him, yet the thought of simply wiping them from existence...murdering billions of people before they could respond. He couldn't stomach the idea.
    "It's already done." said Juag-e.
    "Our Armada is mobilizing as we speak." added Guor-a. "Soon enough we will remove this threat and you all can sleep peacefully once again."
    The image snapped out and the reptilian visages of the Tulgucks disappeared. No one said anything. No one knew what to say. Everyone just seemed to stare at the blank space where the hologram had been.
    "They're all going to die..." whispered Ugul woefully.
    Darrian's gaze wandered the room to Ugul and then to the other ambassadors. All of them looked devastated. There was nothing that could do. The Tulgucks were going to Earth and would probably be joined by...
    The Gorderians.
    Everyone seemed to have the same thought. As if on cue, dozens of eyes were staring intently at Jin'thun and the other Gorderians representatives.
    "Well shit..." growled Jin'thun with a look of annoyance.

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(Hello Lovelies! I'm so sorry that this took longer than planned to come out, but I had a few personal things that hit me hard and, to be candid, I've found I'd much rather focus my efforts on Xenophobia right now then simply forcing myself to right random tidbits. I should have a more stable schedule now, so I'm sorry again for missing a couple days! Keep an eye out to find out what the Gorderians are going to do.)