1.28.2

All That Remains

Astrid frowned at the surrounding room. “My team. Are they okay?”

“Yes.”

Perplexed, Astrid realized the limit of her trust. For the answer didn’t make her feel any better. But for now, her hostess held all the cards.

“As long as it remains that way… I will listen.”

Though Astrid did not sit, the woman before her glided to a chair and perched neatly upon its edge, with her ankles tucked elegantly aside.

“First you must understand that Sanctuary Argos was the cutting edge of Sanctuary potential,” the woman, Rahna, began.

“Not only were we further isolated from the other Sanctuaries, but we were well funded, and supported by one of the topmost scientific academies in the colonies. We pressed that advantage.

“At Argos, the Guardians, and the Channelers, tested themselves. Keeper Mathias even outsourced scientists to work with us from the nearby school. The Maxwell Academy for Gifted Physics. They studied not only how to weaponize and augment our abilities, but how to better use them in service to the Statics.”

“You were complicit?”

A deep regret rose behind cobalt irises. “At first.”

Then Rahna continued.

“We learned Channelers could be used to power a great many things. And if you aren’t so discerning about the cost of human life, that power can be limitless. Somewhere along the line, our value became quantified by our efficacy as living batteries. Slaves.

“The academy, they sent a science team to reside with us. To continue their work and report back. They evaluated our potential, then proposed projects on how to direct, and control it. Some efforts were practically magical. Even spiritual. And we performed great wonders together.

"But, building upon their initial success, their methods eventually escalated to… gruesome measures. And many Channelers were lost in the experiments.

“Still, our powers grew.” Grim melancholy passed over Rahna's expression. “And with it, came the presumption we could resist. Some students, like Gi, plotted that resistance in secret. They intended to surprise our masters with our talents at a time when it could earn us our freedom.”

“Gi rebelled.” Astrid meant it a question, but it didn’t come out that way. Indeed, she realized, she didn’t need to ask.

“He did. After subject deaths broached double-digits, Gi became convinced revolt was the only way to save our lives. He was probably right."

Rahna paused, forlorn. “But the scientists, too, anticipated this eventuality. They were prepared with devices and defenses we never learned to withstand. The pulsar sticks became only one tool in an arsenal of weapons to be used against us. And when the Resistance finally made its move, they were met without mercy. High-frequency bursts drove some of the Channelers mad. And then... the issue could not be contained. Between our own discharges, intensified since the experiments, and the synthetic bursts applied to us, Sanctuary Argos nearly imploded before the end.

“The fight spilled over into Maxwell, and many innocents, students not affiliated with the Channeler project, were caught in the crossfire. Children on both sides became collateral. Surely you have some of your own in Endra.”

Fresh emotion flourished in the pit of Astrid’s stomach, and without her crystal, she resisted the squalls it brought to the surface. She steadied her breath before she dared respond.

“If this is all true, the Channelers aren’t solely to blame. You can’t believe that. And there is no wisdom in martyring the whole of us on this one event, even if you did.”

Rahna bowed her head somberly.

“What happened to us was cruel and callous. But it was also inevitable. We practically invited it. Gi was right, Astrid. One way or another, eventually the Channelers will have to revolt to preserve their lives from either persecution, or weaponization and then persecution. And because of him, I see now how much more death and chaos that will bring. And it will be the Statics that pay the price.

“And these people here, the Static Opposition, they are a people in dire pain. It’s hard to see that when they’re so volatile, but they know no better way to cope. They are not trained like you or I. They wear their hearts on their sleeves, with their passions for all to see. They’ve lost mothers to Channeler siblings. They’ve lost friends to Argos. Some of them had colleagues, or children, in the academy. Some are Guardians that see no better way forward. Some are simply scared. They are all frustrated, lost, and aimless.

“They will lash out, they will destroy, and they will demand their pound of flesh. I focus their goals. Under my direction the Static Opposition seeks not to wildly inflict harm to make a point or to win a fight. I seek to end the fight, not just for now, but for forever. So none must never endure this again.

"Whether you see it or not, by motivation is steered by pity for both sides.”

“Your people,” Astrid accused, “call us ‘wild animals to be put down’. We are nothing to them.”

“If we were nothing, they would not care what happens to us. I’m afraid what we are to them is much worse.”

“How? How do you propose to stop this, then?”

Rahna measured Astrid’s tone before she answered.

“Would you deign to take a walk with me?”

“Your hounds want me dead.”

“You will be safe with me.”

Rahna showed Astrid the way to a second exit, and Astrid convinced herself to fall in step.

It felt inherently wrong to wander the halls of the Static Oppositions headquarters, not only unarmed, but side by side with one of its leaders.

Of all outcomes the Aldebaran’s team anticipated, this potentiality never entered their imaginations. Astrid found herself more prepared for all out bloodshed than the serene tour her captor conducted.

Eyes still followed Astrid, and the pair in general, but no one repeated the usual threats.

Not while “Polaris” stalked, head held high, through the passages of stone.

She led them into the less inhabited halls, toward what Astrid came to view as the utilities. The materials and resources required to support the base lay apart from the main halls. The influx of power increased while the pair drew closer to their destination, and passersby ceased altogether until it remained just them two.

“How can you do this?” Astrid persisted while they were alone. “Target your own people?”

“I saw what we are capable of. Where you see absurdity, I see that I am the only one brave enough to face that the world might be better off without me. What we can do, it isn’t natural.”

"It's precisely natural," Astrid contended. "It evolved naturally; not with cybernetics or medications or augmentations. We’re born this way because it’s what humans were always going to become.”

“You think me foolish while you support a path that would see our species whittle away with every passing generation? I am not thinking of just me and my associates, Astrid. Your team, do you care about them?”

“I…” Astrid thought for a moment to protect her vulnerabilities. But Rahna relinquished a knowing smile, and Astrid knew instantly the futility of denial. “Of course I do.”

“They will have children. They will have grandchildren. And great grandchildren. And I fear not for myself, but for what your friends’ great, great, grandchildren will live with. If you could ensure the safety and happiness of those people, by going away, by sacrificing yourself, would you not?”

Astrid slowed. If she could somehow ensure the safety of Tenya, of Anders, and Romo, and Dell, and their futures. If she could guarantee it…

She would give anything to not have to see them fall, one by one. Like Karth.

Rahna smoothly rotated to propose, “I want your help. The Statics must see that we recognize our danger. It is the only way we can convince them this can be handled with mercy. We must show we know the only way forward.”

Astrid projected the captain’s face behind her eyes. The Keeper’s. To draw resolve from the ideals that first set her on her path.

“I don’t know that.”

“Look at what you’ve done since you’ve been freed,” the woman posed. “How many lives have ended since your involvement? Haven’t you hurt anyone since you’ve been out? Your own friends? Their friends?”

Astrid recalled her first spar with Romo. How he’d flown back beyond her control. How Rue herself almost fell victim to her wild discharge on Penelope Station. The rift that erupted between the stalwart soldier and her closest companions.

And Karth’s assassination for refusing to give her up.

“And for what?” Rahna continued. “You didn’t want to do those things. You didn’t even want to be there. They put you there for being what you are. By trying to use it.

“It’s not just about us, Astrid, but our influence beyond our control. What the Statics do, and will do, because we exist. The more they make it clear we have no say in what they would sacrifice to utilize our power, the more we must take responsibility for it ourselves.

“If Captain London hadn’t taken you out of the Sanctuary, would his second, Commander Kendall still be alive? And what of Rue, who now finds herself on the outs of all she believed? Those hypotheticals aren’t out of reach because you wanted to hurt them.

“I did not leap to this conclusion. It is simply all that remains.”