I settle into Lachlan's new bed, comfortably. I feel my anger rise, then hear Lachlan's voice in my head, promising me we will be without technology in time. I take a deep breath. I'm not physically tired at all, since I just woke up a few hours ago, but I'm emotionally fried. My head hits the pillow and I feel the Ecopan try to take hold of me.

"Please, wait. Let me speak to Lachlan for a minute first," I whisper. I feel Aaron deciding... then he loosens his grip. I feel his presence in my mind, he's watching through my eyes, waiting for his time to strike. I wait several minutes till Lachlan finally gets out of his bath.

He comes out in a white t-shirt and navy blue pajama pants. He grins when he sees me. He puts the towel on his head and roughly shakes it to dry his hair. I laugh as he throws the towel to the side. He slips under the covers next to me. He kisses my brow as I rest my head on his chest.

"I've never felt so clean in all my life! How is the water here cleaner?" Lachlan exclaims. I smile. How careless he is! That's how I want to keep it. I nuzzle deeper in his chest trying to comfort myself. This isn't how I wanted things to go for me, but at least everyone else is safe. At least Lachlan is happy.

"Are you alright?" Lachlan asks, sensing my weird mood.

"Yeah. I'm alright," I say, pulling away from him to look him in the eye. I rest my head on his outstretched arm. I fake a smile. Lachlan doesn't believe it. He brushes my hair out of my face.

"I almost lost you today," He whispers to me. I can hear the pain in his voice. I almost forgot the events of this morning effected him too. Lachlan has been so strong all day, making sure everyone else is okay, tending to the wounded, planning the future of Harmonia. I almost forgot just this morning Lachlan was on his knees, sobbing. "Please...don't leave me."

I can't bear Lachlan's anguish. I lean forward and kiss him passionately. Everything I've endured the past few days, everything I've endured the past few months, my whole life, seems to flood into this kiss. For a moment thoughts of Lark start to creep into my mind, but I can't seem to think of her for more than a second. I don't dare give up the comfort Lachlan's kisses give me. I have the familiar sense that Lachlan will give me comfort, and happiness, and peace of mind. Suddenly, Lachlan winces.

"What is it?" I ask him. He cradles the hand that was just pinned under my back.

"I forgot to tell you," He says. "I broke my hand trying to rescue you."

"Oh my earth! Why didn't you wrap it?" I ask him. He flashes a wry smile at me. I smile back, he isn't one to pamper himself. I roll my eyes then roll over. He wraps his arms around me, spooning me. I kiss each of his split knuckles individually. I feel so at peace...until I realize the Ecopan is here, waiting until it can take me.

"I just want to sleep. I don't want to think anymore. I want to have sweet dreams that I can share in the morning," I say. Lachlan thinks I'm talking to him but really I'm talking to Aaron, hoping he'll spare me tonight. I don't want to be the Ecopan right now.

Oh, Rowan. I would grant you one night of freedom, but your duties as the Ecopan have just started, and the people of Mahali Salama need you. Aaron's words are the last thing I hear before the Ecopan takes hold of me, taking my conscious and making it it's own.

~~~~~~~~

"The wall is already torn down," Aaron says. I can't see his body before me but I can hear his voice in a far off place in my mind, like Yarrow. The Ecopan couldn't take all of me permanently, so I couldn't completely merge with him. Now I have two voices in my head fighting for dominance. "All you have to do now is wake them then get them across."

I can hear his reluctance to update me on what happened throughout the day. He still doesn't think humans are ready for nature. I fear what would happen if he gained control again. I fear what would happen if he was left on his own as the Ecopan to decide humanities fate, without any humanity of his own.

With a roll of my eyes, I start to wake everyone...but they do not wake. I try again, then again. I still feel no activity in Mahali Salama. I start to panic. I feel this resistance trying to stop them from waking, it feels as if it is coming from inside of me. Is it possible that I don't truly want them to be set free? Do I truly think we are unworthy? I push these thoughts from my head. I have control of myself. Hell, I have control of the whole fate of humanity! I want them to be set free, so they shall. Finally they all start to wake, irritated and confused.

You are set free. You are no longer held prisoner inside of these walls, you once thought kept you safe. You are no longer a prisoner in this paradise, you once thought you loved. You will love it no more. No, you will have a new home now, it will be called Imani, meaning honesty, because you will no longer be lied to. My people, go. Nothing is stopping you from the freedom you all deserve. My children, the elites, the rebels, I see you all.

I say these words to everyone in Mahali Salama with lenses, and relish the flood of emotion they all feel. For so many, they understand it, they understand the words that they hear, and what they mean, and feel such an immense joy. But many others don't understand. They sit, shaken, and confused, waiting for this odd feeling to pass and their lives to go back to normal. But they will not. Their lives are just now beginning. I smile, thinking, as hard as this is, being Rowan by day, the Ecopan by night, it is worth it. I have a purpose, a duty, that cannot be matched by any other.

"Don't you wish you could do this for forever?" Aaron asks me. I nod. "Then give the rest of your soul to me."

What? I ask. I'm appalled at his audacity. I cannot do that. I know you have no humanity left in you- you had very little to begin with, even when you weren't the Ecopan- but you have to at least try to understand. My family has been through so much. They have lost me so many times, this time they think the threat is gone, if one day they wake up and I'm in that coffin, gone from their lives for forever, it will crush them...I'm sorry but I cannot fully merge with you. Not now, Not ever.

"But you will not truly be gone," Aaron points out. He starts to go on his rant he went on before, about how I will become one with them all, and can still reach them, but I cut him off. I've already heard it.

I know Aaron, and I still can't do it. I have viewed the world as you see it, in fact, I'm viewing it right now, and it is lovely...but I cannot do it. Now please, drop the subject.

"Rowan, have you even thought about the consequences of your decision? The moment you agreed to go back with Lachlan you decided something for the future of all of humanity. While you are alive, you will continue to unhappily serve as the Ecopan whenever I say. But when you die, I will still be in main control. I will have a better understanding of humanity, thanks to the piece of your soul I still keep, but I am still a psychopath. When you die you will have very little control over what happens afterwards. And since I lack compassion, and empathy, my personality will most likely dominate yours much greater than expected. I still do not believe that people are ready for freedom. I can relocate them all back to their artificial cities, I can kill off those who are selfish, I can be a machine, Rowan. But you, you can stop it. You can teach them, you can teach me, how to be human."

I said drop the subject! I fume at him.

"Does this topic make you uneasy because you know I am right?" He asks me. The mere sound of him voice infuriates me. Is it because he is right? Why else wouldn't I just argue back, tell him all the reasons he is wrong. I try to tell myself I do not argue with him because I am too mature, because arguing with the soul of a dead psychopath would be beneath me, but that is not true. I do not argue back because I have very little to argue back with. Anything I could have to say would be words of compassion, and love, and loyalty to my friends...all things he cannot understand. I doubt he understood them even when he wasn't a machine.

Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up! You know nothing! You do not know what is best for humanity because you are not human. You know nothing but data and numbers, you are lifeless, and cold, and dead, and if you think you can you can convince me otherwise you are wrong. I may be the Ecopan, but I am still Rowan, I am still an unpredictable human. And do you know what makes humans unpredictable? It is our ability to think, logically, for ourselves!

"It is also what makes you selfish," Aaron says. "Like it was selfish of you to leave with Lachlan, and it was selfish of you now to argue with me instead of save your people."

For a moment I am confused. What does he mean? They are being saved, I'm saving them right now. But when I look over Mahali Salama I see over a million people, all like one huge flood of ants herding to a panel to escape. I see people pushing, and shoving, until they trample one another. I can hardly imagine a more terrible way to die. But that isn't even the worst part. I see all of the bots I used to tear down the wall attacking the citizens! Security bots shoot people, and their blood plasters, leaving their bodies crumples lifelessly on the floor. Even cleaning bots extend their arms, grabbing, and clawing at the people in anyway they can! I watch as their beautifully dark skinned bodies get torn apart.

I try to stop the bots...but I can't. I feel like a wall has separated me from them. I no longer have control of the Ecopan, Aaron does. I try to speak to him, control his actions, but he pushes me to the side, like I've done to Yarrow so often. Usually, Yarrow stays quiet when I am the Ecopan, considering I have enough on my plate, but this is a moment where she speaks up.

"What the bikking hell is he doing?" She asks. She sounds just as horrifies as I am. We watch helplessly, defenselessly, as they fall to the floor. After only a minute the attack stops, and I have my control back, but enough damage has been done. At least a few hundred lay lifeless on the ground, their eyes gazing open, full of hope. Hope for a wilderness they never got to see.

Run, my children. Cross the desert as fast as you can, there you will find salvation, and protection. I want you to know I was not behind this attack and will protect you in any way I can moving forward. I say this to them, but not all of them run. Most of them do, but a few dozen of them stay, kneeling beside their loved ones bodies, mourning them. Some of them, very few, only three or four, lay barely alive, slowly bleeding out, I want to help them but there is nothing I can do for them in time.

"What the hell have you done!" I scream. But at the same time as I scream I feel Aaron release me, and I'm back in Lachlan's bed. I have no time to relish the feeling of Lachlan's body pressed to mine, or how secure, and protected I feel in his arms. I sit up screaming and sobbing. "He killed them! Hundreds of innocent people, he killed them all!"

I'm cut off by my own sobs. I silently sob into confused Lachlan's chest, who obviously woke up from my screams. He holds me, shushing me, telling me that it will all be okay, when in fact it won't be okay. He has no idea how afraid I am. Aaron can overpower me, kill everyone I love, kill the other cities, anytime he wants. This time he only killed a few hundred, that was a warning round. He killed those people to warn me of what could, and what will happen unless I give myself to him. The solution can't be to wait until I'm on my death bed to give myself to him, he's already killing people. He wants to save humanity so bad he will stop at nothing, even murder, to get it, just like Ellena...just like me.