The Flaws of Human Nature

THIS IS A CONTEST ENTRY TO THE 'SCI-FI SHORTSTORY SMACKDOWN 1.5'

I apologize if this does not fit perfectly into the 'space opera' genre. I think that it does but I could be wrong. I'm not completely familiar with the many subgenres of science fiction. 

Enjoy!

It had all happened so fast. The shattered remains of the Earth still orbited the sun as though nothing had ever happened. As though this was how they had always been. 

Anyone with even a shred of sense could have predicted this fate.

 Humans, after centuries of trying, had mastered the art of space travel. Of course, this lead to them discovering other intelligent beings and, inevitably, conjuring up a reason to declare war upon said beings.

The space war was a short and brutal one in which there was only one clear winner: The Serenitarians . They outnumbered the human fleets one hundred to one and their lasers gracefully took out the tin cans in which the humans fought within a matter of minutes. They then circled the Earth and each ship shot simultaneously, causing the Earth to explode into a billion peices. 

Watching this heartless destruction of their home from a mountain-top on the enemy planet were the last survivors of the human race. 

Some would probably brand them cowards for not using the rare luxury of owning a starship to aid the Earth's army in their attempt to save the human race, but these humans were certain that they were right to have done what they did.

This war was declared by the Earthlings. They had convinced themselves that the aliens were conspiring against them.

The three surviving humans believed the theory that this idea was being fed to them by a group of powerful people who wanted to take out the Serenitarians because they had refused to share their land and their resources.

Gloria backed away from her telescope, wiping a tear from her tired, worn cheek. 

"I can't look. Why is this so hard?" 

She spoke through tears and, suddenly, threw herself down on the hard rock of the mountain. Christopher forced himself away from his view of the destruction and sat beside his friend,

"Gloria, I know that this is distressing for you. It is your home planet, after all," He ran his fingers through her long, brown hair, "But you must remind yourself of what they have done. The human race was already in the process of destroying their own planet with pollution and nuclear weapons. And that's not all! They brought this war on themselves. They practically begged to be destroyed in every possible way. Humans are self destructive, Gloria. This was always their fate."

"Our fate," Frankie corrected, not removing her eye from the telescope, "You talk as though we are not human; As though they are an alien race and that was simply an alien planet full of fools who got themselves killed."

Christopher laughed bitterly, 

"I try not to associate myself with them. Neither should you two. We were the only ones smart enough to question the media. You know how bad it was there," He was raising his voice now. Gloria held her knees and listened, hoping that his words would, as they always did when she had been manipulated into thinking positively of the government and everyone else who controlled them, bring her hatred of the human race flooding back through her veins, 

"I'm glad it's gone. We're finally rid of it all. Remember how it was everywhereb we went? How they made sure that everyone was near a source of media? A television here, a hologram there. Remember how we could never have our own opinions because the government decided what was happening and ensured that everyone else in the world believed that they were right in doing so? How we had no place to hide and so we saved for a starship and came here?"

"And thank god for that. If we'd have waited until the war began we never would have gotten past the secuity. Those damn humans- Always making sure that nobody wants them on their land!" Frankie added, smiling at Christopher in the way that always meant that he had persuaded beyond a doubt.

Gloria got to her feet and embraced her two companions. 

"We should put on our costumes and go into town. I'm absolutely starving," 

The three dressed head to toe in metal armour and a long shawl which was, luckily, how most Serenitarians dressed. This was lucky because it was a perfect disguise and nobody would ever think to question them on their species. 

Admiring the beautiful architecture of the homes in the small town, the humans rode on the backs of bull-like creatures called Thaurus'. 

The journey seemed to last half the time that it actually did as Gloria, Frankie and Christopher were feeling refreshingly happy and were enjoying the beautiful scenery, soft, unfamiliar air and the feeling of lightness brought on by the slightly less forceful gravitational pull than there had been on Earth.

Frankie climbed expertly from her Thaurus and entered the market while Frankie and Christopher waited. 

"How do we know that we were the only ones who knew?" Gloria asked, dreamily twisting the fabric of her shawl, "I mean, we never really attempted to contact anyone else. There were fifteen billion people on the Earth when we left. Surely we were not the only ones who knew that it was all wrong,"

"If other people questioned it they would have come here,"

"Not everyone could afford to come here, Christopher,"

Christopher was not listening anymore.

Gloria is, thought Christopher, far too opinionated. 

......................................................................................................................................................

When they had gotten their food, the three humans made their way to their favourite spot in town to eat and discuss recent events. 

It seemed to them that the view of the breath-takingley marvelous sea and the sky as the sun had finished rising must be the most beautiful sight that they had ever seen. 

"What's up, Gloria?" Frankie asked as she noticed that her friend was not in awe of the Serenitar's beauty as she normally was and was instead looking as though her Thaurus had just died,

"It's just that-" 

"She's obviously tired," Christopher cut Gloria off, "You're tired, huh, Gloria?"

Gloria nodded silently. 

I hope she doesn't think that I'm angry with her. He thought, I just don't want her thinking too hard and warping her and Frankie's opinion. After all that work to help them and show them how to think, it would be so sad to see the people I love suddenly having the wrong views, 

"Let's enjoy this," he said with a smile from ear to ear, clearly happy with his reassurance to himself that he was doing no wrong, "We'll never have to deal with those Earthlings again. We did the impossible. We broke out of the hypnosis of the media and the government and escaped from the claws of human nature. That obsessive need to have power over others was blown up with the rest of the Earth."

Frankie and Gloria nodded mindlessly.