Bestial Planet

Chapter 51: Declaration

By now the table had warped around his hand from his grip. He looked down at it then back at the hesitant faces of everyone in the room and broke his hand free.

"I... I'm sorry."

"It's ok Em..."

"NO! It isn't ok!"

He started to cry, looking directly at Frantz's scar and walked out of the room feeling like he was going to puke. I made a move to go after him but Catty grabbed my arm.

"You have to get ready for tomorrow, I'll calm him down."

She left the room and we were silent for a few seconds before Bob continued.

"What the sub council's main priority will be from now on, Mei-lin and the rest of you, is monitoring and diffusion. Making sure the outliers are spoken to, not ignored and left to their own devices. I'm not saying give in but the sub council's will have to constantly let everyone know all viewpoints of the war. It's lucky I guess that you're society is still rebuilding itself so that makes things equal parts easier and more difficult. There are roughly 42 of you in charge and awake at any given time. Make sure to always be in contact about everything. The way things have been set up so far, constant discourse between continents is a must."

The sub council members were nodding in agreement, some of them were recently elected and looked as much. Star's screen moved to the top of the group as she started to speak.

"So what exactly are WE going to be doing once we fully commit to the war. Do we stay on Earth? Do we travel to the Stadium every month?"

Bob looked to Lancieta and she cleared her throat before sitting up in her chair.

"You've already had the basic briefing. Ambassadors are expected to experience the things they approve in one way or another. From sitting in on tactics meetings and military training, to terra-forming and setting up new colonies for their people among other tasks. You all will be traveling, fighting and expected to maintain clear minds and always have the well-being of your homes in mind. If your actions ever show otherwise other members of the Stadium can send word to your home world. Being dismissed is an issue left to home world governments except in extreme cases."

"Like what?"

Mom looked at me then at the others to make sure she had our attention. "There have been incidents where Ambassadors attempted to cull their populations in order to deal with certain economic or ecological issues. There are others but that's a good example."

Kyung's screen replaced Star's.

"What precisely are we doing about tomorrows worldwide... press event? Aside from those big platforms and the holographic display? What exactly are we saying?"

The rooms went quiet as we each tried to answer the question in our heads.

*****

The sun was setting on California and the ride to the World Conference Theatre was uncomfortable to say the least. My friends and I barely said anything to each other. For the first time since The Fall we were all driving someplace together but this time felt different from the pieces of memory I retained about that night. There was no wind really and the sky was painted orange with pink hues splashed here and there. The smell of the wet forest from the rain earlier in the day was refreshing and I couldn't help smiling. Catty and Frantz said they'd walk up to the Ambassador's section with me but Lancieta said that would confuse the other planets and Ambassadors whom hadn't met us yet as to whom were the Ambassadors. She was in another car with Yora and Roisin driving behind me. There were other people scattered here and there on personal vehicles weaving in and out of the trees, the fastest humans were just running as usual. For the most part everyone was already there waiting for the Ambassadors of Earth to make our ultimate announcement about Earth's involvement in the war against Draconisis and Halgred.