Earth Mars Love (The Marsikons)

Chapter 25

Regina went after her father to another office, which was connected to his. It was similar to dad's office, but smaller, with only a desk in the center and two chairs in front of it, and it seemed it was unoccupied at the moment. Shelves and a desk were bare of any equipment.

Her dad stopped in front of the desk and leaned on it to face her. She was standing a couple of steps away from him, his brow furrowed in deep concentration.

"Dad, what's wrong?"

"Sorry, Regi, if I don't quite believe them. It sounds so surreal, that I don't know what to say. What do you think about them? What did they tell you?"

"They've told me the same what they've told you, sans the detailed information about supplies."

"And you think they tell the truth? Don't you think it's a bit too good to be true? Some group invented the story, that they know how to stop the pollution, while scientists all over the globe are trying to find a solution. And their main goal is to meet with the President. Could this be a ruse to assassinate him?"

"Dad, did you forget what I do for work?" Her gut churned at lying to him about her job, but she couldn't let him know what had happened until she had her job back. "I tested them. I tried to shoot Marcus, and instead of using their own weapon on me, he decided against it."

"So they have weapons?" he raised his brow in question, folding his hands.

"Yes, later I saw it, and they've told me it's for their own protection, and they hoped they won't need to use it at all."

"And you believed them just like that?"

"Of course not, dad! But their weapon is not from this planet, or I would've known about it. And I saw their ship. And also they have suits made of special material, which I've never seen. Dad, I was with them for three days, and they're not from Earth."

"Baby, I understand, you've spent a few days with them, and you've got attached. They look like fine men, but they still look like us. Don't you think they would've looked somehow different from us?"

"Dad, didn't you hear them? They're our ancestors, humans, like us."

Regina would've never thought she would be arguing with dad on the same topics she was arguing with Marcus in the desert. But this situation started aggravating her. She trusted Marsikons, she trusted Marcus and she wanted to help them, and at the same time to help Earth.

"Regi, baby," his tone was pleading, "Earth had been sending several robots to Mars through years, and not one of them confirmed that there is any life. Surely if there were, we would've already known that."

"They're hacking them, and trapping in enclosed sections with mirrored walls," she said with a conviction in her voice, not giving up.

"Oh, baby, do you hear yourself?" he was shaking his head, the mix of distrust and sadness in his eyes, "They brainwashed you."

What? No, no, no, it was too much for Regina. And this look reminded her of the night she would be glad to erase from her life.

"You don't trust me," she said bitterly, "Like after that night when you were with me in the interrogation room," tears of anger threatened to spill out, "You didn't trust me then, and you don't trust me still," she spat her words at him.

He unfolded his arms, his jaw slack, "What's that supposed to mean? When did I not trust you? Regina, what are you talking about?"

She raised her head to the ceiling for a couple of seconds to stop her tears, and when she again looked at him, she poured all her pain into her words.