What if the Earth was the other way...?

37. It's all a grey area

Tina

That day, I witnessed for the second time one of my friends about die. If Nathalia was running out oxygen, I was running too slowly towards Tony who was being poisoned by a leaky breathing aid. As I was approaching him, he threw the sound teleporter onto me.

"Ugh!" I tossed it away as it hit me on my chest.

"No! don't die!" I yelled as I took a dying Tony in my hands and removed the breathing aid from his nose. He smiled at me weakly.

I felt his pocket for any signs of the second serum that could re-transprogramme him. I found it. I took and inserted it into his hand without a second thought.

He started agitating and after sometime he opened his eyes. He started taking in deep breathes and collapsed. I placed my hand in his chest and felt he was breathing. I was relieved. I carried Tony in my back and walked as fast I could walk towards the wagon gate. It was a good idea to tag along. He seemed to be lost in thought when we boarded the wagon, as he didn't even notice I was tagging along.

When I saw Tony looking around, I thought it would be best for me to cover the other side so, we could cover more area. The dome broke in an unsymmetrical way. The crack cause the time crystals to fall down and the glass that was holding onto the dome cracked here and there and as the time crystals moved, the cracks intensified in those areas. We barely made it on time. The wagon pulled out and we reached Edbranch. I immediately took him to the hospital wing.

Blake said that re-transprogramming him was the best decision I had made for him. He would live but since he inhaled a little bit of the poisoned air, He is not responding to any kinds of stimulus. It would take a long time for him to voluntarily do daily necessities and even more time for him to talk or hold conversation. I felt really bad.

We had lost Engame and now Tony is like this. I felt remorseful.

Days passed by. We had assigned many of the Engame's residents to other continents and reassigned the soldiers in Engame. The Gurburs helped us in retrieving all of Engame's belongings and the researcher's are trying to find ways to retrieve Engame back. One of the Gurbur gave me the sound teleporter. I looked at it. All I could feel was rage. My eyes started watering. It was the first time I was feeling such intense feelings. I went to Tony's room and closed the door. I looked at it and it started to vibrate. With a few strokes here and there, I got it to connect.

"Nathalia." I spoke. My voice felt dry and like someone was choking me.

"Wh....who is the...that?" I heard a slight sound. I think that is what I heard. The voice wasn't Nathalia's.

"Tina? is everything alright?" I heard Nathalia say. Did she really think everything was okay? Even after that conversation with Tony!

"No. It's not. Do you know what you have done?"

"What did I do? You are not making sense." I could feel her voice stuttering.

" Engame is lost and Tony -"

"What happened to Tony?"

"He is... I don't know how to tell you. That conversation you had before made him like this." Words betrayed me. I couldn't find the right words anymore.

"What nonsense are you --"

"Listen, Nathalia! You must forget about Kliptora and never return. You always caused trouble. We have lost plenty. Tony and Engame are lost."

"I don't --"

"You won't understand a thing. That is why you didn't heed to his words or anyone's." the pain I felt in my heart as is drummed fast and the way I had to clench it to stop beating at an alarming rate, made me not think. I told Nathalia everything I felt. I wanted to tell her more but I found it was worthless.

I disturbed the connection and tossed it to one side if the room. Tony's hand slightly moved. His lips started to twitch. I kept on looking at him. He was trying hard to say something. I reached out my hands and held his. I smiled at him. It was one of those rare occasions but I felt like he needed it. He needed someone to be with him right now. I made up my mind to stay with him and look after him. After all he needs someone to help him and there are many other soldiers in Kliptora.

It amuses me that there were two humans who came to Kliptora. One came by accident; one out of curiosity. Both of them wanted to go back but after repressing their memories, one felt oppressed and the other one felt we were right.

I think, two very different Kliptorans would act the same way. We lacked diversity when it came to opinions. We accepted anything if it was for the good for the whole society. Humans think for the society, think if it benefits them and make decision based on what their gut tells at that time. Tony could have left to Earth. He could have been with his family and he might not have ended up in this dire situation. But he chose to protect us, even though he k new it was pointless. He could have stayed put and ignored talking to Nathalia that day, but he tried to warn her to not come back despite knowing that the crystal could fall on his breathing aid. He chose to hear to his heart than the brain in the end. Humans tend to think with their emotions rather than facts. We base our decision purely on facts.

Humans arefascinating and so are Kliptorans. There might be humans who think likeKliptorans but I don't think there is a Kliptoran who would think like a human.But my decision to take care of Tony, was it something I took with my heart orwas it purely because I knew for a fact that he has no one to look after him?At this point I don't even know.