Starsnatcher - Trapped In An Alien World [COMPLETE]

Chapter 3.5

A bomb burst outside.

A Seizer held a camera showing records of our destination with tanks and helicopters closing in. In the murmur of transmissions that followed, everyone agreed that we had badly underestimated how many enemies waited behind the ramp.

One by one, the Seizers crowded back into the vehicle.

"You don't seem to be in a hurry like everyone else," Sye transmitted. "I understand that this is all very sudden for you. There used to be a time when I was like you."

"Don't try this trick on me!"

"I mean it! I used to serve the government with conviction. I even let myself get cybernetically modified. It all changed for me when you were dropped on our planet.

"Those who sent you here are hostile. You may not have seen it, but they destroyed precious spaceships, didn't respond to any of our attempts at communication, and even sent destructive robots.

"I have no idea what role you play in this, but it doesn't matter. What I'm sure of is that they wouldn't have targeted us at all if we didn't have a civilization that could threaten them. They wouldn't have targeted us had we stuck to our natural ways."

By now, the queue to the vehicle wasn't nearly as cramped as it used to be. A Seizer even asked what took us so long.

But Sye wasn't done yet. "You must understand one thing: You are precious the way you are. You have not discarded your natural gifts through modification yet as I have. You deserve to be free. To live under your own planet's Sun. I will ensure with all my might that you will."

I faced what little I saw of the ground. Sye meant it. They weren't a bad person at heart and they genuinely meant what they preached.

Now was the time where I had to decide if I wanted to go home or not.

At that point, thousands of thoughts had flooded my mind. I might have burst into a meltdown again had adrenaline not kept me alive.

Most of the thoughts were about all of you guys. About Mr. Graves' stupid rules, or about Iris' dreams what might happen if I ever got out of my miserable situation.

One exchange was particularly prominent though. The exchange I had with Dad after I had asked rhetorically how I could pay back what my parents had done to me.

"You'll never pay it back? You have already done so!"

"How, just by existing?"

"Of course! What should I do with the extra money if you were dead? Do you know what you and Sophia mean to me? I need to die one day and by then, you and your sister are all that remains."

I could have cried. Dad had truly loved me. On the other hand, I had to die, too. What was I supposed to leave the world? Was I supposed to lie on my deathbed one day, remembering how I sold out an entire moon full of sapient creatures to a deranged robot to get back home?

All these memories and thoughts flashed past my mind in an instant. As if time had just resumed, most of the Seizers had already entered the vehicle.

Only Sye remained outside. They sent a message with the order to follow.

I reached near my backpack where my last bomb had been attached. Sye saw what I was planning. They jumped into the vehicle, afraid I might throw the bomb at them. That wasn't my intention at all.

My intention was to create an alarm.

I clutched the bomb and then untied it from my suit. Now, I could only hope that my dexterity was not about to mess with me in this critical moment.

I reached behind with my arm, turned around, and threw the bomb. The explosive flew into the pitch-black recesses of the ramp. Its impact was clearly audible, but it didn't bang the way it should have. Did I not throw it hard enough?

"What did you just try?" Sye transmitted from their vehicle. "You aren't seriously destroying your homeward journey for a technocracy you barely know, are you? Our work has already been done. The truth has already been spread, whether we die or live. All you accomplish is cutting off your only escape-"

The bomb erupted. Sparks flew out of the unlit path like lava from a volcanic vent. The explosion was loud enough to give my eardrums one last, final death blow.

I fell onto my back with no-one to help me up. Even with my hearing gone, I could still see. From the corners of my eyes, I watched the vehicle disappear. Robots flowed down the ramp like rivers through a blasted dam.

One of them dragged me with it. Everyone else went after Sye's vehicle.

I don't remember so well what happened next. My head hurt so much. Even now that they fixed my ears and gave me my singularity stone back, it's still hard. Making up that much data is simply beyond my stone's capacities. However, I think I spent most of my remaining time awake thinking of Sye's final monologue.

All they said was true, but my decision was still the right thing to do.