The First Hunter

Leanne

How much is a human life worth? What are we willing to trade our lives for?

I grew up feeling not good enough. I was held to unrealistic standards and falsely blamed for everything bad that happened to my family. I was compared to others, I was taught to feel helplessness.

For as long as I can remember, I've had a habit of over-explaining things, as if I'm on the witness stand being judged. My brain developed this habit in response to frequent gaslighting  from my family. When I first met Bet-Khar, despite all my fears, I'd followed him. Let it be known that I didn't follow a dangerous alien in the forest because I was brave, or reckless. I did it because even as an adult, I felt the need to justify myself to others and seek their approval, both out of fear and anxiety.

A week and a half ago, everything was different. And now that I look back, I realize that a week can do a lot to a person. So much of my life has changed in only a few days.

I stare straight ahead deep in my thoughts as Bet-Khar maneuver the spacecraft with unimaginable speed. I have only barely begun to comprehend the vastness of this universe and all that it contains.

Humans once thought that mankind was alone in the universe, that the Earth was not only unique, but at the center of the entire universe. Science eventually showed us that our planet is not even at the center of its own solar system.

Much of what we know about the history of life on Earth is based on fossil records. Now, however, I know firsthand that there are other intelligent beings looking up into their night sky from very different worlds.

There are civilizations more advanced than ours, civilizations that have achieved interstellar communication and faster than light travel throughout the galaxies. There are civilizations devoid of emotions, there are others still taking their first step in the evolutionary process, some have already been extinct, others are ancient, like the Yautja... but none of them are like us, humans.

When we reflect on the vastness of the universe and the future of humanity, our lives can seem... utterly insignificant. When I heard those creatures back in the underground lab speaking of invading my planet and enslaving innocent people however, I realized there and then that we are the only humans in the universe, the product of a very particular evolutionary process.

Life is an experiment in natural selection, and an amazingly creative one at that. We all come from the same chemistry but we are amazingly diverse. We are special and different... humans posses an inner worth that transcends market price. We have dignity, and to possess dignity is to have unconditional value. I understand that now.

I can feel Bet-Khar studying me but I avoid his gaze. I'm ashamed. I've assumed the worst of him and I have misjudged him in many occasions. This whole time he was trying to protect me. Growing up I was made to feel unwanted, so how could I expect that a stranger- an alien from another planet would care for me? I sigh... I can't change how people treated me in the past, but my traumas and pain are not an excuse to be a horrible person.

"Bet-Khar", I say softly, "I've misjudged you and for that, I am deeply sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

Bet-Khar stays silent for a moment. I do not know what kinds of emotional feelings Yautjas experience, but I know that he understands me.

"Why did you so rashly accept Zahraun's deal human?"

His question stung, "It was a modest sacrifice for a common good." I say honestly. "Besides, human natural lifespan is very short and all the recent events probably shaved off half of my lifespan already." I gaze at Bet-Khar's angry expression and sigh again, "Look, the one thing that actually matters for me right now is keeping my kind safe. That is the closest thing to longevity that I, as a human, can achieve - to help others live so they can accomplish in life more than I ever could. Well, at least I wish someone would have done that for me, for my family... hell, for my kind!"