Underneath a Purple Sky and Several Tons of Rock

Those Who Love You, Those Who Don't

Talindarian year 4692, July 5, Valtari

Valtari, 4692, July 5. Orinoco Gold Bunker, Entry 6

Mother came back home drunk again. It's not like there's a lot to drink in the bunkers, but every now and then the bar gets a new shipment of a variety of alcoholic drinks. 
To my chagrin, I was home alone, which meant Mother would have an argument with me. Okay, it isn't personal, because she does this with whichever talin is there, but I prefer when there is someone there to lessen the flow of curses and alcohol-breath.

I looked around the scantily-furnitured room and realized, like I always do in these situations, that there is nowhere to hide.

Mother walked (more like stumbled) through the door. "Va-a-altari!" she slurred. "Yo-o-ou're ho-ome?"

"Yes, mother."

Her beady eyes scanned the room and noticed I was alone. I watched her straighten up, shaking the alcohol off. 

"Valtari, I know we haven't seen eye-to-eye."

"About what, mother?"

"You know I know you believe in the war."

"I don't believe in the war - I know there is a war." I'd recently read something about this - saying that you 'believe in something' means you're really much less confident - you don't say 'I believe in the sky', no, you know there is a sky. I know there is a war because there is one! Nobody can lie about something that big for so long!

"And the newswoman? Do you think she lied?"

"Yeah! I think the Vyrkoll tortured her into saying that! Or threatened her, or whatever! It's a trap, and everyone here is going right into it!"

"No, you stupid little girl! The Vyrkoll wouldn't've stopped the translation so soon! They would have made sure that everyone got the message instead of cutting it off at 'they're lying to you!'"

I crossed my arms. "Why would they do that? They needed it to sound like a real message! Otherwise, you wouldn't believe them!"

"Hah! The war's over! It has been over for a hundred years! The Vyrkoll do not hate us anymore, we do not fear the Vyrkoll. We do not need to be lied to anymore. We should be free!"

"Free? No, you'll be dead! We aren't being lied to, we're being kept safe! Mom, don't you see?"

"No, don't you see?! The government is lying to us! No, the government isn't even Talindarian anymore! The government is all made up of Vyrkoll who are doing this to us because they won!"

"That'll mean they'll kill you if you come out! They obviously don't want us out!"

"I'll just tell them that we're sorry, and that the new generation isn't going to start any wars. I'll tell them that we can go back to coexisting and it's going to be fine!"

"It isn't!" I screamed. "You're going to go out there and die and it's going to be MY fault that I didn't stop you!"

"We're going to have so much freedom out there! And if you're so scared of an imagined threat, go ahead! Rust in this bunker forever, if you so wish!"

Mother whirled around and stomped off to her bed, where she flopped down and soon began snoring.

So there, future talins and/or other species. You can see how I'm failing. I know I should tell the guards everything, but this is my family. I can't betray them...

Talindarian year 4692, July 3, Crescent Beach Bunker

"Tonight, we strike."