Prodigy Returns (book 3)

Chapter Fifty-Seven

After walking for hours, the group came across another war zone. Heaps of wreckage were strewn about the grounds as nearly a hundred fallen bots had been laid to waste in one epic battle.

"What happened here?" Archimedes commented, not expecting an answer.

"Kyodin," Alex said.

"Looks like a graveyard. You've trained your boy well, Maxim."

The group walked throughout the piles of metal, looking at the path of destruction. In the distance was Kyodin's lifeless body, but it was too far away from them to see. They carried on their way and Alex continued to converse with her dad. Eventually, she arrived at a very important point in the conversation.

"We can't stay here," she began. "I know this place has been good to you in the past, but things will not be like they were in the past. Whatever you and Kyodin did, you've kicked the hornets' nest."

"That's a good analogy."

"I said the same thing to Kyodin and he didn't even get the reference."

Maxim didn't respond letting the words sink in. He knew what Alex was saying as he had been battling the same thoughts since the children were born, nevertheless he liked his life on Titan and who he had become. It was relaxing and a good place to raise his family without a lot of the pain and hardship that one can experience on Earth. Alex felt he still needed convincing so she continued to plead her case like a tactful lawyer.

"You made a decision long ago to come to this place and colonize it, but those same reasons no longer hold true. Your decision was also made at a time when you were an old man, but that has since changed. You're holding onto an outdated conclusion. Some very important variables in the equation have changed. By not updating your viewpoint, you'd be knowingly holding onto an irrational belief, and one could argue there is no greater fault than to lie to oneself."

Alex continued to let her persuasive words convince a man who was not easily swayed.

"I can understand wanting to stay here, living out the rest of your life in peace without the social and societal pressures of back home. You were old and didn't have many years left ahead of you. But now it's different. You are young again. In the proper context, your time on Titan was a vacation, but you have a long and storeyed life awaiting you."

Maxim had beed rocked by two solid arguments. The house of cards he was standing on was beginning to wobble. Alex still had one final argument to deliver that was sure to bring his outdated ideology crumbling down.

"If not for yourself, do it for your kids," she said, driving the knife of truth deep into the heart of the matter. "They will never know love, never experience what Earth has to offer, never receive a proper education. You stay here and you will watch them die. They will continue to age whereas you will remain young forever. When they pass, you will be here, alone, living out an eternity in solitude."

Maxim was nodding as Alex was making a lot of sense. As Maxim was prone to do, he sought advice from his former right-hand man.

"What do you think about Alex's arguments, Archimedes?"

"She makes a lot of sense, you're young now, healthy, given a second chance at life, and there are a lot of people counting on you for leadership and guidance. Like she said, your reasons for leaving are no longer valid. You left because the world was in disarray and you couldn't fix it, but now that situation has been resolved. There's a new kind of calamity now, one that you can fix. The citizens of Earth need their Leader. Your children need a stimulating environment where they can grow and discover, and you need to fulfill your destiny."

"I suppose you two are right."

"Sir, you once told me that sometimes the wisest thing you can do is knowing when to walk away."

"It was a good speech, Alex. You'd make a great leader someday. You've also left me defenseless. Following your sound logic, and the advice of my peer, it leads me to only one rational conclusion — I must go back to Earth."