Captain Parrott: Space Buccaneer

Part 6: Monsters

Emilia was standing in front of the holo rig in her suite. She'd set it to project a randomized simulation of an African plain. Various animals walked lazily across the projection, grazing or chasing each other. If you watched carefully, every now and then you could spot a lion hiding in the brush. If you watched long enough, the lion would jump out and chase one of the animals off the edge of the projection. Through hidden speakers you could hear the sound of the wind rustling the grasses and insects chirped to each other from their hiding places. As she watched the scene Emilia tried to remember trips with family and the earth that was. She felt Pierre's hands appear on her shoulders. Massaging. Searching for tight spots. She closed her eyes and tried to disappear into the sounds of the rustling grassland.

"Hey, you doing okay?" He said in a quiet voice. It had been over a week since the encounter with Gorb and they expected to make contact with the fleet in the next few hours. She should have been putting on her regalia and gathering the crew.

"Just trying to clear my head."

"Things got a little intense back there with Gorb. Want to talk about it?" He'd been pestering her about this since they left and she'd been evading it but with the fleet approaching it was time to clear the air.

"Something on your mind?"

"I've never seen you lose control like that. You nearly beat an armored Vak to death with your fists."

"You've worn power armor before. You know how addictive that strength can be. It just... got away from me."

"But it was more than that wasn't it. I ah... saw the bullet hole behind where Gorb would have been standing. You missed the shot?"

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Yeah, I missed the shot. Also didn't know we needed protective eye wear for the plasma cannon. Guess the Whipshar have more resilient eyes than we do. My vision came back, I saw Gorb mow down four crewmen, the adrenaline hit, and I just raged out. Nearly cost us the coordinates. But that's not what's really bothering me."

"No?"

"That thing Gorb said at the end about bartering for weapons. Turns out he wasn't trying to ambush us. And as soon as I realized that I seized the opportunity to get the drop on him. I thought he was going to try to send us on another errand but I didn't even wait to find out if that was true. Turns out he just wanted something we could have easily given him. Four people lost their lives because I couldn't wait to shed some blood."

"Parrott's getting worse isn't she?"

"No, I'm getting worse. This place." She gestured around the cabin, "It's nice to pretend that this is still who I am. But Parrott took over a long time ago. I used to get sick thinking back on the violence. Now I can still feel Gorb's armor breaking beneath my fists and I revel in it. I didn't realized how much the galaxy has changed me. Not that it matters anymore. We have the coordinates. We just need to get back to the fleet and lead them to their new home."

"You know they could still end up going with the Ixans."

"Like hell they will. I didn't spend the last twenty years risking my life so humanity could end up in some alien slave camp."

"It can't seriously be that bad. Indenturement can be a good deal while it lasts."

"Maybe. But it can only end in disaster. Back when the Lachar took earth it baffled me that they could be so heartless. They just declared the earth was theirs, rolled into town, and wiped out a species like it was nothing. I watched broadcasts that made it out during the extermination and they were so systematic and cold I couldn't imagine they were anything but monsters, lacking empathy even basic empathy. What other kind of creature could value life so little?

"Then, when I got my wiring and escaped into the wider galaxy I met one. A Lachar. It was kind and respectful and so filled with emotion and love. How could this be the same species that had wiped mine out like we were pests? I had to know, so part way through the conversation I switched off my wiring and my entire perception changed. The friendly being was gone; leaving only the cold, unfeeling monster that stalked my nightmares. My skin crawled as its insectoid limbs twitched and clicked and I knew in that moment that I could destroy this thing. I could inflict pain and cruelty upon it without a hint of remorse. Then I switched my wiring back on and we were friends once more.

"Remember all those protests against animal testing and animal cruelty back on earth? People would flock by the thousands to make sure that we treated our fellow mammals humanly. But not a single one of those people would blink an eye when they crushed an ant or spider beneath their feet. It wasn't about their size. People didn't like testing on rats but if you wanted to kill a rat sized spider everyone would cheer you on. It's because we shared a common ancestry with mammals. They may have been shaped differently but we could read their body language, their expressions. We could empathize with them. But insects were strange and alien. They didn't move right. Didn't have proper faces. Didn't act like us. We couldn't read them, couldn't feel for them, couldn't empathize with them. All we saw were pests and threats that we were driven to destroy.

"Being wired is like having a switch in your head that lets you turn your empathy on and off. When you both have it on you can understand each other. Empathize with each other. But the moment either of you switches it off all we can see are insects. Beings infused with otherness. Too strange to comprehend and as understanding fades empathy leave with it and we become capable of immeasurable cruelty. At peace summits the diplomatic classes like to talk about how much we have in common. How we can see eye to eye. But take away the communicators and many of us don't even see the same EM spectrum. Even color is a human construct. Many species are mono or dichromatic. We're trichromatic. A few are even octochromatic.

"This is what humanity is walking into with the Ixans and it's why we have to put a stop to it. The diplomats get together with their wiring and see each other as people. They can make whatever deals they like, but sooner or later the unwired populous' have to meet each other. Imagine what will happen when regular Ixans see pictures of smiling humans living on their moon. Things can be civil as long as the situation suits it but in the end we are all each other's monsters and galactic history is littered with the horrors that occur the moment that fragile peace breaks down.

"So yes, I think it can be that bad and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it doesn't happen. I'll conquer the whole damn fleet if I have to."

A long silence hung in the air as the pair stood watching the simulated African plain. At that moment, a lion jumped out of some tall grass and chased after a zebra.

"I miss earth," Pierre said.

"I miss smiling when I'm happy," said Emilia.

"Captain." Polly's artificial voice cut in.

"Yes Polly?"

"I'm detecting a message beacon at the fleet's expected location."

"What does it say?"

"The fleet council determined that P3-2822 was too great a risk. The message includes their time-stamped coordinates which lead into Ixan space." There was another long pause. Emilia could feel the rage building inside of her and the adrenaline beginning to pump through her veins.

"So what happens how?" Ask Pierre.

"Now," she said, "I'm going to do something I'll probably regret."