Page 83 of The Space Traveller's Lover
“The thing is, Zula, when I last saw Rothwen … he seemed troubled—to the point that got me thinking the worst. Then I said my last goodbye to my best friend Sam but nearly killed his sister. It’s all piling into my mind like a doomsday finale.” She sighs, her darting eyes clashing with Zula’s persistent gaze.
“Oh, I see. So it is about Rothwen,” Zula-Or surmises. “As for your best friend and his sister, I can assure you … you won’t have to worry about them for much longer.”
“What do you mean?” A sharp pain slashes through Shaillah’s chest. Zula-Or’s ominous words make her restless.
“Well, Rothwen was going to tell you before departure. He is leaving it up to the last minute because he knows the consequences. But I might as well tell you now. It will be the end of the human race by the time you leave their planet,” Zula-Or reveals in a spiteful tone.
“The end?” Shaillah quivers as her shock turns into despair. She rests her back against one of the glassy tree trunks, trying to digest Zula-Or’s grim news.
“It is all about neutralising any potential danger, now or in the future,” Zula-Or adds matter-of-factly.
Shaillah looks upwards again, trying to find some solace in the rainbow-like reflections of the overhanging branches as she starts thinking ahead, imagining all kinds of frightening endings.
Zula-Or grabs Shaillah’s chin, making her look directly into her penetrating eyes while adding in a poignant tone, “Shaillah, we are like tireless nomads. We never settle, never stop advancing. Of course, it was different the first time. We had to flee for our lives, and we lost many of our people. But never again, never again!” Zula-Or tenses up her body in a triumphant posture. Still, a drawn-out self-satisfied grin slowly softens up her face as she gloats, “Since then, we have confronted many dangers and surpassed many obstacles. And we always come through, ever victorious. Suan enjie … you may ask how.”
“How?” Shaillah straightens up her body and expectantly raises her eyebrows.
“We close all the paths that could outsmart or outmanoeuvre us, in any shape or form.” Zula-Or boasts while swaying her arm into the air as if wielding a long sharp sword.
“How?” Shaillah asks again, her desperate gaze fixed on the impassive wise lady.
“We eliminate any other intelligent life we find.” Zula-Or’s unwavering voice sends a clear signal to Shaillah that there is no use in trying to rebel or even argue.
Now more than ever, Shaillah is determined to overcome her desperation with all her inner strength. She nods slowly, keeping steady eye contact, her unfazed expression showing that she is not troubled anymore.
“Eliminate them?” Shaillah mutters in a fake indifferent tone.
“If you want to know the details, we will break their neural connections and destroy their advanced consciousness. They will never know what happened. It will be total oblivion. They will die a swift and painless death. Then we will replace their entire biosystem with ours. And the robots will take care of the planet, as one of our bases, in case we happen to pass by that side of the galaxy.”
“That’s evil!” Shaillah can’t help but gasp in dismay.
“Well, when you think about the alternative, not so much. We could obliterate their entire solar system with our antimatter guns. But long live the Rom-Ghenshars! We are a generous race.”
Shaillah fights with all her willpower to regain her composure as Zula-Or keeps an intense glare on her.
“All these words about ‘working together for our galaxy’s brighter future’, they were a pack of lies,” Shaillah bitterly says.
“Ah, Shaillah. I know you wouldn’t think about lying, would you?”
Shaillah shakes her head while looking bewilderingly at Zula-Or.
“Yet, you are the sole reason for all the lies—all the changes, all the delays,” Zula-Or reveals half-heartedly. “You are Rothwen’s great dilemma, the kind he has never faced before.”
“Tell me everything, my dear lady. I’m ready to confront the truth—head-on.”
“He wants you. Oh! I know how much he wants you. It’s the thought of losing you after this mission ends that’s driving him mad. For the one thing he wants is the very thing he has to destroy—the human mind.”
“Why does he have to destroy it?” Shaillah’s face tightens, trying to halt a nervous grimace.
“First, Rothwen changed and extended the invasion plans to be with you for as long as it took.” Zula-Or imperturbably continues. “He went to great lengths to avoid using his immense destructive powers, and then he lied to you about the aim of our mission while demanding we never mention it to you. He knew from the start that you would hate him forit. Still, he could not even consider taking away your human feelings and emotions because then you would never love him. Like you do.”
“There must be a way out of this,” Shaillah firmly states as if talking to herself, “and I must find it.”
“That is impossible, my dear child. When Rothwen requested the change of all our invasion plans for the sole purpose of bringing you in, Kuzhma-Or accepted on one condition: The humans must die!”
“So much hatred for something that happened so long ago.”
“Humans are a belligerent race. That has not changed for aeons. They must be eliminated.”
