The Choices
It was a cool autumn day, one which you could practically taste the mist that was rising up from the ground, like ghosts of the dead Athif soldiers ascending to their long awaited rests, leaving their bodies lying scattered around like the leaves of the season. The Thalian Colonel looked up from his poetic musings as he heard the dull hum of magnetic repulsors like a monotonous base drum roll. He came to attention as the metal behemoth that was the planetary dropship glided into a low hovering position not ten feet from him. The back of it fell open revealing the General of the Armies of the Thalian Planetary System in his full uniform, including those four gleaming stars, looking around with a cool, even gaze. The Colonel saluted, very much surprised at the appearance of the four-star General on this blood soaked planet.
"General! Sir! I didn't think that you would be showing up," blurted out the Colonel, "With all due respect, of course sir."
"At ease, Colonel" said the General, just as levelly as his gaze had been. The Colonel nodded and then dropped his salute and attention. After a moment's hesitation, he began stammering out excuses for his shabby appearance.
"Sir, if I had known it was you coming, then I would have taken the time to change into an at least semi-decent uniform, instead of these bloody rags, "said the Colonel. "I would have had an honor guard, a landing site cleared, a tent set up, a-." The General cut him off.
"It was a spur of the moment decision. I don't need all of those things at any rate. Although," he added as the Colonel looked a little crestfallen, like child without his toys, "I appreciate the thought." At that the Colonel perked up a little bit. "What I am curious about," began the General in a slightly annoyed tone, "is why none of your superiors thought it worth their time to show up."
At this the Colonel shifted uneasily a second, and the General was reminded of the time he had to tell his mother he had broken the vase. He nearly smiled but managed to hold it in even despite himself. "Well," began the Colonel. "Well…they're dead." The General started, like a deer from a sudden movement. He was genuinely shocked at this news.
"There were over seventy men that were your superior. Are they all…?" asked the General, very much stunned.
"Well, if they aren't dead then they are either dying or in serious condition." He paused as the General stood stock still, his eyes wide as an ocean, and Look!, thought the Colonel, There was the ocean, affected by the emotional tide, so close to overflowing, with a few drops welling up on the edge of the rim. But no wait. The tide ebbs and the ocean withdraws. The General sighed heavily, like the weight of a thousand dead bodies rested on his chest.
"I heard the reports, but I thought them to be inaccurate. I thought that the reporter's thoughts were distorted by the death and destruction they had seen. Or I had hoped. I take it that not all of these bodies are those of our foes?" The General was pensive and melancholy right now.
"No sir, not nearly as many as I wish were." They both stood for a moment in this suddenly hellish environment now tainted with their country's men deaths, like a poison in the very air which they breathed. The Colonel broke the silence first.
"How's the news of the Guena's and the Harfoth's advance? I haven't gotten information in a week." The General blinked for a second, clearing his mind of the men who had been slaughtered for the Chip.
"We're holding out exceedingly well against their advances, but that's bound to change as soon as they hear that we've seized the Chip. Speaking of which, is there any evidence of an ultimate weapon being built?" The Colonel mumbled out a no, almost ashamedly. The General, at first didn't notice. "That's good. We can get it into safe keeping before any real damage is done. Where is it now-oh." He noticed the guilty look on the Colonel's face. "What's happened?"
"Well sir, that's one of the main reasons I was here alone to greet whoever was in the dropship. You see, the Athifs refused to surrender, and we were forced to kill them all." The General nodded his assent. That's what had to be done in those circumstances. "We cornered the last of them here in this house. They were caught in crossfire and soon slaughtered. We then sent commandos in the house to check for booby traps or anything that might be dangerous. What they found was a surprise to everyone." He paused to think of the right way to put it. The General grew impatient, like a child during waiting for a pot to boil.
"What did they find?" he finally asked, exasperated.
"This is a situation that you're going to have to deal with. We thought about it and decided that we can't decide what to do. Before you ask what it is again," he said, noticing that he about to start his question again, "let me say that you're going to have to see it for yourself." The General sighed inwardly. After all of this death, how could something this shocking be in a small house? He didn't even know what it was. He sighed inwardly again and followed the Colonel, who had already begun walking towards the house, which was not more than a hundred yards from the dropship.
The house sat in a clearing surrounded by the sandbags that were used as protection from the deadly bite of the bullet. The house was an ugly little thing, sitting like a greedy vulture on a field of battle, in the midst of the greatest scene of carnage, with the most possible carrion. Its bottom floor was painted with the blood of the Athifs and floored with their bodies. The Chip must have been very significant to them, for so many of them to have died like this, thought the General. He followed the Colonel upstairs, nearly slipping on the blood that was running down the carpeted steps, like a congealed waterfall. He stepped over several bodies at the top of the stairs, none of which could have been dead for more than an hour. And they all look so young, he thought. He heard the Colonel gently cough to get his attention. He looked up and realized that he was also beckoning for him to follow. He followed not very far behind looking at all the bodies near the windows that now had no glass. He shook his head sadly at this waste of young life. They now approached a door that must have been painted white originally, thought now it was a watercolor of brilliant scarlet. He noticed the two commandos standing on guard outside the door. This is odd, he thought. Why would they be guarding a room if the army is all dead? He soon found out.
The Colonel opened the door and motioned the General in. The first thing the General noticed was the lack of blood on the walls, on the floor, everywhere. There wasn't a single blood stain. He was genuinely surprised. It was like a Christian sanctuary found in Hell. He then noticed the man sitting cross legged on the bed. He was a scruffy looking man tossing a ball-like object up and down in the air with his left hand and clutching something tight in his right. He looked like he hadn't shaved in several weeks, and his eyes were like those of a hunted animal, who finally turned the tables on the hunter. In short, they shone with satisfaction like a star with light. Other than that the only remarkable thing was that he was wearing an Athif general's uniform. With five stars. The General blinked and did a double take. There was only one current general that had five stars and he was…he was…the Athif General. The Thalian General blinked. He bowed low to the Athif General, sweeping off his hat in a very theatrical manner. When he looked up, the Athif General was smiling at him.
"You don't have to do that you know" he said. He slipped whatever was in his right hand into his breast pocket and extended it to the Thalian General. The Thalian General took it and gladly shook it his eyes shining with sudden happiness, despite the carnage around him.
"I have never," he began, his voice overflowing with pride, "been more honored to meet any man than I am now." The Athif General smiled in politeness and said that he had never been more honored to meet an opponent. After the Thalian General had finally stopped shaking his hand the Athif General cleared his throat, preparing to say something.
"I would like to speak to you in private" he said. The Athif General smiled and turned to his Colonel to wave him out of the room.
"Out of the question," said the Colonel, stoutly refusing to move. The Thalian General appeared a little took back. "General, I don't know if you were aware, but that man is holding a grenade in his left hand." The Thalian General started again and looked at other's hand. Indeed the ball-like object that the General had been tossing so negligently, almost like a tennis ball, was indeed a grenade. The Athif General smiled, like an adult at a child's naivety.
"Colonel, although I'm sure you have your General's best interests at heart, don't you think that I would have already killed him if I wanted to?" The Colonel opened and closed his mouth like a dying fish for a moment, and then seemed to come up with a retort and was about to throw it, when his General interrupted.
"Colonel, I appreciate the concern, but I think that he is right. If he wanted to kill me he already could have. You are to assist the cleanup efforts until I come out. You're dismissed." The Colonel saluted, almost shaking with annoyance. He couldn't debate a direct order like that, but he really didn't like leaving his General with a possibly insane and vengeful enemy with a grenade. He was walking out of the room, when the Thalian General remembered something. "Oh, and Colonel?"
"Yes sir?" answered the Colonel through clenched teeth.
"Thanks for letting me handle this one. It was a good decision." The Colonel nodded, slightly appeased, if nothing else. The General shut the door after nodding to the commandos and turned back to the Athif General.
"Take a seat, sir," said the Athif General, waving genially to a rocking chair in the corner. "You'll have to excuse me if I don't get up," he smiled, "I'm in quite a bad shape." The Thalian General raised his eyebrows in question. "A mortar landed next to me the other day." The Thalian General winced. He knew how painful that was. "Miraculously, no shrapnel pierced into my chest, but the shockwave blew some vessels somewhere inside me, I think. I've been coughing blood for a whole day now."
"Well are you going to be alright?" asked the Thalian General, concerned about his honored opponent.
"Kind of you, but no. My time is running short. Soon you will be able to count my breaths on your hands. No, I promise you there is nothing you can do" he said as the other began to tell how he could surely get his medics to help him. As the Athif General waved off the last of the Thalian's protests he said "And now if you'll allow me, I will begin to explain myself beginning with the core of my reasons. Oh! That's right. I never did explain to you what exactly I'm going to do, did I?" The Thalian General shook his head. "Well I'm sure that you've surmised or been told that I'm in current possession of the chip." The Thalian again nodded. He'd figured it out when he'd seen the Athif General slip something into his breast pocket. It was a very obvious and blatant move, which very much screamed, the Chip, to him. "And also that I'm in possession of at least one live grenade." Once again the Thalian General nodded. That was again rather self-evident. "Well, if you haven't already put two and two together, then I will for you. I intend to destroy the Chip. No, no! Quiet!" he said as the Thalian General began to protest. "I don't have much strength left, and I won't waste the precious little I have on arguing with you. Please don't say another word until I give you leave to do so, okay?" The Thalian General nodded his consent. "Good. Now as I was saying. I'm going to destroy the Chip. I'm sure you want to know why. Allow me to explain. There are two ways of being killed in this messed up existence. You are either killed or you die. I know that sounds much the same, but allow me to explain myself. You can live your life, willing to kill for something, or you can live your life willing to die for something. You can be killed trying to kill for something, or you can die trying to die for something. (You see, only in one do you actually accomplish what you're actually trying to do. You can't kill everyone opposed to you, because it would be like trying to kill Hydra. Every time you kill someone, two more would spring up, newly opposed to you. It would be impossible. But that is beside the point.). If you're killing for something then you can't possibly be doing it for the right reasons. It's impossible to kill someone without there being some doubt as to whether or not it was actually a prudent or ethical thing to do. Even in criminals, there could be a redeeming light and willingness inside of them. But once they're dead, they're dead. But if you're dying for something…well if you're dying for something, then you are noble and wise. You are willing to spend your life for something that you believe to be good and wholesome. And by dying for something, I mean that you throw yourself into it, not just try to sacrifice yourself, but you do sacrifice yourself. And frankly, I don't see how a man can consider himself a man until he decided upon which he's going to do in life. You see I decided early in life that I would kill for something. (I didn't even know that I had decided that then. Most don't, and most never will). I didn't know what yet, but I soon found out that it was my country. And it never wavered from that. I never killed for that damn Chip, do you understand? I never killed for it. I only killed for my country!" he practically shouted, suddenly so very passionate. The Thalian General nodded, stunned by the speech, and the sudden crescendo at the end. "But…but as I was sitting here so recently," he began again, after a pause, now calmer, "I realized all of these things. And then I made a decision. I decided that I would rather be killed dying for something than killing. Those men out there, whom you saw, they died for something. And now, as their General, it's only fitting that I would also die for something. And this damn Chip, with its damn Ultimate Weapons is all only a farce! Look at us! I mean look at us! Here we are killing each other, because we can't trust the other nations to keep the Chip safe, and to not use it for themselves! This whole planet slaughtered for this damn thing! And I thought of that one solution, which no one had thought of before. I'm going to destroy the Chip and take myself with it" finished the Athif General, now perspiring from the effort. He nodded to the Thalian General, indicating that he could now speak.
"Is there no negotiating?" he asked in utter disbelief.
"None" replied the other simply.
"But why did you tell me this?" he again asked.
"So that when they find that I blew myself and the Chip up, somebody can tell them that, I didn't die for the Chip. So somebody can tell them that I made a choice, a choice that I wouldn't kill for the damn Chip. A choice that I would die for mankind. That I would give up the chance at ultimate power with the Ultimate Weapon, so that trillions would live in peace. You see, there are millions of things in this great wide universe worth dying for, but none worth killing for. Tell them that." He coughed at the end of his last sentence. The Thalian General started towards him, but the Athif General waved him away again. "Go, and may God help you with your life." The Thalian General walked out and shut the door out of the most holy sanctuary he had ever been in. He waved the two commandos away from the scarlet door and explained to them what he wanted done. As they cleared the house, he went back to his dropship, waiting like an obedient dog for its master. He had begun writing his report back to the Thalian government, when he heard the thump of the grenades going off. He paused and the ocean overflowed for a second or two.
The Athif General was later regarded as a savior of the Planetary Systems. The Thalian General soon retired and traveled while he spoke of his experiences to millions who followed his ways and advice. He always ended his speeches with these words:
"What's your choice?"