Revelation
Shildy looked at her reflection in the mirror, and realized that she didn't recognize herself anymore.
Why does he have such an effect on me? She wondered to herself. He doesn't seem to get to the others as much...
She thought back to the events that led her to her latest crisis of confidence...
It had been thirty minutes since Catty had requested access to the prisoner, and Shildy was still toying with her meal. Her thoughts elsewhere, she found that she didn't really have much of an appetite. Instead, she kept coming back to the words that the thing in the Isolation Room had said to her...
"They invaded the system and just started SHOOTING!"
"There were two MILLION people in the inner system, and you killed them ALL!"
"Don't you even CARE?"
She had heard the anger in those words, but also the pain. And, for some reason, it was a pain that she could feel herself. This was a new experience for her, because she had been trained from childhood to be a soldier, and to accept that the path to victory often included casualties. I've lost comrades, and even friends, in battle – WHY does that creatures' grief over the loss of STRANGERS bother me the way it does?
Her bubble was burst by a pair of fingers snapping in front of her nose. "Hello-o! Marsus to Shildy! Are you awake in there?"
She looked up to see Spea staring down at her. "Huh? Oh, sorry - I just had something on my mind."
Spea gave her a bemused smirk. "Really? Anybody I know?" she teased.
Shildys' cheeks reddened at the implication. "N-no, not really. Never mind."
Spea grinned at how easy it was to bait her friend. "Just kidding! Anyway, I came to tell you that the monitors in the Isolation Room are down. Can you come with me to check for faults?"
The Isolation Room? Where that THING is? "Right," she said as she got out of her chair, "let's go see what the problem is."
As they neared the door, the pair saw Amy approaching from another corridor. "What is that for?" Shildy asked, pointing to the meal-tray that Amy was carrying.
"Well... umm... you see... I was concerned that the patient might be hungry, so I was bringing something to eat." Amy looked at the floor for a moment, then back at Shildy. "It's okay, right?"
"Just be careful," Shildy cautioned, "it's still a potentially hostile alien, and we don't know what it would do if it got loose." She pressed the button on the panel controls to open the door... but instead of sliding aside, the status display gave a red 'Locked' alert.
"It must be locked from the inside," Spea noted.
How is that possible? Shildy wondered. I hid the controls when I was here, how could it have figured them out? "Spea, open the panel and rig a bypass."
Spea was about to do so, when the display changed to a green 'Open' label. The door slid aside as they heard Catty say "...clear path to the landing bay. We'll have you to... SHILDY!"
Catty froze when she saw Shildy and the others standing in the doorway. Amy dropped the tray she was carrying, the jarring ring of the impact the only sound in the corridor.
Shildy glared at Catty, whose eyes seemed to grow wider as her hands flew to cover her mouth. "What do you think you're doing, locking the door? And just WHERE were you going to take this creature?"
"Ummm... well... you see, I..."
The prisoner then walked up to Catty and placed a hand on her shoulder. Catty turned to look at it as Shildy also turned her attention to the creature. For some reason, it had a reassuring smile on its' face as it said "It's okay. I think it's time I explained what's going on." It turned its' back on them and strode back into the room, beckoning the rest to follow. "Come in, and I'll tell you my story. Catty, would you please lock the door again? I promise that you are in no danger." Once Catty locked the door, it turned to face the group. "My name is Marcus, and I'm not one of you."
This admission garnered a self-satisfied grin from Shildy, which faded as it continued.
"But I'm not a spy either. I come from a race that call ourselves Solnarian. We've been peacefully exploring the universe for a great many generations, meeting and interacting with thousands of intelligent civilizations along the way."
"But... you look like us," Amy observed.
"Not exactly." Spea corrected.
"Evolution is a tricky thing to explain," Marcus pointed out. "This form is rather common among spacefaring societies – with minor variations, of course."
"That's all well and good," Shildy pointed out, her eyes locked on Catty, "but that doesn't explain why you were helping it escape. Where were you taking it, anyway?"
"For the record," Marcus answered before Catty could speak, "it's rude to address a thinking being as 'it'. Would you please use 'him' or 'he' when referring to me?"
"FINE!" Shildy said with a theatrical eye-roll, "Where were you taking HIM?"
"He can help us end the war!" Catty exclaimed.
"WHAT?" Shildy and Spea shouted simultaneously.
"You can?" Amy asked hopefully.
"My people have a long history of mediating and resolving conflicts," Marcus pointed out. "We have found that simply talking about your differences in a neutral setting can go a long way towards addressing problems before they can escalate."
"It wouldn't help." Shildy grunted.
"Can't hurt to try," Spea offered, surprising Shildy.
Marcus nodded his head, a smile crossing his face. "Exactly right. And it seems a better option than letting your war continue to its' ultimate conclusion."
"What do you mean?" Amy asked.
"I've seen the destructive power that you're capable of harnessing – if this war were to go on for much longer, it's clear that neither side would survive. Continue fighting, and you doom yourselves to extinction."
Amy and Spea gasped at this announcement. Shildy tilted her head down and closed her eyes tightly, her long hair falling forward to obscure her face. "No," she whispered, "we can still win. Our cyborg fighters can..."
"They'll only delay the inevitable," Marcus told her. With every battle, you lose more than you gain." He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I know it's hard, but..."
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she shrieked as she swatted his hand away, startling her three companions with her outburst. "What are you DOING to me? Why do I feel so STRANGE when you're around?" She stared into his eyes, fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill from hers. "Ever since we boarded your ship – when you looked at me and called me by that OTHER name – I haven't been able to THINK straight! WHY?"
Marcus, surprised and confused by the sudden change of subject, misunderstood the question. He took a deep breath before answering. "Steph is – or rather, was – my bond-mate. She was on the third planet of this system when the attacks came, and could not get away when the star was destroyed. I was still in shock when you found me, and I mistook you for her. I'm sorry for that."
Amy, Spea and Catty looked at each other. "Bond-mate?" they chorused.
"Life companion, partner, spouse, you probably have a different term for it,but the concept should be similar. " Marcus tried to elaborate. "When two people become so close that they commit to spend the rest of their lives together. Joys are amplified, pains are reduced, because they are shared between people who consider the other persons' feelings as important as their own."
"That... is... ABSURD!" Shildy exclaimed. "You're just trying to trick us by distracting us with this talk about peace and bonding!"
"That's not true," Marcus told her. "I have nothing to gain by doing such a thing. What is it that has you so bothered?"
Shildy felt her face grow hot as she looked at him. "I don't... I can't... I..." was all she could say, before rushing towards the door and leaving the others with confused looks on their faces.
Looking at her reflection, Shildy replayed the events in her mind repeatedly, trying desperately to figure out what it all meant. She could not understand why Marcus had her so uncertain of herself, and she could not continue the way she was. Over and over, the words of their conversation repeated in her head.
"Negotiate a peace, or face extinction." Marcus had said.
"Can't hurt to try..." Spea had offered.
"When another persons' feelings are as important as your own."
WHAT?
"Their feelings are as important as your own..."
Was that it?
Taking a deep breath, Shildy straightened herself out and headed down the corridor – Speas' words giving strength to her stride.
"Can't hurt to try..."