"This woman is a challenge," Shalamorn exclaimed annoyed when the door of their suite was shut behind them. "She is twisting every word to turn it against me!"
"Yeah," Jason answered, almost just as annoyed. "But you weren't exactly helpful, either!"
Shalamorn paused in her pace to look at him. "I did not start this argument," she said in protest.
"But it was me, who had to end it," Jason shot back. "What does that say about you, about De Souza, or any other senator in that room?"
"You're right," Shalamorn responded. "I have to restrain myself. I should have been more on control towards her hostile attacks."
"Yes, it was wrong for her to drag in her personal stuff," Jason conceded. "But what you experience as hostility, is actually just her way to express the resolutions, a lot of the other senators share as well."
"What are you talking about?"
"Can't you see?" Jason loosened his right hand from his hip, his left still stemmed against his waist. "They're walking on eggshells around you! De Souza is the only one to speak up her mind. The others just don't have the guts to do so."
"Are you saying, they are frightened of me?" This very idea obviously startled Shalamorn so much, her expression changed into actual dismay.
"Is that really such a surprise for you?" Diane asked, and Shalamorn turned to her. "Earth had just been under attack from one of your people!"
Shalamorn shook her head in denying. "I am not Malakat," she emphasised.
"But you're still in possession of highly advanced technology, and weapons above any kind of human imagination," Jason pointed out. "How they are supposed to know you won't use them against them?"
"I would never use any sort of violence against the people of the Opal Planet!"
"This is not, how it looks like," Diane objected. "You came here with a bunch of guards, all heavily armed. You think they did not identify the devices at their wrists? Don't you think, they might be at least a little intimidated?"
"I see," Shalamorn answered. "I shall send them home."
"The gesture would definitely be helpful," Jason agreed. "But that's just a drop in the bucket. Malakat spread terror and fear, ruining any chance for any friendly encounter. It will take years to rebuild trust."
"We don't have years," Shalamorn snapped and began to pace again.
Jason frowned and exchanged a look with his mother.
"What are you saying?" Diane asked.
Jason looked from Shalamorn to Neri, who suddenly avoided his gaze.
"What is it, you're not telling us?" Jason addressed Shalamorn, forcing her to look at him by his insisting tone.
Shalamorn took a step towards him. "As you know, we were able to clone the blood sample with the antibodies, you took from Charly. The Red Virus was erased in your oceans. But the waters on our planet a way bigger. There are still red clouds left, retreating only at a very slow rate. But the toxin remains. The damage has been done. Even with our highly advanced technology, it will take years to clear the oceans. Decades to make them habitable again, and even longer for any kind of fish stock to re-establish in a sufficient amount to provide enough food for my people."
A cold shudder ran down his spine, and his interior suddenly felt like being slowly crushed by an iron fist. Diane sat down on the coach, in shock and disbelief. When he looked at Neri, he found her not surprised, but with wet cheeks.
"Millions will die," Shalamorn continued. "Many children are put in stasis pods to save them from starving. But there are not enough stasis pods left for everyone. Also, they can not stay in there forever."
"Dear Heavens," Diane murmured. "I had no idea the situation is this desperate."
Another uncomfortable feeling began to stir inside of him, but he kept it down.
"So, you're not just here to make up for Malakats doing," Jason assumed. "You are in need of help yourself."
"Yes."
The dark notion was harder to ignore by the minute. "Just say it already," Jason called on Shalamorn.
"They urge me to negotiate the terms of a settlement on Earth. And I'm afraid, if I don't come up with a solution anytime soon, they will invade."
Diane exhaled audibly, but Jason didn't break the eye contact with the Queen, pinned her down with his stare.
"And it didn't occur to you to tell us about this sooner?" Jason wanted to know. The anger was getting stronger and started do replace the sympathy.
"I never thought, it would be so difficult to find common ground with your government," Shalamorn objected defensively. "They are stubborn and ignorant. And Senator De Souza ..."
"Was right about you lying!" His voice was shaking now with oppressed rage.
"What was I supposed to do?" Shalamorn exclaimed, now angry, too.
"You should have been honest with them," Jason cried back. "You had the chance to prove yourself better than Malakat, and yet, you take the same path with the same methods!"
"She was coming at me. There was no chance of her approval!"
"There are over 8 billion people living on Earth," Diane interfered. "Many of them afraid, angry and desperate, just as much as your people. If this is going public, and only one percent is standing up against you like De Souza, you will be faced with almost one hundred million people. If you're not even able to handle one of them, how will you ….?" She froze mid-sentenced, her eyes wide in horror when she met Shalamorn's sad gaze.
"This negotiation has to result in a positive conclusion," Shalamorn said quietly.
"Yeah, and you screwed it," Jason boiled it down. "There's no way you can plead your case now, without losing every bit of credibility."
The realisation hit him with unforeseen force. Until this moment, he hadn't thought there could be any escalation to his rage. But the solution, and the obvious calculation behind it, surely brought him to a pitch, never experienced before.
He growled loudly. Diane gave him an alarmed look. Neri flinched, but he was so furious, he ignored it.
"Great! This is just great!" He resented the urge to throw something.
Diane watched the both of them with a questioning expression. "What is going on?"
Shalamorn gave him a calm and sorrowful look. "Yes, Jason," she said, "I made a mistake and I need your help."
"Is this, why you buttered me up all the time?" He asked, infuriated. "With all your talk of family, how I am the perfect man for Neri? Fit to be your son-in-law?"
"I do feel this way about you," Shalamorn assured him, but Jason shook his head in disbelief.
"Yeah? And still, you sent me in to take the bullet for you?"
"You will not use my son to claim asylum for your folk!" Diane jumped to her feet, after finally jumping to the right conclusion.
Jason ignored her and turned to Neri. "Did you know about this?"
Her silence was answer enough. His rage turned into cold disappointment.
"Jason," Neri tried, but Jason cut her off with a gesture of his hand, and turned to go.
Hurt. Anger. Betrayal. The feeling of being used and lied to.
He couldn't tell, which was worst. He entered his room, paced around, angrily wiping the tears from his face. It took him a while to realise, that Neri had followed him, now standing inside at the door. She watched him, frightened, while silent tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Did your mother sent you, to talk some sense into me?" he asked coolly.
She shook her head and took a careful step towards him. He backed away from her and she froze.
"Jason, please," she begged.
He turned away, his arms folding.
"I feel them," Neri said quietly behind his back. "Something say, it was not over. That people are still afraid and suffering."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought, now Mother is here. And everything will be good. She will heal. Bring balance again."
He took a glance over his shoulder. Encouraged, she took another shy step towards him.
"I did not now about her plan," she ran on. "Jason, please! I did not know," she repeated. "But people die. Please!"
He loosened his arms, to rest his hands on his waist. Hesitating, he slowly turned to face her. His anger had dissolved. He hated to see her this hurt. Especially, because he wasn't entirely innocent this time.
"Politics is an ugly place," he murmured. Neri's expression gained a confused component.
"Just something, my mum said this morning," he explained. "She warned me about how politics can change people."
Neri remained silent, waiting.
"I don't want us to change," he confessed, and let his arms sink. "I hate, that this just turned me into a person, who hurt you."
This time, it was him, who took a careful step towards her. "I should have known, you would never lie to me." He stretched out his hand to cup her cheek. She snuggled into it, and he conquered the remaining distance between them, adding his other hand to cup all of her faces. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and he kissed her forehead.
"I'm sorry, I shouted at you," he whispered. She answered by clinging even closer to him.
"I'm angry with Mother, too" she admitted.
He held her in a tight embrace, stroking her hair. For a while, they just stood there, in the middle of the room, taking comfort in each other.
"But we can't be mad at her forever," Jason finally sighed. "She means well after all, even if we don't agree with her methods."
Neri retreated to look at him. "You will still do it?"
"Why such tone of surprise?" he smirked and nudged her nose with his. "Did I ever leave you alone?"
Her smile sent a warm flash through his body, erasing any traces of unease or annoyance for good.
"But maybe, we could postpone telling her until tomorrow?" he suggested with a mischief grin. "I would think, she deserves a sleepless night over this."