Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 40274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 161(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 161(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
I have not seen the damage, but I was aware that some had been sustained.
“But the future of all of humanity depends on our triumph.”
“It is not our place to fight recalcitrant species who regard us as enemies. Some life is best left to return to whence it came. Extinction is always an option.”
“Put that on a bumper sticker,” Talon remarks dryly. “You do make a good point, Arlo. Does this species deserve to depart for the stars? Is it ready? Should we return in another thousand years and see if they have made any progress toward making themselves better citizens of their own world?”
“I’ve identified a sentient species of telepathic birds on a relatively nearby planet,” Arlo says. “They eschewed weaponry hundreds of years ago, and they have made some short space flights. They simply need some technological help in order to come among the citizens of the stars. We could free them from the bonds of their planet with no concern for what we are unleashing.”
“Tell me more about the mind-reading birds,” Talos says.
“Why do you look so serious? What have I done?” Jessica picks up on my energy as I come through the door. Sometimes it truly does seem as though she has some telepathic powers herself. Touching minds is the basis of intimacy.
“You haven’t done a thing wrong,” I say, though that is still not entirely true.
“Then why do you look so unhappy?”
“There is talk of leaving humanity to their own devices.”
“No!” she says very stridently.
“No? You were arguing that we were the bad guys in this situation. You complained of our cruelty, and how our actions turned humanity against our aims.”
“Okay, sure, yes. I did say all of that. But you’ve seen what it’s like down there. You’re saving so many lives. You saved my life!”
“How did we save your life?”
“Well, uh…”
I reach out and slide a hand under her chin. “The truth.” I use significant influence on her. Too much influence. Instead of a gentle mind touch, I make firm mental contact. Jessica recoils with wide eyes, staring at me in shock.
“Don’t… what… what are you doing? It’s like you’re inside my fucking skull?”
“The Cupid have some ability to join minds,” I tell her. “We are able to exert some influence over lesser beings.”
“You mean you can control my mind?”
“I have not done so, but technically, yes.”
“What the fuck, dude? That’s so invasive!” Now she is offended, though of course she’s not actually offended. She is instantly concerned because she knows that there is a real chance I know her secret. Which, of course, in part, I do.
“Jessica.” I say her name firmly. The time for pretense is over. I have allowed her enough time to make her little confession. I want to hear it now, before Captain Talos forsakes humanity and sends us to another planet.
“What? Fuck. Okay.” She slumps her shoulders. “I’m not really an advanced physicist.”
“Yes. I’m aware of that part. I know when you are lying. I can feel your mind. I may not know every thought, but I have a sense of you that extends to truth and untruth.”
She blushes and avoids my gaze. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew? I feel like an asshole now.”
“Jessica, I want the truth.”
“Fine,” she says, turning to me with tears streaming down her face. “I have HALF an arts degree.”
“That’s not what I’m asking,” I clarify patiently. “And it is another lie.”
“You’re right,” she says. “I applied for an arts degree once, but I couldn’t afford the tuition. So I just read books on my own, like some kind of sucker. Nobody even told me what to think about them. I never sat in a room of people and discussed what a character’s interpretation of purple means, and that makes me…”
“You’re stalling, Jessica.”
She is adorable when she’s trying to lie and obfuscate. It’s just so absolutely transparent. All of this is earning her one hell of a spanking. No matter what she tells me today, she is going to end up with a very sore, very well fucked ass.
“Uhm. What did you want to know, again?” She looks up at me with a false confused gaze. She’s hoping she has thrown enough red herrings at me that I’ve forgotten the question I first asked.
“How did we save your life?”
“Oh. Yes. Well. On the day you arrived, I was being chased across the roof of my building by my ex-husband who was trying to stab me because I stole and sold his drugs to try to pay rent. I was homeless. I was hopeless. And I was about to be stabbed. But then you came, and you took him away, and that was that.”
Jessica
Cir looks progressively more pissed as I tell this story. I knew he’d be angry when he realized that he hired human trash.