Inherently Innocent

Because We Know How To Be Brave

"So we'll set up a port by the sea when we get there, and," Ro spoke with fake calm. Trix desperately talked first.

"They won't believe you!" Trix shoved the papers off the desk, "They'll kill you on sight."

"It's part of our nature, Trix. We build like the bees build their hives," But the ishine interrupted Ro again.

"Stop it with that," They took Ro's hands. "They'll say if you just want to live like you did those hundreds of years ago, you'll just end up the same. You'll kill us all."

"I'm not going to get into a moral discussion with you or them, Trix. I just, God. They're coming! And I can't let the ishine attack us because they think we'll mess it all up again. We won't. We'll try to improve like before, but with a different method. I'll show it to them. God. There are children on that ship, Trix! Babies, pregnant people. If the ishine get here and attack us..."

Ro pressed buttons to communicate her exact coordinates. Mars had had it for years now, but they still needed it. Stupid Mars, idiotic Mars!

"Stupid, stupid!" She slammed her hands on the dashboard.

Trix stood behind her and placed their hands around her hips.

"I'll stop them. But you have to promise me you'll stop your humans when they come. I trust you, but I can't judge your whole species at once," They buried their face on Ro's neck. The young woman cried. Her tears bounced on the ship's furniture, creating puddles. The beaming lights of communication reflected on them.

"What am I seeing?" Juniper asked Dera. She held the ishine teacher's wrist and kept her hands away. "They look older. Ro's an adult now, isn't she? Older than me."

"I skipped a few years. You don't have to see every detail of how they built the agricultural system of the settlement, or the stone bases for the fence, or how they chopped the lumber to build the outer circle houses, or the," Dera started listing, purposefully bothering Juno.

"I get it. Show me what I need, then."

"I'll go to the hill," Trix looked out the window, "To our hill on the horizon. And I'll talk to all of them. They'll have to keep their word. We'll coexist," Trix's speech was hopeful. They melancholically danced to the other side of the ship, passing their hand through the metallic walls until it landed on the door's handle.

"They'll coexist," Ro followed suit, smiling sadly. "And there'll be no mistakes. Just life, for all of them. For all of us."

The two kissed goodbye, their lips turned to smile, but they still mixed. Trix passed a hand through Ro's cheek, and the woman held it there for a moment before letting go. They carried the hope of two species. Hopefully not of a world.

Ro's right hand traced the wall, the other pressed her womb with a delicate caressing touch.

"Don't tell me," Juniper opened her eyes again. She let go of Dera's hands like an electric shock had forced her to. She wondered if there were ghosts around her who had expected that moment to come. The moment of realization.

"Can you stop interrupting me?" Dera insisted.

"No, no. Wait a second. Let me process this," Juniper turned on her knees and stood.

Rocio Marull had only had two children, who were twins. There were no other humans on earth at the time of the vision. The migration was still on its way.

Juniper raised a hand to her nose and pressed down on it. Ro was pregnant with a nymph. Or two.

Juniper quietly took Dera's hand.