Keeper of the Sleeping Minds

Traitors to the cause of humanity

Traitors to the cause of humanity

Our orders were clear: set up base, find locals, start transferring minds. But sitting with our hisaj friends around a campfire, swapping songs and stories, made this unimaginable. Lynn started to ship down more equipment and reanimated humans in small batches. With 26 more sleepers beyond saving, human headcount was down to 101. Most of the ones arriving didn't take long to convert to our way of looking at the planet. Lynn never said a word, but I'm sure she was aware of what was going on. We still hadn't started to assemble the mind implanting equipment.

Then Lynn brought down a very distressed Tina, asking me to watch out for her. Something went wrong with her and Steve. Tina didn't want to speak about it. But Jeanne, the young woman accompanying her, told me the captain suggested aborting the baby, insisting that its mind would not be ready for transfer in time. They too adapted quickly to surface life, Tina making plans for the future of her child. I worried about all our futures.

Late one afternoon, Lynn brought the last shipment and most of the remaining crew, including Steve. He intended to check on our progress. Henrik, Tina and I just came back from a visit at the village, trading food. Hisaj were really fond of chocolate. It was impossible to hide the basket with flower meat we carried between us. Worse, Kijal accompanied us. Steve understood immediately. Without hesitation he snatched his stun gun, aiming at Kijal.

Henrik jumped in front of our friend, protecting her with his body while I tried to reason with the captain. This was a mistake. He shot Henrik with a stun shot and I pulled a wide-eyed Kijal down, but the second shot hit her. Tina knelt beside her sobbing. Steve ignored us, turning around to Lynn, accusing her of treason. The commotion brought Faro, Gérard and others, attending to Henrik and Kijal and watching the drama unfold.

Lynn wasn't ready to stand back. She'd accepted Steve's command while on the ship. But now she let her anger show. There was a lot of it. Lynn, like most of us, had seen too much of ruthless people like Steve and told him so. The argument escalated. We stood and watched, helpless.

When Steve hit her hard with a fist in the face, it got too much for placid Pierre. I'd always known he had a soft spot for the pilot. Only then I realised how soft. He jumped Steve from behind. But the Captain was faster. The knife took Pierre in the heart. Slowly, Steve turned back to Lynn, aiming his gun at her, set now to kill.

I knew what I should have done. But it went against all my carefully hoarded personal values, hidden far too long beneath the exterior of a compliant worker. This day, it served me well that for Steve, we were second class humans, not worth his attention. I picked up Kijal's blowpipe and took aim. It is an easy weapon, even for someone not used to warfare. Steve grasped his neck, as if wanting to hit a wasp. The tiny arrow just nicked him, but niosj-poison works fast. He hadn't time to realise what killed him.

I watched Lynn anxiously, her nose broken and bleeding, her eyes clouded with responsibility. With an unreadable expression she stepped up to Steve and nudged his side with a boot. Then she knelt down to lovingly close Pierre's blue eyes. Finally she stood, glancing over at me. Dany stepped up, taking my hand. "What went wrong? Why did he do that?"

Lynn just shook her head, looking straight at me, traces of unshed tears moistening the corners of her eyes. "Stay here, Fiona. I'll finish this."

"Wait, why don't you stay? It's over."

"No, it's not. Why do you think he came down here? He suspected something for a while. He trusted Pierre to hold his back, but he has six well armed soldiers up there, and they are as fanatic as he was."

"Maybe we can convince them, like everyone else. Let's try this together!"

She just shook her head, a sad smile playing around her lips. "No, I already tried. This is up to me. You have done your share, and they'll need your ability to communicate with the hisaj. You are humanity's best bet now."

I looked over to where the others stood around Henrik and Kijal, slowly regaining consciousness. Most were watching us, concern written in their faces. No one spoke. But Faro nodded once. That was all the confirmation Lynn needed. There were probably not enough of us to build up a community. I suspected minimum viable population for humans to be way higher than 92 and an unborn child. But it was better than nothing. And Lynn was offering us this chance.

"Promise me to do it right, Fi."

"I promise."

With that, she left. Dany stood beside me as the shuttle took off. I knew he wanted to ask, but he didn't, accepting that some secrets have to stay just that, secret. Together we watched the shuttle disappear in the clear blue sky.

Later that night, Faro, Dany and I listened to comm as Lynn called the ship, raising suspicion for not bringing Steve back. The following discussion proved that Lynn's concerns were well founded. Finally she seemed to give in to the commands, starting the docking procedure.

I looked up, searching for the spot among the stars where I knew the ship to be. The brilliant flash was clearly visible, cutting off Lynn's voice mid-sentence. Lynn was one hell of a pilot, there was no way she let the shuttle crash into the ship by accident. Only seconds later, comm cut off, and the glow in the night sky disappeared. We waited for the ship to fall, a giant shooting star. But it never came.

Dany held me tight, and for the first time since my mother's death I prayed, prayed for Lynn, Pierre, and ten thousands of human minds, abandoned in space forever.