Kin

Stand clear while blue light flashes is painted on the two-feet-thick steel doors before me. I reach my hand down towards the green button that reads open. The button releases a satisfying click, and a light above the door flashes blue. The mechanisms behind the door make a series of clicks and clacks as the door slowly opens.

Behind the door stands a woman with braided, ginger hair, dressed in the standard gray- station uniform.

"Welcome to the USS," the woman says with a smile and squeaky voice. "My name is Cathy, the official tour guide for the United Space Station. It is my job to give you a rundown of this magnificent vessel. You must be Dom Riddles, Earth One's top journalist?"

"Yes, that's me. Nice to meet you, Cathy." I stick out my hand.

"W- whoa, what are you doing?"

"Trying to shake your hand?"

"Won't I get pregnant?"

"I'm sorry?"

"That's what my mother has told me all my life. I'll have a child if I shake your hand."
Over protective much? "Well, human reproduction isn't that simple." I withdraw my hand and an awkward silence clings to the air. "Well, should we get started, then?"

The tour lasts quite a while. Cathy shows me the public bathrooms, showers, dining halls, and even the botanical garden. All in all, very impressive. She claims, however, the best part is saved for last.

"Are you ready for the best view in the house?" Throughout the tour, Cathy has become visibly more excited. "I've only seen it once before." As we near the door, it unlocks and slides open.

A small breeze escapes the room littered with dozens of chairs and benches. People mingle about, gossiping and discussing the match of ZeroG basketball and the burnt french toast that was served this morning. The centerpiece is a massive window, outside which lies the planet the station orbits--a blue planet much like our own, complete with continental land masses and islands by the thousand.

"Kepler 186f," Cathy says. "Otherwise known as Second Earth. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Another planet, I think. Humanity hasn't even begun to fully understand Earth itself. What are they going to do with another planet?

"When do you think we'll be able to colonize?"

Cathy shrugs. "After we discover if life is on it. They're still scanning the planet, but survey teams head down in six months. After that, they say two years."

"Oh, there's life down there."

She glances at me and then back at the planet. "Only time will tell."

A single loud thud echoes throughout the halls and the station goes dark. The only light source remaining is what reflects off Second Earth, and that isn't much. I can't see any details on Cathy's face, but I can tell she's there. She starts shaking so I wrap an arm around her.

"It's alright." I tell her. "They're probably just having power problems.

"Yeah... but how long until that affects the oxygen?"

Fair enough.

Everyone in the viewing room begins to scream. The floor shakes under dozens of people fleeing in panic.

"What's going on?" Cathy asks.

I back into the doorway. The screaming stops, replaced by an eery silence. Cathy's body tenses up, as does mine. I pull out a flashlight, hardly able to keep it still, and scan the room. Lumps of flesh and cloth are scattered about, lifeless and leaking.

Cathy begins whimpering. I begin to back away while still scanning the room. Movement catches my attention. My flashlight barely picks up the silhouette of something large carrying someone away. I freeze. Cathy squeezes my arm--it starts to hurt.

The silhouette stops and looks directly at me. The body drops to the floor. One step forward.

"Let's go." I attempt, but nothing comes out.

Another step.

"Let's go, Cathy."

I grab hold of her hand and bolt down the hallway into a residential sector. Most of the doors are locked, but I eventually find an open one. I shove Cathy inside and lock the door behind me.

Viewing out of the eyehole is nearly useless, but I look anyway. Any movement close to door could possibly be seen in the absence of light.

"You okay, Cathy?"

No response.

I glance at her. She looks me in my eyes and wells into tears. I lunge forward as I notice the slimy black tail wrapped around her ankles. Her feet are tugged upward, her head hits the floor with a crack, and she disappears into the air ducts above her.

Silence.

I collapse to the floor. A black head pokes out of the ducts above. His eyes glow white and bears sharp white teeth painted with blood. He drops to the ground and approaches me, claws scraping the steel floor beneath his feet. He looks at me with a familiar face...

"Jaralun." I get to my feet. "Why have you done this?"

"To save ourselves, brother," His mouth doesn't move, but his voice reaches me. "They have the means to eradicate us."

"But that's not what they're planning! These people just want to live."

"If we wish to keep our home as peaceful as it is, we cannot allow them to." He inches towards me. "You look so much like them. We could easily fool them all and wipe them out before they can do the same to us." He smiles, something he rarely does. "Will you help us?"

Annihilate mankind? My own species? What if I say no? Yes? Can we take on the humans? Can I bring myself to kill my own? How much time do I have to decide? Now. I have to decide now. It's all so fast. Now. What do I do? Stop.

I take a deep breath and give him my answer.