Extraterrestrial Lives

20

I brought Maha to our archives. I began to be sick in my stomach, am I doing the right thing? Not even my people know most of what we're hiding. The Other's, They, the unseen but destructive beings that destroyed all air breathing life on Earth.

What we haven't told Maha, what They did to Earth wasn't even the worst thing they've done.

"Maha, what I'm going to show you is everything we've gathered on the Other's. It's not pretty, but, I'm desperate for any insight you might give."

Maha looks at me a little worried. She takes my hand and squeezes it tight. "I'll do the best that I can Rafe."

I set her up with the vid station. Everything she saw was recorded in three dimensions.  She manages to make it through the whole archive of the Other's before she jumps up and runs to the bathroom.

Earth had had it lucky. The dead were turned to particles too small to see. Other places weren't so lucky. Millions and even billions have suffered at their hands, but none suffered as much as Earth.

"What the hell did they do to those poor people?" The planets had been even more behind than Earth had been. They had been slowly making progress before the Other's came though.

"One planet they used poisons in the air. Evidence was still in the atmosphere when we got there. The planet won't be fit to live in for centuries.

"Another planet they used fire. There we actually found a few survivors, they told us tales that made us sick. They killed themselves as soon as they were left alone. The memories were too horrible for them to suffer.

"That planet was sterilized, nothing will ever live there again.

"We're not sure what happened in the next planet, by the time we got there whatever they used was undetectable. All that was left were the decaying corpses. But it was just the sentient things, the animals-lower animals at least were still alive. The domesticated animals were starving not having been fed for an unknown amount of time. We let them go and hoped that they managed to live. Perhaps we should have killed them, we weren't happy about causing more death though.

"Another planet they somehow caused mass destruction from natural disasters. Earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, tidal waves. Volcanoes especially were nasty."

"So why did they change things up for Earth?" Maha asks more than a little sickened.

"We honestly don't know. You gave us an idea when you said what you did about them just wanting to bring their own people and animals. Perhaps they just wanted to take Earth and the other planets were just trial runs until they got it all right. But then we have to ask if they will stop with just Earth or come after us still. Perhaps Earth was just another trial run. We just don't know."

Maha nods looking more than a little sick. "I need to lay down." 

I nod and escort her out of the archives.

Just what were the Other's doing? That's the only thing going round and round my brain. Just how similar in physiology are the Other's from humans and my new people? Perhaps I would understand more if I knew that answer.

"You don't know what they are like at all?" I ask desperately.

"Well, there is a possibility that we got a quick look on a camera after one of the attacks."  Rafe doesn't want to answer me, but I need to know what they look like.

"I need to see it." I say catching him  to keep him from leaving.

"I shouldn't have shown you the vids of the destruction, please rest now," Rafe says. But what he doesn't understand is that after that I can't rest. I have to see what these things look like. I can't explain why I feel so strongly about this. I have to see this thing, the thing that has so little humanity that it can kill billions without thought or care.

She wakes up screaming. Damn, I knew that I shouldn't have shown her those vids. I go to her quickly holding her until her trembling subsides.

"I'm sorry Maha, I shouldn't have shown you those vids. After everything else that's already been done to you." I get up and start pacing back and forth.

"Keep that up  princey and you'll be having me racing to the bathroom again." I stop at her words. I don't need her being sick again. She's having a hard time keeping food down ever since she watched the destruction of the Other's.

"I need to see what it looks like Princey." I had hoped that after three days she would give up on that particular request. It looks like I hoped in vain. She doesn't need to see anymore about the Other's, it was a bad idea...

"If you don't show me that vid, then why the hell do you want my help? You tell me one thing and then do another. Seriously, just what do you want from me, Rafe?"

With those words I give up. As much as I want to spare her any further problems I can't afford to ignore the needs of my people, all ten planets of them.

I take her back to the archive room and pull up the vid of the Other's that we have.

I watch Maha closely and that is why I'm able to catch her as she faints once more.

My father talks to the scientists, they all come to the same conclusion. From Maha's expression before she passed out she's seen the Other's before.

My father orders Maha to go back to have more of that retrieval done to her. The same test that she had done the day she nearly killed herself.

I protest vehemently. I'm over ridden. Maha is white as a ghost and scared. They take Maha, she is silent and goes with them without a fuss. Not me I go wild, I knock over several people before I feel something prick me and my world goes dark. I'm never going to forgive my father for this, never.

I watch helplessly as Rafe fights to get to me. It's useless and I know it, but Rafe won't stop fighting. He can't. He knows what the test will do to me and he has to try to stop it or he'll die this time.

I fight the tears as I see him fall. I don't know if I'll ever see him again. I know one thing, if Rafe survives he'll never speak to his father again.

"You just lost your son forever, King. I hope that whatever you find or hope to find is worth that." I say it without hope, because I just don't know if I want to survive what they are going to do to me.

The king flinches from my words. "If we find something, anything to save this people then it will be worth it." The king says, but his words lack conviction. I smile bitterly as I sit next to the king as we go to the institute.

"So who do you have lined up for the throne then?" Because I know without a doubt that Rafe will have nothing to do with it now.

Those words break him. "There is only him. Only he can steer us through this crisis." The king looks at me, "You must convince him of that."

I look at the king like he's grown two heads or something along those lines. "I'm not sure that I'll survive this myself. If by some strange stroke of the universe I manage to keep my sanity after this and Rafe still lives and still wants to be with me," I smile bitterly. Somehow I know something is going to happen. Something bad, Rafe is already becoming a memory. "If everything in the universe aligns and things are still good with him and me, there's no way in hell I would do you any favors."