Because We Had Us

Chapter 19. The Ambassadors

Ky

I stared at the cameras in front of me, watching the five drop like flies. It was only a matter of time before I got to see them again. My greatest regret in life was abandoning my family. I had such a beautiful life before I became an ambassador. One full of home cooked meals, celebratory hugs and ice cream after my wrestling matches, a beautiful girlfriend named Sarah, but best of all I had my fun, loving, typically annoying sisters who always ganged up on me. Miriam had the most miraculous mind and steadfast loyalty, while Jo was protective and full of compassion. They were polar opposites but together they were unstoppable.

They were the only thing that got me through the treacherous ambassador's training. We had to spend day after day researching and testing the, what was only a theory at the time, of mind tapping. The three of us, Xavier, Barnett, and I learned the ins and outs of each other. We knew each other's fears, hopes, and dreams, which led us to create a what we thought to be unbreakable brotherhood. But when our boss showed us the test subjects for our first trial we all tuned against each other. Was it a coincidence that the subjects were all our loved ones? I wasn't sure, but what I did know was that my first initial reaction was to play dirty, I was going to do anything so my sister's would survive. Xavier and Barnett felt the same way.

It was crazy what love could drive you to do. We had spent so long researching ways to prolong the survival of the human race, but it seemed that love was the one emotion that hindered our survival instincts. To stay true to the experiment, meant having to give up love and any loyalties we had completely, so we all had to make the decision of wether or not we would give into our humanity, our compassion, or pave the way for the next generation.

We all agreed to shut all of our emotions off, to ignore them completely when the trials began, but as they continued, as we watched the people we loved once suffer our promise lost its value. Barnett was the first to go, for he was never cut out to be an ambassador. He was only chosen because he was getting suspicious about the death of his parents, so as he watched the five go through the phases he began to feel again. He let his compassion take over, he fell in love with test subject one, who I once called sister. I watched as he erased her memories and placed her back onto the cold hard ground next to test subject three, wondering if it was out of love or loyalty to his training. Either way he was too far gone and I couldn't risk him ruining the experiment.

I knocked on the door of Xavier's control room, and heard the scream of my youngest sister. For a brief moment I felt empathy, guilt, and remorse, but I quickly turned it all of.

"It's time for phase three Xavier," I informed him without making eye contact, for I couldn't risk seeing the face of Miriam. "Please go report the news to Barnett friend." I emphasized the word friend, reminding him of his oath of loyalty to the experiment. I heard the camera system shut off, so I finally made eye contact with him. He looked nervous, as if he feared me for a moment. When he didn't move I made my way to Barnett's room, and found him dying slowly in a pool of his own blood.

Xavier too had given into his humanity, to his love for his sister who didn't even remember him. In training he was at the top of our small class, he was ruthless, but now he was weak. I was going to kill Barnett anyway, for he was a liability but now that Xavier had turned I had to end him too; or maybe I would just isolate him depending on how generous I was feeling at the moment.

The three of us had started out together as best friends, but now it was just I who had the responsibility of finding, experimenting on, and training the survivor to lead the the United States into this new era of the unmasked. No longer would we hide behind masks because of our inability to control our fears, our emotions, for we would learn to live by our survival instincts only.

There was a small part of me that felt guilty for what I was doing to my sisters, but in the end my agenda was for the greater good. How would I look myself in the mirror ever again if I deemed two lives more valuable than the whole of humanity because of my own personal feelings. One of humanity's greatest evils was our instinct to choose groups, cliques, or families, for when push came to shove we would give our lives to protect them; but what was the point if we died in the end. Our loved ones would then be left with guilt and sorrow. The other was how we followed the crowd and believed anything we saw from the media. All in all humans have no self control.

There is a better way, the survivor's way, and whoever passes phase three will be the one to model this better way of life for all of humanity. One where we have control over our own disciplined minds. It will be a life where we can live without guilt, without being bound to loyalties, a life where we can survive just as nature intended. They would have to face the deepest darkest parts of their minds before they could truly live this way though, that was phase three.

I knew my sisters would never be able to live this way, without their many swirling emotions, and deep down I was glad. I didn't want to see their reactions when they saw their brother they knew and loved was gone. Though I didn't really die, in a way I did. When I faked my death for the incredible opportunity to become an ambassador I left my old life behind and was born into a new man. My sisters could never understand my way of life.

I made the journey through the ship to find my sisters' bodies, only to find test subject five lying outside the door of the ambassador's corridor. It seemed as if he had almost discovered us. I skipped him, for I wanted to retrieve my sisters first. Little Miriam looked so grown up but still just as I remembered her. It was as if I was seeing a ghost from my past. I picked her up and carried her to examination table three, kissing her on the forehead before I left to go find Jo. Jocelyn was lying lifeless in the mock control room adjacent to test subject number two, who she had seemed to take a liking to. It was no surprise she had learned to love the first boy she laid eyes on, for she was always too compassionate for her own good, though she tried to hide it.

I carried her just as I had Miriam across the ship and into the examination room placing her on table number one. As I kissed her forehead I felt a small tear fall down my face. This would be the last time I saw my sisters and the last time I felt emotion, so I let my tear fall just this once. "Goodbye beautiful sisters," I whispered aloud into the vacant room to their lifeless forms. "Goodbye old life." My farewells allowed me to finally embrace my new life, so without looking back I gathered the rest of the subjects and placed them on their exam tables. The only thing left to do was to wait and see who my survivor would be.