The Ice Warrior

Chapter 36

"Wir Eis, what should I do?" Silv asked, unsure how to proceed.

She might have been connected with Evanescence and understood her better than most of them, but she still didn't know how to do certain things. It felt to her like learning how to shoot a gun for the first time. Although she understood how it worked and the mechanics of it all, it took her a few shots to get it right.

"Evanescence, thermal scan. Map warmer areas. Map passages." Wir Eis said.

The moment Wir Eis spoke, a screen appeared before him. Then, red swirls started forming here and there on the empty canvas as well as thick lines representing passages. Full lines represented wide passages and thin lines narrower ones, some of which were dead ends.

"I don't get it. How can you do that when you are not connected with the spaceship? I thought only Silv could do that since she is in touch with it or something." Justin said.

"Wir Eis Ice Warrior son. Second in command. Some voice control available." Wir Eis said.

"So, because of your lineage, the ship follows your voice commands, but you are unable to achieve the symbiosis with it?" Rose asked.

"With her." Silv corrected, irritated that they couldn't even address Evanescence with the right pronoun even though she saved their lives.

"Apologies. Her," Justin said, not wanting to anger either the spaceship or the woman since both seemed equally temperamental.

"Yes." Wir Eis said.

"Why not? That doesn't sound logical to me? Shouldn't you, as the second in command, inherit the right to connect with Evanescence, after your father's death. If you share the genetic similarities, I don't see what could be stopping you from doing that," Rose said.

"Human did something. Wir Eis not same. Sei Eis not same. No one same." Wir Eis said.

"I heard that humans might have experimented on aliens," Rose said.

"And you were part of a Government who did that to a living being?" Silv said, disgusted with her grandma.

"I thought those were just rumors. There wasn't any proof of it," Rose said defensively.

"What did the rumors say?" Justin asked, being the much necessary voice of reason.

"If I remember correctly, people were saying that they did some experiments on the aliens in search of a walking biological weapon. The idea was that if they could change the chemical structure of the aliens, they could use them as ticking bombs without having to use soldiers for anything. It was supposed to be a way to save lives," Rose said.

Wir Eis's expression showed disgust for the first time. It was jarring for him to learn what all those horribly painful and invasive experiments were for.

"I am sorry Wir Eis, I apologize in the name of the human race," Silv said gently.

"Not Silv fault. Not all human bad," Wir Eis said.

However, it was clear that he was seeing his companions in a different light. It broke Silv's heart to see traces of fear in his eyes since she was fully aware that they were the monsters that brought that look to his face.

"Wir Eis, we didn't know that you were so sentient. If the Government had known that, I am sure they wouldn't have been as eager with their experiments," Rose said.

"That's no excuse! No living being deserves to be experimented on. They could have experimented with human volunteers. At least that way, there would be a choice given to those experimented upon. Taking sentient beings who could not understand our language or our ways and doing horrible things to them has no justification!" Silv yelled while her eyes shone bright green.

"My young mistress is correct. However, she shouldn't be angry with my mistress. It wasn't Rose who experimented on them. She was not even aware of the fact until recently. Blaming her for something done by the Government would be the same as blaming yourself," Arthur said, trying to calm angry Silv.

The green seemed to dim in Silv's eyes, and soon enough, there was only a faint luminescence left that showed her connection with the spaceship. Arthur's words managed to cool her temper, and that, in turn, made Evanescence calmer.

"I am sorry, grandma. I am not angry at you. I am furious at all the insensitive humans who keep allowing for torture and death to occur when we should do everything in our power to stop it." Silv said.

"That's alright, my dear. I understand your frustration," Rose said.

"Scan complete," Evanescence said with perfect timing.

Taking a closer look at the map before them, they realized that things might not be as bleak as they assumed them to be. The hot pockets were much more common underground than they believed, and it appeared as if there was enough space for quite a large number of humans to settle.

"Do you have any extra phasers?" Rose asked, thinking how some of the passages could be made more accessible.

"Yes. Sei Eis?" Wir Eis said.

"Giving human everything. Wir Eis crazy," Sei Eis said.

"They help. We help back," Wir Eis said firmly.

"Fine," Sei Eis said, leaving the room to get the phaser.

After all, Wir Eis was the leader of their people, and as much as Sei Eis disagreed with his methods, she had two choices, to obey him or challenge him for leadership. Having in mind that she had no desire to lead anyone, she chose to follow his orders no matter how ridiculous they seemed to her.

"What do we do now?" Justin asked.

"Now you can get the map to your father, and we can go explore the caves in person. We have to check if they are safe or not for regular people. There might be some dangerous animals living there," Rose said.

"Maybe I should come with you and go back only once we are sure that the place is safe. I don't want to give our people false hope," Justin says.

"That sounds more reasonable. If things don't turn out to be as good as they look, we can always try something else." Rose said.

"Like what?" Silv asked.

"I have no idea, my dear. I am solving one problem at a time. There is no point in thinking of 'what ifs' when we might find this mountain to be perfect for residence, thus rendering the stress of 'what ifs' completely unnecessary." Rose said.

"Phaser," Sei Eis came in, giving Wir Eis the phaser and leaving the room as fast as possible.

"Wir Eis, can you come with us since you are the only one who knows how to use the phaser?" Rose asked.

"Wir Eis come if Silv stay," Wir Eis said.

"Why?" Rose asked, annoyed that he would give her conditions.

She was too used to people obeying her orders without questioning her, and the fact that he didn't do so was rather perturbing for her.

"Ship like her. Feel better with her connected. Maybe can help heal the ship. Maybe no Ice Warrior need. " Wir Eis said.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Rose said.

"It's okay, grandma. You go ahead, and I'll do some flight simulations in case we need to run away fast or fight while airborne," Silv said.

Unhappy with the situation, Rose still could see the logic behind Silv staying behind. She might provide them with air support if need be.

Still, being away from her granddaughter didn't feel right.

"Alright, Arthur, you will stay with Silv to help her in any way you can. Wir Eis, Justin, and I will go take a look at the nearest hot spot," Rose said.

"Good luck!" Silv said as they moved out of the safety of the ship.