“Sure. Whatever you want,” I say.
Peering in the dark entrance of Discovery Base, a strong feeling guides me in. I didn’t understand why we’d ever need to come back to this place again, but I think I get it now.
The sun will rise in just a few hours. In the light, we’ll be an even easier target, but that’s okay with me. That’s what I want.
This is the way I win.
This is the way I get my love back.
Twelve
Turin
In the starship, Zakar crouches, eyes analyzing for a moment of weakness. His pupils are as wide as coins, and large veins protrude against his skin. It has been some time since I have seen him act this way.
His tongue flails as he talks. “Bow your head to me, brother.”
“I am not your brother,” I growl.
A soft and cunning chuckle comes with a threat. “I could have taken her,” he says. “I gave her to you. I let you have her first. You should be kissing my feet.”
We both circle the opposite ends of the room. “I can’t do this anymore, Zakar,” I say.
“You have no choice,” he sneers. “We are connected to our pain together.”
“Maybe you feel that way, but they have blessed me with faculties I never knew could exist,” I say. “I am different from you. Much different.”
“You are weak.”
“Empathy is stronger than your systemizing brain can handle,” I growl.
“You are weaker than her,” he continues. “You have let a woman control you. A whore. You let her convince you that humans are docile, innocent creatures. That they would do anything to give you a better life is a storybook lie.”
“Maybe they wouldn’t. But she would,” I say.
“You will never have a better life, Turin. This is your blessing. Avalon. But if we work together, we can get to Earth,” he says.
If we work together. I’ve been hearing him say that for a long time. Listening to him has gotten me nowhere.
I raise my voice. “She will get me there.”
“She will destroy you. Do you remember what happened to Doctor Grubber?” he asks.
I circle around a large beam, hoisting myself up to the second floor, away from his attack span.
“What about him?” I ask.
I remember Doctor Steven Grubber. He was one of the scientists who experimented on me. Before we escaped, he promised me my freedom. He told me he realized the error in his ways.
He told Zakar the same, but it was all a lie, a betrayal of the highest order. It was a test to see how well we could see through a lie. Zakar tested positive. I tested negative.
He has hung that over my head since it happened.
“You remember,” he says.
Zakar killed the doctor as the man was begging for his life. If I can recall, he had a wife and children. A family.
Zakar was filled with so much rage that he carved the word, “betrayal” over his bedpost.