Jupiter sits between a tree and a blade, his blood slowly dripping into his armor. Lucas stands with pure furious energy, waiting for his god to speak. Siff sees the pain of faith and love betrayed, of grief that swallows reason. Her father is wise, but she has no idea how he is going to survive this. She tries to interject, “Lucas I—”

“I’ll get to you in a moment.” Lucas points at her with his spear, but his piercing gaze does not leave Jupiter, “Stay seated.” Siff shrinks back in fear and waits. Only her father can save them now.

“All my life I was taught of the wonder of the gods. Their beauty and holiness. The stories of how we came to be, the legends of those loving parents who raised us and protect us from afar. The dream of attaining enough purity in ourselves that we could be welcomed into your halls, into your arms. That if we were chosen to be visited it would be a glorious occasion. That your messengers were ones of peace that wanted only to bless our lives and communities.

“And now I stand here burned by your presence. Scalded by your command! My family murdered. My loved ones are ash. And you sit here eating as if it were any other day! You do not mourn for the beauty you have destroyed? How are you a god? How are you holy? Why do you bleed? And why should I not kill you right now?”

“If you kill me, it will not be the end of me. And any satisfaction you gain from vengeance will be short lived. In my time, even these last few terrible days, I have killed many of my own people. I could argue it was out of necessity, but I am haunted by my actions. You deserve to know the truth, and I shall tell you, Lucas, what you dread to hear. I shall tell you the truth that will ruin your faith. I shall do this and then you can kill me if you wish. I ask only that you go with my daughter back to the Gate and return her to her own people.”

“You shall tell me the truth, and then I shall decide whether to honour your wish. I was raised to fear the judgement of the gods, but here I shall judge you. Why did you kill my people?”

“I did not kill your people, it was the decision of the Council to do so, of which I am a member. I was given the opportunity to save my daughter and bring her for judgement, but I was not to save anyone else. If I had attempted to do so, we would have been killed as well.”

“But why? Even after you had struck me, I believed I could reason with my god. Siff had become one of us, I had to try and plea for her. I rode after you, depending on your great mercy and wisdom that I had been taught all my life. ‘The gods are loving.’ ‘The gods are kind.’ I believed these words to be true with all my heart. But as I rode, your wrath struck my people! I was thrown from my horse and burned under his corpse! Saved from death by the fire of my friend, I rose only to see where my village once was. To know that you. You! You have murdered everyone I love! My mother! My father! My family! My friends! They are all burned! Your wrath missed only me, but my wrath shall not miss you. Why? Why did you choose to kill us?”

“We had no choice. To protect the mission. To protect humanity. To do our utmost to ensure the readiness of you all for reaching Vesta, we could not allow you to be infiltrated by our own barbaric nature. Siff fled from us to you, and in so doing brought our thoughts and personalities into your community. She infected you with behavior that is self-destructive and destructive to the universe. We had to eradicate everything she touched in order to preserve the purity of your people. You are more than just humanity. You are humanity’s only hope. And we cannot afford to allow anything to jeopardize that.”

“What do you mean, ‘humanity’s only hope’?”

“Look at us. Lucas, do we look like gods to you? We are human. All the gods are just humans. We all live and die. We all struggle and suffer. But what we are, most of all, is a failed race. We grew to the point of traversing the stars, but our nature is destructive and everywhere we went we destroyed the universe and the natural order of things. Even now we destroy ourselves. Two factions bitterly struggle for control, of which my daughter chose the Rebellion and conspired against me.

“Many centuries ago we saw this nature in ourselves and created a mighty ship to fly us to Vesta, housing all that remains of our race. We called this starship Janus, a vessel for our last remaining hope, and within him we all live. As Janus was being constructed we chose the very best of us and put them in this place. A new home to grow and learn how to be a new humanity: to bring hope to our race that maybe we can live in harmony with nature. We have watched you and guided your development over all generations. We look up to you, we gods. For we are the fallen ones, and you are the exalted. You are so much better than we ever have been, and we watch with excitement and reverence at your development and breadth of understanding. But now I have told you the truth, and the illusion is gone. If you kill me, you shall not kill Jupiter. Jupiter is an office of authority given to an appointed official until their retirement. My name is Baldr, and I am ashamed of what I am, but proud also. I am ashamed of my destructive nature. But I am proud of my willingness to do anything to protect our mission: to see a new humanity created and birthed on a new home.”

“And you knew this?” Lucas’ shocked attention turns to Siff, his blade still at her father’s throat, “When you came to us, you knew all of this? You knew they would kill us all?”

“No! No Lucas, I had no idea, I swear! No-one was supposed to know I was here, it was going to be a secret.”

“But they found you, Siff. And you must have known that was a possibility. They found you and they killed us because of you. You must have known.”

“If I would have known they would do this, I would never…I swear I would never have come. I thought they would just come for me.”

“Really?! Then why did you try to warn us when we rescued you? You told us they would be coming, that you had been found out. You said you were sorry, do you remember?”

“I just…I just…”

“You gods have failed us! You gods have crushed us! You gods have crushed me!” Lucas’ strength finally begins to wane and the blade drops as he collapses to his knees, “Why? Why did you have to be so broken? What have you done to me? To the people I love? My mother, my sister, my brothers. Didn’t you even think? Didn’t you even think? If we were so corrupted by your own actions, why did you not choose to take care of us? Bring us into Janus with you? If we are your responsibility…why did you hate us?…We thought you loved us…”

He falls forward, the wounds and fatigue have taken their toll. Siff looks to her father who begins to stand, “Dad don’t! He doesn’t deserve to die; none of them did!”

“I know, Siff. But as soon as the Council discovers he survived, what do you think they are going to do?”

She pauses only briefly, “We have to take him with us. We have to. We owe it to him. He was right: if we have any love for him we would take him with us!”

“And then what? They would kill him as soon as he crossed the Gate! And we both would be tried and executed for such a crime. It would be a mercy to end him now.”

Jupiter raises his left arm and his weapon engages, “Dad don’t! Dad! No!”

Siff watches his eyes afire with fury: his face grimacing with the wrestling within. Baldr struggles to the surface and calms Jupiter’s justice, “I cannot. He is right. We should have saved them. We should have saved them all. They are our responsibility, and we have not loved them.” His armor opens a section and he pulls out a small med-kit, “This should last until we get him to a med-bed. Here, help me apply this lotion to his burns.”

They carefully pull back his clothes and spray the medicine on Lucas’ raw skin. He is so close to death he barely makes a sound. It is several minutes until they are done and Baldr pulls another vial from his med-kit, “This will help give him energy and rehydrate him. He may wake up, he may need to rest further.” Siff smiles and looks on as her father applies the dose onto a piece of unburnt skin. She watches his caring, hopeful eyes until he looks up, “What?”

“Nothing. It’s just good to see you, Dad.”

He smiles back, “Well, we’re not free and clear yet. Let me get that for you.” Baldr disarms the paralyzer and removes it from her neck. He puts it back in his armor, “The good news is we haven’t been killed yet, the surveillance systems must still be malfunctioning. The bad news is they could come back online any moment. We’ve got to get him on board Janus and safe from the Council.”

“How are we going to do that?”

Baldr puts his helmet back on and lifts the unconscious Lucas into his arms, “I have no idea, but we had better head to the Gate. We won’t have long to act once the Council gain control again.” They begin the hike back through the thickening forest, the eery quiet giving Siff time alone with her thoughts. She is not so sure she wants the opportunity.