Page 84 of Meteor Storm

“We are not certain yet. But we would like to ask some questions before we make that decision.”

I nodded, awaiting the interview.

“What was your purpose on Earth?”

The question caught me off guard. Since leaving, I hadn’t told anyone my real identity besides Thilar. It made me wonder if it was alright to tell the clerics. How would word get back to the wrong people, after all? Any problems on Earth felt farther away by the second.

“I was training to be a soldier,” I said. “And a pilot. I wanted to be a police officer eventually. A law keeper.”

Naan tilted her head. “So, you do understand codes and rules.”

“Yes,” I said hesitantly.

“You seem honest. Your pulse suggests that you are, at least. And you’re brave for such a primitive creature, absorbing all this for the first time. That’s admirable, I suppose, though I struggle to find a reason Thilar would be so taken by you, of all people.”

I wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be an insult, but I took it on the chin.

“Are you a shining example of a human?” Kora asked.

“No,” I scoffed. “Humans are all different. Some will stab you in the back. Some will die with your secrets. Some start wars and some end them. Money is our primary motivator. A lot of us would do anything to get it. We are prone to mental health issues, whether they’re real or fabricated, and we self-sabotage. I want to think I’m an honest person who’s only ever tried to do good for the people I love, but I usually fail. And people usually fail me.” I paused a moment, letting my eyes wander. “Except Thilar.”

The two women slowly turned to look at each other and then let out what I could only assume was a laugh.

“You are indeed honest. Tell us about your attachment to Thilar, then.”

“What about it?” I asked, my cheeks heating.

“For one, why does your body react in such a way at the mere mention of him?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s… a chemical reaction, I guess.”

“Chemical reactions are easy to control.”

“Easy to manipulate,” Naan added.

“Thilar mentioned you have a very sensitive emotional capacity. Which, essentially, is all chemical. All things we have tried to breed out of our soldiers over the many cycles we’ve been perfecting their design.”

The two took turns speaking like they were of the same mind.

“Emotion clouds judgement. Causes our people to stray from the most logical paths.”

“But a certain level of emotion is needed to make certain judgements in the heat of battle. In situations where logic cannot always reign.”

“It’s a precise science to engineer our stock.”

“We create soldiers to fight.”

“Negotiators to speak on our behalf. Diplomats. Scribes. Engineers to design habitation vessels and perfect those that already exist. Engineers to build the most streamlined warships and cruisers.”

“Record keepers to plot the best bloodlines to use as genetic bases. We design it all.”

“We are the gods of our own species.”

There was a pause as if they were waiting for me to comment on that, but it was true. Even if I was highly religious, I couldn’t deny what was right in front of me. The monrians had managed to be the creators and the designers of their entire population. It both amazed and scared me to know they held that much power.

“So, you can imagine,” Naan said, stepping down from the dais they had both been standing on. “How strange it was when we were informed of Thilar’s unprecedented reaction to you and to Pek-Tol’s treatment of you both.”

As she walked toward me, I felt increasingly dwarfed in her presence. She was not as large as Thilar, but she was certainly formidable, even in what I assumed was old age by the fine lines on her face.