Chapter Seven
The Goseb camp was packed up quickly, and within the hour they had taken to their ships and left. We moved more slowly. Detro was in no hurry to return to the ship and the angry communications that waited for him. Instead, he sat down in front of the fire and motioned for me to join him.
I couldn’t sit. Instead, I paced around the campfire, my arms crossed. Detro just stared into the fire, sipping slowly from a glass.
“Come, sit beside me,” he said.
“No!” I yelled, and when I looked at him he looked almost impressed. I had never spoken to him that way before, but I couldn’t stop now. “You have to do something about that,” I said, pointing to the ships. We could see them in the sky, quickly moving up and away from us.
“There is nothing to be done,” he said, with a shrug. “Commander Etan will only be pleased when he gets what he wants, and I won’t permit that. A stand has to be made. It can no longer be appropriate for the Gosebs to treat humans like they’re nothing. I won’t stand by and watch that happen.”
“But if he reports you to your superiors then you’ll be taken away. You won’t be able to fight anymore. You’ll be taken out of the game.”
“I’m not done,” he said. “I have more power and more supporters than Etan. This is only the start of the fight, not the end.”
I crossed my arms and stared into the thick jungle. I wished I had the skills to survive in the wild. I wanted to just run away into the forest, live in the vines, drink from streams, never get on a spaceship again. I took two steps toward the thick foliage but the faraway call of some large animal stopped me.
There was no running away. I could never escape the Gosebs. This was their planet. With their superior technology, they could find me in mere moments.
“Please stop worrying, Mereen,” he said.
“How can you say that?” I demanded. “How am I supposed to relax? The Gosebs are going to destroy everything you’ve built here. They’re going to take away the privileges you’ve given. Do you think they care that output is better? They like using us. They like abusing us. They like the power they hold over us more than efficiency. We’re going to lose everything and it’s all my fault.”
“It’s not your fault,” he said, with a shake of his head.
“Yes, it is. You’re doing this for me. I’m the entire reason the commander left so angry. You shouldn’t have stopped him.”
“Don’t ever say that,” he said, getting up and striding towards me. He took my shoulders in his hands and turned me until I was facing him. “You are worth everything to me.”
We were so close, only inches apart. His strong hands were the only thing I could focus on. It had been a long time since we had stood this close, since the first time we met when he took my chin in his hands.
Much had changed since that first day. I felt no fear with him. His strong arms were on mine, but I wasn’t afraid. If anything, I only felt safer. I reached up and put a hand on his chest. Gosebs had a similar makeup to humans. His heart was in the same place as mine. I could feel it thumping under my hand. He looked calm, but I knew it was just another mask he was wearing. His heart was pounding, thundering away in his chest like the galloping of a thousand horses.
“I hate that you’re my prisoner,” he said, and it felt like my heart was being torn in half. “I wish that I could claim you as my own. I wish that you could be free on my ship and go wherever you wanted. I don’t want to be with you like this. I want us to be equals.”
“It’s the only way,” I said. “Even you said that we should not expect to see peace within our lifetimes.”
“There is another way,” he said, and his voice was a low whisper. I could hear the call of animals, the crackle of the fire and the wind whispering through the trees. “Have you ever heard of the Sanctuary?”
I shook my head.
“I’m not surprised,” he said. “The Gosebs would never permit this rumor to spread amongst the humans.” He caressed my cheek with the back of his hand and said, “Please come and sit by the fire. You’re cold.”
We walked over together and sat down in comfortable chairs. Detro put a blanket over my shoulders and I stared into the fire as he spoke.
“Officially, the Sanctuary doesn’t exist,” he said. “The same way there is no human rebellion.”
“There is no human rebellion,” I said, looking at him in confusion.
“Of course there is,” he responded. “There’s a major battle being fought in your solar system as we speak. The humans have caught up to us, technologically. We no longer have the fastest ships and best weapons. There’s a resurgence happening. But the Gosebs are worried that if word spreads it will encourage the human prisoners to rebel. It’s better, to them, that you exist with no hope at all.”
“A real human rebellion,” I said, my eyes wide. “I’ve only ever lived under the Gosebs.” The world with just humans, the world where I could be free. I had heard so many stories about Earth. The great cities, the oceans, paintings and songs. But I thought it a faraway legend. A myth, nothing more.
“It’s true, and the Gosebs are getting worried. The rebellion isn’t their only worry. There’s also The Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is a far off system of seventeen planets circling a bright yellow sun. It’s very similar to Earth’s solar system. They’re building a new society there. A world where humans and Gosebs live in peace and equality. They are the ones funding the rebellion. They build the ships, take refugees and grow the food.”
“The Sanctuary,” I said quietly. “I’ve never heard anything about it.”
“It’s kept very secret,” he said. “I’ve debated telling you many times. But I don’t know where it is or how to get there. I didn’t want to fill you with false hope,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t have any contacts in the rebellion. To get the location of the Sanctuary I would have to give up all of my work here. I had hoped to find some way to do both, but now... I feel I might be done with half-measures.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I mean, how can I talk about treating your people better? You’re our prisoners, you have no rights. To pretend that we could slowly transition to equality is nonsense. All that does is make it easier for my people to rationalize destroying yours. It’s not good enough. It has to be all or nothing.”
“So you’re going to join the rebellion?” I asked him.
“Something has to be done,” he said. “I can’t live with you as my prisoner anymore. It’s killing me.”
“I don’t want to cause you pain,” I said.
He reached over and took my hand in his. He brought it to his head and kissed the back of my hand and then the palm. He held my hand like it was a delicate piece of porcelain, something to be worshiped. He treated my dry and chapped hands, which had only ever known hard work, like they were perfect.
“You are the only thing in my life that brings me joy,” he said.
I looked over at his face, lit gently by the warm fire. A tingle went up and down my back as he held onto my hand, stroking my knuckles with his thumb. There was a longing in me that I had never felt before. A stirring inside my stomach, a pull in his direction.
“If we went to the Sanctuary I wouldn’t be your prisoner anymore. I would be free,” I said. “We would be equals.”
“We are equal now,” he said. “In my eyes, you are far better than me.”
Now it was my turn. I brought his green hand up. He was still wearing the black gloves of his armor and I slowly removed it, revealing his green hand. One by one I kissed the pads of his fingers, as I looked into his violet eyes.
“Do you fear me?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I long for you,” I whispered. He took my hand and pulled me closer to him. His arms wrapped around my waist and he pulled me close. I looked up into his eyes and then his lips were on mine. I closed my eyes as his kiss crashed down on me.