“Oh, Marjorie, you’re too much!” I say with a laugh. “You’re so convincing, it’s scary! I’m so glad you didn’t eat the same spoiled food as the others. Gorka was espe—”
“Shut up!” she barks.
She’s cornered me at the back of the room, far from the exit, and now she opens the drawer where I found the weapon earlier.
“Maybe you hadn’t seen anything before, but you sure have now,” she says, aiming the object at me with a vicious grin.
“What is that thing?” I ask, feigning ignorance.
“Oh, come on. Even a mountain yokel like you knows what it is. You know what? Every Palace resident has one. And we know how to use them. Handy for hunting dinner… or making nosy pests disappear.”
I stare at her, stunned. Did she just admit to murder? That can’t be real. Someone would’ve known… right?
“Ha! I can see your little brain chugging along, wondering if I’m telling the truth. Well, guess what? It’s very convenient that the incinerators are here at the Palace. Remember Akiro and his partner Jonathan? That little snoop found some marmot corpses in the kitchens. Makes a delicious stew. Those two never made it to Arabia Terra. Just a one-way ticket to the furnace—just like you!”
Ares help us! Marjorie is a full-on psychopath. She’s bragging about killing Akiro and Jonathan—two sweet guys who never hurt anyone.
“I don’t understand. Why?” I whisper. “Does the Regent know?”
“Vassili? He’s our role model. He’s gonna bring Human greatness back to the center of this community. We’re done blindly following some alien utopian ideals. What right do they have to lecture us? They dropped us off here and never checked back in. And they forced us back into the Stone Age. We humans are the only species smart enough to dominate all the others! Weconquered Earth—made Nature our servant. You’ve seen how fast our ancestors advanced. And the Polarians dumped us here, stripped us of everything, and gave us these outdated rules? They can shove their laws!”
She’s fired up, preaching about the glory of old humanity, her eyes shining, forgetting completely that without the Polarians, we’d all be dead on a dying Earth.
“But what did Akiro and Jonathan have to do with any of that?” I ask softly.
“Because you softies—'naïves', as we call you—actually like that stupid Pact. You—yeah, you—always shoot me dirty looks when I clear out the market shelves. But if I want to eat every damn kiwi in two days, who’s gonna stop me? If I feel like shooting a rabbit just for fun—or for that delicious power of life and death—it’s not you that’s gonna stand in my way!”
“Doesn’t it bother you at all, acting selfishly, ignoring the consequences?”
“Oh Neela, sweet naive Neela… You just don’t get it. It’s the law of nature. The strong dominate the weak. They don’t help them. It’s every man for himself! That’s how it was on Earth, always. And soon, it’ll be the same on Mars. Vassili’s got a plan, and soon you’ll all be under his thumb. Well, you won’t—lucky you.”
“You talk about domination. I believe in balance. Every species has value. Humanity is just one thread in the web. When our ancestors forgot that, they slowly killed the Earth.”
“See? That’s what I’m talking about. You’re so stuck in your precious Pact, you can’t see straight. You know what? Let’s go. I’m taking you to the incinerator now—it’ll save me the trouble of dragging your corpse later.”
She’s dead set on this—I can see it in her smug expression. Now that she’s spilled everything, she’s not going to just let mewalk away. Gods, why couldn’t she have eaten the stew like the others?
Resigned, I head toward the door, her bitter presence close behind. How much hate does someone need to do something like this?
As I step across the threshold of the Regent’s office, I spot Prax, pressed against the wall. Relief crashes over me so fast I almost leap into his arms—but there’s no time. He grabs my wrist, yanks me behind him, and tosses me into Esteban’s waiting arms. Marjorie bursts out, shocked by my sudden disappearance. Her wide eyes meet my Sadjim’s… and she doesn’t even flinch when he raises his arm.
“Well, you know what?” he grins. “You’re gonna take a big ol’ nap!” And just like that, he clocks her hard on the temple, flashing me a mischievous look.
She drops instantly, unconscious, the weapon slipping from her hand.
My first instinct is to help her, but Prax blocks me.
“Don’t go near that lunatic! What do we do with her?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean it’s clear. What do we do with her? She confessed. She was about to kill you. We can’t let her walk away.”
“I agree,” Esteban chimes in.
“You can’t be serious! We’re not like them. We don’t kill. And in case you forgot, I’m a doctor. I save lives—I don’t take them!”
“Then we leave. Right now. Grab what you need, and we get out of Cydonia. Because trust me, after this, they’re coming for you,” Prax says, final and cold.
