He shakes his head. “That will not make you happy.”
“I’m not sure I know how to be happy.” I sink onto the bed and unravel my braid.
Patrick drags the chair and sits opposite me. “You seem happy when you talk of your alien. Your eyes light up and you’re excited to talk about him.”
“He’s not my alien.” If anything, he’s my research subject.
“If he wasn’t stuck in the cell, he could be yours.”
My lips twitch, but don’t turn into a smile. “Maybe. Do you really want an alien man raising your children?”
“Oh my God, they aren’t even conceived, and they already have a stepfather…” he puts his hand over his heart as though aggrieved. “As long as they call me dad and him whatever the alien word for dad is.”
I force a laugh. “I can’t believe we’re having a custody battle already.”
“Custody battle? Oh no, I’m living with you and your alien husband.”
“And what about your husband?”
“And him as well, when I find one. We are going to be one giant, weird family.”
This time I do smile because I can imagine it. It’s not much different from what we had talked about before, only this time it’s not me, the children, Patrick and his boyfriend, there’s also my alien mate, Tiril.
“We need to find a way to tell everyone the truth, and not cause a panic,” Patrick says with such seriousness that I'm sure he has a plan.
“What will that do? The leaders will be furious.” They’ll probably kill me and Tiril and anyone else involved.
“We do it in such a way that they are discredited, so no one will obey them.”
“They will always be those who are happy to obey those in power without thought, because they want to ignore the hard facts." I’m not sure that news of aliens will be enough tooverthrow the leadership. “And we'd need someone else to step up and lead. We can’t leave a gap.”
“We need three people to keep the power structure the same and make it an easy transition. We could do it.”
“No, I’m a scientist." I shake my head. "I don’t want to rule the colony. Your sister could do it; Mandy already knows all the systems and how to access the data.”
He tilts his head in agreement. “She could. Then we still need two more.”
“Tiril? Since he will be helping with farming and such. And if his brothers haven’t sailed to the other continent, they could join the colony too?” Tiril will be thrilled to be reunited with his brother. It also means Sabine, and the other women, could return.
“Would he do it?”
“At the moment, he'd agree to anything to get out of the cell. I don't think many humans would like it. What about you?” I nod at Patrick.
Patrick shakes his head. “Mandy will be better at it, and it wouldn’t be right for me to sit next to her. Leave it with me. Tell your alien there’s going to be some trouble.” He stands as if it’s all decided.
“Wait, that’s it? That’s the entire plan? Tell people about aliens?”
He nods. “Pretty much. I’m assuming you’ve uploaded videos and data and such, so I’ll have Mandy access them, put something together, and then hack into everybody’s whisperer and broadcast it.”
I stare at him, my heart beating far too fast and hard. “Fuck, we’re going to die.”
“I don’t think we will, and I’ll make sure to point out Sabine is alive, and that those have gone missing were dissenters, killed because they spoke out.”
“You don’t have proof of that.”
He lifts one eyebrow. “Mandy says there is proof. This information is the only weapon we have. If we don’t use it now, then what is the point?”
“I will need to free Tiril before you make the broadcast. The lab is half an hour away from the boundary fence.”
