“I’d do more,” he whispered.
“Precisely,” the Commander said. “And that is what we do. Do more, render aid, confront oppression, alleviate suffering wherever we can.”
“Hence Samaritans,” Taka added
“You were our greatest work,” the Commander continued. “And also, we thought, our last. But with the four of you, the quintet and the supplies we will salvage from this place, perhaps the work can continue for a little longer.”
Addison’s head snapped up.
“The quintet?” he demanded, glaring at the kneeling figures. “You’re not going to punish them?”
“That is not our way.”
“They tried to kill us.”
“They are no longer a threat.”
“They tried to fucking kill us!”
“Mr. Moore,” the Commander replied, turning stern. “We are not executioners. We will not sit in judgement of people reacting to the end of the world. Once we have ensured they cannot hurt others, they will be released. They can return to their tribe or, we hope, join us.”
“Why would they ever join you?”
“Why not? We were hoping you would join us yourself.”
Addison laughed, but his friends didn’t. Taka, Thibault and Hannah had clearly been given this speech before, and he sensed they had already come to a conclusion.
“Go on,” Addison said. “Spit it out.”
“You have two choices,” the Commander explained. “Once we have debriefed you and disabled the levelling machinery you may either stay here – where there will be power, food, shelter, at least for a while – or you may join us. Choose the former and you will survive, perhaps for some time, but it will be subsistence. Join us and you could yet make a difference. There are others out there in need of assistance, people we could yet save from further unnecessary suffering.”
“I thought the planet was dying?”
“It is.”
“So it’s death either way?”
“Only a question of time. But with us, you can make that time matter.”
Addison couldn’t believe what he was hearing. After everything they had been through it was like a sick joke. A new beginning that was also an end, a salvation that was a death sentence. It felt like something cosmic was laughing at his expense. He had resigned himself to death so many times recently he should have known better, but seeing these men with their futuristic rifles, their power, he had dared to hope. But it was all a joke, one big lie. There was no meaning to any of it.
“Some choice,” Addison said, bitterly.
“It is the only choice that matters,” the Commander replied, shouldering his rifle. “Now, I have matters to attend to, and you a decision to make. We will be leaving soon. Come or stay, the choice is yours.”
Addison watched the Commander march off down the aisle.
The four remaining returnees convened around the upturned defence table. Five, who had been released by the Samaritans, shuffled up just as Addison was making his opening argument.
“We should stay,” he began, banging on the table. “We have water, heat, food, power. There are more rooms than we’ll ever need, and once they’ve turned the machinery off the power might last indefinitely. Leaving means certain death, but in here we could have a life. We could be together.”
He looked pleadingly at Taka, but his partner turned instead to Hannah.
“What d’you think, young lady?” he asked. “Door A, or Door B?”
Hannah was rolling a mangled wing of the mantis drone between her fingers.
“I want to leave,” she said.
“Why?” Addison cried.
“This is a place of death.”
“Hannah, you don’t know what you’re saying.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” the teen replied. “You’re just afraid. How do you know here is any safer than out there?”
“You heard the Commander, this place was hidden for years.”
“And now everyone knows about it.”
“It’s a fortress.”
“It’s a prison.”
Addison groaned, sensing the way this was going.
“Thibault?” he pleaded, rounding on the Belgian. “Come on, see sense. This place could be good for us all, shelter us until the end comes.”
“I go with the girl,” the old man said simply.
“You’re not thinking straight.”
“Thinking’s not my strong suit,” Thibault replied, with an apologetic smile. “I like doing, acting, helping. The girl’s a smart one, so what she wants, I want.”
Taka turned to address the man sitting behind.
“Five, old buddy, old pal,” he said. “I see you lurking back there. What say you? Should we stay or should we go?”
“I have forfeited the right to an opinion,” the ex-leveller replied. “I will go with the consensus. If, of course, you permit me to join.”
“As the nice Commander said, you can do whatever you want. You weren’t like the others, I say you can come with us.”
“Before you accept me you should know something,” Five replied, studying his hands. “Something that may change your estimation of me.”
The four returnees glanced at each other.
“Go on...” Taka said, folding his arms.
“It was I who conceived of this enterprise,” Five began, shaking his head ruefully. “I who broke through the institute’s defences, I who coaxed the place back to life and repaired the levelling machinery. It was even I who pressed the button that resurrected you, Addison. In a very real sense I am the reason you are all here. I am to blame for all of it.
“You only know me as Five, the lowest of the low, but the reason for my reduction in status was a last-minute change of heart. I felt guilty for what I had done and tried to get my associates to stop, but they overruled me and cast me down. But guilt does not change the fact that I was the one responsible. Of all of us, I am the most to blame.”
There was a long silence.
“I don’t care,” Hannah said eventually.
“Well I do!” Addison cried.
“It’s like the Commander said,” she continued, giving Addison an infuriatingly mature look. “We don’t judge. We just do what matters. He’s changed his mind. So I say
