“You stood down…” S’lec-Quos said, “and now I see why. You intended on lighting that beacon atop the hill and bringing the Titans down on us. But it won’t work. We have you now and there’s no Taw to light it.”
“Someone will,” I said. “Even if it can’t be me.”
“It won’t be you,” S’lec-Quos said, nodding. “But there is still a way for you to save the honor of your family line, a way to save your sister, and Sirena.”
Sirena?
“She’s halfway across the galaxy by now,” I said. “Even you can’t touch her there.”
“No, but my soldiers transporting her can,” S’lec-Quos said. “One word from me and they’ll dispose of her.”
I searched the Changeling’s face for a sign he was lying, for a signal that he wasn’t telling the truth.
I couldn’t see it.
Changelings weren’t capable of mercy, not if it wasn’t in their interest.
“As for your sister, she’s tucked away safely upstairs,” S’lec-Quos said. “The moment the Titans get over your death, there will be a marriage between her and Zes.”
Zes stood to one side, thumbs tucked into the belt beneath his gut.
Betrayer.
“A union that will fuse the old Titan world and the new Changeling one,” S’lec-Quos said, “and usher in a new age of prosperity.”
“Then why aren’t I dead already?” I said. “Why are you telling me this?”
S’lec-Quos leaned down.
“Because there is still a way for you to keep your neck,” he said. “Even now, we Changelings are capable of forgiveness. You will tell the people you betrayed them. Tell them you were going to sell them out but we, the Changelings, saved them.”
“Why would I do something like that?” I said.
“Because if you don’t, Sirena will die and your sister will die shortly after the wedding,” S’lec-Quos said.
“And why would you keep your word?” I said.
S’lec-Quos chuckled like I’d made the funniest joke in the world.
“You are the one who broke your pledge, remember?” he said. “Not us.”
There was no way they were going to keep their word. Not if there was a profit in it for them. Just as I knew they wouldn’t waste valuable resources in keeping me alive. They would kill me the moment I got off that stage.
I extended my hand.
S’lec-Quos peered at it in confusion.
“A sign of trust,” I said.
S’lec-Quos took it and we shook.
He was going to betray me, that much was obvious.
My stomach performed somersaults.
But what would I say when the moment came? Would I lie and save my people’s lives again? Or tell the truth and sacrifice countless Titan lives?
I had no idea.
But at least I just bought myself a little more time to think.
A lot less time than I’d hoped, as it turned out.
The crowd’s murmurs grew louder as I stepped onto the stage. The restraints jangled at my wrists and ankles. There, arranged at each corner of the stage, a holographic projector that could both capture and project holograms from the blinking white lights on their surface.
They could transport apparitions of me across time and space to homes and factories on distant planets and moons and meteors in countless locations across the galaxy.
Titan workers would be pausing and tapping their friends on the shoulder to get their attention. Meanwhile, their Changeling supervisors would harangue them about getting back to work. The workers would ignore him. The threats he made didn’t matter.
And on other planets, in warm homes where children played, concerned parents would clutch their kids close and watch the events taking place. In some of those homes, Changeling inspectors would be ensuring homes met ‘safety’ standards—which in reality meant they were in the process of planting bugs to listen to what the families were thinking and saying.
The Titans spread out before me now were but a tiny fraction of the audience watching me. I gave my attention entirely to them. They represented every other Titan, male or female, child or adult, spread throughout the galaxy.
There were so many judging eyes in the crowd, so much hatred. A kind decision made for the right reason could still be the wrong decision.
A voice interrupted my thoughts:
“They are ready,” Qale had said. “They were born ready.”
Looking out at them now, I knew that to be a lie. They stared at me with venom that suggested they wanted to tear me apart with their bare hands.
I had given them to our enemies.
No matter the reason, it still amounted to the same thing.
I hung my head in shame.
S’lec-Quos got to his feet armed with a tall walking stick. At one end, a curved blade glinted off the bright sunlight.
The tool he would use to punish me.
He looked out at the crowd of Titans before turning back to me.
“The great House of Taw has served the people of Titan for centuries,” S’lec-Quos said, “leading it in times of trouble and strife, through good and bad. It has always stood as a beacon of hope.”
I peered up at the cloudless blue sky at the mountain in the distance. The heap of wood was barely visible from here. I wished it would self-combust and leap into flames. But it didn’t.
And it wouldn’t.
Because I had failed.
“You, Kal of House Taw, do hereby stand accused of treachery,” S’lec-Quos said. “You planned on sacrificing the people for your own benefit. It is we, the Changelings, who discovered how deeply the rot runs at House Taw. You have been removed and shall never darken the door of House Taw again.”
The Titans’ attention snapped to me. The question was written on their faces: Is it true?
The fact they could even bring themselves to ask that question meant I had seriously damaged House Taw’s reputation. They never would have even considered it in the past.
“But even now, it is not too late,” S’lec-Quos said. “You may repent your sins and live out the rest of your days in comfort. Changelings are merciful. All you need do is kiss my staff and mercy will be granted.”
I raised my eyes and looked
