{"id":253,"date":"2012-09-23T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2012-09-23T04:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=253"},"modified":"2012-09-22T21:29:28","modified_gmt":"2012-09-23T01:29:28","slug":"chapter-thirty-eight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=253","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Thirty-eight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Everything happens for a reason, whether we know what it is or not.\u00a0 Sometimes, the reason is a test.\u00a0 Sometimes, the reason is to bear witness.\u00a0 Usually we never know why, we just thank our lucky stars that we were in the right place at the right time and curse the moment when we weren\u2019t.<\/h3>\n

— Sara Farragut, circa 4857 PD<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

20 Novem, 5249 PD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alana cursed softly under her breath, glaring at the control board as if it had betrayed her.\u00a0 She\u2019d been staring and cursing at it for the past hour, since they dropped out of jump on the far side of Eridani Trelasia\u2019s asteroid field\u2014evidently not where she\u2019d hoped they\u2019d end up coming out of their jump from the Whispers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSwearing at the controls won\u2019t get us there faster,\u201d America said from inside the guts of the secondary boards.\u00a0 \u201cAnd it\u2019s not the console\u2019s fault we popped out where we did.\u00a0 Gravity wells.\u00a0 That bullshit.\u201d\u00a0 She peeked out and up toward the commando.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re not a ship jockey, Alana.\u00a0 Don\u2019t beat yourself up because you don\u2019t fly like one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery damn second of delay gives D\u2019Arcy Morgause more time to poison the Council and convince them what we saw at the Whispers didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can\u2019t possibly be that powerful or that influential,\u201d Grant growled softly from his seat in one of the observation chairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s only one voice shouting, it\u2019s going to end up sounding like the truth no matter how you slice it,\u201d Alana said, voice dripping bitterness.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019ll put together some kind of mountain of manufactured and circumstantial evidence and since it\u2019ll sound just credible enough to be true, everyone who wants to hope that maybe the Commonwealth isn\u2019t dying, that maybe humanity isn\u2019t so damn sick it would murder entire planets, will believe it because he\u2019s the only one in the room speaking their language.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think the people of the Foundation could be that stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not stupid,\u201d Ezra said as he straightened from tending to Brendan.\u00a0 \u201cThey are<\/em> that afraid, though.\u00a0 Who would want to believe it could happen not once, but twice?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one,\u201d America said, voice half muffled.\u00a0 \u201cBut it did, and we\u2019re the ones with the proof.\u201d\u00a0 She hauled herself out from under the console, a glimmering bit of electronics stuck to one of her palms by sweat and lubricant.\u00a0 She held it out to Alana, who took it wordlessly and tucked it into a pocket of her jumpsuit.\u00a0 \u201cAnd we\u2019ve got multiple copies.\u00a0 You can\u2019t kill the truth.\u00a0 Not easily, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ezra nodded, trying to quell the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re right\u2014you can\u2019t.\u00a0 But the proof we\u2019re bringing is going to fuel more fear and that fear is going to lead to denial because what other weapon do most people have?\u00a0 If someone killed not one but two<\/em> planets, they\u2019re not going to have any moral compunction about killing more.\u00a0 That\u2019s going to keep people up at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to convince them that fighting back is a better idea than laying down and waiting to die,\u201d Grant said.\u00a0 \u201cThat shouldn\u2019t be too difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou forget that we\u2019re dealing with a planet chock full of pacifists.\u201d\u00a0 Alana looked directly at Ezra, who flinched and looked away.\u00a0 \u201cAnd with that comes a lot of fear and a lot of difficulty in mobilizing for war.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re already mobilizing,\u201d Ezra said quietly, slumping into one of the other seats.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s just a question of whether there\u2019ll be enough bodies and if it\u2019ll be fast enough.\u00a0 Seems to me that the answer is going to be no on both counts, Lindsay\u2019s warnings nonwithstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur daughter saw the war coming?\u201d\u00a0 America asked as she cleaned her hands on a rag she\u2019d left laying on the secondary boards, leaning against the edge of the console.\u00a0 \u201cShe saw it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLindsay sees a lot of things.\u00a0 She doesn\u2019t always tell the Council what she sees when she sees them, but in this case, she did and she told them exactly what they didn\u2019t<\/em> want to hear.\u201d\u00a0 Alana closed her eyes for a moment.\u00a0 \u201cIt should have been enough to get the entire planet to gird for war, but all it did was show us exactly where people are going to end up when the chips are down\u2014until someone shows up shooting.\u00a0 Even then, I\u2019m not so sure that ideals aren\u2019t going to crumble under the weight of certain death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ezra swallowed hard.\u00a0 \u201cGive the pacifists some credit, Alana.\u00a0 Some of us realize when a fight is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot all of them are as smart as you, Ezra,\u201d Alana said, then turned toward the console.\u00a0 She swore at it again, this time under her breath, then sighed and leaned her head back.\u00a0 \u201cI just want this bucket to move faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Me too,<\/em> Ezra thought glumly, glancing at America and Grant.\u00a0 Lindsay\u2019s mother frowned to herself, then finally shrugged and shook her head.\u00a0 Grant just sat there, stone-faced, apparently deep in thought.<\/p>\n

Ezra glanced at the timer.\u00a0 Three hours to go.\u00a0 Not fast enough.\u00a0 Not nearly fast enough.\u00a0 What if she\u2019s right?\u00a0 What if D\u2019Arcy manages to convince the Council that the Whispers weren\u2019t destroyed before we manage to get there and prove the truth?\u00a0 What happens then?<\/em>\u00a0 His stomach flipped over once, then again.\u00a0 Kara wouldn\u2019t believe it.\u00a0 Neither would the Marshals, or Rachel and Lindsay.\u00a0 But everyone else\u2026everyone else is a wild card, aren\u2019t they?\u00a0 Mugabe would probably side with us.\u00a0 Amelda might\u2014as deeply as she believes in the Foundation\u2019s ideals, she knows that humanity has an innate capacity for self-harm, for self-destruction.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But it wouldn\u2019t be enough.\u00a0 It\u2019d split the Council.\u00a0 That wouldn\u2019t do anyone any good, not when we need to be united.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDamn,\u201d he breathed, staring at the glowing numbers of the countdown clock.<\/p>\n

Alana looked back at him.\u00a0 \u201cYeah.\u00a0 Exactly.\u00a0 Start praying again, Ez.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t just tight-beam a message back or something?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI already did.\u00a0 The Marshals know we\u2019re coming and they\u2019re going to be there to meet us when we set down.\u00a0 I\u2019m not handing this ship over to anyone but Aidan Church or Adam Windsor.\u00a0 The last thing we need is for D\u2019Arcy to get his dirty paws on it and erase everything we risked our asses to get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ezra didn\u2019t remind her that it had been accident that pulled them out at the Whispers, happenstance.<\/p>\n

Or was it?\u00a0 What if that was meant to be?<\/em><\/p>\n

He shook himself, trying not to go down that path.\u00a0 Down that path lay madness.<\/p>\n

But we were in the right place at the right time.\u00a0 There must have been a reason for it.\u00a0 It couldn\u2019t have just been random chance.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Could it?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everything happens for a reason, whether we know what it is or not.\u00a0 Sometimes, the reason is a test.\u00a0 Sometimes, the reason is to bear witness.\u00a0 Usually we never know why, we just thank our lucky stars that we were … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-last-colony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p25yjF-45","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions\/254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}