Free Judgment by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant Page B

Andreus’s daughter, Grace. And the aliens weren’t the ones who had ended her life.  
    “What Peers has been telling me makes sense,” Charlie proceeded into Cameron’s silence. “Beings came from the sky, and humanity cowered. But in the past, there’s always been evidence of societies built together, not conquest.”  
    “Aren’t you the one who said back in Moab that colonization came first, and annihilation followed?”  
    “Matter of perspective, maybe.”  
    “And Heaven’s Veil? Was that a matter of perspective, Charlie?”  
    “If you’re objective, yes. They needed to find the archive, after the Templars hid it, because what it contains is necessary for their next stage on Earth. But they’re making this up as they go too, Cameron. If they’ve always left a device behind to record what humanity did in their absence between epochs — like security camera footage to be reviewed the next day for patterns — then it makes sense that they tried to find it first thing. It was supposed to be under Vail, below the Apex pyramid. In the past, it seems to have always been left at one of the nexus points. But the Templars had a sense of humor last time. They took the Ark from where the Astrals left it and stowed it where it had famously judged humanity in the past. But the Astrals didn’t know the Templars had found it, and when they saw that the key had been removed and stored separately, back in Cottonwood, I imagine that made them nervous. So they followed us, assuming we’d lead them to it. When that didn’t work, they powered up the grid in Heaven’s Veil, turning on what Clara called the ‘spotlight.’ We put an end to that, too, by blowing up the Apex. What choice did we leave them?”
    “You’re right, Charlie. Obliterating an entire city full of hundreds of thousands of people was really sensible once you look at it that way.”  
    “Don’t be dense,” Charlie snapped, surprising Cameron. “This is a race that’s been around for hundreds of thousands of years at least, possibly millions, or billions. Cosmologically speaking, there’s room on the timeline for a species nearly that old given the right circumstances. They seeded life throughout the galaxy, maybe many galaxies. They’ve likely had the capacity for intergalactic travel since before humanity was a gleam in evolution’s eye. We don’t know how long their natural lifespans are as individuals, but I don’t think it matters because they’re barely individuals. You’ve heard how Kindred talks about his nightmares.”  
    Cameron had. Kindred was Meyer Dempsey through and through, but some part of his higher mind must have held bits of his former Titan self. He sometimes had night terrors of the day he was changed, and of how petrified he felt to be cut from their collective.
    “They don’t think the way we do,” Charlie said, his intensity fully returned. “It’s stupid and arrogant to attribute human thought to beings that might, for all intents and purposes, think of themselves as timeless — in a single unbroken mind, if not in body. When you’re that old, you don’t worry about whether your meal at a restaurant is five minutes late or lose your Zen when the person in front of you at the ten-items-or-less line has fifty items. So yes, Cameron. To them, destroying Heaven’s Veil might have seemed perfectly sensible. If we killed as many Astrals as they killed humans, they’d shrug it off and keep ticking. It’s possible they feel it was no big deal. And by doing it, they generated an emotional signal — from the dying but also from anyone who saw or heard about it — that would have to stream out and into their lost archive. They tried to find it through more peaceful means, but humanity kept it hidden. They need it to do their work. So in their shoes, what choice did they have?”
    Cameron just stared. “So we had it coming? That’s great, Charlie. Now can you explain why ‘inferior’ races are just