Free Confrontation (The Seamus Chronicles Book 4) by K. D. McAdams Page B

are done. Sneaking around behind the others’ backs and giving away my reactor was a poor strategy. There are ways other than reverse psychology to get people to make the choices you want.
    “I would like to lead the rescue effort,” I say before I have thought it all the way through.
    From my mother’s face I can tell this was not her plan. I may have screwed up her politics, but I wanted to jump in before Mike or David had the chance to claim this goal.
    Mom looks at me. “Your father was going to take that one, along with Liam.”
    They are not the right ones for the job.
    “Well, Liam isn’t going,” I say. “He’s a new father and it’s not fair to ask that of him or Cassandra.” I can at least try to swap places with my brother.
    My mother’s stare bores a hole into my heart. I’ve screwed up her strategy, but I have to go.
    “I want David to go, representing McMurdo,” Mike says.
    “There is no ‘McMurdo and Ames.’ We are one group; whoever goes represents us all,” Mom says sharply.
    “Fine, then you can agree that David and Seamus represent us all,” Mike says, pleased with himself.
    Mom shakes her head. “I don’t think Seamus is right for this.”
    “I’m perfect for this. What if they have technology? Is there someone better suited to figure it out? Plus I don’t want to fight them, I want to learn about them.” I’m beginning to feel better about my choice.
    What I hadn’t yet thought about is handling David. He is physically more skilled than I am. I would also be willing to bet that he can manipulate me more than I can him. Juggling variables comes naturally to me, as long as they are measurable numbers. Emotions and ulterior motives are not measureable, which will make it tough to juggle David.
    “We’re going to leave the rescue team up in the air right now. The first thing we need to do is salvage the space plane. If we don’t get another portable containment field together, there won’t even be a rescue team,” Mom states firmly.
    “I agree. If you need any help driving the salvage team, let me know. I support this completely. Perhaps we can talk offline about the rescue team?” Mike says, trying to salvage some leadership power.
    Mom’s wheels are almost visibly turning. She’s trying to figure out a way to box out the McMurdo guys from the rescue team. With Dad and Liam on rescue and Henry on defense, she could have used McMurdo and Ames to her advantage. When I made the rescue team negotiable, it opened the door for Mike to inject himself and leverage the McMurdo–Ames conflict.
    We are here because of our inability to resolve conflict. The sore loser virus was released in retaliation to a biological attack. One human ideology was so frustrated with another that they decided killing was the best solution. The response was complete and total annihilation.
    It wasn’t a war like any that humans had seen, but it was most definitely a war. Now we are bringing that war-like thinking to a new planet.
    Consuming resources and leaving only waste is not the only pollution we have introduced to this plant. We’ve brought hatred and vengeance with us. Even in the face of discovering a new species, we have conflict amongst ourselves.
    Perhaps humans are not evolved enough to be exploring the stars. Maybe technology was never the limiting factor for us to discover life beyond Earth. If an alien race did observe humans, they may have been shocked to see us killing our own species over differences of opinion.
    Figuring out how to resolve our internal conflict peacefully is as important as learning how to engage with the natives of this planet. If the new generation of children grows up around conflict that turns violent, we have done nothing but delay the extinction of our species.
    What I need to do is work with mom to figure out a bigger picture. I don’t just need a goal for myself, I need to find a goal for humanity. World peace comes to mind quickly, but only because it