Teaser: Not So Different
Jun. 16th, 2014 08:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalJust a little something set in The Red Vixen Adventures past, with Rolas and Rollie from Prisoners of War
* * *
Rolas stepped out onto the verandah, paws raised high, staring down at the guns aimed at his chest, at him home. Guns that belonged the military he had once sworn an oath to, under the command of the male he’d once called a friend. “I’m here. I’m not armed,” he said aloud.
“Rolas, step away from the door and let us in,” Reggie called from lawn, flanked by soldiers on either side. They were armed with rifles, not vomit grenade launchers this time. Our fear makes killing so much easier. Especially when it’s a monster we face. Reggie looked tired, and angry, and as frightened as the young soldiers he led.
“I can’t, Reg,” Rolas called back.
“Rolas, you’re in violation of a Council order. You’re harboring fugitives that have been determined to be a danger to our entire world!”
“They are not dangerous. Not unless you insist on threatening them,” Rolas said, keeping his eyes locked on Reggie’s, trying to ignore the guns. It isn’t the weapons that are going to win this, but they could surely make us all lose.
“Damnit, Rollie. You’ve seen their technology, and the history records we’ve found on their machines. They could lay waste to our entire world, and they’re insane enough to it!”
“Insane enough to lay waste to themselves. They almost did it, twice. Once with the great bombs they created for their great wars, once by ignoring the environment that they lived in. Death by radiation, and death by poison. Fortunately in the end they corrected their mistakes, if only barely in time. They do learn from their mistakes. Can’t we do the same?”
Reggie shook his head. “Rolas, we can’t let them leave. Not with the knowledge they gained of our world. They could come back and overwhelm us!”
Rolas smiled grimly. “It doesn’t matter if they leave or not.” He gestured to the half assembled dish antenna laid out on the lawn in front of the engine barn. “In three months that ship of theirs in orbit is going to ask for a signal, to let it know that they are alive and well. If it doesn’t receive it, it’s going to scoot on home, a five year trip, and tell the people that sent it its explorers disappeared. Then they’re going to send out another ship, a bigger ship, to find out what happened. Then perhaps another, and then another. It’s not going to stop, Reggie. We can’t stop it. We can only hope that they’ll accept our apology for such a disastrous introduction. I think letting them go home on their own would be a good start.”
Reggie looked sick to his stomach. “We can bury them, bury all the evidence. Pretend we never saw anyone land. We can still stop it! They’re monsters, Rolas. They aren’t like us!”
Rolas opened his mouth to dispute this, when a high pitched wailing from inside the house interrupted him. One of the soldiers nearly let off a wild shot, before a sharp command from Reg made the soldier lower his weapon.
“What is that noise, Rolas?” he demanded.
“I’ll show you,” Rolas said, a terrible, cold smile on his face. He called back, “Come on out! It will be all right!”
From inside the house the two humans emerged, the baby on the woman’s hip, crying lustily for his milk.
“What… what is that?” Reggie demanded, mouth agape. Beside him the soldier with the hair trigger appeared to be muttering a prayer.
“Their child,” Rolas said. “That’s why they were so desperate to escape. They didn’t want their son to be born behind electric fences in a concrete cell, to be poked and prodded by strangers who feared him. How strange, how bizarre, how incomprehensibly alien.”
* * *
Rolas stepped out onto the verandah, paws raised high, staring down at the guns aimed at his chest, at him home. Guns that belonged the military he had once sworn an oath to, under the command of the male he’d once called a friend. “I’m here. I’m not armed,” he said aloud.
“Rolas, step away from the door and let us in,” Reggie called from lawn, flanked by soldiers on either side. They were armed with rifles, not vomit grenade launchers this time. Our fear makes killing so much easier. Especially when it’s a monster we face. Reggie looked tired, and angry, and as frightened as the young soldiers he led.
“I can’t, Reg,” Rolas called back.
“Rolas, you’re in violation of a Council order. You’re harboring fugitives that have been determined to be a danger to our entire world!”
“They are not dangerous. Not unless you insist on threatening them,” Rolas said, keeping his eyes locked on Reggie’s, trying to ignore the guns. It isn’t the weapons that are going to win this, but they could surely make us all lose.
“Damnit, Rollie. You’ve seen their technology, and the history records we’ve found on their machines. They could lay waste to our entire world, and they’re insane enough to it!”
“Insane enough to lay waste to themselves. They almost did it, twice. Once with the great bombs they created for their great wars, once by ignoring the environment that they lived in. Death by radiation, and death by poison. Fortunately in the end they corrected their mistakes, if only barely in time. They do learn from their mistakes. Can’t we do the same?”
Reggie shook his head. “Rolas, we can’t let them leave. Not with the knowledge they gained of our world. They could come back and overwhelm us!”
Rolas smiled grimly. “It doesn’t matter if they leave or not.” He gestured to the half assembled dish antenna laid out on the lawn in front of the engine barn. “In three months that ship of theirs in orbit is going to ask for a signal, to let it know that they are alive and well. If it doesn’t receive it, it’s going to scoot on home, a five year trip, and tell the people that sent it its explorers disappeared. Then they’re going to send out another ship, a bigger ship, to find out what happened. Then perhaps another, and then another. It’s not going to stop, Reggie. We can’t stop it. We can only hope that they’ll accept our apology for such a disastrous introduction. I think letting them go home on their own would be a good start.”
Reggie looked sick to his stomach. “We can bury them, bury all the evidence. Pretend we never saw anyone land. We can still stop it! They’re monsters, Rolas. They aren’t like us!”
Rolas opened his mouth to dispute this, when a high pitched wailing from inside the house interrupted him. One of the soldiers nearly let off a wild shot, before a sharp command from Reg made the soldier lower his weapon.
“What is that noise, Rolas?” he demanded.
“I’ll show you,” Rolas said, a terrible, cold smile on his face. He called back, “Come on out! It will be all right!”
From inside the house the two humans emerged, the baby on the woman’s hip, crying lustily for his milk.
“What… what is that?” Reggie demanded, mouth agape. Beside him the soldier with the hair trigger appeared to be muttering a prayer.
“Their child,” Rolas said. “That’s why they were so desperate to escape. They didn’t want their son to be born behind electric fences in a concrete cell, to be poked and prodded by strangers who feared him. How strange, how bizarre, how incomprehensibly alien.”
