The Genesis Saga

After the ship left, Jyn had Adrian confined to his room and put Beor and Kell on guard duty. Reya protested, only to be shut down. When Tassie hailed them to inform them that they were landing, all three soldiers left behind to secure the location immediately straightened up. The atmosphere turned serious as the house waited for the Elders to enter.

Jyn went outside to greet them as they came out of the ship. “Elders Orryn and Cirrus, General Nessah,” he said, “welcome. If you would please follow me inside. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to wait in your rooms for several minutes while we transfer our subject to a more secure location.”

“Where do you intend to put him?” Nessah inquired.

“In the ship’s cell.”

“Is there a need to do so?” Orryn asked. “If he’s been allowed out, surely it must be safe for us to meet him in person.”

“I’m afraid not, ma’am,” Jyn said.

“So he’s a security risk? Has he shown signs of violence?”

“Adrian has been nothing but peaceful since arriving,” Rann said quickly before Jyn could say otherwise. “It’s simply a precaution in case something does happen. It’s in everybody’s best interest.”

“I’m sure he feels the same way,” Orryn said as they entered the house. The new arrivals took a look around with interest. “This is a very nice place. It feels more like a vacation home than a military operation.”

“It was designed to house persons of interest long-term. Given that the people here might not be leaving for a while, it was decided to make it a comfortable dwelling,” Nessah explained. “The result is as you see.”

Jyn guided his superiors to the bedrooms on the first floor and asked them to remain inside temporarily. “I’d like to see him in person,” Orryn requested. “I feel that would be much better than through a holoscreen on the ship.”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” Jyn said. He gently ushered her inside and posted Rann and Tassie as guards. Calling out to Beor and Kell, Adrian was brought out of his room and escorted by the pair alongside Jyn into the ship. Adrian walked single file between his armed guards, struggling to suppress the desire to flee.

Jyn marched him straight into the cell he’d occupied when they’d first found him. The last thing he saw as the door shut behind him was Jyn’s smug face. Adrian walked up to the door and placed a hand on its smooth metallic frame. There was no handle on it and the seams lined up perfectly with the wall, barely visible. Adrian sighed in frustration. “Another cell,” he said. “When will I ever be free?” He found a spot on the floor and curled up into a small ball leaning against the wall.

The feeling of being trapped welled from deep inside, slowly at first but soon crashing into him like a tidal wave. A looming sense of dread settled deep within his bones. The walls closed in on him, the dim lighting of the room growing dark and distant as black spots began forming along the edges of his vision. His breathing came in short, shallow gasps and the sound of his blood pumping pounded in his ears.

His chest tightened and his body flushed with heat. Adrian grew lightheaded and forced himself to lie down on the floor, the cool metal refreshing against his burning skin. The spots in his vision grew larger as he trembled. Time became irrelevant as he waited for the moment to pass, trying not to be sick.

Back in the house, Reya crept nervously down the stairs. She’d made herself scarce when the Elders had arrived, hoping to avoid interacting with them. In her haste, she’d left her data slate in the living room. Her hopes of going unnoticed were dashed when Tassie and Rann allowed for the Elders to leave their rooms once they’d received a notification that Adrian was properly locked up.

“Miss Ayala,” Orryn said, causing Reya to freeze where she was. “It’s lovely to finally meet you.”

Reya looked around nervously, silently begging her friends to help her out. All she received in response was pitying stares and a shake of their heads. She was on her own. “Elder,” she said formally, clasping a hand over her fist and giving a slight deferential bow.

“Come now, no need to be so nervous,” Orryn said in amusement. She brought Reya to sit at the kitchen table. Reya glanced at her data slate wistfully one last time before turning her full attention to the Elder before her. “I’ve heard about your ordeal. How are you faring?”

Reya blinked, unsure how to respond. “I’ve been better,” she stammered out, tugging at her sleeve.

“I can imagine.” Orryn took in Reya’s choice of dress. “Isn’t it a bit hot outside for long sleeves? I just got here and I already wish I could get changed into something lighter.”

Reya startled at the observation. “I’m fine,” she said quickly.

Orryn looked at her in suspicion. “If you say so. Now then, tell me about your stay here.” Reya hesitantly launched into a recounting of the events that had happened so far. She explained her daily activities to pass the time, mentioning Adrian quite often in the process. “It sounds like you spend a lot of time with this Adrian. He’s the one that’s on the ship now, correct?”

Reya nodded. “I don’t think that he should be locked up. It’s unfair to him, especially after escaping. I can’t imagine what must be going through his mind right now. I feel horrible just thinking about it,” she said sadly.

“You have a great deal of empathy for this man,” Orryn noted.

“I know what it’s like being trapped and utterly helpless,” Reya replied with a heavy gaze. “It’s a terrible feeling. For me, it was only a month. For him, it was probably years. That kind of thing takes a toll on you. He’s completely at our mercy and I can’t imagine that sits well with him. He only puts up with it because he knows he has no choice. You’re literally holding a gun to his head and making him obey.”

“I see,” Orryn said, unsure what to make of Reya’s answer. She hadn’t expected that as a response when she made her observation. The look in Reya’s eyes as she spoke unsettled her. Orryn recognized it. It was the look of someone who’d seen too much. The weight behind her words was tangible, making her rethink Adrian’s confinement. “Tell me more about Adrian.”

Reya’s mistrust flashed openly on her face as she grappled with the decision to talk. She chose to speak about mundane things, such as his passion for music, his love of spending time outside and other small details that most would miss. It was obvious that Reya was withholding information, unwilling to reveal more personal aspects, but for Orryn, it was enough. A picture of their mysterious captive was being painted for her, one detail at a time. By the time Reya was done speaking, Orryn felt like she had a solid grasp on who Adrian was as a person. She didn’t miss Reya’s face light up when recounting happy moments that they shared or how her face softened when she talked about a minute detail only she knew. Orryn filed away Reya’s reactions for later.

Cirrus exited her room and walked over to Orryn. “It’s time to go see him,” she announced in a tone that brooked no disobedience. Orryn sighed. She would have preferred having more time to learn about the man, but she supposed that now was as good a time as any to make her own observations.

Rann was waiting by the door, ready to escort them onto the ship. The two Elders, along with Nessah, made their way to the bridge, where Tassie was preparing for their arrival. Displayed in front of her was an image of Adrian sitting on the floor, staring into space vacantly.

“This is him?” Cirrus asked excitedly. “He doesn’t appear to be too lively.”

“I doubt he would be, trapped in that cell,” Orryn chided. “I’m telling you, we’d get better results if we let him out and spoke to him in person.”

“The results would be the same,” Cirrus argued. “This way we’re safe while we assess him.” Cirrus ordered Tassie to zoom in on him, allowing her to get a better look. “Is there any way to increase the lighting in there? I’d like to see him better.” Tassie obliged, raising the lights in Adrian’s cell.

They watched Adrian perk his head up onscreen, some semblance of life returning to his eyes. “I take it I have company,” he said. “Hello, whoever you may be.”

“How does he know we’re watching him?” Cirrus said.

“He doesn’t,” Tassie replied. “He’s probably just assuming since his environment changed. Somebody has to be responsible for it, and he knows that you’re here to question him.”

“Perceptive,” Orryn said. “Open a channel so that we may converse with him.” Tassie obliged and soon the Elders barraged Adrian with their incessant questions. It began gently at first, with the Elders looking for some basic information. Then they grew increasingly personal as they left no subject untouched. Deeper they dug still, squeezing him for all he was worth. Adrian did his best to respond at the invasive questions as his opinion of the Elders dropped further. Luckily for Adrian, the only ones present when he underwent his questioning were Cirrus, Orryn and Nessah. The rest had been dismissed before the first question had even been asked. Not that he knew.

“Tell us about your world’s weapons,” Cirrus finally asked.

“No,” Adrian refused flatly. “I will not give you access to ideas from my civilization’s methods for war. Some things are best left unsaid. Besides, I don’t actually know any specifics about how they function or how they’re made.”

“You can at least describe them to us,” Cirrus insisted.

“No.” Adrian shook his head. “I refuse.” He would not be party to the introduction of weapons of mass destruction and his people’s history with them. There was no doubt in his mind that the technology they had was leaps and bounds ahead of anything he could offer. They did not need more ways to kill people.

“Tell us,” Cirrus growled. Orryn and Nessah shared a glance. “If you can’t do something so basic then that must be because there are none. You’ve been pushing the alien narrative, but frankly, I don’t buy it. I bet you can’t come up with any ideas because it’s all made up.”

“After all of that, you still don’t believe that there are others out there like me?” Adrian had gone into great detail about his world’s many cultures as well as his own.

“It’s impossible. There’s no way that two species would have evolved to be nearly identical. It’s far more probable that you, a literal living test subject, are the colour you are now because of what was done to you in that lab.”

“Why would they bother changing my skin colour?” Adrian challenged.

“I don’t know. You were experimented on by beings that quite literally think in alien ways. Their reasoning doesn’t have to make sense to us, save for the fact that they did it.”

Nessah watched the exchange impassively, revealing nothing. She knew that there were others out there like Adrian, but had yet to show the Elders the footage. She supposed that now would be a good time, before their discussion got out of hand. She sat down in Tassie’s chair and turned off the channel that allowed for them to communicate with Adrian.

“I have full reason to believe that he is from an alien planet where there are others like him,” Nessah said. Cirrus turned to look at her while she opened her briefcase and took out her data slate.

“I was wondering what you had hidden in there,” Orryn said. “What makes you so certain that he’s telling the truth about being an alien?”

“Because we have just recently uncovered new evidence that supports his claims.”

“And you didn’t think to inform us before hand?” Cirrus asked, annoyed that information had been withheld from them yet again.

“Like I said, it’s very recent,” Nessah replied calmly. She omitted the fact that recent for her meant several days, leading the Elders to believe otherwise. The video was transferred to the holoscreen floating above Tassie’s workstation. “One of our workers tasked with uncovering the files hidden away in their computer systems was contacted by somebody else. Had he not been present at the time, he would have missed the call entirely.”

The video started with Irric setting up his data slate and walking back to the terminal he’d been working at. The Elders watched as floating cubes slowly rotated. One of the keys on they terminal’s keyboard lit up.

Irric pushed the button.

The Elders stared mutely in shock as Connor and Ellie appeared onscreen. The pair began speaking in a nonsensical language and Orryn finally found her voice. “There are others,” she breathed. “They don’t look like test subjects either.”

“Probably scientists of some sort,” Cirrus commented, her eyes never leaving the screen. She analyzed the recording pensively as it continued to play out in front of them. When it finally stopped, she turned her head towards Nessah. “You believe them not to be experiments as well?”

Nessah nodded. “That’s right. They’re too healthy looking and animated when interacting with one another. It is possible that they also underwent some sort of procedure that changed their appearances.”

“I’m still not entirely convinced. I just don’t see how such a coincidence in nature could occur.”

“Do we know what they’re saying?” Orryn asked. She replayed the video and tried to parse the strange language they were using. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t find a single word that she knew within their speech patterns.

“No,” Nessah said. “I was thinking of showing Adrian the video to see if he can translate. He mentioned there being multiple languages where he’s from, so it’s uncertain as to whether or not he even can.”

“Is showing him a wise idea?” Cirrus asked. “What if he mistranslates for us or refuses to altogether? He could gain valuable information that we need. He’s going to know it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to use this as some sort of bargain. The question is, what will he want?”

“Do you really think he’d do that?” Orryn asked with a frown. After her discussion with Reya, she didn’t believe Adrian to be a person that would act in such a manner. However, she had to admit that it made sense, given the situation, for him to try and gain something.

“Positive,” Cirrus replied confidently. “He’s in a hostage situation and we’re giving him an inch. He’s going to take a mile. We could always try a more direct route to make him talk if he refuses.”

“We’re not torturing him,” Orryn said firmly. “Not after what he went through.”

“We don’t even know what he went through. He refused to talk about it. He simply said the experiments were horrific. Do you just expect me to take his word for it?”

“No, but if we judge based on what happened to Miss Ayala, then I’m sure what he went though was a nightmare. Besides, we already saw that one video of him being experimented on.” Cirrus suppressed a shudder at the mention. Adrian’s screams were not the kind of thing she’d ever forget.

“What do you suggest we do about the video then? The other Elders are going to want to see this. This isn’t the kind of thing we can just keep to ourselves. You know that there’s been intense debate about Adrian’s claims.”

“Then we show them,” Orryn said. “We can put our next course of action to a vote.” She turned towards Nessah. “Is there a secure room that we can use? It won’t be ideal, but the three of us will have to be together when the meeting occurs.”

Nessah grimaced. She’d known that there wasn’t going to be any way for to keep the video under wraps. The Elders were forcing her hand and there was nothing she could do about it. “The ship’s meeting room is equipped with everything we need for the meeting. We could post the crew as guards and instruct specifically not to interrupt us for the duration of the meeting.”

Orryn turned pensive. “That should work. I’ll call an emergency meeting so that we can discuss the topic at hand.”

“What do we do about Adrian?” Cirrus asked.

“He’s clearly not going to talk about weapons, so we should just give up on the topic for now. Maybe we can find some other way to make him talk.”

“I overheard you talking with Miss Ayala before. She seems to have a close connection with the man.” A predatory grin formed on Cirrus’ face. “We could use her to get information out of him.” Orryn and Nessah considered the possibility.

“She’s no longer military,” Nessah pointed out. “We technically can’t ask Miss Ayala to do any form of work for us. That includes what could be perceived as espionage.” Cirrus scoffed at the thought but didn’t refute Nessah’s claims.

“I think turning her against him won’t help us in the long run.” Orryn added her opinion, shaking her head. “Do we really need to know about his society’s weapons?”

“Of course we do!” Cirrus exclaimed. “How else are we supposed to prepare for when we finally meet them? We need to know what we’re up against.”

“We don’t even know where his home system is, let alone how to actually contact them. I don’t think this is a pressing issue,” Orryn said. “We should focus on getting information about his time in the facility. It’s more relevant to our situation.”

“Fine,” Cirrus said reluctantly. “But I want to find out about them eventually.”

With their next course of action decided, Nessah opened back up a communication channel with Adrian. The Elders continued to question him, refusing to expand on the abrupt break in their conversation several minutes prior. Despite their prodding, Adrian refused to go into detail about his time spent in the facility. The topic would remain a mystery that only Adrian knew the answers to.