Velsil had carried the young boy onto the ship with great fury. She pressed a button on the wall with her shoulder and placed the boy on the table that opened up. Velsil was in a panic attack, her hands, face, and even clothes stained with blood. Goma and I, meanwhile, were sitting outside, rotating my pipe.
Velsil activated the medical computer. While the computer was stitching up the boy's wounded head, Goma asked:
"Should we have brought some beers, Aldo? This planet looks cool, like exactly the kind of place you'd want a drink."
"If Ilya realized we brought beer cans, she'd chew us out. I can almost hear her high-pitched voice screaming, 'You're going to work, not to party, you idiots!'"
"Yeah... So, did you bring beer?" she asked, and we stared at each other for a moment.
"In the hidden pilot compartment in the cockpit…" As Goma ran toward the ship, I yelled after her: "Don't you dare drink too much! I bought those for myself."
"I promise."
When Goma entered the spacecraft, Velsil and the boy were blocking the corridor. The boy was lying sideways on the metal bed, coughing up blood in agony. "Could you step aside?" Goma shouted.
"You idiot!" Velsil screamed. The boy looked at Goma out of the corner of his eye, trembling uncontrollably. "The kid is dying here, what are you talking about?"
"So you're not going to move?"
"Absolutely not!" Then Velsil grabbed Goma by the collar. "Get the hell out of here!" she shrieked again.
"Fine, whatever!" Goma said and returned to my side. I offered her my pipe. "Velsil won't let me in."
"Did you tell her you were getting beer?"
"No... But I doubt it would have made a difference."
I received no education on what is called human affection. Nor did I ever feel any love for children or any human compassion whatsoever. I had only felt love once, and that love had turned my life into a nightmare.
Therefore, I harbored no sympathy or tolerance for this child. Especially the fact that he was blocking the corridor for a while after the surgery had annoyed both Goma and me considerably.
The young man's black hair was sparse and short. He had hairless patches on many points of his head, as if suffering from alopecia. This strange haircut could be a tradition of his colony rather than a disease.
A pelt of a creature I couldn't identify was thrown over his shoulder like a jacket. To keep it from slipping off his shoulder, the fur was then fastened to his body around the waist with a belt. Small ropes were also attached to the ends of the same belt, securing the fur at multiple points. The only thing the boy wore was a stone tablet hanging around his neck. That stone tablet had neither writing nor any markings. The stone of the tablet, which was about the size of a human hand, wasn't even heavy. Perhaps this was the cosmetic aesthetic of this colony.
The boy's body was covered in wounds. On many parts of his body were small scars, likely made with hot irons. None of these incomprehensible markings in an unknown language looked benevolent.
I didn't know how much pain the boy had suffered or how weak he was from blood loss. But the moment Velsil took him in her arms and put him down on the bed that opened in the floor, the boy had fallen into a deep sleep. Exhausted, Velsil couldn't resist and collapsed next to the boy's bed.
A sophisticated mind could sleep to rest itself. But my mind didn't seem very tired. Besides, I couldn't keep Goma, who was supposed to be on watch, awake for an extra minute. "Damn it..." I muttered as the sun rose. "...my pipe tobacco is finished too."
I put my pipe into my jacket pocket and kicked Goma, who had built a metal barricade of hair and was sleeping behind it. Goma yawned for a while, then looked at me, as if she didn't understand why I had woken her up.
"Goma! You didn't come here to sleep! How about you start working like a goddamn Weapon Security agent!"
"Fine, what's all the shouting about?" Goma was just about to snap back when Velsil's shriek rose up.
"You disgusting pervert! Get your hand off me!"
It was clear that this young man would cause us perverted trouble. It was hard to understand why Velsil hadn't let him die. Because if he had died right there, we might have been able to hide the corpse and erase all traces before the colony noticed. But no... Thanks to Velsil, we had to look after a boy who could become a huge liability. And if that wasn't enough, Velsil was screaming, "disgusting pervert."
"Beating the bastard wasn't enough, apparently! I should have killed that pathetic creature!" she said, jumping up from where she lay. Rolling up her sleeve and flexing her muscles, she started walking toward the spacecraft with angry strides. To watch the enjoyable drama that was about to unfold, I threw my pipe into my jacket pocket and ran after her.
"Stop, don't do it!"
The scene I saw was not what I had expected. Velsil had straightened up next to the boy, hugging him tightly. Goma, ready to beat the child, was standing over them.
"Don't hit the boy!"
"Stop being ridiculous, Velsil! Are you protecting that perverted bastard?"
"He's just a child!"
"Yeah, I'm just a child!"
"How can you know that? Maybe the adults on this planet are all dwarves! Maybe this damn thing isn't even human, but a shapeshifter!" Goma snapped. Then she added: "He touched you, didn't he, that disgusting pervert!"
"No…"
"It's obvious you're lying!"
Realizing that these unnecessary arguments wouldn't end, I stepped in. Why? Because I didn't want to stay on this goddamn planet forever. Especially since I had no intention of being scolded by Ilya again. I pushed Goma aside and took the boy from Velsil's arms. Grabbing him by the collar, I dragged him behind me.
"What are you doing?" Velsil yelled.
"Let go of me!" the boy screamed.
"Time for a man-to-man talk, kid!" I said, taking the pistol from my belt.
"You can't kill him…" Velsil said. "…we're not monsters!"
"Yeah... You're not monsters…"
I dragged the boy to a secluded spot in the forest and hurled him against one of the trees. All the air was knocked out of the boy's lungs as his back hit the tree trunk. I put my pipe in my mouth and sat down on a rock. I was scratching my dick with the gun while scrutinizing the boy. The boy looked at me with a sour expression.
"Look, kid," I said, exhaling smoke. "The only reason I'm not killing you is that we came here for peace. It might look like I'm here for the Institution, but I'm actually here for myself."
"The Institution's offspring cannot be trusted!" the boy said. "The Elder always tells us that…"
"The Elder might also tell you that the Institution's offspring would shoot you on sight. Look at the situation, huh? I still haven't shot you… Isn't that an interesting situation? And you're still alive after doing such perverted things!"
"You're going to kill me now."
"I won't kill you. Even though I desperately want to, I won't. Because Velsil... that damn Velsil won't talk to me for the rest of my life, alright?" I noticed a hint of cunning in the boy's face, so I added. "But I can cripple you or torture you. Those are things that heal, and Velsil won't notice a thing."
"I'll tell her everything…"
"I'll install a chip in your brain and stop you from talking."
"But then she might realize you did something to me."
"You're right…" I looked up at the sky and thought for a moment. "...Yes, you're right. Then the best thing is for us to part without a fight."
"Are you letting me go?"
"Of course not. I'm not letting you go for now, but if you want to be free, you have to help me."
"I won't help the Institution's dogs! Even if you grind my body to dust!"
I shot a branch with my gun. When the branch fell into the boy's lap, he trembled with fear.
"Look! What are you making me do? Because of you, I'm threatening a child and probably violating some moral values somewhere."
"Threaten me all you want! I don't care about anything."
"Look... I just had an idea... Yes, maybe Velsil would notice if I chipped you, but it's entirely possible to erase Velsil's memory too."
"You'd erase your own friend's memory? That's monstrous!"
"Less monstrous than me killing you."
"Yes…" the boy said, looking at the ground and thinking for a while. "Yes... You're right... Then, tell me why you are here... and I'll think about it."
"Look, young man… I'm an agent for the Institution, but the Institution doesn't like me, and I don't like the Institution. I need to go to the raiders and get a product, but it's not possible with our spacecraft. I won't expose you, I won't cause you trouble. If I were going to do those things, I would have done them by now. My only request is a spacecraft, if you have one. You can lend it to me… You can sell it directly to me… You can even gift it, as long as we can use the spacecraft."
"You want a spacecraft, huh?"
"Yes…"
"What will you give in return?"
"What we set up over there…" I said, pointing in the direction we came from. "…an agricultural facility. An automated agricultural facility, to be precise… I promise you food."
At first, the boy's eyes widened like saucers. Then, with a mocking smile: "You're saying you'll end the famine in exchange for a spacecraft, huh… Don't try to fool me!"
"I'm completely serious."
"You... You really are serious." He put his hand under his chin and started scratching. "This... The Elder needs to hear this offer. But... But I can't take you to the colony in those clothes. First... No... Definitely not! I grew up on the stories they told about you people. I've listened a thousand times to the stories of how you massacred small colonies!
Didn't the Supreme World Republic (SWR) say, 'Colonists are not human!'? Wasn't your bastard president, Solegard, the one who legalized corporations experimenting on anti-Republic colonists?
You were looking for an excuse to colonize resource-rich colonies and declared them traitors. You did this even when those colonies were on your side! And if that wasn't enough, you hit and destroyed thousands of other colonies with weapons of mass destruction! Your mighty ship, the Hyperion… You took the lives of countless colonists with that ship! You massacred everyone—women, children, the elderly—like insects." It was impossible not to see the boy's hand trembling with anger. But his other hand… He had put his other hand behind him. He was probably holding a stone or a stick. He was planning to catch me off guard, but I was aware of the situation, having seen every kind of ambush.
The boy's voice now became a quivering instrument of generational fury, not just fear. The vivid echoes of the stories he told shone in his eyes.
"I... I'm a mortal man, you Institution dog! I'd be thankful to live 60 years. My father lived 60 years... his father, and his father before him... But my Elder! That goddamn man has been alive for over 400 years! Why? Because he was one of the nobles who ran an old mining colony. When the Institution seized all his mines, he had to seal himself in a capsule to escape the brink of death! He lives as a grotesque anomaly in eternal pain! If his sons hadn't smuggled him out, he would have been judged and tortured forever by the SWR for treason! Now, he is tortured even while living! The only difference is this! At least he's not being judged!"
"Look…"
"Look at what! At one of the Institution dogs in front of me? I will never, ever push aside the suffering of my lineage and listen to you! I will not let an Institution dog into my colony!"
"You stupid kid!" I roared in anger. "Do you think the Institution couldn't find your pathetic colony if they wanted to? Do you think if I gathered the goddamn SWR here, you wouldn't be pulverized in a day? Your lineage, your family, and you... You wouldn't even be a grain of dust against the Security Forces!"
"How do you know the SWR isn't waiting at the gate right now!"
"Because I don't give a damn about the SWR! I neither work for the SWR nor have any sympathy for the SWR! The Republic, the corporations, and many other things—I don't give a damn about any of it! I hate the SWR as much as you do! You don't know a damn thing about what the SWR and Weapon Security took from me!"
My rage suddenly erupted like the scream of a nightmare bursting into the cold night. Even the boy in front of me froze in the face of my fury.
"I won't bother trying to prove to you that I'm not the SWR's dog! Obviously, you're nothing! Take me to the Elder!"
"No!"
"Take me to the Elder! I will come unarmed, without equipment! My friends won't be with me! The Elder is free to decide my fate. If he doesn't like my offer, he's free to kill me!"
"I... I don't trust you."
"You don't have to trust me," I said, struggling to control my voice. My anger had been replaced by a cold, sharp determination. "Take me as a prisoner. Tie my hands. Blindfold me. Put a gag in my mouth. Just take me to that Elder. With one condition: I want you to tell him one single sentence while my mouth is closed."
The young man looked suspiciously. "What sentence?"
"Tell him he can take revenge on the name Weisshafen…" At that moment, I showed him the 'W' symbol of the Weisshafen family, which the boy hadn't noticed on my chest.
As the names spun in the young man's mind, the boy suddenly began to scream in fear. He tried to crawl backward, but the tree behind him stopped him. "You…" He swallowed. "You… You're a Weisshafen!"
"Yes!" I said, lighting my pipe. "One of the heirs of the Hyperion…"
There was a moment of silence. The sounds of the forest—the chirping of insects, the distant cries of birds—filled the tension stretching between us. The expression on the boy's face shifted from pure rage to an intense inner struggle. The magnitude of what awaited his colony showed on his face.
"I could kill you right here!" he said, throwing the stone in his hand, but I had anticipated it, shooting the stone out of the air before it reached me. When the stone fell to the ground, the boy trembled with terror. "You come from a line of murderers! You are the greatest of demons! Your blood will burn perpetually to stoke the fires of hell!"
"I know!" I cried out, my voice echoing in the forest. I extinguished my pipe and put it in my pocket. "The deeds of my ancestors stand in a history written in blood. Every order given on the Hyperion's deck, every breath stolen in the mines, every life extinguished..."
"And yet you come here, knowing this, and ask me to take you to my colony!"
"I am telling you that I am trying to offer help, despite having such power! Why won't you listen to me! I am showing you," I said, opening my arms wide. "...the magnitude of my power! And then I want to tell you this! I... I have even renounced my nobility! I no longer have any authority as a Weisshafen! I have given up all this power."
"No authority?" The boy's voice cracked with a bitter laugh. "What kind of nonsense is this? You... you are a Weisshafen! Your name itself is power! The moment you said you are the heir of the Hyperion, in this forest, in front of a boy like me... does that mean you have no authority? Your very presence is a threat! Your blood is a weapon!"
He stood up, trembling. "What does it mean to 'renounce' being noble? Is there a formula for it? Did you sign a document? Did you write, 'I am no longer responsible'? No! That name you carry on your back extinguished the lives of millions before you were born! And you come here with that name and say, 'I no longer have authority'?"
He took a step back, tense like an arrow about to fly from a bow.
"Maybe you don't have weapons, ships, or robots. But that name... that name is still a key. It opens doors. Or it closes them. And you are offering that key to me, to us. Do you call this 'powerlessness'? This is the most dangerous display of power I've ever seen!"
He took a deep breath, his eyes still wide and full of fear, but a new spark had ignited within him—a forced understanding that went beyond pure rage.
"This display of power of yours…" he finally said. "...maybe it worked, Weisshafen! I have no idea what I'm going to do, but... If so, perhaps I have no choice but to take you to the Elder. Because the Elder is dying. Maybe not literally, that damn capsule is keeping him alive, but his hope is running out. I am one of the last children in the colony. The others... they either died or fled. Our food is running out. We have no medicine. Your farming robots are not just a source of food for us, they are a ray of hope. And the Elder... he was never afraid to face the past. He always told me, 'Kael,' he would say, 'your enemy's weapon can be your strongest tool, if you know how to use it.' Now I understand what he meant."
He fixed his eyes on mine. There was no hatred now, only a heavy sense of responsibility.
"You are that weapon, Weisshafen. Your goddamn name. And I... I don't know how to use it. But the Elder will know. That's why I will take you. Because this is my colony's chance for survival. And if this is a trap... if you have come to destroy us..." He lowered his voice, almost to a whisper, "...at least this time, you'll do it looking at the face of one of us, looking into our eyes. Not like the captains of the Hyperion, shooting from a distance."
Kael's persuasion came not from my display of power, but from his own desperation and his faith in his Elder. The Weisshafen name was a threat to him, but also the most tangible opportunity he had ever encountered. Sometimes the greatest threats could create the greatest opportunities, and this child was aware of that. Especially when this great threat was as powerful as my surname. And sometimes, an opportunity can be more frightening than a threat for a desperate man. It wasn't me who convinced him; it was the cruel reality surrounding him and his colony.
At that moment, two silhouettes fell face down on the ground from the bushes. Of course, one was Goma and the other was Velsil.
"How many times have I told you not to climb on top of me, Velsil!" Goma yelled.
"But I couldn't see anything!"
"Hearing was enough!" Goma was rubbing her ass when she realized that the young man named Kael and I were looking at them. "Uh... We definitely weren't eavesdropping on you. We just thought we'd gather some branches to make a fire…"
At that moment, Velsil suddenly jumped for joy: "The boy is still alive!"
"It looks like he's going to be our friend for a while." I said, extending my hand to the young man. He was cautious as he shook my hand.
"Wonderful," Goma said, utterly exhausted. "We got a little pervert!"