We Believe in Charity

We Believe in Charity

June 12, 2123: 10:33 AM

Our unit staggered through the ruins of London, covered in dirt and bloody bandages. The latest skirmish with the Earth-Isolationists had been brutal. A precision blast from a fission gun had destroyed my uniform and two good officers, and the only indication that I was the woman in charge was the unit still following me. I owed it to them to not let my injuries show or let them know that with no supplies and only a few fission weapons of our own we were open targets. We turned south out of Piccadilly Circus, taking cover behind one of the meter-high cracks caused by the bombs in the early decades of the war.

           Lieutenant Hadar came up beside me and leaned close, so the others couldn’t hear him. “Captain, we’ve only got about fifty with us,” he said, “and we just got reports on the wire that there’s a fresh wave of Isolationists coming from the west.”

I swore and resisted the urge to kick at the rubble. “Please tell me there’s evac coming.”

“A People’s Alliance delegation is meeting us at the rendezvous.”

“Really?” I said, “Have our alien friends deigned to help the humans fighting for them?”

Hadar glanced around at the others and whispered, “Al, don’t say that, they’re just interested-“

“I’ll tell you what,” I said, putting my hand on his arm, “If their interest gets us out of this, I’ll never say a word against them again.”

He wrinkled his brow, as he often did, and said, “They never promised to stay after they came.”

“They should have.” Sometimes I was desperate enough to wish they would have.

He went back to monitoring the wire. Following the streets was meaningless now, so we walked through what was left of three hundred year old houses. Smashed holographic billboards that proclaimed NEW ALLIANCE TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE were covered in Isolationist graffiti and anti-alien epithets. Everything was layered with dirt.

We reached the rendezvous in St. James’ Park and cleared a space by the dry lake to sit down. Fighting the exhaustion pulling at my eyes, I looked up to the sky. In the distance and coming rapidly closer was a silver disc made of many spinning parts.

I tapped Hadar on the shoulder. “They’re here.”

As the People’s Alliance ship drew closer, I could make out windows in the side where thin alien faces peered out. I thought I saw in their faces the grim satisfaction of superiority and grit my teeth. The ship came to a hover above the lake and extended a walkway just out of reach.

A Lagarian scuttled out onto the walkway, eyestalks curled in upon themselves as if to avoid our sight. In his race’s trademark squeak he said, “The Magnanite representatives of the People’s Alliance are here to express their condolences for the losses sustained in these battles.”

A murmur ran through my unit in awe that the Magnanites themselves had come. I had a bad feeling.

“We respectfully accept their condolences,” I said carefully, mindful of my rank, “And their use of a ship for evacuation.”

The Lagarian squeaked again, and his eyestalks swiveled around. “Oh no,” he said, “Oh no, no, no, that wasn’t the purpose at all.”

I glanced at Hadar, whose face had paled beneath his golden skin. I said, “What do you mean?”

“The People’s Alliance cannot possibly take sides in such a violent conflict. Especially not when those involved aren’t even a part of the Alliance in the first place.”

“With all due respect,” I said, trying to keep my voice level, “This conflict was incited by the Alliance’s first contact. It would be a sign of respect to rescue those fighting for their presence on this planet.”

I thought of the approaching Isolationists as the Lagarian giggled nervously and said, “We couldn’t possibly-“

I yelled, “We will die out here.” A gasp arose from my unit and those in the ship, and more faces popped up to the ship’s windows.

The Lagarian’s eyestalks froze on me. He turned and walked back into the ship, muttering, “Barbarians.”

The walkway started retracting, and as my unit realized we were stuck here they started yelling too, jumping and waving their arms. I didn’t bother; I followed the ship with my eyes as it sailed away. The blue glow of a fission blast brought my attention back to Earth and I saw Hadar staring at me in surprise with a hole through his chest.

His corpse collapsed to the ground and I ordered the rest of the unit to take cover. As a horde of Isolationists came towards us out of the light of the setting sun, the silver ship flew further up into the atmosphere. We were alone.