"Fuck." was said with such a determined shortness by James as he just got back on his favored armchair in Will's complex.
The trio had just returned from that room that deserves no revisiting. Despite ALL the work made to put out those contents, they barely read a fraction of those papers and planned to never look upon them again. The list that James had would be his guide and he practically started at the end of the book, a mere 0.05% of those he had listed in.
"Shit yourself?" Winnie said with a grin. For some reason she enjoyed teasing the so called god and he took it well enough for her to keep doing so. Her and Will had regained their spots on the couch, trying to put the facts they just read about out of their mind. His serious expression towards her said it was not the time for such jokes.
"Empire delegation just got attacked. Well... they tried to arrest them... unsuccessfully... Got beat back so hard and fast that it's not even funny. Guess things broke down."
His reaction was fitting for what the two were thinking. Fuck indeed. Things have no doubt changed for them heavily. And not because the two siblings just boned.
"What... happens now?" Will asked.
"Well, what is happening now is that my guys down there are mostly packing up. They're gonna get a bunch more refugees on their shuttles and bring them over now that they don't give a fuck if the authorities approve or not."
"But what about us?" Win was very serious right now because indeed it was no joking matter. "Can we go back home or... what happens?"
"I doubt you can. Several news agencies are already broadcasting the speech on what has happened. They claim it was because my guys are trying to subvert and conquer them through presenting a false image of prosperity. That the whole trip is actually intended to kidnap you guys and put you in slavery... and that there would have been more to come."
"That's bullshit!" the sister cried out.
"You know that. Even someone who can do basic math can know it. Even if theoretically we get the entire population, barely makes a difference since we have way more people. But, you know... have to justify your enemies. Casus Belli and all that." Beat. "That means 'reason for war'. So yes, they just basically declared war." A snort. "If my guys were actually gonna give them war, this would be over fast. They're gonna leave them alone."
"Maybe we can... go back... tell them it's not like this? I mean... yeah, there's a lot of differences. But you aren't like that." Will tried to consider reason but did not use enough.
The look that James gave him back was chilling, enough to help him along and consider what would happen if they did that. The narrative must survive so anything that contradicts it must be erased. They would be silenced, quite brutally, possibly permanently. No, even their presence would contradict it. They would be made to disappear... it did not matter if it was all ten thousand people. Governments have sacrificed more people for smaller reasons.
Will fell back on the couch. Suddenly, the fact that he just fucked his sister less than an hour ago was trivial. So this was how it was like to lose control of your life. He was now something his own leaders would want to murder without even a moment of consideration, and the only way he could go is forward. Toward the Empire. His sister started to cry. Which was surprising. Win had at least put forward the appearance of strength for as long as he knew. Now she was sobbing next to him with her head in her hands. The boy could not help but slip over and wrap a hand around her. Once again it was a mere detail that they were naked.
"Sis... don't cry... come on... it will be okay. Really." He looked up to the man before them. "You said there is a way for us to stay when we get there!" Will was trying to give hope. And find it himself.
"I meant it for a completely different reason, but... don't worry. You can stay. Captain's not just gonna pull the ship over on the first habitable planet and go all 'right, kids, this is where you get off'. They're gonna get you over there, tell you how it's like, that the vacation is now permanent, probably even include this part of you going back is probably gonna have your government kill you and offer refugee status. The other thing I meant was that during your stay you find an immigration officer and plead your case that Earth sucks and you want to stay. A small something asked and you'd be set. Now it's a bit redundant, but you CAN. You know... in case you really want to stay once the waters are clear."
Refugees. What an unflattering word. But it was the truth. To most it might sound like the empire would be very harsh to the people of the world that disrespected them so much, but it would all go as James said. Some would thoroughly insist on going back, ignorant to the consequences, and the aliens would give them their wish. James hoped his people might safeguard them down there: the covert ops teams that remained behind. Or that he would solve Earth before that.
"Guess... it's gonna have to work." Will said. His sister was still not taking it well. The boy noticed that in such a situation James was not being immature. "Better than we would have hoped."
"Don't worry. It's gonna be better than you imagine." A final pull from his cigarette to try and leave this behind. "Now, since you have so nicely set my list, it is horribly tempting to go down there right now. BUT... I will add some extra niceness and start it only AFTER you guys land. Oh, and don't worry about my people hating you or something. You'll see soon enough. For now, captain will not gonna spoil the fun until the end, so we're all going forward with no idea of what happened."
To carry this while no one else on the ship has any idea of what went down.
"I don't know if I can relax after this. Feels..." Will let out.
"Like it's over." Win added with a very hoarse voice.
"It's not." The boy gave to her while James kept quiet.
"Might as well be. Can't help but... ugh, so much stuff to think about... where are we gonna live, what are we gonna eat, how are we gonna pay?" more and more flowing in her mind. A thousand worries.
"We'll deal with it. Don't worry." A smirk came on his face. "Or I'll tickle you." She gave him an elbow in the ribs for that. Not too strong. It did wrench a smile out of her. For a moment.
"Don't joke around. This is serious."
"Yes." Will was still holding a smile. "And if James didn't tell us, we'd have just gone on with no idea since nobody else here has any either. You'd have worried more about us banging than all this because it would not even apply. We still got like..." He lost track of time. Was it four... three days? Two?
"About three days on the dot." James said. "And I could have just let that happen, let you fumble in the dark and shit your pants when the captain would tell you. You have done so now, so... back to our regular schedule of you fussing over it." Only James was wearing pants right now.