CHAPTER NINETEEN
In her cell on board the airbase, the walls were two-feet thick made of corrugated steel. The astronauts weren't taking any chances with her.
Anthony spoke before General Garrison. "She trusts me," he said. "I was the one who was with her in the caves, and I visited her several times in Communion. She can't be all alone in that sterile cell hour after hour, day after day. Let me try and talk to her."
"She won't understand you, Lieutenant," he said.
"I know that," he answered. "But no matter if you're a Novacadian or a human, she's bound to need a little company. Novacadians are social beings. She'll go crazy like that."
"Very well, then," he said. "But be brief. You saw with your own eyes what she did yesterday."
He nodded his head and left the general's quarters. He took a flight of stairs down, then headed down the hallway to the barracks.
The attending guard let him in. "I'll just be a few minutes," Anthony explained.
Eve was weeping on her bed. Anthony immediately softened when he saw her. "You can close it now," he told the guard.
"Anthony," she cried, with arms open. Her face was wet; covered with tears. He immediately embraced her.
"It's okay," he soothed. "You're alright."
"My brother is dead," she breathed between sobs. "My father..."
"I know, I know."
She looked up at him. "How long will I have to stay here?" she asked.
He nodded his head. "Just until they're sure you won't be a threat to them any longer."
She gasped. "But how is that supposed to happen?" She pulled away from him. "After what happened, I'm not even sure I trust myself anymore. I killed my own brother!"
He stroked her hand. "Remember? He was caught by the sickness."
More tears fell from her eyes. "And now...I am, too."
"You can't say that."
"But it's true! The passion I felt, when Autumn killed my father--I had never felt such a feeling of blazing hot anger in all my life. And soon, I will be like my sister and brother--I, too, will die."
"Your sister?"
"Lir. She will deteriorate and die as though she had a disease of the flesh."
"And you're afraid that the same thing will happen to you?"
She looked away. "I know it will."
They fell into silence. Anthony had never been convinced that Eve truly was a messiah, but he was beginning to change his mind. Her quiet courage, even in the most pressing of situations, was beyond anything that Anthony had ever seen.
"Eve?" he asked.
She turned to him.
"I know your people don't have sex, but--"
She looked at him curiously.
"Do you kiss?"
She let her legs drop over the edge of the bed. "You mean, like humans? On the lips?"
"Yes."
She looked deep into his eyes, her tear-lined lashes lowering to meet his. "I suppose it's possible."
Her lips were smooth, cool, and free of imperfections. She was crying as they kissed.
"Anthony, you have to let go of your hatred."
He pulled his lips away from hers. "Sarah, the old woman, told me that my hatred was justified."
She placed her small, pale hand on his heart. "You hate God, Anthony. You hate Him for taking Kate away from you."
He was filled with such deep emotions at that point that it was hard for him not to start crying, as well. He looked away. "That's not possible," he said.
"What? It's impossible that you hate Him or it's impossible for you to let go of your hatred?"
He changed the subject. "I thought we had different gods."
She smiled at him through her tearstained face. "We have the same God, but different messiahs. There is a difference."
"Why are you asking me all this?" he said.
She looked down. "Because you're going to have to let go of me."
They held a meeting that night on the airbase in one of the conference rooms. All of the senior officers were in attendance. The atmosphere was tense as the men and women took their seats and waited for the meeting to proceed.
"It is obvious we have a very different situation on our hands now," Captain Booker remarked. "The Novacadians are becoming more and more dangerous by the second."
"I agree," Captain Anderson said. "It is highly likely that they will become even more dangerous as time goes on if we don't do something to intervene."
"So what do you propose?" General Garrison asked. He looked from each of the faces, each with expressions of grim seriousness.
"Total annihilation," a man said. "It's apparent that the only answer is to get rid of them."
"I agree," they each said.
General Garrison felt an odd sense of guilt at even considering the option, and yet he knew he had an obligation to preserve the safety of his men--and any way he could do it.
Rubbing at his temples, he said, "So how shall we go about this?"