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Arell did not return to her room for a long time.

 

            When Sarah and the others had packed for the trip, Arell had instructed them to grab some food for themselves. The fridge in the kitchen of the mobile home was thus stocked, and the group had dinner. Bradley had wondered if their giant hostess was going to make an appearance, but she did not.

            Through most of the meal, no one had really spoken. The only people who seemed to have much of an appetite were Kevin and Colonel Stark. For once, since meeting him, Bradley thought he sensed some sourness in Ward’s mood. He’d always been the team goof ball, but now he just quietly shoveled food into his mouth, the Colonel doing much of the same. Todd mostly poked at his food, and Sarah didn’t even have a plate. Randy seemed to be content with just a glass of water and Fred was eating out of a pudding cup.

            There wasn’t much signs of life beyond the walls of the mobile home. If Arell was still moving, it was for brief moments. And there was still not a peep from where Dr. Elizabeth Monica was staying. Arell had mentioned that she would try to make a home for the dislocated scientist on Avakon, but Bradley wasn’t sure if that would really be the ideal solution. Despite her new size, the once “GeekZilla” was an Earthy, and that most likely meant that the Avakonians were going to be just as suspicious of her as they would be of the rest of the group. She would probably be just as isolated on Avakon as she would be on Earth. Was Arell taking Monica back to her home planet really much better than the US Army executing her? Peterson didn’t know.

            And who knew how things were back on Earth. Almost everyone would be panicking right around now. A massive nerd had just destroyed several acres and miles of land, taken an untold amount of lives, and then had up and disappeared with no one knowing where. Those who might have been watching would have seen some sort of sight as Arell had reduced the woman’s size, beamed her and Peterson’s group up onto her ship. If they hadn’t then, the population of Earth would now be turning their heads up into the sky, nervously. Is she back? That would be the question that most of them would be pondering with great anxiety. The US Government would probably be so worried about this that they might spend more time preparing for Arell’s hypothetical invasion than repairing the damage caused be GeekZilla. Little would they know is that it be pointless.

 

            “You know…you really know how to shit on the mood, Colonel Saggy Sack”

 

            Bradley was pulled out of his thought process and saw that Kevin had finally looked up. Behind his sunglasses was most likely a hard glare that was being cast at the Colonel, who paused and returned his own stare towards Ward. The temperature in the room must have dropped fifteen degrees in the next two seconds before Stark returned to eating.

 

            “You all need to grow up,” He said, bitterly. “That giant bitch invaded our home, killed our people, took over our land, and even held one of us hostage for three days,” He glanced at Bradley. “…and here you all are. Making nice little chit-chat with our greatest enemy like she was an old friend. Peh!” He threw his fork onto his plate where it clattered loudly, causing Sarah and Todd to jump. “She is a monster, and so are her people. DO NOT start taking their shit and kiss their asses, or I WILL starting having an issue…especially with YOU!” He glared at Ward.

 

            “I was just talking to her!” Kevin snapped. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

 

            “Don’t be stupid!!” Stark yelled. “You’re doing EVERYTHING wrong! We do not, under any circumstances, trust the enemy. NEVER! That is something you learn when you’ve been in the service as long as I have. When you do, all you do is set them up to drive a knife right into your spine!”

 

            “But she’s not even a villain anymore!” Ward shot.

 

            “THAT!” The Colonel shot his pointer finger at Kevin. “THAT. Right there! That’s trust, you idiot! Who says she’s our friend!? WHO!? HER!? Is she the one who told you that!? Do you even understand what the concept of a ‘lie’ is!?

 

            “How do you know she’s lying?” Kevin asked.

 

            “Because she’s admitted to lying to us before, you stupid prick!” Stark was pressing his hands against his head, as if he thought the perceived stupidity coming from Kevin was enough to make his brain explode. “That’s why! Once a liar, always a liar! I know her type!”

 

            “Guys, guys!” Sarah shouted. “Stop yelling at each other! You’re arguing about something that doesn’t even matter!”

 

            “What are you babbling about?” Stark whirled to her. “How does any of this NOT matter!?”

 

            “I understand your concerns, Colonel,” Sarah replied, keeping her voice lower and calm. “Arell’s dangerous and our past with her isn’t exactly spotless and full of good times. But, the bottom line is this: if Arell wants us to go somewhere, there’s nothing we can do to stop her.”

 

            “Yeah, and?”

 

            “She gave us a choice,” Sarah explained. “She didn’t threaten us, she didn’t yell at us, or just lock us away and force us, even though it’s well within her capabilities to do all of those things. She even let us return to the planet to grab some things for the trip. None of those things she had to do. She also did save our lives and several others by catching us and reducing Dr. Monica’s size.”

 

            “Are you going somewhere with all this?” Stark asked.

 

            “Yes,” LaFluer nodded. “I’m saying that Arell’s actions and behavior have been drastically different than when we last saw her. Why did she even bother taking care of our ‘GeekZilla’ problem? She had no reason to even get involved in that.”

 

            “Because she caused that whole thing,” Stark said. “I’m sure of it.”

 

            “But that doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Sarah replied. “If that’s the case, why did she grow Dr. Monica just to unshrink her again? There’s no way Arell could have planned that Dr. Monica would just so happen to wander into our paths, pick up a whole town with Bradley still on it, just so she could sweep in and seemingly save the day.”

 

            “She’s stacking the deck,” The Colonel replied. “She’s trying to make us trust her and you kids are buying it, hook, line, and sinker.”

 

            “Maybe…” Randy spoke up. “But that…just doesn’t sound like something that Arell would do.”

 

            “Oh, really?” Stark said. “And you know that for a fact, music boy?”

 

            “Look, just think about it,” Fredrickson said. “Arell was pretty forceful when she last visited Earth. She just dropped in, whisked our leaders away, and then said, ‘You all belong to me, now’. No debate, no questions asked. If that’s the way she gets what she wants, then why would she spend the time to come up with a clever, elaborate plan, when it’s much easier to just beam us up? It’s not like we have any weapons, and even if we did we still couldn’t put up much of a fight, anyway.”

 

            “Because she’s trying to get us to trust her, I told you that,” Colonel Stark replied, as if it should have been obvious. “She’s trying to raise a knife over you’re head when you’re not looking, what’s so hard to understand?”

 

            “Well, that’s one theory,” Randy said. “But people try to gain trust for different reasons. To stab people in the back later is one…to mend relationships is another.”

 

            “Oh fer the love of…”

 

            “Look, I’m just saying that IS a possibility,” Randy said. “Sarah does have a point; Arell is acting differently than before. Maybe she has changed. And if she hasn’t, well, we’re screwed anyway, because it’s not like we could fight back if anyway.”

 

            “I knew this was stupid…” Todd sighed. “We should never have agreed to come.”

 

            “Well, that’s the whole thing,” Randy went on. “Why did we even get that choice?”

 

            “You know what?” Stark said, standing up. “You all can go on and trust the giant bitch if you want. More power to your dumb asses. But when she’s squeezing the life out of you in her fists, just try to remember that I tried to warn you and I hope the pain you’re feeling is enough to realize that you’ve had your heads up your collective asses the whole goddamn time!!”

 

            And with that, Stark stormed out of the dining room and went into his room, slamming the door as he went. There was a brief pause at the table as they listened to the muffled sounds of him continuing to fume in the semi-privacy of his own room.

 

            “You know, he’s right,” Todd said. “I hate to say it, but the Colonel is right.”

 

            “We don’t know that…” Sarah began.

 

            “Of course we do!” Todd hissed. “She tried to kill us! She called Kevin’s apartment and told us to give up Bradley and if we didn’t she’d come down and squash all of us! Don’t you remember? All the shit that she’s done? Have you all forgotten that?”

 

            “Of course not…” Sarah replied. “But regardless…we’re on the ship now. The reality that you and the Colonel don’t understand is that, at this point, we don’t really have a choice but to trust Arell.”

 

            “What…?”

 

            “It’s not like we can opt out of this now,” Randy explained. “We’re on our way to her home planet, and probably a long away from Earth on a ship that we don’t know how to operate and are too small too anyway, plus it’s all in a foreign language. We’re stuck here. There are two paths: either Arell is lying and she’s got something sinister in store for us, or she’s changed and she’s on our side. Right now, all we can do is hope it’s the latter…and that means we have to trust Arell.”

 

            “Oh, god…” Todd said weakly.  He got out of his chair and wobbled away from the table and made his way to his and Sarah’s room.

 

            As he went, Bradley kept hearing what Randy had just said.

 

            We have to trust Arell.

 

            We have to.

 

            Good God, Bradley thought, please be telling the truth, Arell.

 

            Please.

 

 

            By his Earthy watch, it was approaching eleven pm, and he still couldn’t sleep. Not that that was surprising.

 

            Bradley Peterson was staring at the ceiling of his room in the mobile house, wondering just what in the hell he was going to do when they arrived at Avakon. His mind kept conjuring an image of him, dressed up in a suit (because that’s what all good public speakers wear…right?), standing at some tiny podium in front of a large group of massive faces…all staring down at him with expectation. Big drops of sweat would drip down his temples, he would fumble with, and probably drop, his note cards (he was allowed to have those during this…right?), and stammer and stutter like a complete jack ass. Then, the Avakonians, thoroughly unimpressed, would stomp the living shit out of him, all laughing at his pitiful performance as they did. So much for the great Bradley Peterson of Earth, who had so eloquently soothed the heart of an angry giant with his own words. What a fraud, they’d think. A charlatan! A sham!

            He had thought of preparing a speech…but he wasn’t sure if that’s what he was even supposed to do. He’d tried to ask Arell just what it was that she wanted him to do, but she hadn’t been very helpful. Perhaps that was to mean that not even Arell really knew just what was going to happen, but if that was the case then he was really fucked, because he was going in completely and totally fucking blind and that made the whole thing even more terrifying. Why him, he thought again. Why had Arell thought HE of all people was the correct choice to speak to her people? He had just been tiny little Bradley Peterson, the pet property of Arell, who had stayed in a little cage and ate scraps of his mistresses plate. What on Earth made Arell think he was the one qualified for this madness!?

            Arell had mentioned someone called the “Avothian”, earlier. Bradley had no idea who this person was except that Arell had referred to them as ‘her’ and the whoever ‘she’ was, ‘she’ was the apparent ‘head of state’ of Avakon. Whatever else that meant, it meant she was important. No doubt that everyone was going to get a chance to meet this mysterious woman in the flesh once they arrived on the planet. For his own sake, Peterson was hoping that she was a person of understanding and compassion.

            Movement outside the mobile home.

            Bradley sat up and listened. The familiar sound of footfalls, and the shudder of the home were two good clues. With Dr. Monica seemingly have turned into a zombie who didn’t seem at all interested in leaving the confines of her room, it had to be Arell finally returning from wherever she’d gone off to when Colonel Stark had seemingly upset her. Peterson turned her head towards his window, which was open for some reason. It had been since Arell had beamed it up and he couldn’t get the stupid thing to shut. The lights of Arell’s ship had dimmed, making it harder to see, but there was definitely some one moving out there. He saw the large figure lumbering around. Whoever it was, they were shrouded in dark, making it hard to identify them.

            Maybe it wasn’t Arell. Her suit had those lights on it. It had to be Dr. Moncia then. The person moved towards Arell’s bed, paused for a moment, sighed, and then lied down, curling up in the sheets. It was hard to recognize the voice of a sigh, but it could have been Arell. It was her bed, after all. No way he could know that, though.

 

            He got up from his bed and walked over to the window.

 

            The next thing he knew, he was flying out of it.

 

            “GUH!” Bradley as some invisible force swept him off his feet and propelling him out the door.

 

            Like a plane he sailed over a long field of floor. A temporary bust of nausea swept him as he stared straight down. Best not to think of that. Don’t think of the drop that awaits you if the forces that be decide that it’s time for you to take a dive, Bradley ol’ pal. He forced himself to look forward, and saw that he was headed for the bed in the center of the room. Only one thing that he was aware of could make him soar through the air like this. As he began to lower, Arell reached out, and he made a smooth gentle landing into her waiting hand. When she pulled him back in, her fingers gently wrapped around him, securing him in their grip so that he wouldn’t fall. This momentary gesture actually took Bradley aback. It was indeed very different than the Arell he had once known.

            Arell placed Peterson down on her pillow and he immediately saw the most haunted eyes he’d ever seen. There were shadows under her eyes, which were bloodshot.

 

            “You sort of…disappeared there,” Bradley said after an awkward pause.

 

            “I…I’m sorry,” Arell sighed. “I just…needed to be alone for a while. Especially before I…well…lost….I…” Trembling, she sighed again. A new tear formed in her already cried out eyes.

 

            “This is because of the Colonel, right?” Peterson asked. He had to keep his balance as the pillow moved from Arell’s nodding.

 

            “I don’t like him…” She said. “…but even I can’t deny that he’s right. In that moment…after what he said…for a minute…I wanted…I wanted to….” She gasped a sob. “I really am a monster…”

 

            She buried her face into her pillow and began to sob. Bradley silently watched until she eventually got ahold of herself again.

 

            “A-A-Anyway…” She stuttered. “I’m glad…you’re awake. I wanted to talk to you….alone.”

 

            “Well, I’m here,” Peterson said. Regardless of whether or not I want to be, he thought but did not add.

 

            “I’ve been thinking these past few hours,” She said. “About what Colonel Stark said, and about my life…but…mostly about you.”

 

            “Me?”

 

            Arell nodded. “It’s not the first time. Those three years in solitary confinement were the longest of my life. And I’ve been alive for a long, long time, Bradley. I know I must not look like it, but it’s true. Never would I have ever imagined that three short years could seem like a lifetime. It wasn’t just long, but also the scariest time of my life.”

 

            “Because you thought you’d never be free again?”

 

            “Because I didn’t know who I was anymore,” Arell sighed. “I thought about everything that I had done to your people, to your planet…to you. It…it didn’t make sense to me, like it had before. When I had watched all the atrocities first hand, the wars, the torture, the betrayals…I was so angry. It…it was righteous anger, I wanted to put an end to the suffering and help the victims. But, time and time again the victims would turn around and do the exact same thing to another group. Nobody was a victim. Nobody was innocent in my mind anymore. Governments turned on their own people…imprisoned them and tortured them…I…I couldn’t bear it, Bradley. My mind was swirling with all sorts of emotions. And then…well…you know what eventually happened. I was determined to put an end to it all one way or another.’

 

            ‘But I was wrong, Bradley. Oh, so very wrong. But I didn’t know it at the time. I was blinded by my own anger, by my own moral conflicts. The things I did…a part of me I think all along knew I shouldn’t have done. But…it was me doing something, I couldn’t stand by! I know it’s hard to understand, but the compassion I felt for you Earthies…I couldn’t just do nothing. And, I thought…maybe if I sinned a little it would all work out in the end. Maybe it was just a case of necessary evil to make things work out in the end. As you Earthies say…two wrongs don’t make a right, I suppose, but…I couldn’t stop myself. Colonel Stark has not been the first person to speak that way to me. I didn’t want to hear any of it. To me, I thought I was the one who was right. The one who was seeking justice and making things right.’

 

            ‘But, as I sat in that cell…alone and hungry…I realized that I was never even remotely close to being right. All I did was allow myself to become corrupt. To become a greater fool than you Earthies ever will dream to be. I could have done something differently. I could have...approached you Earthies, and spoke to you and…tried to teach you. Connect with you. I could have acted differently…but I did not. And when I realized my failure…I felt like a stranger to myself. I kept thinking that the Arell I know would never have done those terrible things. Under no circumstances would she allow herself to succumb to such vice and find pleasure in such sin. But…the memories were there…and impossible to deny. I had lied to you Earthies, to my people…and to myself.’

 

            ‘I thought of your words constantly. I thought of them because I wished I could believe them. You said I was too smart to continue doing what I was doing. That you believed that I was sincere about my own beliefs and values. But, I wasn’t so sure of that myself. How could I say that I loved all forms of life when I had tried to enslave and d-d-destroy a planet?” Tears flowed from Arell’s eyes. “How could I say that I abhor violence when my actions were nothing but that? How could I speak of altruism when I showed none? I was nothing more than a liar, a hypocrite, and a monster. And several times, I was seduced by the prospect of taking my own life, which, in the eyes of my people is one of the most pathetic paths a creature can take, and is one only a fool who has done foolish things like myself would ever consider. But I felt pathetic, and that made it seem more of a fitting end for me.’

 

            ‘But I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Because one thought kept me alive, and that was, that if I ever were to get out. Somehow, someway, I would come back to you and I would try everything to make it right. It was nothing but a dream for most of those three years, as I was condemned for life, doomed to stay within those four walls for the rest of my life. But, something within me held stubbornly to that dream. And when my people saw my observations…when they let me go…I knew it had to be destiny that we see each other again.”

 

            Arell raised her eyes back to her little Earthy.

 

            “Bradley, there are so many things that I wish I could take back. I wish I had been stronger. I was weak, and my people are being weak. You’re right….if we were the superior race, then we’re most certainly not showing it. We’ve become arrogant, and we don’t even realize it. That’s why I think it’s so important that you are here with me right now. But there’s something weighting down my heart, and, before it drives me mad I have to let it out. Right now I can’t make amends with your planet, but I have to start somewhere. I know I have no right to ask, but I have to know if you could find it in your heart to forgive this girl before you. This girl who was weak and foolish. This girl who took you against your will for her own evil deeds. This girl who betrayed everything she believes in…”

 

            Arell went silent, aside from her soft gasps of sobs. Her eyes were a constant stream, soaking the fabric of the pillow. Bradley Peterson stood where he was, his hands shoved in his pockets, looking into the eyes of the girl before him. The girl who was weak and foolish. The girl who took him against his will for her own evil deeds. The girl who betrayed everything she believed in.

 

            The girl who had become a monster.

 

             Bradley stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the bridge of Arell’s nose. He squeezed them as hard as he could.

 

            Arell closed her eyes and began to sob. She reached up and held the Earthy against her.

 

            At some point, sleep overtook both of them. For Arell, it was the lightest in a long time.

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