How many people had he just killed? How many lives?

How come I no longer cared?

// daughter, tell these humans that they have little time remaining. the Great Root has marked them, and the harvest is come. //

“My mother would like me to tell you to make your peace with God,” I said flatly.

“We thought…” Vice-President Rogers straightened. The skin along her jaw was beginning to bruise and swell. Speaking must have been painful. She did it anyway.

She probably thought she was being brave. She didn’t understand yet that the time for bravery was over.

“We thought this was going to be a negotiation,” she said. “I was sent to collect your diplomatic team and take them back with me to meet with the president and the prime minister. We have the United Nations standing by, as this is a global matter, and—”

// silence. //

“Be quiet,” I said.

First stepped closer. The tiny claws at the tips of her legs clutched the concrete, granting her perfect, seemingly effortless balance. The sunlight glittering off her carapace made her look even larger than she actually was.

// we have come to speak with those of you who would come to speak with us, not to travel at your pleasure // she said. Hunter prowled up behind her, dripping with blood. My stomach rumbled. She continued // we will not shut ourselves in one of your places, to be at the mercy if your kind. you have shown that you cannot be trusted. //

Dutifully, I relayed her words. The vice-president’s eyes flashed with anger.

“We have shown that we can’t be trusted?” she demanded. “Us? You’re the ones who infiltrated our planet! Who killed our children! We did not invite you here, and you came anyway!”

// we came on the winds of space; we did not choose you any more than you chose us // First implacably replied. // we did not intend harm to your children, but our children can be rough, as all children can. they acted out of instinct. for them, we apologize. they were innocent of what they did. for ourselves, we do not apologize. for you, we do not accept apology. //

Again, I relayed her words. The vice-president looked between me and First, seemingly unsure who she should address. In the end, she settled on me. I was the one who still looked almost human, even if she knew I was nothing of the sort.

“Please,” she said. “People are dying. Riots, fires, floods. Infrastructure is collapsing. Everywhere on Earth.”