Fairness. How many times had I shared my amazement with the others on how all the human beings we encountered seemed to have an innate sense of fairness?

“Are you following me?” Amel asked. This time he looked to each and every one of us. “Do you see what I am saying? Do you think the Parents care about what gives life value for the people of this planet? Do you think they really mean their pious nonsense about reptilian and avian ascendant species being superior? Did they tell you all their pious ideas about the gentleness and wisdom of reptilian ascendant species or the patience of avian species? Did they discourse forever on the evils of hot-blooded mammals? They are puppet masters! Do you know what that means? Have you seen the puppet shows in the city?”

We all nodded because we had.

“They are liars!”

Suddenly Garekyn couldn’t contain himself any longer. “But why would they lie?” he asked. “Why would they seek to control human beings as if humans were puppets? What’s the point if not to return the planet to a primal state for the good?”

“The good of what?” Amel said. He pounded his right fist on his knee. “What good? But they’re lying about wanting to do this.” He sighed and threw up his hands. “I cannot prove this to you without destroying one of you, but I wager there are no explosive devices or toxins in your bodies! They have lied to you.”

“But what is the point of the lie?” asked Welf.

“To foment trouble!” he said. “So that you would come here and seek desperately to lure me out of the dome and into exposure to their monitors! This is just the latest ploy! They want to take me prisoner, and stop the manufacture of luracastria!”

“But why?” Welf pressed.

“Don’t you see what I’ve done? I’ve built a city here!” Amel used his word for city, of course, but the word meant huge, complex, infinitely more than a village. It meant metropolis. “And,” he said holding up his finger for our attention. “I have sheltered innumerable human beings in this city from the prying transmitters of Bravenna! And I am building outposts along the coasts all over the world protected by luracastria. True, there are only a handful now, but eventually there will be thousands! You’ve seen our great luracastria plants, you’ve seen our plants for cleansing the water, and for using it for energy. You’ve seen our solar plants. We can make a world on which they cannot spy, a world protected from their conniving, a world on which they cannot build more of their plans to foment violence and suffering on the planet! They don’t want a better ascendant species here. They want more war, battle, violent struggle, human against human!”

“I knew it,” said Derek in a small voice.

“But why do they want that?” demanded Welf again.

“Be respectful,” I whispered to him.