“It does not seem right to me, to commit atrocities, even to prevent greater atrocities. We have exterminated whole species to protect ourselves from the possibility that the Axiom might someday awaken. I feel there must be a better way. But I do not know what it is.”

“It’s not all your fault,” Ashok said. “Your people were enslaved. The spirit of rebellion was literally cut out of you, and even though you’ve been free for a long time, your minds aren’t free. You’re still suffering under all that conditioning. Your instinct is to hide, to avoid notice, to tiptoe around. Right?”

“Of course. There is no other alternative.”

“Sure there is,” Ashok said. “You could fight. You could destroy the thing that threatens you. Eliminate the Axiom.”

“Impossible.”

“Nah, it’s super possible. You guys did rebel, remember, once upon a time? You stole, you schemed, you attacked, you fought.”

“We lost.” Lantern’s voice was harsh.

“Sure, but the rebels went on the offensive, instead of simply going into hiding. That means they must have thought it was possible to win, right? Think about it. The Axiom weren’t content with squashing the rebellion. They were so freaked out they erased the memories of everyone who was involved in the rebellion, and scoured their neural buds from the galaxy. What do you think those Liars knew? They must have been some juicy secrets, if the Axiom were that afraid.”

“I- I have no idea. The cleansing of our memories was just a show of force, we thought.”

“I mean, maybe, it could be. Sounds like the Axiom could be sadistic. But you’d think just killing all the rebels would have been a pretty good deterrent. Instead, they went total overkill. Destroyed your homeworld. Embarked on a mass re-education program. I don’t care how near-godlike you are, that’s a whole lot of effort. If you’re all-powerful, I just don’t see sweating a little uprising all that much. You’d just crush it and move on. My guess is, those rebels figured out something important – something that made the Axiom vulnerable, or else revealed a vulnerability. You’re used to thinking about the Axiom as unstoppable juggernauts of mega-strength. They made sure you thought of them that way, right? How about you look at them in a different light, though. Imagine they have a weakness they’re trying really hard not to reveal.”

“Open a channel,” Callie said. “I was just listening in, guys.”

“Oh, hey, cap,” Ashok said. “I was just thinking out loud.”