Chapter 20 #3
—onto the mattress Noah had readied outside. He’d dragged out several and lined them up for landing. Smart. I almost started laughing, but worried if I did, I wouldn’t stop.
I stood slowly and took a deep breath. I still held the microphone and Vernon gave me the thumbs up. Still recording.
“Surely, you’d be willing to discuss your plans. Perhaps come to an arrangement with humanity. We have ranches around the world. We could try to increase production of livestock. Increase our farming yields. Before we resort to violence, surely there’s a compromise we can reach?”
“I tried that before with the Incas. Almost worked, too, until the drought followed by disease that wiped out herds and crops. It left me with no choice but to eat them.”
“Is that what you do? Kill those who don’t cater to you?”
“How many times do I have to say, I need to eat? You know, previous civilizations initially offer up their undesirables, ridding themselves of the unworthy. I might suggest you do that as it will ensure only the strongest and most capable partake in the rebuilding later on.”
“We are not sacrificing people,” I huffed.
“If you don’t want to choose, you could use a lottery system. Imagine the excitement when the names are drawn.”
“Are you being intentionally psychotic?” I couldn’t believe anyone, even a dragon, would speak so callously aloud of murder.
“What would you suggest then?”
“Isn’t there another planet you could move to?
I mean, you’re technically not from Earth.
You told me yourself, you’re an alien.” I looked away from Leviathan to face the camera as I added, “He came here in an asteroid that started the ice age that wiped out the dinosaurs.” A claim that I belatedly realized relied on him having told me the truth.
Then again, why lie? Could he even lie? Leviathan tended to be annoying blunt when he spoke.
“Leave?” It took a second to realize the rumbling of the building had his laughter to blame. “Why would I leave for somewhere barren and dead of life?”
“Because killing billions is wrong.”
“Why would a god care what its next meal thinks?”
Ouch. I didn’t manage to keep the wince off my face.
“I am what I am,” Leviathan stated. “I will not harm myself to preserve your short lives. Before my next awakening, you’ll likely have forgotten all about me again, unless I manage to surround myself with better drones.”
“To clarify for the audience, when you say drones, you don’t mean machines.”
“No. They are servants whose only task is to cater to my needs.”
“And these drones, are made by you.”
“I thought I already explained that to you.”
“You did, but can you detail it again for the audience.”
Leviathan sighed. “Drones are created by bathing suitable ovum with my essence.”
“Bathing in this case means inseminating. And where are you getting the eggs from…”
“You.” He purred huffing smoke through his nostrils.
Joslyn exhaled. “Perfection.”
“To clarify, you’re saying you can procreate with other species.” I kept the focus on the topic and not his claiming of the content of my ovaries.
“Yes.”
“I have to ask, was it your mom or dad who belonged to the alien subspecies that conceived you?”
“What?” Leviathan exclaimed and I chugged ahead.
“When we previously spoke you mentioned arriving here in a shell that birthed you indicating you were created elsewhere. So who made you? You claim your kind don’t share planets.
If that’s the case, then it seems likely you’re not just an alien to Earth, but also half alien from the planet you were made. ”
“You would insult me and call me impure!” Shock more than rage tainted the exclamation.
“Just asking a question. I’m going to assume you don’t know who your mommy and daddy are. Wouldn’t it be wild if they made you as a drone to serve them?”
“I am not a drone and I am not a half-breed, either.”
“How can you be sure if you’ve never met your parents?” I hammered, probably harder than I should have, but the more info we got, the better before time ran out.
“I just know. Unlike humans,” a word uttered like a slur, “We are born with knowledge.”
“Which seems kind of awful when you think about it. I mean you landed here millions of years ago, back in a primitive time. No one to talk to. No one comparable enough mentally to be a companion. It must have been lonely.” It might seem like a strange shift in tactics, but again, I sought information.
“A god has no need of friends.”
“No need, or you are too much of a jerk to have any?”
“What does a friend offer than I can’t take?”
“Well, for one, they’re around, so you’re not alone.
They listen if you have something exciting, or sad, or absolutely tea-licious to tell.
They laugh if you fall on your ass and then offer you a hand back up.
They share a tub of ice cream with you so the calories don’t count. They make life better.”
“Until they betray you,” Leviathan growled before suddenly slipping off the peninsula, the turmoil of his passage causing the ground to shake. The vibration set my feet sliding and digging in my heels didn’t stop my descent and I fell off the edge—
—into the arms of my soldier.