Chapter 20
20
INTERVIEWER: And when you discovered she was missing, what did you do then?
VIRGINIA JONES: I went looking for her.
INTERVIEWER: You knew being alone could pose a danger, but you went anyway.
VIRGINIA JONES: I had no other choice. I couldn’t leave her out there.
INTERVIEWER: Your report states that she was alive when you found her.
VIRGINIA JONES: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: But you know as well as I, Ms. Jones, that she never survived the encounter in the forest. There are those who believe you killed her. What do you say to that?
VIRGINIA JONES: I wrote a report. I documented everything.
INTERVIEWER: That report isn’t available to the public. What would you say to the friends and families of those we lost on the Planet? The friends and family of Jennifer Andrews?
VIRGINIA JONES: I didn’t kill her. I didn’t kill anyone.
INTERVIEWER: But you know how it looks. One by one, your team members went missing. One by one, you found them… and watched them die.
VIRGINIA JONES (growing agitated): I tried to stop what happened to them. It’s in the report. You weren’t there.
INTERVIEWER: Early reports stated concern over a pathogen. A possible infection. But you reject that explanation as the cause of death. Why?
VIRGINIA JONES: Because that’s not what happened to them.
INTERVIEWER: Did you kill them?
VIRGINIA JONES: I told you, I didn’t.
INTERVIEWER: Then what did?
VIRGINIA JONES: Nothing.
INTERVIEWER: Can you elaborate, Ms. Jones?
VIRGINIA JONES: No one killed them. They were not murdered. They gave themselves over. They worshiped the womb of the Planet, one by one, and she took them.