Dekkir (Galaxy Alien Warriors #1)(29)
Dekkir turned to me, his brow furrowing. “What would happen if the general public of Earth learned of Command’s scheme?”
“It would create scandal. Those currently in power would find themselves challenged. It would create a period of extreme upheaval if enough people reacted violently enough. And I suspect they would. I don’t know whose bright idea it was to do this, but I don’t think my people in general would be in agreement with the move if they understood the entire war is being manufactured to take advantage of Lyra’s resources.”
Dorin frowned thoughtfully. “And if they determined your life was put at risk in order to further their plans, would that not cause even more scandal?”
“It would if the information got past Command censors and reached Earth.” I felt a touch of hope. It almost sounded like Dorin was slowly forming a plan.
“Can Tabirus get that information past the censors?”
“I could find out.”
He rubbed his face. Then he turned to his son. “I will return to my duties tomorrow. In the meantime, I strongly suggest you find out everything you can from your new mate about Earth’s military, the weapons, their technology, and their tactics. We need to know what may be coming at us.”
Dekkir bowed his head. “It will be done.”
Dorin glared at me one last time and then turned on his heel and strode out. I stared after him, shaking my head. I hadn’t exactly expected him to be grateful after I had to defy my own people to make sure he had a cure for the poison someone in Command sent. But it would have been nice if he’d at least acknowledged I was more or less trustworthy after that. Instead, since I was human, I remained persona non grata.
Once he was gone, my shoulders sagged and I dropped my face into my hands. Dekkir slipped an arm around me, and I just cried quietly for a little while in his embrace. Finally, I gulped air and mumbled past my hands, “There’s nothing I can do. I can’t fix this. I have no idea where to begin.”
“Let us begin, then, with what my father requested.” My mate’s tone was gentle but pointed.
I hesitated. If my parents ever found out I had given up crucial military information about Command to an extraterrestrial power, they probably would disown me. But now . . . it was the only thing I could do to prevent what could play out as a planet-wide atrocity. “I’ll tell you everything.”
It took me roughly half an hour to go into all the details I thought could possibly be relevant. The dropships, the drones, the fuel they used, and the weapons they tended to carry. How many soldiers the base housed. The possibility of a bombing. The possibility of another assassination attempt. Every bit of it made me sick to talk about, but I kept on until it was all done.
As I finished, Dekkir stared at me, and Neyilla sighed. “Our fearless leader seems to have forgotten his manners, but I assure you he will be grateful for the information. As for me, I am more concerned about you. Perhaps it is time to change the subject. I know you came in here with questions for me.”
I swallowed and looked up at her, nodding gratefully—then forced myself to move on. “I’ve started having visions about how Lyra used to be. It reminded me a lot of Earth now, although from the airship designs, it looks as if your technology actually advanced past ours.”
“Very likely. At the time of the Great Transition, we had mastered space-fold technology and had traveled to several other star systems. We actually have a few colonies of Lyrans living on other worlds. We have not been in contact with them in over two thousand years.”
I leaned on Dekkir, who was slowly relaxing. “But why would your people give up all that technology?”
“Technological dependence almost ended us. The pollution it created nearly destroyed our world. The constant demand for resources caused us to mine out our planet, along with our moons. As resources became scarce, we struggled to discover a form of technology that was ‘clean’ enough to be sustainable. But nothing we came up with allowed us to truly live in harmony with our world. Especially at our population levels.”
Wait. “So your solution to your problem was to give up technology?”
“In part. The decision was made to alter both the remaining life on the planet and our own gene sequences in order to adapt to a new way of living. Back then, we were not significantly larger or stronger than humans, and neither were we psychically active. We created the Golden Strain during that time. We developed plant life and bacteria capable of metabolizing the pollution and restoring the ecosystem. We also changed our level of fertility so we would not reproduce as quickly. Because of this, our population eventually dwindled to sustainable levels.”
“I wonder if something like that would work on Earth.” I kissed Dekkir on the cheek and then got up to go and look out the window. It was raining again, and I could see fat droplets bouncing their way down the leaves of the tree that surrounded us. “If this world was once a wasteland like Earth has become, I would have never been able to tell.”
“Ironically, records of the biotechnology we used to accomplish these things do still exist. If Earth Command was not attempting to destroy us, we could supply this information and assist you in saving your own world.” She offered a sad little smile, seeming almost apologetic.
“What if I sent that idea along to the doctor—I mean, Tabirus?”
“He is quite aware of the origins of our world. However, it may not have occurred to him to use this information as a bargaining chip among the humans. By all means, let him know.” She came up behind me and laid a long-fingered hand on my shoulder. “You are too distraught now for further training, and this is understandable. I’m going to suggest you take some time away with your mate and leave everything else behind for a while. We have a whole month together until your training is completed. By then, perhaps we will have come up with some way of fixing this . . . situation as well.”