“That,” he said with pride. “That is salvation.”
“Whose salvation?” I asked.
“Mankind’s, of course. This is what it’s about, Tucker. We’re insuring the survival of the human race. Pretty awesome, right?”
Tori and I exchanged confused looks. I don’t know what I expected Feit to say, but that definitely wasn’t it.
“Survival?” Tori spat, incredulous. “All we’ve seen is death.”
“True,” he replied. “That’s a bummer.”
“Bummer?” I cried. “Millions of people are just… gone.” Feit shrugged. “What can I say? We’re at war. War has casualties.”
I didn’t know what was more stunning: the fact that Feit was alive or his indifference to the massive loss of life.
“What kind of war is this?” I demanded. “There are no sides. No declarations. There’s no point to any of it but… death.”
“Not true,” Feit corrected. “This is a war between ideologies. Between visions of what the world is and what it should be. We’re talking big-picture stuff here. Bigger than any country or race or religion. This is about righting the ship before it hits the rocks. Isn’t that worth fighting over… and a few casualties?”
I looked to Tori. She seemed as confused as I was.
“Are you from another planet?” she asked. “I mean, literally?”
Feit let out another laugh. Talking about the deaths of millions didn’t hurt his sense of humor any.
“I guess you could say that,” he replied.
“So you’re an alien?” I asked, incredulous.
“If that’s what you want to believe, sure.”
“What I want is the truth,” I shouted with frustration. “What is SYLO?”
“Ahh, SYLO,” Feit repeated. “There are those who choose to soar and those who prefer to crawl in the dirt. The powers that created those mindless storm troopers can’t see beyond their own selfish, short-term needs. Those fools are fighting to maintain the status quo while pushing mankind to the brink of extinction.”
“But they’re part of the Navy,” I said. “The president of the United States sent them to Pemberwick and—”
“You’re not listening,” Feit snapped, no longer the loose surfer dude. “This isn’t about countries or borders. We’re shaping the future of the entire planet. The United States is irrelevant.”
A scream came from the field.
We looked to see a man falling from the highest point of the structure.
“Oh my God,” Tori gasped.
I always thought that if you fell from an extreme height, you’d pass out before hitting the ground. I was wrong. The doomed man wailed in terror for the entire four seconds it took him to reach the ground. We were spared seeing the impact, for he dropped out of sight behind the partially constructed outer skin of the dome, but I heard the sickening, dull thud as his body hit and the screaming abruptly ended.
We stared in silence for several seconds and then…
“Oops,” Feit said with a dismissive shrug.
“You’re using these people,” I said, stunned. “That’s what the Ruby is for. You’re creating superhuman slaves. To do what? Rebuild what you’ve destroyed?”
“No,” Feit said, deadly serious. “They’re rebuilding what they’ve destroyed themselves.”
“You’re talking in riddles,” Tori snarled. “Who are you fighting for? The Air Force?”
“I’m fighting for the future of a doomed planet,” he said as if annoyed at having to explain. “This is a finite world. Nothing new is being created. No new water or fossil fuels or space to handle overpopulation. Many choose to ignore that and live in denial. They’re wrong. They’re dangerous. We’re giving the world a gift by taking control. What we’re offering is a do-over. A second chance.”
“So who are you fighting with?” I demanded.
Feit stood up straight and gave us a mock salute.
“I’m a colonel in the United States Air Force,” he replied proudly. “A twenty-year veteran.”
“You don’t seem like an Air Force colonel,” Tori said.
“Really? How many do you know? I used to be a pilot, but now my expertise lies in the field of human behavior. I’ve been charged with assembling the workforce that will build a better future. It’s a huge job. I’ve been traveling like crazy. Different city every day. I’m kind of beat, to be honest.”
“Poor you,” Tori said sarcastically.
“What I told you on Pemberwick Island wasn’t far from the truth. I was testing the Ruby. I wanted to know how much the human body could withstand before, well, before the flame went out. I’m not alone, either. There are plenty of others just like me who have been doing the exact same thing. This isn’t some half-baked operation. It’s been planned for years.”
“By whom?” I demanded. “Who is in charge? Who is controlling the Air Force?”
“Visionaries,” Feit said proudly.
“Murderers,” Tori said.
“So it really is a civil war,” I said soberly.
“You could call it that,” Feit replied. “But as wars go, it’s pretty much over. We’ve already weakened SYLO’s capabilities and secured most of the population centers.”
“What?” I said, stunned.
“Population centers?” Tori repeated, incredulous.
“Oh, come on,” Feit said, scoffing. “You didn’t think this was only happening in your little corner of the world, did you?”
The weight of his words made my knees buckle. I half fell, half sat in a seat. My entire focus had been on bringing down SYLO. I wanted to destroy the devils that ruined my life. Now it seemed as though the SYLO Navy was defenseless against the might of the far superior Air Force. My enemy was fighting back against an even more powerful and dangerous force. We weren’t looking at the mass execution of millions. If Feit was telling us the truth, we were faced with the extermination of billions.
Tori spoke, but barely above a whisper, as if she didn’t want to hear her own words.
“You mean you’ve wiped out the entire population of the world?”
“No!” Feit replied quickly. “That’s just crazy.”
I felt a short moment of relief. Very short.
“Three-quarters, tops,” he continued. “Then again, we’re not done. There’s some additional cleanup planned, especially in the bigger cities.”
It was Tori’s turn to sit down.
“Cleanup,” she muttered.
Feit went on casually, as if explaining a simple math problem. “We’re not planning on total eradication. We need workers to maintain the current infrastructure. At least for a while. Everything will eventually be torn down, re-envisioned and rebuilt, of course. The project here is just the beginning. The one thing we don’t want to do is go back to business as usual. That would defeat the whole purpose.”
“And SYLO was trying to stop you?” I asked.
“Sides have been chosen,” Feit replied, bristling. “Our methods are extreme, I’ll give you that, but they’re nothing compared to what would happen if SYLO prevailed. You may think what we’ve done is barbaric, but if SYLO succeeded, the world as you know it would have ceased to exist. I promise you that. Basically, we’re saving the planet. Hooray for us.”
“But how can you know that?” I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “You wiped out most of the earth’s population on the theory that SYLO would do worse? That’s insane.”
“It’s not insane,” Feit said with confidence. “It’s absolute fact.”
“What proof do you have?”
There was another scream from the field. Another Ruby-fueled worker was falling to his death.
I watched as the horrific scene played out with the same gruesome result. And when I looked back…
…Tori stood with her legs apart and her hands raised.
Her pistol was aimed directly at Feit.