“Guys! Cut it out!” implored Tal. “We have to talk about this rationally!”
After a few moments of continued pleading by Tal, the Budgies reluctantly separated and set about preening themselves to put their feathers back in order and calm the ire coursing through them. In a short time, they were even preening each other carefully, almost lovingly. Their anger had burned brightly, but also passed quickly.
“Look, I can understand both sides of the argument,” continued Tal, “as I think most can. But don’t you think we should err on the side of caution rather than resort to brutality among ourselves or against the Humans?” Tal said. “Haven’t we always damned them for choosing that very course?”
“I guess, when you put it that way,” Via grudgingly admitted. “The last thing I want to be is like a Human.”
“We’ve spoken with many of the other Budgies and they’re as torn as we are,” Vic explained. “It’s going to come down to how the Elders speak about the matter, I think. Their opinion will likely sway the younger birds. One way or the other.”
“This is not good news,” Kal replied. “If what you say is true, we might just be going to war.”
Five
The next day, both colonies met and arguments commenced. Many on both sides were neutral and couldn’t care less what was decided. That is, until Bongse spoke. His words chilled all but the world-weariest of Budgies and Bats present.
“Humans rose to power by eating one another, by trampling on those species they considered lesser and then consuming them too. As the Human population grew, so did their greed, their lust for power and domination—not only over the weakest of their own species, but over all they could conquer. They treated their home, our Earth, with such disdain that it rose up and consumed them. A just fate, that.
“I feel no sorrow or pity for these creatures. I feel nothing at all for them, just as they felt nothing at all for the lives they extinguished. I would not see them come to power again. We must end them now, here, while we have a chance. Not only must we exterminate those five so close to discovering our colonies, but we must seek out survivors elsewhere and destroy them as well. Humans must never again be allowed to have the power of life and death over other creatures.
“We must, as one force of Budgies and Bats, rise up and strike down the enemy. Go forth and retrieve any weapon you can fit in your talons and claws. We—with our millions of wings strong—will rain down a final fate upon these creatures who would become masters again over a world where no masters are or ever were needed. Nature is and should be our only master, and nature demands this final sacrifice of life to guarantee the survival of all.”
The chamber erupted as Bats and Budgies argued fiercely with angry words sharp as talons. But soon the naysayers were shouted down by Bongse’s supporters, who’d been whipped into a frenzy of fear by his ominous warning. Some seemed ready to take flight at that very moment.
“Think about what you’re doing here, Bongse,” Vic cried out. “We cannot behave this way and expect to survive our—”
“The decision has been made, Vic,” Bongse replied coldly. “The majority agree that we have no choice.”
“What? I didn’t hear a vote! There must be an alternative to murdering them with no provocation!”
“Enough, Vic! It is done.”
For several long moments, no one made a sound. The pervasive quiet was eerie and uncomfortable in the wake of Bongse’s pronouncement. Finally, the silence was broken as Budgies and Bats alike took wing to do his bidding and carry out the attack. Amidst the flurry of activity, a minority began once again to argue against the Bat Elder’s final solution to the Human problem. But it was too little too late.
Paralyzed by the chaos around them, Vic and Kal, the Younglings on the council, faced a difficult choice. Should they choose to speak out further against Bongse, they could be exiled from their respective colonies. At the very least, they would likely lose their positions on the council and be shamed, with derision and scorn heaped upon them, should they choose to stay. Seeing no real chance to dissuade their species from their murderous course, Vic, Via, Kal, and Tal raced to the Human settlement to try to warn them.
But by the time the Younglings arrived the Humans were already dead. The Human elders had clearly died protecting the young as wave after wave of Bats and Budgies flew sorties over their small camp, first pelting them with sticks, stones, and shells from above before ripping them apart with beaks and claws and teeth. They’d had no chance to retreat to their cave for protection. In the end, their pitted flesh and broken bodies would lie unburied in the sun, their lives forgotten by all but the few who’d shunned the slaughter.
When it was all over, when the attack was finally halted and the victory celebration by most had begun, the Younglings made a decision regarding their future with the colonies. Vic and Via, Kal and Tal, and less than a hundred others of both species requested an audience with the council Elders.
Though he dreaded it, Vic began the conversation that would change their lives forever.
“Council Elders Bongse, Magsay, Hettie, and Max. As you know, we council Younglings were opposed, for the most part, to your decision to eradicate the Humans. We feel that, with a little more consideration and a little more time, we could have found a better alternative, some other way to ensure the safety of the colonies. We feel that you acted just as the Humans of old would have. And by doing so, you’ve proven they were not the only creatures on this planet who are selfish and greedy, malicious and murderous.
“Your actions, whether you realize it or not, have doomed these colonies to collapse. You’ve planted the seeds of hatred within your own colonists, and before long these seeds will no doubt spring forth to kill all that you see, all that you now hold dear. The very thing you were so afraid of in Humans has now taken root in our own society—and that’s your doing. You have become the very thing you so feared and despised.
“I am ashamed—I am mortified—to have witnessed your act of barbarism against the Humans. I cannot be a member of a society that sanctions such slaughter. So it’s with a heavy heart that I must hereby resign from my position on the council. Kal also offers his resignation. We, along with the others in the colonies who agree with us, will depart immediately to begin our own colonies as far away from this tragedy as possible.”
The council Elders gaped, speechless, as Vic exited the meeting chamber followed by his sister, Kal, Tal, and the Bats and Budgies who would leave with them. None, not even the firebrand Bongse, could utter a word as they left.
Max seemed sad but resigned to Vic’s words. He knew them to be true. And a similar light of understanding was dawning on the faces of Magsay and Hettie. Understanding and loss. And a deep sense of mourning.
At daybreak the next day, the hundred or so new colonists began their journey to a new land and a new life. The Budgies would fly by day and the Bats would fly by night, each group meeting at sunset and sunrise to further plan their travels until they found a suitable place to settle down and begin life anew.
A Word from Todd Barselow
I’m best known for my work as an editor who specializes in assisting independently publishing authors. I’m also known as the senior editor at Imajin Books, a small Canadian publisher, whose books are widely read and enjoyed around the world. All told, I’ve worked on more than 200 books in my career as an editor. I’m also the owner and publisher of Auspicious Apparatus Press, which produces quality fiction in ebook, paperback, and audiobook formats.