Hacking the Sun - The Re-Remake

Chapter 20 Wherever The Devil Roams 2/2

"You can't be a King if people's lives are unimportant. That's stupid. If you have a soul and sovereignty then subtract soul, you leave nothing but a head to a broken crown. Now I'm not a judge, and never really cared about everyone else, or crowns. I'm just Jessica, and the world is not a zero-sum game. I know that. Still... You still managed to fuck up my life."

Malvis was stiff.

"Why did you have to kill Beth?"

"Is that the engine of your pretense? An elder victim?"

Jessica's lips contracted into a grin that played against the fury in her eyes. "We're not both emotionless, after all."

"Coarse or timid, my motivations are proper."

"My motivation was a firefighter, public servant, friend, former mother, sister, widow, devout Jew... More love in her fingertips than a callous cliché like you—probably your whole race. And I hate generalizing."

"Your motivation is limited and singular. I am not motivated by one or a few, but many. Countless."

"You speak for 'countless' yet don't feel for a single one?"

"100 years nurturing this planet should suffice. Reversing your mistakes, mitigating the primal residue of interminable flaws. To what more must we aspire? Your ungratefulness speaks for many and only validates our means. But if you join us, we shall not simply undo but, as I have stated, amend."

You don't amend certain things, Jessica wanted to say. "The last human who agreed to work for you killed my friend."

"Is Pine Rim's perpetrator so relevant?"

"It might be when I tell the world about it..."

"Would that sate you? Would the promise of vengeance let you see the greater good?"

"Maybe, it couldn't hurt."

"If I understood your personal fury, would I understand humans? My curiosity is earnest."

"Would you just give me their name if I promised to join you?"

"If it may placate your rage long enough to hear reason."

"As if telling me will decrease your chances?"

"Very well... You are acquainted with David Mourner?"

Jessica curled her lips to hide a deep frown forming.

"David Mourner was your ally, yes? He was the perpetrator. A no-man, false loyalist, and actor who facilitated Pine Rime's destruction. He received his motivation from the data you collected on his behalf. Congratulations."

Liar.

"That uttered, Lynx, I have presented you with redemption for your sin."

"You're lying..." Hoarseness in her voice, she looked at the ground. "It's a lie."

"Mourner has been apprehended. You, on the other hand, may compensate for his treachery."

"I didn't kill Beth..."

"Do not neglect this opportunity out of madness."

"I didn't kill Beth." Jessica turned her back to the alien. "I wouldn't kill her. I just wanted to understand why my dad died. I wanted to know what they were hiding. The secrets, the black sites, the government funding. I wanted to help the prisoners on the top of Goliath."

Malvis furrowed his brow. "What have you learned?"

Jessica froze, a Cheshire smile on her face. "I remembered something. If David was responsible, why wouldn't he be working with Sub Terra?"