ANTIBODY

I am a soldier. Without any room for interpretation, I protect the Earth from destruction. I haven’t taken a single life outside of this cause and by all rights, they were all just. I’m not an egomaniac, I’m not pushing my beliefs onto others. I defend the Earth. Ironically, that makes me the bad guy; and this heart-shaped locket personifies that all too well.

I guess this locket and the 20-year-old girl I have tied up and blindfolded in front of me both contribute to my latest analysis of my current alignment. How did I get here? How did she get here? I wonder if she knew Tiara. She’s got the same fighting spirit that all of the Uni’s have. I’m sure Tee would be proud of her and even more disappointed in me. This girl won’t shut up. I can’t even think to myself in peace. I guess I should just get this over with. I’ll keep the blindfold on to keep her on edge.

“What’s your name?”

“Have you not been listening this whole time! It doesn’t matter what my name is. You might have me restrained but you won’t be able to stop us!”

“Oh no, I heard all that. It’s the same thing every time. You shout your ridiculous beliefs about something you know nothing about. Those lies have poisoned your mind and others like you.”

I’m lying. I have to. As a soldier, you learn you have to sometimes bend the truth, even if you break it. I need her to provide me information about where her people are so I can stop this madness. They are the last holdout of Uni’s and when you try to get that type of information from zealots like her, you can only do one of two things. Break the spirit or the body; I’m not too keen on torturing a little girl so I have to do all I can to break her beliefs. Even though they are right. I know that, but I can’t afford to validate it. Not after what I’ve sacrificed. More rambling from her. Let’s see if she can succumb to a bit of reasoning.

“It’s funny what we decide is valuable and what isn’t. This locket that I carry around means everything to me but a month ago I would have gladly used this locket to scratch off a lottery ticket. Oh shoot, I’m dating myself. You are probably too young to know what a lottery ticket is right? Almost 30 years now since the Doc pushed us to the end of the world, ain’t it?”

“A world that needs to end! If you were alive back then, you should know that what we are doing is right.”

“There it goes again. Right and wrong. What’s right to you, could be wrong to someone else. People wouldn’t think twice about killing an ant but killing a person is still a capital offense, even in the times we are in.”

“You are still so small-minded. This is bigger than the ant and it is bigger than us. The whole universe is at stake. How can you Earthers be so selfish?”

“You think yourself mighty? Do you think you are fighting a noble fight? When I captured you, you were about to blow up a generator that provides for a whole city. You were ready to plunge them all into darkness during a winter storm. You’ve had that blindfold on for a while now, why would you wish that on others?

“Let’s ignore your hypocritical position here and get to the point that it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that we were created for one reason and that was to destroy this Earth. We have a duty to the rest of the universe. The Earth is the problem and we are the solution. The Anti---“

“The Antibody, I know. I told you I heard this speech before. From others much older and much wiser than you.”

“You don’t need to be old to understand the science. The Earth is a virus to the universe. An unintended consequence of the Big Bang. The meteor that killed the dinosaurs should have entirely obliterated this abscess. We were created by this universe to destroy this place. If it weren’t for us, the Earth would already be close to ripping the Milky Way apart.”

She’s rambling about Dr. Carter’s theory. A theory, that says that Earth isn’t a planet as we define it but rather is in the final stages of imploding. He speculates that Earth is a primordial black hole, a phenomenon that has been hypothesized for years but no one knew that it would be the Earth itself. Or rather, we did know and the truth was hidden and protected by people like me. No one knows when it is to be but the Uni’s believe that we were created to kill the planet before it got there. Humans have been the most destructive force to the Earth and its ecosystem for sure. We pushed for environmental policies to reduce our impact on our home, little did we know we were doing exactly what we were created to do. So why am I fighting this? Why am I fighting her? Why did I choose Earth over Tee? I’m still trying to figure that out honestly. One thing I do know though is that killing each other doesn’t help either side of the line. So I need to keep my focus on that and stick to my resolve. Time to be candid, time to get her to trust me so I can turn it against her. Starting with taking off this blindfold.

“There you go. I feel like we can have a better conversation now. My mother taught me to look people in their eyes when I spoke to them.”

“My mother taught me the same.”

“So we have that in common. Where is your mother now?”

“Dead. Killed by you Earthers.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I truly don’t wish death on anyone.”

“She died for the cause. She is a hero and she did her duty.”

“Her duty should have been to keep you safe and out of harm’s way. Not putting you on the frontline of a war of ideology. Why does your life not matter to the universe? Why not mine? Or the people in that city you tried to freeze to death?”

Got her. She’s stumbling.

“Shouldn’t we all be able to live a full life? If we are the antibody, why wouldn’t it be ok to just keep living how we are or how we were before this war started?”

“Because we are running out of time. I know you think me naïve. I asked these same questions to my mother. The Earth needs to be destroyed. In the past, the reduction of our carbon footprint and the policies to heal the Earth worked. Better than everyone thought. At that time, we were doing the opposite of what we were meant to do. We’ve had nearly two million years to destroy this place and we are running out of time working against each other and our prime objectives.”

“We won’t see the end in our life? How do you know we don’t have another million years or so?”

“So you do believe in the science. Why are you fighting this so hard?”

“Why rush our demise? As far as we know, we are the only sign of intelligent life anywhere in this universe. Why should we kill ourselves to save a bunch of rocks?”

“There is life! There has to be!”

“Wanting it to be and knowing it to be are two different things. I feel like I’m going back and forth with Tee.”

“Tee?”

“My sister. She was an extreme Uni. She wouldn’t relent. She couldn’t prove anything it was all just feelings. The science wasn’t conclusive and yet she gave her life to your silly cause.”

Damn, I got caught in my emotions. I shouldn’t be talking to her about Tee. I’m doing more of the talking which is never good. Actually, why has she stopped talking. What is she staring at?

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Where did you get that locket?”

“I definitely talked too much. I’ve been trying to give you another path to choose. I have directives to kill all Uni Threats. You all are terrorists who can’t be reasoned with. I tried, I really tried.”

Pulling my gun on a 20-year-old girl feels weird. As it should. Especially since she is still tied up. This would be the first kill I’d have like this but the pressure to end this war is heavier than ever. I can’t let this go on, so she needs to die. Wait, why is she crying?

“You’re telling me all of that bravado just went out the window when a gun gets pointed at you? I honestly expected more.”

“These tears aren’t for me. I understand now why you choose to ignore what’s right in front of you. My mother always told me that you were always chasing after your father’s shadow. Putting duty before family. She said you would have been the perfect partner if the army didn’t get to you first.”

What is she saying? How does her dead mother know me? How does she know about my father? Her mother? No. That can’t be.

“You Tee’s kid?”

“Yes. I never saw her without that locket around her neck. She said it reminded her of you. She channeled your resolve and used it to lead our movement. All the way to her death. Was it you that killed her?”

Damn. DAMN. DAMN! Of all the situations. My resolve is being tested again. Have I not already proved myself? Is this another test? Or another chance? I don’t know. I don’t know. Why can’t I stop shaking?!

“My name is Samantha, Sam for short. My mom named me after her favorite uncle. She said you would’ve loved to meet me but that it wouldn’t be for the best.”

I can’t do this. Are those tears coming from me? I can’t do this anymore. What’s that ringing? My phone? Who’s calling at this time? The general? I can’t talk to him right now but I can’t ignore this, it could be important.

“General?”

“We have a problem. The Uni’s released some sort of propaganda and it’s got the people in an uproar. We need their base location now to end all this. How’s the interrogation coming along?”

“I’m finishing up now sir. May I ask what the propaganda was?”

“Nonsense about confirmation about sentient life on other planets. Sounds like a bunch of malarkey to me. Finish up and let’s end this. I’m counting on you soldier.”

Confirmation of sentient life huh? Gun in my hand with my niece at the end of it. The same gun I used to end her mother’s life. What to do?

“So what’s it going to be unc?”

Only one thing to do now. No choices but one for me. This gun has never felt heavier. Time to be the bad guy.