Survivors

The only two things Bretnel absolutely refused to let them do was, have any of the weapons they had seen him use, or let them engage in any physical fighting when they were in animal form, even if it was just for fun.

“You’ve got to get really at ease with the increased strength and speed you have in your transformed guises. An ants mandible scaled up to human size can easily cut through steel cable five inches thick, so just imagine what it could do to a human are or leg”

“Cool!” Whistled Joe.

“No, master Joe” said Bretnel “It is not cool, it is very, very serious. As has been said by many philosophers down the generations in one form or another – With great power comes great responsibilities”

“Wasn’t that Spidermans uncle?” Whispered Joe.

“You have to decide what you do with the powers you have” carried on Bretnel as if he hadn’t heard what Joe had said. “For myself I have chosen not to attack the Aliens as I believe it is wrong to take a life, any form of life”.

For a few seconds there was a stunned silence then Luke exploded “Three questions then, One Aliens aren’t life they’re machines, two you did “kill” at the clearing and three why give us these powers if you didn’t want us to use them?”

“Technically” said Bretnel with a really annoying display of patience “Only one of those were a question, the rest were statements”.

“Whatever!” Snapped Luke.

“Very well I will address each point in turn. One, I believe that there is a part of a Alien that is very much alive. Tests I have carried out suggest a level of sentience above that possible from any computer, no matter how advanced. A significant organic presence of some kind is intrinsic to their make-up, to their intelligence and therefore I believe they are alive. This leads me to your second statement I refuse to take life unless it is absolutely necessary. At the clearing I thought I had no choice whatsoever but to act as I did”. At this point Bretnel looked away and his tone became more subdued. “I had been observing your progress and that of the Alien patrol for some time. Only when the Alien commander made an aggressive move to take you into custody did I deem their ... termination a necessity. A necessity but an absolutely regrettable one”.

“How the hell can you talk like that” bellowed Luke standing up and screaming into Bretnels’ face, “After all they’ve done to us. All the people they’ve killed, our friends, our parents and all the other kids just like us”.

“I didn’t say it was an easy decision to make” said Bretnel “But it’s exactly because of all the killing and what it’s done to all of us that I won’t be party to any more of it”.

“What’s the alternative then? Just give in and hand ourselves over!”

“No of course not. Pacifists have never suggested surrender as the only option. Throughout history they have resisted in ways other than direct aggression.”

“So have you found a way to resist them?” asked Holly excitedly.

“Alas not yet, but I work on it all the time. It’s what I do when I leave you here alone. It’s my life’s work. It will be my contribution to saving the human race from the Aliens and in many ways from itself as well”.

Bretnel said the last of his little speech straight at Luke, the significance of which, if Luke’s expression was anything to go by, was not missed. He didn’t say anything in response but sat heavily down with a loud “hmmpff”, folded his arms and looked away.

“The last point” went on Bretnel.

“Question! You said that one was a question” said Joe, very pleased with himself. He looked at Luke for a sign of approval of his cleverness. He didn’t get it!

“Yes I did” said Bretnel smiling slightly. “The third question, as to why I did it, I must admit I find it hard to answer myself. The best I can offer you is this, if we as humans had the capability to hurt the Aliens they would have to take us seriously. They would have to negotiate and we would have to learn how to live together with them. It would give us and them choices to make. I wanted to see what you would do with that choice. You can now kill Aliens if you want to, but if you at the moment you would have to do it up close, with your own bare hands and not at a distance with weapons. The question I ask you is, are you capable of that, will you be able to do that?”

“For my part” said Luke in a low menacing voice “That is exactly what I intend to do”.