Part 11 (1/2)
”You know I do, Treel.”
”What would you do if your father was being held captive by my people on Waa?”
”I'd do anything I could to get to him. To save him.”
”I believe you would, Eli. And that is a good thing. It shows you care for him.” Treel stopped walking. Turned to face the small human directly. He waved his hand at the room they were in. ”And yet here I am. Being kept from my family.”
”That's different. You invaded our planet. You're here because of what you did. Not because of what we did.”
Treel was surprised again. The boy understood the nuances of the Minith/Human relations.h.i.+p much better than he had thought.
He tried a different tack.
”I'm not here because of what I did, Eli. I'm here because of what my leaders decided. I didn't want to be here-away from my mate and my offspring-they sent me here. I was just doing my job.”
”Did you ever kill any humans while doing your job?”
Treel was tempted to lie. Could not.
”Yes.”
”Were you protecting yourself or anyone else when you killed them?”
”No.”
Eli slammed his hand down on the playing surface. The pieces flew up, then scattered across the floor.
”Well, my dad would never do that!”
The child stomped his foot for emphasis and Treel felt a twinge of shame. He knew Eli was telling the truth. The father would not kill unless forced to do so. He knew the man well enough to know that.
The slight pang of shame he had felt was quickly overshadowed by the aching need to get home. It was accompanied by a sudden flash of anger which he bit down upon. Swallowed forcibly. He took a breath and stilled his ears. Anger was not the way.
He tried a different path.
”Eli, are we friends?”
The young human sat down slowly. He began idly picking up the fallen p.a.w.ns and returning them to their place on the board.
”Yes.”
”If you could, would you help me get back home? Back to my sons?”
The human slumped in his seat.
”Yes,” he sighed.
Treel's anger was replaced by tentative hope. The hope was followed by a strangely intense curiosity.
”Why?” It was not the thing to ask-he should have pressed his advantage-but he could not stop himself. He needed to know why the boy would ever help him after hearing that he had killed innocent humans.
”You need to get back to your kids. And because I trust you.”
Trust.
Such a foreign concept for the Minith.
Trust.
He had heard the word before, but was not certain he understood its meaning. He wondered what the word meant to Eli.
”What does this mean? 'Trust?'”
The human child grew still and thought for a minute before answering.
”Hard to explain. We're friends, so I trust you. But you can trust people who aren't your friends, too. It means we can be safe around each other, no matter what. And that when you say you are going to do something, you have to do it. It's kind of like a promise, but you don't actually say that you promise.” The boy shook his head and tossed his hands up. ”I can't explain it very well. Sorry.”
But Treel thought he had explained it well enough. Trust meant that Eli felt safe around him; and that was more than adequate for him.
Treel wondered if trust really existed among humans. Could it exist? It seemed like such an outlandish concept.
Peace is nothing more than trust taken to an extreme.
The Minith felt his mind expand with a sudden burst of insight at the thought. For the first time, he caught a glimpse of how humans might have come to exist in their current form. For peace to exist, it required trust. Trust on a grand scale.
If you could not trust your neighbor not to steal from you, there could be no peace. If you could not trust those with different thoughts or opinions not to fight you, there could be no peace. For peace to exist on a planet-wide scale like it had existed here on Earth, trust had to be nearly universal among the humans.
Impossible.
How could anyone expect their leaders, bosses, and overlords to act in a manner that instilled trust? How could a male trust that his mate would not leave him for a better choice when the opportunity was presented? How could a world of billions trust that none of their fellow humans would do them harm? Or try to take advantage of them?
At best, peace is a timid house of cards, ready to topple at the first small breath.
No. Without universal trust between each and every single human, peace was not possible. At some point, trusts would be broken. Those breaches would create fear, and those fears would highlight individual ambitions and differences. Eventually, those ambitions and differences would drive a stake into the heart of peace.
But trust.
Trust was a different animal. Trust was a concept Treel could get behind, if only on a limited basis. He could understand trusting his family-his sons and, to a lesser degree, his mate. Perhaps he could even trust friends.
Of one thing he was certain. If Eli's trust could help him get home, he would foster that emotion and use it to his benefit.
The last crate was placed and the workers left the Leaders.h.i.+p Council's chambers. When the door was finally closed on the last worker, Quasan Allah, the Musl'n Culture Leader, could not sit still any longer.