“I’m not saying they have our best interests at heart,” I continued. “Or that we won’t eventually have to fight them. But why awaken a sleeping giant? Why pick a fight we can’t win right now?”
Nick opened his mouth to reply, but I forged ahead before he could. “They may be less aggressive than we are,” I added, “but we’re hugely outgunned and outmanned. And the representatives orbiting Saturn are just the tip of the iceberg. The tip of the tip. Start a war with their asteroid ship, forgetting for a moment that it can probably wipe out the Earth in seconds, and we buy ourselves a war against twenty-two member species, collectively numbering over a hundred billion.”
I shook my head. “In case I’m being too subtle,” I finished, “attacking them in the near future is about the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”
Nick sighed loudly. “You think that only because you don’t really understand what they’re about,” he said. “Nari likes to use the sheep/wolf metaphor. Well, the Zetas are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They fear being usurped by what they call the Intruders and are prepared to more or less enslave the human race to destroy what they see as a coming threat to their own power. They plan to turn us into their private genocide squad. Worse, they’ll soon have the means to control us in ways that will be permanent.
“It’s now or never,” added the Aussie captain. “When you see the evidence I’ve seen, you’ll feel the same panic I’m feeling. The same certainty that we have to strike as soon as we can. I guarantee it.”
“What kind of evidence?”
“Did you get Tessa to admit she was born and raised off Earth?”
I barely managed to nod a yes. The mention of her name once again drove me into an immediate emotional tailspin. I took the last remaining mouthful of chicken Caesar wrap to buy time to collect myself, and chased it down with the last of the apple juice.
“Did she tell you why the Zetas put tens of thousands of humans in holographic petri dishes inside a hollowed-out asteroid?” continued Nick. “Why they created perfect mock-ups of towns from all the major nations on Earth?
“I’ll tell you why,” he continued without waiting for a response, “to perfect their brain manipulation techniques. And to develop genetic means to control us, so they can turn us into their willing slaves, forever unable to get out from under their thumbs.”
I nodded, thinking about what Tessa had said about the Jurassic Park containment strategy. She hadn’t seemed to be aware they were using her and her off-Earth comrades to perfect it, but I wasn’t surprised. That’s the last thing Nari would have shared with her.
“From the Zetas’ perspective,” continued the captain, “there’s only one thing better than killing a wolf like us. And that’s controlling a wolf like us. Putting us on a bloody leash.”
“And you have unimpeachable evidence of everything you’re saying?”
“Absolutely. And much more. Think about it, mate. They have a seed-stock of humanity on their asteroid to experiment on. Or to take to a habitable planet and breed as a slave race, just in case their plan here fails.”
He shook his head. “But their plan won’t fail. Not unless we take extraordinary steps to stop them.”
I frowned deeply. I hadn’t considered how easy it would be for them to breed a race of humans that were all born under their control. How easy it would be for the Zetas to mold them.
The captain could tell his points were sinking in. “And they now have a collection of brainwashed and manipulated humans who make perfect spies for them,” he continued. “Spies able to effortlessly infiltrate anywhere on this planet. Rise through any organization at great speed, because they’re superior to the rest of us. Raised by the Zetas, but fully immersed in the customs, language, and culture of whatever country their parents were taken from. Like Tessa. She can pass herself off as having been raised in America—because she basically was.”
Nick exhaled loudly. “I know you love her, mate,” he said softly. “And I’m sorry about that. But you can’t save her from their manipulations. Who knows what the Zetas did to her in the womb or while she was growing up.
“Did they engineer her genes so she’d be more receptive to their brainwashing? Did they enter her sleep each night for years, reinforcing ideas they wanted her to have?
“She tried to kill you on the island, Jason. If not for me, she would have succeeded. Remember that guy from the movie Aliens who knew that one of those nasty creatures was about to burst out of his chest. Remember how he begged his comrades to kill him. If Tessa knew what had been done to her, knew that she’d been all but programmed to kill a man who is madly in love with her, she’d ask you to do the same. And it would be the compassionate thing for you to do. A mercy killing.”
Bile rose in my throat, despite the nanite presence. For just a moment, I wanted to strangle my host, either because I was horrified by what he said, or even more horrified that he might be right.
“We’re done talking about her!” I snapped. “Got it! Tell me more about the Zetas if you have more to tell. But Tessa is now off limits.”
“Of course,” replied the captain, backing off immediately. “Back to the big picture. Everything I’ve shared has been to convince you that we have to strike now. While we still have some free will left.”
There was a long silence. “Tell me more about these Benefactors?” I said, still trying to recover from the emotional anguish that suffocated me whenever I thought of Tessa. “Sounds like you think they’re saints.”