Critical Path

Maria looked up at him with neutral eyes. “Charlie, in the arena,” she said, conveying little emotion. Layla had barely looked up at Denver. He wanted to go to her, but she seemed focused on Gregor’s shallow grave, her body tense and bent over.

Denver wondered if she did have more feelings for Gregor than she had previously let on. They certainly had history together on the farm, and before. Despite her misgivings of him, Denver could understand that she might, underneath it all, have some feelings of grief.

“You killed him?” Denver asked his father.

“Yeah. I had little choice. He wanted it.”

“And you didn’t? After everything he’s done. After what he did to—”

“He didn’t,” Charlie said, turning to his son. “I saw it in his eyes at the end. It wasn’t him. He used it to make me end him. His time was coming, whether it was from my hand or one of Aimee’s pets. He goaded me, but in that final moment, I saw the truth in him. He didn’t kill Pippa.”

“Are you sure?”

“Certain.”

Denver looked down at the shallow grave with a new vision. All this time, Gregor had been like the bogeyman. All those years when Denver and Charlie were raiding against the farm and the croatoans, all that time surviving out in the wilderness, Denver had pictured Gregor as this great evil. Charlie’s nemesis.

Denver’s nemesis.

And yet, now, he was just another body in the ground. Another victim of the new world, the new struggle.

“We were more alike than I realized,” Charlie said.

“No,” Layla interjected, her first words since Denver had arrived. “You two were nothing alike. So what, he wasn’t your great enemy that you thought, but he had few redeeming qualities, and he won’t be missed.”

“He did help us take down the mother ship,” Charlie reminded her.

“And he also perpetuated enslaving humans on the farm for cattle,” Maria shot back.

“As did I,” Layla said. “What this shows us is that none of us are perfect. We’re a terribly flawed species, our own worst enemy. If there’s one thing the croatoans have shown us, it’s that we’re not terribly different to them. We’re all just animals doing our best to survive.”

The group fell silent. Denver tried to pay at least some respect to Gregor for the good things he did, but knew deep down, he was different, he was not a friend of humanity, despite him helping out against the aliens toward the end. One good deed doesn’t make up for a lifetime of evil.

“We need to go,” Denver said after a few minutes. “I’ve come to deliver a message from Mike. We’re leaving within the hour. There’s something wrong at the jump gate on Tredeya. Hagellan isn’t receiving the right kind of return message, and he’s lost track of the destroyer.”

“The old ship is ready to go?” Charlie asked, his voice grave.

“Yeah, you didn’t see it?”

“I did, looks good. I just hope it’s as good as it looks.”

“Time will tell,” Denver said. “And if not… there’s always the bomb.”

Maria made a small choking noise at that and looked up at Denver.

They shared a brief but intense expression before Layla caught Denver’s eye. He felt like a boy being caught stealing. He looked away from Maria and tried to smile, but Layla was already turning away.

She had seen the truth of it.

Denver wanted to go to her, assure her that he still felt the same for her, despite never really communicating what he did feel; that wasn’t something he’d ever really had the words for. He found it all so unnecessary, especially at this time, in these circumstances. It was a complication, too, for him when he didn’t understand what he felt or how to act on it. He was always just his own man, surviving in the wilderness, hunting with his father.

A part of him wished he could go back to that time. Go back to stalking deer or rabbits with his dog, eating by the fire at night, planning their next sabotage on the harvesters. Their life was simple then, their goals clear.

He knew he should go after Layla, but he remained where he stood, and that was really all he needed to know where his feelings lay.

“We shouldn’t wait around,” she said over her shoulder. “The mission’s too important for trivialities.”

Denver knew she was talking about him and Maria and cringed inside. He stepped over to the younger woman and reached out for her arm. “I’m sorry,” Denver said, “I didn’t mean for there to be any animosity between you two,” knowing that he was the target of some of that animosity now also.

Maria locked eyes with him and smiled gently. “It’s okay. We’ll figure something out when you come back.”

“If I come back,” Denver said.

“When, son,” Charlie added. “When. We’ll find a way. Now come on, there’s a job to be done. Maria, I’d like you to keep an eye on Mike and Mai while we’re gone. Make sure they don’t get up to anything stupid. Mike’s got that old glint in his eye again with all this new tech. I don’t want the old fool blowing himself up.”