{"id":2731,"date":"2024-11-16T18:21:36","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T01:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2731"},"modified":"2024-11-16T18:21:36","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T01:21:36","slug":"trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/16\/trust\/","title":{"rendered":"Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: Start or end your story with two friends who become enemies\/rivals, or vice versa.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saying that the war was going poorly would be a massive understatement. If one were to say that the war was a horrifying shit-show, they would be closer to the mark, but still underselling it. We were losing, simple as that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My entire shake, except me, were killed as soon as our dropship made landfall and opened to deploy. Three branches of eighteen warriors each gone in an instant. I was still in shock, covered in the purple slick of my fellows\u2019 blood and bits of destroyed armor when they came into the dropship and captured me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were efficient in their movements, disarming and securing me before I could gather myself enough to fight back. Beneath the shock, shame began to build. This wasn\u2019t my first battle, but I froze like a fresh recruit. Me<\/em>, a decorated warrior, officer, and veteran. I thought I\u2019d been through everything in battle that could happen. I\u2019d just never seen such devastation in less than time than a single breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spoke their language a little bit. It was expected of an officer like myself. It turned out that at least half the enemy shake spoke my language. We would never allow that, as the threat of enemy propaganda grows exponentially with every new possible target. At least, that\u2019s what our military doctrine said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With half their troops as possible targets, though, our steady propaganda barrage should\u2019ve turned them all if that was true. That realization made me wonder what else we had wrong. If we could correct our mistaken assumptions, we could turn the war around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These creatures were like nothing we\u2019d ever fought. They wore armor on their heads and torsos, but left their limbs exposed. Of course, hitting a limb would injure them, but they could often still fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, their weaponry, though crude, smashed through our armor, and even punctured the hulls of our dropships. If that wasn\u2019t bad enough, they had hyper-maneuverable flying craft that could attack our dropships in the atmosphere and hit them with chemical explosives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After securing all four of my graspers with self-locking, polymer bands, they loaded me into a ground vehicle. With no viewports in the section of the vehicle I was in, it was a disorienting, bumpy ride for what seemed like an entire day with three of the infant-skinned creatures guarding me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was unloaded at a prison. At least these creatures had the same sort of ideas about a prison as we did; high walls, guard towers, and I guessed the strands of wire coiled along the top were their equivalent of our stun beams that kept prisoners in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when I met him. His skin was a deep brown, and he had some lines around his eyes. Maybe they just don\u2019t come into their adult skin until later in life. If that\u2019s the case, though, then we\u2019re losing a war against children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He cut the polymer bands off my limbs and offered his grasper. \u201cI\u2019m Captain Jerome Morse, but you can just call me J,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked at the grasper, unsure what to do. I extended one of my graspers the same way and said, \u201cGrisshk ix Pikshis, Commander of the Red-Sky-Over-Green-Water Shake \u2026 or at least I used<\/em> to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He grabbed my grasper in his own and shook it up and down a couple times. \u201cWelcome, Commander. If you don\u2019t mind, I\u2019ll have one of my troops take you to the medics to get checked out, then off to the showers to clean up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The creature that checked my health knew enough about our anatomy to pick out that my fourth heart-segment had a murmur in the second chamber. I\u2019d had that since hatching. It wasn\u2019t a threat to my health, but I\u2019d had actual doctors miss it in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After washing the blood of my compatriots off, I was given a drab outfit to wear. My jailers had whisked away my uniform and armor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captain Morse joined me after that in a sitting lounge my cell shared with several others. It didn\u2019t feel nearly as much like prison as I expected. \u201cI suspect the accommodations are due to my rank?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, there are perks to being an officer, yes,\u201d Morse said, \u201cbut the enlisted have all the same amenities. The only difference is that the officer\u2019s cells are mostly empty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot surprising.\u201d I sat in one of the available seats and took in the room around me. There was a way to escape, I just needed to find it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe sent a message to your people, to let them know you\u2019re alive and well. We also put your soldiers on a drone ship with instructions on where to pick them up so they can be returned home for interment.\u201d He leaned on the armrest of the seat he occupied. \u201cI don\u2019t know long it will be before we\u2019re sure that messages are getting through, but once we are, we\u2019ll allow you to send recorded messages home to your family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHeavily redacted, I suppose,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we think you\u2019re trying to sneak information out, yes.\u201d He sat up straight and leaned forward. \u201cLook, Commander. I don\u2019t know you, and I don\u2019t trust you yet, but that\u2019s no reason for me to be a dick.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrust?\u201d I asked. \u201cYou speak of trust with an enemy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do,\u201d he said. \u201cTrust is earned, regardless of allegiance or flag. I will do my best to earn your trust, and I hope you\u2019ll do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy telling you about our military disposition and plan, I suppose?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He laughed. \u201cHardly. If M.I. thought you had valuable intel, you wouldn\u2019t be here.\u201d He stood and stretched. \u201cI\u2019ll let you get settled in. Don\u2019t try too hard to escape, I\u2019d hate to see you hurt yourself on your first day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried to escape. That was my first of dozens of attempts, none of which got me far, and most of which went unnoticed \u2014 or at least unmentioned \u2014 by the guards and Captain Morse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He came in every day, and even though I could feel his animosity, he did his best to be professional and not let it show. We settled into a routine after a few day cycles: the latest news on the war from my people, then from his, a meal, record a message to send home and play any messages received, then talk about everything and nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all propaganda, you know,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe news about the war. That\u2019s why my people say we\u2019re winning, your people say you\u2019re winning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of disagreeing or arguing about it, he turned the news of his own people back on. Rather than talking about the state of the war, they were covering protests against the government, along with government officials trying to mollify the crowds. Not the sort of thing a state propaganda machine would report so openly on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that day, I ignored the propaganda from my world, and we spent more time watching news and entertainment from J\u2019s world. It gave me more insight into these creatures. They still looked weird with their baby skin and missing arms, but they were just people like us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We discovered that certain fruits of this world were intoxicating to me. There were some days that we would close out with intoxicating drinks, his some sort of poison, mine an orange or yellow fruit juice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war was getting closer to my home world with every passing day. One day, J came in and sat down with a serious look on his face. It was still early in the day, but he broke out the intoxicants and poured us both drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s on your mind, J?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood news and bad news,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy home world has fallen, and the war is over,\u201d I guessed. \u201cBut that\u2019s not bad news for you, I\u2019d think.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, G, it actually is, because it means you\u2019re going home. No more escape attempts, although the one with the cleaning cart was enjoyable.\u201d He poured us both another drink. \u201cHere\u2019s to hoping to see you again under better circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou say that as if I\u2019m leaving right away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He nodded. \u201cThe property sergeant is getting your uniform and armor packed up, and we\u2019ve converted one of your dropships into a shuttle that will take you all back to your transport ship in orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a transport ship in orbit?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, ever since they surrendered last month,\u201d he said. \u201cAbout the same time your escape attempts became more a matter of habit than real attempts to get away. I get the feeling that you might enjoy my company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI might, J, I might. How long will we have to vacate our home world?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d he asked. \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve won. Will you not take over our worlds?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The look of confusion on his face was clear. \u201cNo. What? We don\u2019t do that. If anything, we\u2019ll help you rebuild and make sure you\u2019re not left in a position where your only option is to start another war.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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