Juice

They were watching what looked like peace negations. Two parties had warships in orbit around a rogue planetoid. A temporary dome had been erected on the surface where representatives descended. The crew of the Khonsu 0 happened upon this, as they were wont to do, and decided to observe from a distance. It was the first civilization they had seen for a while.

Delphi was making adjustments to their orbit while listening to the transmissions from the planetoid. It sounded like gibberish and they were running it through Rashid, the language AI, to see if he could make heads or tails of it.

Tap, tap. Delphi looked up startled. Above her, standing on the cockpit was a little black boy. He wore shorts, a plain t-shirt, and flip-flops. Tap, tap. His mouth moved. Then over the radio, Can I come in?

Moments later, the Captain offers a juice pouch to the little boy seated in her chair. His feet don’t reach the floor and he swingings them back and forth as he sips. They are used to these visits by now and go about business. Delphi eases them into a closer orbit for the telescope, Simon monitors Rashid’s progress, and the Captain watches and listens.

This is the worst part, Says the boy. The Captain turns to him. The juice pouch lays empty in his lap and fat tears spill from his eyes. Delphi gasps. The Captain whirls to the screen. Some of the warships open fire on the others. Pops of light; debris flies off the targets. They had no time to retaliate. The dome on the planetoid implodes. Transmissions cease. It’s over in seconds.

Why didn’t you do something, The Captains screams at the weeping boy. She stands over him, You knew. You knew. The boy looks up at her with his tear-streaked face and says, Who are you to judge me, Evelyn. The Captain feels infinitely small and finds it hard to keep her feet because, in those dark eyes, the universe stares back at her.