Page 62 of Blightfall

“Yeah, of course,” Dayan said. “Not so much the fighting. The games are meant to prepare us for that. But I worry about never seeing my family again. We’re all supposedly in it for the glory. Even Timon, before he won today, talked a big game about how he would finally get to lay waste to the alien scum that threatens the galaxy, you know? But I know he was worried about leaving his family.”

“Some people on the farms say Elysium doesn’t exist,” Nedd said. “They don’t think there’s really a war going on.”

Dayan looked surprised. “Of course there’s a war. That’s how we ended up stuck on this planet.”

“Sure,” Nedd said. “But how do we know the war hasn’t ended out there, and we’re still fighting, preparing for a battle that’s already done?”

That was a risk, but it was a good one. We needed to get the people of this planet used to this idea if we wanted to convince them to be our allies in peace. It was good to test how they would react.

Dayan shook their head. “If that’s true, where do the gladiators go?”

“We don’t really know, do we?” I said. “They leave and never come back.”

Dayan focused on their drink, like they were no longer enjoying this conversation. Nedd and I exchanged a look. We’d done a good job getting Dayan talking, but now we’d put them on the defensive. Nedd inclined his head toward Kalia and Ephraim, as if to suggest we should try them instead.

But I liked Dayan, and I wasn’t ready to give up.

“You’re probably right,” I said. “You would know better than us.”

Dayan shrugged. “I’m just a gladiator. I don’t know any more about Elysium than you do. But I do believe in what we’re doing, fighting for humanity.” They looked up at me. “Don’t you?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. I glanced at Nedd, but the traitor put his glass to his lips. “I hope we’re not at war,” I said finally. “Because it seems like such a waste, you know? Centuries of killing, when we could find a way to coexist, to have peace.”

“Seriously?” Dayan said. “You think the aliens would make peace with us?”

Our conversation had now captured the attention of several other patrons, who pressed closer around us. Had I said something so outrageous? Did no one on this planet entertain the possibility of peace?

“Is that too much to hope for?” I asked.

“It’ll never happen,” a man behind me said.

“The aliens are the ones who stranded us here,” Dayan said. “They’re the reason we’re on this planet instead of a better one. They’re the reason Old Earth disappeared.”

Stars, I didn’t know if that was true or not. My people had no idea why Old Earth disappeared. Our old flightmate Spensa had discovered an ancient artificial intelligence named M-Bot who knew basically everything, and even he hadn’t known what happened to Earth.

But I was entirely certain that I knew more about the state of humanity’s relationship with various alien species than these people did, so it was time to steer the conversation in another direction.

I smiled and shrugged. “It’s wishful thinking, I guess. I just don’t like the idea of so much death, you know?”

“We’re soft,” the man behind me said. “With all the fighting happening on Elysium, we’ve gotten too comfortable here.”

“Why don’t more people go to Elysium?” Nedd asked. “Why send only the gladiators? Don’t they need other jobs done out there? Fighters aren’t much good without people to feed them, or make them weapons, or clean up their waste.”

“We do send supplies sometimes,” the man said. “Metals mostly, from the mine. But they have all those things. The people who farm, the people who mine—they don’t get killed as fast as the soldiers do. Those are the people who need to be replenished.”

Dayan looked put out, and rightly so. He’d basically said that the gladiators were disposable. It was the same in our military. Before the war ended, they moved the age of admission younger and younger, just trying to fill the seats in our starfighters. They trained us, yes. They made a big show of respecting us. But especially in the days before we had hyperdrives, when we were fighting for survival, we were bodies in ships, and not a lot more.

“The gladiators are specialized fighters,” I said. “They aren’t disposable.”

“Of course they aren’t,” the man said. “Winning in the games is a tremendous honor! Takes dedication and skill. Isn’t that right, Dayan?”

Dayan smiled and raised their drink, though they didn’t look entirely convinced. They turned to me. “So where are you guys staying in the city?”

Oh no. I barely knew where anything was. Where had Liba said she lived again? I couldn’t make something up or they would know immediately.

I must have taken too long to answer, because Nedd cut in. “We’re still figuring it out.”

“There are always apartments open in the tank district,” Dayan said. “The factories are loud, so people don’t tend to stay there too long. If they have the money, that is. A lot of young couples start out there.”