keeps_a_cool_head

Log 0007

[In Zero, Scorpius does what he does best: he plans. Giving him space and time to think through what he wants and how to get it is one of the unintended gifts of his cell space, and he appreciates every moment of it.

After several days, he addresses the Barge]

A question to my fellow shipmates;

When an inmate commits a grievous crime, who is to blame for it? Obviously the inmate must share some, but what percentage is attributed to them and what percentage is attributed to their warden, who may be unfit to command them? A warden may fail just as easily by not admitting to something that could be most assuredly out of their control.

And what of inmates who aren't paired and no one has taken the time to explain to them the rules?

My apologies to Alex Summers. While it was certainly my intent to hurt him, he had done nothing to harm me and was simply in the correct place at the correct time.

[Private to Crichton]

Of course, John, we all know that you are the one fully to blame.

More like Alex will follow. You cannot hope to save them all.

In a few days' time they will be forced to release me. What has changed between the time of my entering this cell and the time of my leaving it? As a deterrent towards behavior, Zero leaves much to be desired.

I am willing to entertain ideas of a deal between us.

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[Too many dogs, wth. Scorpius was never much of a pet person, really, and dogs kind of weird him out. He's seen a few in Crichton's memories and never much seemed to care for them]

We have. I am Scorpius.

[He hands the datapad out]

Here is everything I can recall from memory concerning the operation and maintenance of Leviathans.

By all means. Teach me your ways.

And who's fault is that! I'm not the one running around beating people up!

No. You are the one who refuses to see the bigger picture!

[Calm. Be calm. Relax. How is it that Crichton can still get under his skin like this?]

We should not be enemies, John.

No Scorpius, you're the one who can't see it! You're so stuck in your stupid quest for vengeance you can't see what you're really asking for!

[It's his greatest talent.]

I don't see how we can be anything but.

[There's that feeling again, like a gong being rung in his chest, echoes of a voice he only partly remembers. Hinata -- both Hinatas -- is still so used to the idea that talent and ability are what make the man, that Iris can only say he can take on Scorpius if she knows what skills he's capable of... but Nanami had said something like that, hadn't she? She'd said something that had convinced him once that he could be more than a collection of talents. That he could be a person.

He smiles again.]

Is that what it takes? I didn't know.

Why wouldn't you take the path that you know can work? That could avoid all this conflict?

[Because he has no interest in avoiding it, obviously. Even he knows it's an amateur question to ask.]

Then explain it to me.

You fear the Peacekeepers achieving weaponized tech that no other species holds.

What if I were to provide a failsafe that would make the wormhole technology inoperable after the conclusion of the Scarran war?

Because if I take that path, then my motivation for taking it will be summarily stripped from me. You cannot expect someone to graduate still with genocidal revenge on their mind.

[Yeah, that one was pretty easy. An alternative solution, at this time, is not. Hinata sighs again.]

You know we still have to stop you if you try to do this again, right?

That and love. Every warden that's any good cares about who they're paired with - you know, for their own variation of caring. I tend to express it 'ands-on, meself - more'n most, I dare say.

It's a very particular challenge; caring for someone that's done terrible things, that's more often than not still plotting to do them to you.

[And then her eyes crinkle up and she giggles out loud.]

It doesn't 'alf keep it exciting.

I know. My methods are brutal and inexcusable.

[Then this is going to be a long ass story. u__u]

About thirty years ago, a powerful political leader named Adolph Hitler instituted a plan that he hoped would secure him and his country complete dominance over the rest of the globe. One of the tactics he and his followers hoped would secure them a more perfect world order was to eliminate any minority that didn't fit into their image of the perfect man - religious and ethnic minorities, homosexuals, political enemies. The Nazis systematically stripped them of their rights, rounded them up and committed government sanctioned genocide. Millions of people were killed. I don't know if that means anything to you, but it's the most heinous act of violence ever committed in human history.

My closest friend was fourteen years old when he saw a man fatally shoot his mother because he couldn't move a coin the same way he'd bent the gates of the death camp when they'd tried to separate him from his parents. He spent the next year being tortured and experimented on by the same man, all while watching people like him starved and beaten and disposed of like garbage, after years of watching the escalating violence, the denial that things could go this far, and the way neighbors and friends turned a blind eye to all of it. After the camp he was at was finally liberated, he devoted his life to hunting down the man responsible for his mother's murder and killing the others responsible for what happened to his family and people like them.

I met him years later while he was still hunting for the man responsible. He hadn't realized there were other people out there with gifts like his, because the existence of mutation - having a supernatural ability like my telepathy, or his ability to manipulate magnetic fields - isn't commonly known in our world. People tend to react with fear and alarm when presented with something "unnatural" like that, so most of us spent our lives in hiding, feeling alone and consumed with fear about what would happen if someone were ever to find out of what we were capable of. Discrimination didn't end after the Holocaust, and if people were willing to commit murder over worshiping a different God than theirs, or for having a different skin color, what would their reaction be to someone born with wings, or the ability to walk through walls? Erik was afraid that humanity would react in the same way the Nazis had, and after he killed the man responsible for the death of his mother, he almost instigated a war between us and humanity. A war which we would have had no hope of winning, and would only have made matters worse for anyone out there like us.

Fortunately, [Although there's some amount of irony in that, because he's still vaguely torn about saying being here had been a good thing. The outcome was better than he ever could have hoped for when he'd been bleeding, injured and abandoned on a beach wishing things had turned out differently, but he's still got the scars to prove that this hadn't been anything close to easy.] We were both brought to the Barge, and once Erik graduated, we returned home and were able to lay the foundations for a much safer future for people like us, and the world in general.

I never held his fear or concerns against him, [And it's obvious that he means it. It's also blatantly obvious that this is someone Charles loves, supports and understands no matter how different their philosophy was.] But he let revenge almost destroy his life and the lives of countless others. He'd effectively become what he'd spent so long hating, and once he was able to let that go, we both had opportunity to do everything we can to prevent that sort of thing from happening again in our lifetimes.

There's a reason the ancients locked up this knowledge in my head. No one is supposed to be able to use it like you want to. No one is responsible enough to. It's what they told me from day one, you saw that for yourself.

Yes, I fear the Peacekeeper weaponizing it. I fear anyone weaponizing it. I don't like the Scarrans any better than the Peacekeepers, but I will not be responsible for helping you build the Atom Bomb!

I don't care if you really would dismantle it later. I will not willingly be a part of that.

[Scorpius listens with an attentive, calm patience that doesn't allude to the darker turmoil brewing underneath.

Because he hadn't realized how old a story it was. A conquering regime bent on annihilating anyone not specifically of use to them. Systematic torture and experimentation. Being an outcast for gifts or traits you were born with. The desire to instigate a war to prevent the atrocities from ever happening again.

The death of a mother.

In some ways their stories are different, but the fundamental underlying principles ring true, and not for the first time does he wonder if Charles was lying to him when he said that Zero inhibited his telepathic ability]

Do you think his chances for letting go of his revenge would have remained the same if these Nazis were still in power? Or if they were on the verge of taking over your entire world?

And yet the Atom Bomb effectively ended the war.

[Hey John, did you know that Scorpius requested World War II books after Charles drew parallels between Nazis and Scarrans? You do now.]

[Wow, he was not expecting Scorpius to actually get that reference. He's momentarily speechless.]

...

That may be, but I don't envy the scientist who had to look at the pictures later and see exactly what it was they'd created.

And yet how many millions of deaths did that one action prevent? Can that scientist weigh those deaths against the ones he caused?

...Great.

I can promise you now that I will not go after Alex Summers again.

I cannot promise the same for John Crichton.

That depends on a number of factors, especially considering there's a difference between revenge and doing what's necessary to stop injustice or protect those who can't protect themselves. But honestly, I think it would have just made it more difficult, not impossible.

I think I should have liked to know your friend. We seem to have had a few things in common, despite the radical difference in our species and upbringing.

It depends on if you believe in personal agency, or if you believe we are driven entirely by our experiences and personalities.

I doubt the Wardens know all the rules either, since it's all flexible. I gave my inmate rules that no one else is following. [And he gives Harvey a very long leash, longer than he should according to some.]

He's an exceptional person. There are a few new arrivals I think he would have liked to speak with.

We will never know that.

Scorpius, this is worse. This isn't one town you're talking about. This is an entire race. I am not going to be an accessory to genocide. And it's not about saving lives, not for you it isn't.

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