“Good morning, gentlemen.” Blackshade began as evenly as he could. He was taller than both of them and took some satisfaction in the fact that they had to look up at him to meet his gaze. Neither of them seemed to want to be here anymore. The smaller one had lowered the picture he had been enthusiastically waving at him a moment ago and seemed to be trying to hide it behind his back. “I’m Ambassador Blackshade, and I understand you have a differing opinion on how events should have occurred in Roswell. Is that correct?” he asked them in his best Colonel Blackshade tone. It was working; the young men were fidgeting now. It was apparent that they had expected their protesting to be received much differently than this. A lot of screaming, chanting, and finger pointing to be sure, maybe even get their fifteen minutes of fame on the internet. But being confronted by the Omega Ambassador first thing in the morning after calling him a traitor and a murderer? He doubted very much they thought this would happen.
“Uhh… well. You did kill those people.” the crony mumbled at his feet. The student seemed to have lost his ability to make eye contact. The word, ‘Dad’, kept flashing on his forehead.
Blackshade nodded, “It’s true. I did kill some of them.” he admitted, “Do you understand why I had to?”
The crony seemed to have lost his nerve. He shook his head and took a step back at the question. Blackshade looked over at the meat head. He saw the young man was now sweating but was meeting his gaze. His jaw was clenched, and his face was reddening, but his fear was obvious. Blackshade favored him with what he hoped was a friendly grin, “How about you, sir? Do you understand why I was forced to kill the people that attacked the encampment?”
The meat-head’s eyes narrowed, and he twisted his hat so that the bill was on the back of his head. “Cause you’re a murderer!” the man spat at him through gritted teeth.
Blackshade shook his head, “No, I can assure you I am no murderer, nor did I enjoy being forced to take their lives.” he told him, aware that there were voyeur drones now encircling them. Bloggers from every side of the protest were understandably very interested in this debate, “I defended the encampment, my fellow Air Soldiers, and over one hundred and twelve million South Americans that were about to be returned to life. I didn’t fire the first shot, but I certainly couldn’t have stood back while a handful of heinous people tried to violently impose their views on the victims of South America.”
The meat-head’s eyes widened as Blackshade explained himself. He watched as some of the fight seemed to drain out of the man, and his fingers began to twitch. The twitch was a common indicator that the person you were dealing with was used to arguing online. The twitching was the man’s subconscious reaction to being on the losing end of the discussion. Essentially, he was trying to close out the argument, just like he would have had he been on the internet. Blackshade had to swallow his contempt for the man. He knew he wouldn’t score any points if he allowed this conversation to devolve into insults and claims of macho superiority. Instead, he doubled down on his argument.
“You’re clearly a fighter, sir! What would you have done if an unknown enemy had gotten the drop on you and your friends, killed one without warning, and then blew up the wall surrounding your encampment? Then while you were still dazed from their unprovoked attack, that same enemy charges illegally into your federal encampment, shooting at you and your friends, as well as those you’re sworn to protect, and to add insult to injury, they begin throwing fire bombs as well? Would you have run away? Would they have allowed you to run, do you think? Or would you have fought, and killed, in order to save your own life, the lives of your friends and to protect those that couldn’t protect themselves?” he asked the meat-head. When the man didn’t respond, Blackshade pressed his advantage, “At no time did the people attacking the lawful military encampment attempt to engage in negotiations or debate. Not one of them tried to make contact with us and open up a dialogue in order to have their grievances heard. Instead, they murdered their own countrymen, women, and non-binaries in order to use terror to get what they wanted. Does that sound like the kind of people you want to defend?”
Blackshade held the meat-head’s gaze for just a moment before switching his attention to the surrounding voyeur drones. He had thought there were only around a dozen or so, but when he turned around he saw there were probably closer to fifty. He didn’t allow his surprise to slow him though, he knew he needed to drive this point home, clear and undisputable, before the internet could twist the events of what happened in Roswell any more than they already had.
He pointed at the drones, “That’s right! At no point did any of the murderous extremists attempt to contact us to open a debate. At no point were there any demands or requests made that could have been negotiated over. It’s almost 2073, there are more lines of communication in the world than there are people, and yet not one of those cowardly anti-Candaericans bothered to use even one of those means to bring a peaceful resolution to the situation. Instead, they lied, conspired, stole, and then attacked with lethal intent, a Candaerican military encampment created for the purpose of protecting the initial landing site of the Omegas, and then storing and preparing the deceased South Americans for their resurrection.” he paused for a moment to let his words sink in with everyone watching him both in his immediate area, and on the internet. When he began speaking again, he allowed his anger at what happened to heavily accent his tone, “Air Soldiers took an oath to defend against all enemies… Foreign, domestic, and yes, even extraterrestrial. The Omegas have been here for two months now, and do you know how many of them have tried to kill us? Zero!” he snarled into a random voyeur drone, “Yes, due to mistakes made by both humans and Omegas, many South Americans were killed and displaced, but at no time were the intentions of the Omegas to hurt them. They did not understand that we are a fractured and somewhat fragile race, especially when compared to them. However, the moment it was brought to their attention that humans had died because of their actions, they immediately sought to resolve and correct the mistake by giving humanity one of the greatest actual miracles any of us have witnessed in the history of our race! They brought the South Americans back from death! They’ve shown us that death is not necessarily permanent, and perhaps if we continue to cultivate our relationship with the Omegas, we can learn not only how to beat death, but how to overcome many other plights that plague us! Imagine a world where illness, disease, and the ravages of age are things our children only learn about through history books rather than personal experience. Imagine a world where no child will have to bury their parents, or better yet, where no parent has to bury their child! I myself was cured of pancreatic cancer thanks to the Omegas, and if we can forge a relationship with them, come together as a species and show them that we’re a race worthy of their attention, this could be our new reality!” again, he paused and looked down, letting his anger drain out of him as a new emotion swept over him. He looked up at the drones again, and when he resumed talking this time his voice was almost pleading, “The Omegas are already interested in our race, let’s show them that their interest is well founded, and not wasted on a race more concerned with killing each other than forming alliances that will better the species.”
Unlike the applause he had received in Roswell when he had addressed the troops, the drones and small crowd of protestors that were listening to him made no sound. They all simply stood or hovered around him, waiting to see if he had anything else to say. Blackshade didn’t remember walking away from the meat-head or his crony, but he must have because they were now about a dozen paces away from him. Blackshade walked back to stand before them. The meat-head’s eyes were watery, and he looked sufficiently chastised by his words. “Do you understand now, sir? I didn’t kill those extremists, those evil, twisted murderers because I wanted to. I killed them because they gave me no other choice. I killed them because they threatened to destroy what could be the most crucial alliance in human history. The turning point where we are no longer just trudging
along aimlessly on this world, but where we are all unified, as a species, striving to better the universe for everyone. With the Omegas guiding and supporting us, a galaxy of possibilities could open up. I couldn’t allow those extremists to jeopardize that, no more than I could allow them to kill any more of my Air Soldiers.” he explained, talking only to the meat-head now. His crony had slunk off somewhere and had been replaced by young men and women that looked far more open to his words than the original protestors. None of them were waving their signs or screaming insults at him. If they had picket signs at all they were on the ground forgotten, or discarded altogether. He placed his hand on the meat-head’s shoulder, “Can you understand that, sir?”
The young man looked up at him, shame and embarrassment plain on his face. Blackshade thought that the man was going to cry, but just as he thought he was going to see his first tears fall the man seemed to get control of himself. He stood a little straighter and held out his hand, “I think so, man. I do get it. And… I’m sorry for calling you a murderer… I just didn’t know all that other stuff.” he told Blackshade.
Blackshade shook the young man’s hand, “It’s ok, son. That’s why I’m here, to help everyone understand what’s happening and why. I’m glad we had this conversation.” he told him, trying to be genuine. Then, on a whim he added, “You’re a strong guy with the ability to reason, have you ever thought about enlisting?”
The meat-head laughed and shook his head, “No way, man!” he told him, the tension completely gone now, “My Daddy would kill me if he thought I was going to join the military! He says that the only people that join the military are the ones that can’t make it in real life.” he explained without thinking, then went pale when he realized what he had said. “I’m! I’m sorry!” he said stammered, “I didn’t mean that!”
Blackshade laughed, he had heard that line before, usually from well off people that were softer than silk. It didn’t bother him, not really, “It’s ok, sir. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.” Blackshade responded amicably. Then, mischievously he added, “But if you ever decide you don’t want to live under your father’s shadow, go to a recruiting office and tell the recruiter Ambassador Blackshade sent you. I’ll see to it you become the man you were meant to be, rather than the one your dad wants you to be.”
He patted the meat-head on the shoulder before turning away from him and walking toward the next group of protestors. He felt good about how that exchange had gone, and if every protestor engaged with him like the meat-head had, this was going to be a very productive day!
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For the rest of the day, Blackshade walked amongst the protestors, speaking to those that would engage with him, and leaving those alone that wouldn’t. For the most part, his interactions with the protestors were positive. He would introduce himself if they didn’t already know who he was, address their concerns, and then answer any questions they had following his explanation. None of his conversations or debates ever devolved into shouting matches or threats like they would be prone to had he been on the internet, but that didn’t surprise him very much. People were usually far more reasonable when there wasn’t a display screen between them and the person they were debating with. He discovered there were a lot of incorrect assumptions and rumors going around about the Omegas, the events at Roswell, and even about his role as an Ambassador.
Some people had been told by their religious leaders that the Omegas arrived on Earth in order to test their faith, that their God had sent the Omegas to make them question their beliefs, and if they waivered, their God would turn his back on them. Others told him that the Omegas were the Devil’s newest tool to turn people from their God, that they were nothing more than puppets in the Devil’s plan and that he had only put this plan into action because their faith was stripping the Devil of his power. Others told him that the Omegas were not human and therefore couldn’t have a God, because there was no mention of the Omegas in their holy books. So, according to them, since the Omegas were not, ‘of God’, then they had to be evil and must be resisted. No matter how tempting, or enticing their offers of knowledge or technology might be. Blackshade realized after talking with the people who held these beliefs, he always walked away feeling much less hope for the future of humanity. He had asked some of them why their God would send aliens to Earth to test them, and how being dismissive of them would prove their faith. It had disheartened him when none of them had an answer, not one. Instead, they responded by being dismissive, walked away, or told him to ‘Have faith’. Their mentality made him feel ill.
Some of the protestors he spoke with told him about how they had a friend, or a source, or a family member in Roswell that told them about how the Omegas and humans had used the South Americans to conduct illegal experiments and how that was a huge human rights violation. They explained to him, usually before knowing who he was, that the Omegas were just humans in state-of-the-art costumes, made by the same government agency that faked the moon and Mars landings, so that they could cover up their experiments in South America. The people that told him these stories all seemed a bit disheveled and unhinged, even more so than the people that believed that their God had sent the Omegas to Earth as a test of their faith, but he had to admit, their stories would have made an interesting book if they weren’t supposed to be non-fiction. He did what he could to debunk their stories, explaining to the protestors who he was, that he was there, and even using his Omega made robes to try to disprove their odd stories. He didn’t think many of them were listening. It seemed to him that they were holding to their conspiracies because they really wanted to believe them. It occurred to him that even if their own gods came down and told them they were wrong, they would have still clung to them. He might have pitied these people, if he hadn’t been so repulsed by them.
The worst though, were the protestors that told him how Ambassador Blackshade was an alien spy who was sent to infiltrate the Candaerican government so that the Omegas could take over the world. When Blackshade asked them how that was supposed to work, he was informed on how the Candaerican government controlled the world and therefore, whoever pulled the strings in the Foundation, ruled the Earth, which was why they had come to the protest. They were sure that once their voices were heard by the righteous inside the Foundation, that their God would enlighten them and guide them to the right course of action. All it was going to take was their unwavering belief and their God’s will. They also told him that they were there to expose Blackshade as the alien spy that he was, and once they did, the house of cards would crumble fast. Blackshade didn’t know where to even begin with these people. He tried to reason with them, he tried to debate them, and he even showed them his government issued identification, proving he was the infamous Blackshade, but none of them would listen. Even when confronted with the man they claimed was an alien spy himself, they refused to believe that he was who he said he was, or dismissed the subject altogether and walked away full of self-righteousness. More often than not, Blackshade walked away from those encounters in a huff. How people were so incredibly deluded was something he couldn’t fathom. He wanted to believe it had to do with the weakening human genome, but he had a very bad feeling that wasn’t the case for most of these people. Instead, he had the sneaking suspicion that some of them were just terrifyingly ignorant.
The conversations with the protestors that kept him going, were the ones where the people engaged him in a healthy debate, the ones where the people had intelligent concerns and worries that they didn’t feel they were getting answers for on the internet. Thankfully, the majority of his conversations were like this, with the protestors intelligently presenting the arguments, listening to his counterargument, and they replying with theirs. He spent the bulk of his time talking with these groups of people and found that he enjoyed the time he spent with them, mostly because the
y were easy to talk to, and seemed to be more interested in getting to the truth than pushing their own agendas. Their questions were usually very good and well thought out. One group he talked to was worried that the Omegas were going to take over more of the world. Blackshade had admitted that was a concern he had as well, but that the Omegas had told him that South America was all the land mass they required and therefore wouldn’t need to take over any more of the Earth. He also explained the negotiations that took place that led the Omegas to take over South America. He was pleasantly surprised when the majority of the people that heard the story were understanding. Some were understandably upset by the oversight made by the government, and some rightfully pointed out how the Candaerican government couldn’t make a deal on behalf of South America, which made the deal invalid. Blackshade didn’t disagree with them. He couldn’t. They were right. Legally, the Candaerican government couldn’t make deals for South America, but as he explained to the protestors that voiced these concerns, the government didn’t know they were negotiating for South America. They believed they were giving them a section of Candaerica and in return they received, what he termed, Omega Medical Technology. He also mentioned that now that the Omegas had taken over South America, terraformed it, and were building their structures on the continent, there was very little the government could do about it, and it was probably better for everyone to learn from this mistake and move on from there. It was tragic what happened to the South Americans that he didn’t deny, but to waste time and energy trying to change something that wasn’t in their power to change would just be an exercise in futility. He knew his explanation didn’t placate everyone, but no one accused him of being a liar and he left the conversations feeling good about the exchange.
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