chapter 5

there's so much pollen that I get itchy every time I go outside.  so there's two chapters today as a result of being coped up.

Chapter 5

Interview with Dan, a Follower that stayed on Earth

"Is your name really Dan?"

"It is now.  You humans don't have enough teeth to pronounce my birth-name."

"Why did you stay behind?"

"Your planet reminded me of home."

"Why is that?"

"Clouds.  Weather.  The star rising every day.  I had grown to miss the sky.  There is no sky in space."

"What do you do here?"

"I'm a local attraction.  You humans pay to see me, talk to me.  I'm one of the few Followers that stuck around."

"You have told others that you are dying.  Don't The Gods have ways to prolong life?"

"We don't call them gods.  We call them gnoshkth, The Mighty.  They have a some eternal life... techniques, but it is not our way.  Our culture is full of conflicts, and fighting for life by yourself is the honorable death."

"Have your people been Followers for very long?"

"No.  I was young when we met gnoshkth.  We were an empire back then."

"There's no more empire?"

"No.  When gnoshkth came, they freed all of our slave races, and helped them in various ways, like they did for you humans."

"That must have been difficult, losing all the slaves."

"It let to... a disagreement.  There was war, briefly.  When our entire fleet was destroyed, we were impressed."

"That's when your people became Followers?"

"Around then, yes.  We have a saying, 'March with the strongest clan.'  That was them."

"Did your people start using slaves again after the mothership left?"

"No.  A Watcher was left behind, just like yours.  Also, we'd been given an automated workforce.  No more slaves, just robots."

"How did it feel when the empire fell?"

"It was odd.  We crave battle and conquest and domination.  I'm not the only one that misses being among powerful clans, fighting for supremacy.  But after gnoshkth left, we had no need to pillage.  All of our people had everything they required."

"I've heard that your people aren't as loyal as other Follower races.  Is that true?"

"For now, we follow The Mighty.  If we find someone stronger, we'll join them and go back to the old ways.  We are at, what do you call it, a cease fire."

"A cease fire with The Mighty?"

"A cease fire with everyone.  Even you humans.  Perhaps one day your people will bow to us, but I won't see it.  I'm dying.  It's really my only regret about death."