"Justice was always the goal, right? But how do you punish the dead for robbing us of the Earth? How could any of us punish Roberts and Cooper for what they did to every single living soul on Earth? Gunther was a monster, sure, that's undeniable. But even his crimes were in response to Roberts and Cooper, and yet... none of them are alive now to prosecute. So how can justice ever be served?"
-Daniel Crowley

ESTHER

I've been in Petra for a few days, adjusting, submitting to testing—yes, I will explode if I become too upset, so I've been given the same implant Milo has, although I'm told not to call it an implant, that the word has bad connotations with the generation who fought in the war. But mostly, I've been spending my time in Petra waiting. Now that I know Tempest is in space, I'm no longer in a hurry to get to Japan. That is, until someone sends me an FTL drive plan or someone develops one. So now I'm waiting not only for my family to come and claim me—Raviv says I can't leave the World Alliance headquarters without my parents consent—and for Kay's trial.

She has been indicted for treason against Hicksmon and the World Alliance for revealing the secrets of the Perfects, as well as conspiracy to work with a terrorist organization. I've never heard of any terrorist organizations out in Hicksmon, but apparently in Europe, there's been rumblings of an organization made up entirely of the offspring of Gunther Quail and George Cooper called Rotmo, which is short for Rise of the Monsters. The name comes from a first person account of the war Isla went on to write I was told, but I seriously doubt Kay had any idea of their existence.

And that's what I'm back in the headquarters to do today: to talk to Kay and get an on-the-record statement of her intentions to use in her trial. This is the assignment I've been given to keep me busy until my family arrives in Petra later today.

"Are you ready, Ms. Crowley?" the person assigned to be Kay's representative asks me. Her name is Calliope Jaffer, and she has been trained to be an embodiment of justice, her dark brown eyes closed to our personal pleas, and holding my side of the story in one hand and Kay's in the other. She is not much taller than me, but between her strong frame and cheekbones, her serious look, and her beauty, she is intimidating.

I nod in response. "I'm ready."

"Excellent, let us begin," she says, as she unlocks the door to Kay's cell. Two soldiers flank us, just in case Kay tries to make a break for it, and Milo follows quietly behind me. He is studying under Calliope to learn the ways of unbiased truth-seeking.

That is another thing that I must learn to balance in today's interaction. In one of my hands, I hold my broken friendship with Kay. In another hand, I hold my anger. In a third, impossible hand, I hold Milo and his training, his future, which could be mine too if we decide to get back together. I think he wants to, but what do I want? I broke up with him thinking that I was protecting him, but now that we are protected by technology and cells and justice, is there a need to be separated anymore?

I enter the cell behind Calliope, and she directs me to a table where Kay sits across from a line of three chairs, her hands cuffed to the arm rests of her chair. Her skin is pale and her eyes look hollow with fatigue and desperation. She barely looks up at us when we walk in, and knowing her, I have a feeling why: She is embarrassed. She hates looking like she's out of control, everything must be calculated and planned in Kay's world. It makes me wonder where she thought her little stunt would lead her, if not here?

I take a seat in the chair directly in front of Kay. Calliope takes a seat to my right, and a soldier takes a seat to my left. Milo stands behind us with his notebook, ready to take notes on the whole encounter for his studies. Calliope speaks first: "Kayleigh, I've brought your friend Esther as you requested. We'd like to hear your side of the story, and Esther promises to listen."

She slowly turns her attention from the metal tabletop to me, her mouth slightly ajar. "You will listen to me now?"

I turn to Calliope, and she nods. "Yeah, Kay, I promise. We just need to get to the bottom of all of this. Why would you commit treason against our country and the World Alliance?"

Her eyes well up as she shakes her head. "I didn't see it like that. I saw it as saving all of us from possible death. What if I hadn't released the information that would lead to everyone figuring out that they could explode? It would have been mass chaos. I just wanted to save all of us."

I fight my instinct to argue that I'm sure her purpose was not as noble as selfless as she makes it seem, because I'm not here for me. I'm here to help everyone get to the bottom of this whole mess. And when it comes down to it, do I think Kay had any bad intentions in releasing the information? No, I don't. And I don't think she needs to be detained for however many years because of it.

"How did you come across the information?" I ask.

"I was apprenticing under Julian Guzman in Hicksmon, and he taught me all sorts of things. We were hired to secure our government files, and in doing so, I found a file entitled 'DNA Pairings' and it made me curious. I looked into it and discovered the truth about the Perfects that I thought everyone deserved to know."

"And Julian Guzman," Calliope jumps in, "he had no involvement in this discovery?"

"No," Kay says, instinctively trying to shake her hands at the notion, but getting caught by the cuffs. "He had no idea. I did this all on my own. I swear."

"Go ahead," Calliope tells me.

"What exactly did you read in the files?" I ask.

"I read all the lies we've been told forever. Esther, wouldn't you have liked to know who your real parents were, before graduation?"

"Let's steer away from an emotional appeal at this time, Ms. Winter. Stick to the questions," Calliope instructs her.

She huffs. "I read about the DNA pairings, and I also read about the hidden messages Gunther Quail... my dad... included in most of us. I was terrified, because I read that we could spontaneously combust. I needed to let everyone know."

"Why not go directly to Beatrice?" I ask.

"I figured she was probably one of the people involved in this cover up. I mean, c'mon, she helps to develop Hicksmon and then she has this information at her finger tips for years and years, but never says anything?"

Calliope jots something down on an electronic tablet she retrieves from her pants pocket. "Do you have any evidence that Beatrice Blume had access to this information?"

"Hold on," I interrupt. "You can't just blame Beatrice like that, Kay. She helped raise us, she is my aunt, grandmother, whatever person and she is basically family to you."

"We are trying to get to the bottom of the truth, Ms. Crowley," Calliope tells me.

"Yeah, but pointing the finger at Bea isn't fair."

"Objectivity only for now, Ms. Crowley. What's fair and what isn't can be determined later. Please continue, Ms. Winter. Why display the information you discovered in the manner you did?"

Kay shrugs. "Everyone would be in one place at the same time."

I can't hold back any more. "No, no, no, c'mon Kay. Tell her the truth."

"That is the truth, Es."

"No, it's not, you lying piece of—"

"—Enough, Ms. Crowley. Let's step outside for a moment. Officer, please remain here with the prisoner."

Calliope ushers me outside the cell, and once I've joined her in the hall outside the door, Milo shuts it behind the three of us.

"Please contain yourself, Ms. Crowley."

"I'm sorry, but you don't know Kayleigh Winter like I do. She didn't do this to be altruistic. She did this for her fifteen minutes. She did this so that she would get all the attention. There are no hidden messages with Kay, everything is out in the open, and everyone has to know everything at all times. She wanted all eyes on her. She wanted to be seen as a hero or 'a great liberator of truth' or whatever other bullshit she made up in her head."

Calliope purses her lips, then turns to Milo. "Can you confirm this about her personality?"

She seems to have caught him off guard, because he scrambles to put down his notebook and respond. Either that, or she intimidates him too. "Uh, yeah. Yes, I can. She has always been like that, Ms. Jaffer."

Calliope sighs. "We will have to get a psych consult in here to get an objective statement in regards to her mental state and possible motives. In the mean time, I will be investigating the claim that Beatrice Blume knew about the explosives and was covering this up, as well as the claim that Julian Guzman knew nothing about Kayleigh's plan. All of this could help reduce her years in the World Alliance detention center for treason."

"You think she'll still go to prison?" Milo asks.

For some reason, his question offends me. It's the word "still." Like anything she said could exonerate her. Like there is any truth to Julian being involved, or to Beatrice holding back a deadly truth from us. I want to slap him across the face.

Calliope shakes her head in defeat. "There's no way she will not be found guilty. It just depends on how guilty a jury of her peers find her. That is my job." She turns to me. "Thank you for your assistance today, Esther. I know that was hard and I know this trial will be difficult for you as well, but you must understand how important this is in setting a precedent. Now that we have many citizens out there with the knowledge of their Roberts and Cooper connections and what with organizations like Rotmo out there, we need to send a clear message to others who may want to rise up in opposition of the World Alliance."

"I thought you were supposed to be unbiased," I say.

"I am. Objectively, there are steps that need to be taken to rectify this. No one is ever completely in the wrong, and no one is ever completely in the right. But the scales of justice will tip. My job is to make sure that process is fair. Thank you," she finishes. She steps into the cell, tells the officer she has heard all she needs to for the day, and then walks briskly into the heart of the headquarters.

Milo turns to me before following Calliope toward her office. "If she knew the whole Kayleigh like we do, she would know not to look into Beatrice or Julian. I'm sorry, but... she has to get the whole story from her perspective. That's how justice works."

He kisses me on the cheek before leaving, and while my head is spinning from this meeting with Kayleigh and the possible ramifications this would have to my family—yes, my family—the only thing that I know with any clarity is that Milo has no idea what justice means.

Any one can reshape a narrative from a different perspective, and Kay is a master at that. She's Gunther Quail's daughter after all. Kay will not win this. She will not bring down innocent people in her wake, and until I can get to Tempest, I will stop at nothing to make sure Kay doesn't ruin any more lives.