Nataw sighed. “I’ve been doing what I always do. After the visions came and our whole race went mad, I left. I couldn’t convince anyone in Destroy that killing the younger races was unnecessary, and so I went out to see them before they disappeared. I’m not much of a fighter, you know.”
With a grunt that edged into a growl, Govan said, “It’s not a question of convincing. We all saw what happened. In universe after universe, lesser beings evolved, grew powerful, and sought us out to destroy us. Some of us were even helping them do it, betraying relationships that predate universes. What were we supposed to do?”
I don’t know if everyone could feel it, but I felt energy swirling around him, recognizing it for what it was: the Artificer equivalent of an unintentionally clenched fist. Lee had taught me to watch for those sorts of tells.
In my head, Kee said, “You don’t have to do anything.”
I didn’t know what she’d noticed, but I wasn’t planning to.
Despite looking as if a strong wind could blow him over, Nataw looked Govan in the eye and said, “We’ve already had this discussion, but I will say this one more time. The future has never been set. It’s never been inevitable. If it’s a bad one, it’s a bad one that everyone made together.
“What would cause the younger races to hunt us down? How about destroying them with booby-trapped technology or deliberately annihilating them when they seem to become too powerful? If we acted as guides and mentors, they’d have no reason to destroy us. If instead we’re a mysterious force that comes out of the stars to cut down starfaring races, they’ll want to defend themselves.
“What’s more, those of us with empathy will want to help them. Creatures that aren’t us are worth something. There’s an infinity of life out there in this universe and the infinity of others we visit. They have their own lives, hopes, and dreams, and they create the most interesting new things. If Destroy weren’t trying to preemptively make the universe safer for us by destroying everyone else, the younger races would have spent their time creating their own futures.”
Nataw paused there, and for the first time since I’d seen him, his eyes narrowed, and his face tightened. Energy around him moved, not being pulled inside in a rush as it had for Govan, but in short breaths.
“There was a race of five-limbed shapeshifters. Destroy’s traps warped them, but instead of being destroyed, they adapted, incorporating whatever they learned about technology into their set of skills. They captured me. They kept me captive for hundreds of years. Not only that, they isolated me, imprisoning my bodies and destroying the ones they couldn’t imprison. They experimented on me and analyzed me, harvesting what they could understand of my makeup and using it in themselves and their servants.
“This wouldn’t have even been possible without Destroy’s efforts to protect us by attacking everyone else. Once a technology’s been created, it rarely goes away. Destroy’s efforts pushed those creatures to create technology capable of harming us, and they based that technology on our technology that we’d spread to destroy them. Destroy created the seeds of our destruction. It’s madness from one end to the other.”
Govan seemed to shrink into himself, but still said, “We saw them, and many saw their own deaths, some at the hands of other races and some at the hands of our own people. Protecting yourself is a right. We had to do something.”
“That’s right,” Kee said, her voice low but still audible to everyone. “We did have to do something, but not what we did. We didn’t come together and try to make a plan that would prevent what we were seeing. We withdrew from each other, and Nalas and others gathered together to defend those they loved and kill the traitors. But then what happened? The futures changed in response to the deaths, but we’re still seeing a future that’s very much the same. Exactly who died has changed, but not the future’s shape. We’re still fighting each other, and the younger races fight along with us.
“Even altering ourselves so that we could no longer breed hasn’t prevented the creation of more of us. Wasn’t that supposed to solve it? Our young people fighting on behalf of the other races were in some of the visions early on. It didn’t work.”
Kee pointed in my direction. “It may have made it inevitable.”
Govan nodded, looking at me and around the group. “Yes. That’s why I let him go. It’s been so long since the first round of visions that I don’t know who was in mine, but I know that over the last few millennia I’ve seen myself fighting alongside him and his friends.
“Since Nataw and then the rest of you left, I’ve been having doubts about Destroy. I know it seems late, but I don’t want to betray my own kind. I’m just not sure what betrayal looks like anymore. The younger races haven’t yet made an organized attack on us, but we’ve killed many of our people. I’d like to join you if you’ll have me.”