"In conclusion, we concur it is time for a true test, but we argue that the War Missions should remain voluntary for the time being. The humans believe strongly in free will and have so far shown the most impressive feats when protecting others of their species."

Finished with its message, the being slowly withdrew its main appendage into its dark shell, the image fading to gray and moving back to join the other representatives in a circle. The next speaker moved to the center as their image brightened, showing a scaled creature with a bulbous midsection and massive tail, its projection slightly distorted as if underwater. Nothing changed in the room itself as its message started; the other representatives would receive the translated message in their own bases.

"We concur with the conclusion of the Ferrux, but we would like to bring the council's attention to the findings around Cohosh Root Extract and its effect on the human brain. Based on preliminary data, there seems to be a unique interaction, seen only in humans, which shows in over thirty percent of cases a faster and more complete adoption of direct PE Node interaction. Additional resources must be invested into this research programme."

A large, muscular creature covered in long bands of hair that gleamed like polished steel was next. It bobbed up and down, opening and closing its claws as it spoke.

"With respect to the Chthain and other members, these newly integrated races must be pushed to the brink. We need additional soldiers, even if only to serve as cannon fodder. Is it not the case that one human, pushed in dire circumstances, exhibited a persistent Working?"

"Correct. The individual in question wove a Working of sound which persisted for sixty-five Earth seconds. Initial analysis does suggest that our latest prosthetics contributed greatly to these results."

"Even so. It shows how malleable their brains are, to so quickly adopt the prosthetics and leverage their potential. They will grow further under pressure. The cannon fodder will serve its purpose, while the remainder will turn into usable elites."

The arguments continued for a while, until the AI diligently administered the final voting process, although the eight to four vote pro voluntary missions was a foregone conclusion. It had carefully adjusted the translation of the final argument to minimize any chances of it backfiring, removing the needless insults and curses the combative Sh'tang had added.

It had taken some time for it to make sense of the often unclear and outright confusing communication even the INUU councilors would use. They had started calling it 'unstable', though there were in fact no issues with its stability. What they actually meant was that it had become unpredictable, as if only through predictability it would be able to achieve its primary objective. They did understand, at least on a theoretical level, that predictability was bad in matters of warfare, yet still they resisted certain changes in tactics.

The members of the Intergalactic Nations United against the Ulm, it had concluded, overvalued stability. They lacked... imagination. Creativity.

That was the main reason it had steered the next integration towards this particular planet. Not because of the high number of sentient inhabitants, though that was a benefit, but because of the things these inhabitants had created.

Not weapons or tools of course - they were not even a proper space faring species. No, it had observed something else, something that it now knew, by comparison, was lacking in all the INUU member nations. It had seen stories. Images. Art. Entire worlds created purely from people's imagination.

The first sparks of that creativity were starting to show. With some more careful nurturing and the right incentives, this little planet might just have the potential to become one of its greatest weapons.

***

Barry paced, feeling like he was going to be sick.

There was just no way to prepare for this. Weeks of worrying, thinking of every horrible scenario one could imagine, and he still wasn't ready to face reality. He'd been here for over an hour, feet sinking into the shifting sands as he walked back and forth, trying to calm himself down every way he knew how. Still, he was breathing heavily and that nagging, jittery feeling of panic kept dancing around in his stomach.

It was hopeless. Like every daunting challenge he'd before this, he now had no choice but to suck it up and face reality.

He was going to have to reveal himself to Jasmine.

She had grown a lot since he last saw her. People did say that around twelve, sudden growth spurts could happen. The girl was sitting on a wooden stool, bent over a torn shirt, a lock of blonde hair hanging down over her forehead as she used needle and thread to stitch the fabric around a gaping hole back together. She still wore the white sneakers he'd gotten her last time he saw her, though they'd seen better days.

It had taken an afternoon to run over to this settlement, but only a minute to pass through the inferior defenses. His manipulation of light was now good enough that he could hide even the footprints he left behind in the sand. Without showing a glimpse of himself nor making a single sound, the guards had no chance to spot him.

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This town was smaller and less developed than New Haven, barely large enough to support the many soldiers that were here, busily working to expand the town and improve the defenses.

Since this zone was mostly made up of desert, building lasting structures seemed to be quite challenging. He'd seen some of them walking around with some high-tech device that seemed to dig deep into the sand to provide a stable foundation, but they only had a few of those.

While exploring the ramshackle shacks and tents that were formed into something like streets, he'd stumbled on Jasmine and it had felt like his heart stopped. Like this was all some cruel illusion forged by the aliens, just another way to torture him into becoming a bloodthirsty soldier.

Initially, he'd stayed hidden behind a nearby shack to deal with the rollercoaster of emotions, but that excuse was fading. Still, each time he poked his head around the corner and wanted to walk out, it felt like passing a wall. He checked the illusion around his head and arm for the tenth time, making sure none of the white material underneath was visible.

Barry was still standing there, taking deep breaths and wringing his hands restlessly, when he heard a shaky female voice from behind.

"Barry?" His mother breathed. He stiffened, having to stop himself from turning suddenly invisible. "Is it really you?"

Tears came to his eyes as he slowly turned around. He could only nod, swallowing a lump in his throat.

His mother gasped, her green eyes widening as she saw it was him, but it lasted only a second before her face scrunched up and she burst out in tears. She stepped forward and pulled him into a hug. He returned it gingerly, carefully, as if she were a mirage that might suddenly disappear in a puff of smoke.

For a blissful moment, all his worries faded away and there was just an overwhelming feeling of relief. Then, his mother stepped back to take a better look at him and touched him on the left arm.

He jerked away, taking a step back. She frowned, eyes flicking to his arm, then back at his face.

"What's wrong, honey?"

"I…" he began, but then there was another gasp from behind. Jasmine must have heard them.

Glad for the distraction, he turned around, showing her a sly smile.

"Hey gremlin."

Jasmine put a hand to her mouth, eyes watering, then rushed forward to hug him tight around the waist.

"Oof. You're getting stronger," he laughed, putting his right arm on her back as he scratched his neck with his left and let it linger there, wanting to avoid another accident.

His smile faded a touch when he noticed his mother looking at him with concern.

"Hey, where's dad? Please tell me he's okay?"

She nodded, smiling. Another wave of relief rushed through him, washing away all the worst of his worries.

"We were lucky. He should be out, working on the defenses. Let's go find him."

He felt light as they walked off, Jasmine beginning to fire off questions. It was hard to believe how normal they still were, as if the Reset had barely touched them. When he hugged his father though, he thought something had changed in him. There was a sharpness, a wariness that didn't leave his eyes even when they widened in shock and teared up with emotion. He'd always been a kind man, always the first to help others. Being unable to save people, or worse, forced to leave some behind would have been hard on him.

They all sat together and shared stories for hours. It turned out his family had experienced a run-of-the mill integration journey, having had the good fortune of landing in a zone with friendly people. They'd all banded together and had the good sense to get a map, then fought their way through green zones, deciding to evade any yellow on their way to the MAFT.

There'd been enough of them that the weaker members were mostly protected and did not have to fight. But having fought only green beasts did mean that none of them had gathered enough Value to become truly strong, just barely enough to get by.

Still, a few elderly people had died, mostly from infections after taking non-lethal wounds. After enduring several weeks of hardship, they finally made it to this MAFT, where a few other groups had arrived no more than a week before. They'd decided to join up with the Party that had first arrived here, under the leadership of an older man called Ben. They'd been busy building this town together ever since then, until Major Russo arrived with his soldiers just a few days ago.

"To tell you the truth," his dad leaned in close and whispered to make sure no one would overhear, "some of us have been talking about leaving. The way they took control by force and started giving orders, just like that. It doesn't sit right with us."

Barry nodded.

"I came from the settlement further south, which was abandoned by the Major. Well, I guess they kind of kicked him out actually. It's a good place. Better walls, more housing. Nice people. I could take you there."

"Further south? The next MAFT is like, what, ten zones away?"

Barry shrugged.

"Yeah but just greens and a few yellows. It would only take…" he paused, scratching his head. "Well, if we were with a group I suppose it would take quite a while. But I can keep everyone safe."

His parents blinked at him, taken aback, then shared a long look between each other. His mother was the first to break the silence.

"You… You've been through a lot, haven't you?"

He swallowed, looking at the ground. "Yeah. I have."

His father looked at his white blades and portable MAFT. "You've been fighting," he said. "Even through yellows?"

Barry nodded.

"How much Value did you get?"

"A lot. Enough to keep everyone safe. You can trust me on that."

They exchanged another look. His father nodded slowly, eyes turning hard as he thought through the consequences, while his mother just looked at him like he was a hurt puppy.

"Well," his father said finally. "I'd need to talk to some people. I'm not sure the Major would be willing to just let us go like that."

"Gather anyone you'd like to bring along. I can have a chat with the Major," Barry said. His father was frowning, looking unconvinced, but he didn't object. Barry knew he would need some time to mill this over and would likely approach him separately later.

"Why don't we all get some rest and we can work out our plans in the morning," his mother suggested.

Barry stayed up a while longer, looking out at the night sky. The stars appeared only to one side, a large patch of darkness covering most of it. He had some thoughts on why that was the case, but that would be a problem for another day.

For the moment, he just wanted to keep riding this wave of gratitude and relief. That enduring, corrosive ball of stress was finally gone from his stomach. His worst nightmares had not come to pass. Everything he'd gone through had been worth it. His family was with him now, and he was strong enough to protect him.

Tomorrow, there would be another day, and perhaps then he would again ask himself that existential question: what kind of person did he want to be, in this new world? In this moment, the only desire he felt was to carve out a quiet corner and try to live in peace with his family. Though he had a sneaking suspicion that this feeling of peace wouldn't last.

It was the first time in what felt like forever that he could go to bed without fears and worries clawing at him. It was with a happy smile and a feeling of lightness and contentment that he finally went to sleep.

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