Ash Gray

Varzo shrugged. __y people have given them good reason to be biased. The last time you were open and trusting . . . we invaded,_ she said unhappily. __eah,_ muttered the boy just as unhappily. __ut while there is good reason for caution, there is never a good reason for hatred, hmm?_ He glanced at Varzo and lifted his brows meaningfully.

Some of them are mech,_ said Zita, nimbly picking her high heels through the steaming pools of red goo and severed, wriggling limbs. She was splattered with blood and grinning as she came to them, but she frowned to see the utter bafflement on Rose__ face. __ey, snap out of it. Haven__ you seen mech before?_ She kicked a man__ severed head, and Rose gasped when his face slid off, revealing a skull of gleaming silver metal.Rose shook her head. __ech are illegal. The government s-said they feared a robot war!_ she insisted, turning to follow as Zita limped past her.Zita laughed dryly, folding up her rifle and tucking it under her skirt. __s it so hard to imagine your government lied? Governments tend to do that.

My people have known of your people for thousands of years,_ went on the alien, looking at me with those black eyes that glittered like the night sky. __e have watched you and studied you and never did we attempt contact. Why? Because we would be treated with the same hatred and violence you have shown your own people _ that is, until we had properly assimilated into the sprawling patchwork quilt of your culture. To your people, __ame_ has always meant good and __ifferent_ has always meant evil. . . . can you really blame my people for maintaining a safe distance?___ut thousands _ millions drowned!_ I insisted.

Varzo looked with shame at her boots. __ook, I wasn__ serious, alright? It was just a thought.__ercy shook her head. __hitty thoughts become shitty actions, kid. You really gone your entire life without recognizing there's ah link between the two?

I__ surprised you haven__ come to hate humans,_ Rose said with hesitation. __ mean, given all that happened to you here. I__ pretty sure assimilating wasn__ easy either. You have a sort of foreign look for an American, and Americans are notorious for their xenophobia.__ita laughed softly. __e? Hate humans?_ She darkly shook her head. __ fought in the Midnight War for thirty years, Rosie. I know what happens when people let hate make decisions for them.