Salerion

Uh-oh!

Someone has clear priorities. Good for you! 😀

Nice one! Off to the gym, so it's 'Goodby stranger' for now. 👋

An official place to lurk instead of somewhere around the corner, I mean korner. Nice!

I certainly am. Wouldn't song titles make good chapter captions? 'The Crime of the Century', 'Dreamer', 'It's Raining Again', 'Give a Little Bit' and 'From now On', etc. I could go on...

26 more chapters and an epilogue to look forward to - can't wait to read the twists, turns (and cliffies) you dreamed up this time around! 😀

Good addition to the dictionary: to be Nick named... 😉 Thank you, @kbois. I really enjoyed this story!

It would be fascinating to learn whether the other villagers have had a similar experience to Callum's story so far and even more so, where there might have been differences? I imagine the village might be where we readers can learn some interesting things! For instance: Had any villager ever heard of (or her- or himself had) any doubts regarding the official anberan 'truth' before being told by a pactrid? Has anyone else tried to go back and tell people? If so, were the reactions similar or different to Callum's attempt? What does it mean that some pactrids do not think anberans should live on their land? Much unease as we saw with Ettor? Or more pronounced dissent? Or even something that risks leading to some sort of split in pactrid society? And has anyone more information on pactrid society? How is it organized? Etc. What about those special skills that pactrids and humans seem to possess? Are there other such abilities we have not yet heard of? Has any other human experienced the way Rym shared information (memories?) with Callum? Living alongside the pactrids now, has any villager made an effort to learn their language? It struck me as odd when Delores told Callum that his language skills would be useful because visiting pactrids have limited understanding of Anberan. I mean, why would you expect the people who recognize you as friendly or at least non-hostile and graciously permit you to live on their land instead of killing you to then also learn your language instead of repaying their kindness be learning theirs? Very much looking forward to the next chapter! 🙂

“Scoutmaster Rymolnd Tepin was your escort?” Well, that explains the respect Rym seemed to command. It seems that not only Callum is a rare human, but Rym just might be a rare Pactrid. 🙂

This is an interesting situation. I would have thought that if the humans were ruled by some totalitarian power with something like a thought-crime concept, no one would have asked Callum questions like “How did you escape?” or “So you tricked them?” Because it feels like the colonel really is confused about the situation and wants to know what happened. Someone thoroughly brainwashed by propaganda would have outright rejeced the idea that a supposedly vile enemy race like the pactrids could ever have let anyone go just like that. And I can imagine that even as far down in the conversation as the “So you tricked them?” question, no one would have started to suggest reeducation if he had answered with a story of subterfuge and valiant escape. On the other hand, they do have such a thing as reeducation. Which means they have had to deal with dissent before and apparently decided to go with an authoritarian approach. Also very interesting was the “Even if that were the case, we still need that lumber. We wouldn’t survive without it.” remark. Because we still have no idea what exactly the humans are using all the wood for!? Now, is the need for wood a story to conceal some genocidal hatred of pactrids? Is this hatred towards pactrids and the story of their unprovoked attack a smokescreen to legitimise all the land grab and resource gathering? The most depressing or tragic situation I can envisage would be if no one really needs the wood anymore and no one remembers how the fight against the pactrids actually started, but everyone keeps doing the things they have always done and everyone is reassuring themselves and others that what they are doing is right, resulting in the shared rationalisation of enmity and need for resources.

Personally, I think it is not so much his imagination but rather his conscience that gets to him now. He knows what an interrogation can be like. What torture is like. What inquisitors do to prisoners. He witnessed it. In a way, he took part in torturing that pactrid even though he was "only" the interpreter. Callum used to believe that the pactrids are trying to conquer his homeland. Nonetheless, he seems to have had qualms about torturing an enemy soldier. To me that means he really is stuck between a rock and a hard place right now: Either the pactrids really are the savage enemy as he was brought up to believe. Then it is probable that he will be tortured. Or the pactrids treat him better than he knows his side treats them. That will be further indication that he was fed propaganda. Suffer at the hands of a monster or realize that you are one of the monsters.

That is the conundrum: In the end, there is no certainty, no truth to be even glimpsed from afar. There is only trust, a leap of faith. Or, in more scientific language: If you are forced by observation or experiment to disregard your current set of a priori assumptions then *everything* you based on those assumptions must be re-examined and re-evaluated. It does not even matter if you like or dread the idea that you were wrong before - you end up rocked to your core for some time either way.

The first chapter began with some Starship Troopers vibes to it what with war being desparate, conscription, etc. But the story also has sort of an Enemy Mine touch to it. Since I loved both (Heinlein's book and Longyear's novella - the movie adaptions are a different matter!), this is good! Looking forward to watching this story unfold.

Thank you, @Cane23! It may have taken Mark a long time to realize he was living a farce, but he took charge of his life again. Stay tuned!

Thank you, @Tris!