I would never have expected that my body would have reacted so dramatically to such a confrontation.
My heart leapt into my throat, whilst my stomach descended into the soles of my feet.
I was forced to clench my hands together behind my back to hide the shaking, not to mention regulate my breathing so that I was able to keep my lings from rupturing.
Opening my mouth to try and speak, I discovered that I had lost the ability to form words.  My mind kept reaching for coherent syllables yet it was like trying to lift soup with a fork.
I took an involuntary step backwards, barely aware of what was around me.
To my everlasting relief, Grant stepped forwards.
“Chasity, what are you doing here?  How did you know to be here?  What happened to your surveying trip?”
She had shifted to stand with one foot in front of the sensors that stopped the lift’s door from reclosing.
She crossed her arms, tilted her head, bringing her chin down, and raised an eyebrow, “I am here to speak with Laura, I overheard one of your minions and it’s been postponed.  Now, I have business with little-miss-super-powers over there.”
“She only just got here,” Grant’s protest was half-hearted and Chasity knew it.
Having been given a few moments to regain control over myself, I placed a hand on his shoulder, “it’s alright Grant, I’ll hear anything she has to say to me.  I owe her that at the very least.”
I noticed that even Desmosa winced as Chasity gave Grant an in-your-face smirk.
“Could you let us out of the lift now, please,” I used a tone, that I hoped, sounded commanding and straight-to-the-point, however I am convinced that I let out a squeak the moment that I had parted my lips.
Despite knowing all of the justified grievances that she had against me, her obnoxious nature made it a challenge to keep my own head level.
All that I to had to do was make it out of that meeting without making a snide remark or allowing her self-righteousness to draw something unnecessary from me.
That was all that I had to do.
I settled my mind by resigning myself to preemptively guess at what she might say.  She was unlikely to lash out physically, however I would allow nothing else to surprise me.
The way that my conscious self had completely shutdown at the mere sight of her, had set me back so much further than I was comfortable with.
I had begun to feel more confident in dealing with other beings, up until that point I had been able to remain, more or less, articulate.
The shock had left me reeling with how unprepared for the unexpected I truly was.
The walk from the lift to the room where we would chat was barely a lal long.  However the oppressive awkwardness that weighed over us seemed to cause time to drag as much as my feet.
The room that Grant showed us into was essentially a mini-bar.  Not the kind that you would have found in a hotel which dispensed massively overpriced snacks and drinks, but a small area with one table with four comfy chairs and a cabinet next to one wall with two stools.  On the far side of the cabinet was a drinks and food dispenser, as well as a selection of glasses and snack bowels.
“Sorry,” Grant broke the silence, “there’s only water, fruit juice and veicas on tap.  There’s no food, just let me know when your hungry and we'll get something brought in.  Make yourselves comfy.”
“Grant,” ever since we had arrived planet-side, I had been itching to get to one thing, “before getting settled in, after I’ve had a talk with Chasity, would it be possible to get to Orthus’s ship?  There are a few things I would like to get my hands on.”
“I would also appreciate a reunion with my vessel,” Orthus broke his characteristic silence, I had come to notice that he really only spoke when he needed or wanted to, a character trait that I will always be very jealous of.  Humanity has such a penchant for socializing and small talk, where I would much rather indulge in lengthy silences.  If conversation were not so forced in the first place, I genuinely believe that there would be no such thing as an uncomfortable silence.  “Is Gheetoh still on world?  We haven’t really heard much from her since she arrived.”
Grant nodded enthusiastically, “she’s been a life saver.  She’s been teaching and fixing and getting completely involved with everyone.”
Chasity snorted, no attempt was spared to hide the distain on her face.
“Almost everyone,” Grant amended with a roll of his eyes, “she’s in the middle of something at the moment, but she said to let you know that she’ll catch up with you guys once you’re free.”
I exchanged glances with Orthus, “it sounds like she might be staying here then, instead of heading to Rapture like she had planned.”
“Well,” Grant seemed hesitant, “I think she’s become very attached to some people here.  It’s my understanding that she might actually be intending to go with you, to help save more of humanity.”
Before my eyebrows could raise themselves to meet my hairline, he continued, “although that was just what Alexia said.  Her powers of gossip remains as strong as it was back during our time in hell together.  So, y’know, pinch of salt and all that.”
“Pinch of salt?” a tharat’s confused expression does not occur very often and apparently the translators had not converted the meaning.  I made sure to save the sight to my chip for future observation.
“It means that the truth might be embellished or distorted to reflect the way that that person perceives it,” I explained, “in other words, we’re better off learning the truth from Gheetoh herself.”
Orthus nodded, “very well.  Grant Drake, would you be able to take me to where she is now?”
“Of course,” he cast an uneasy glance towards Chasity, “will you guys survive without me for a bit?”
She raised an eyebrow upon noticing his intent and pursing her lips said, “I just want to talk to Laura, she’s got her aliens to keep her under control.  I am assuming that it’s my safety that you’re concerned with?”
Her head bobbed from side to side, almost as though she were challenging any of us to contradict her words.
A child would know better than to react to her.
“Then I’ll be back as soon as Orthus here has reunited with Gheetoh,” before the door closed behind them, he turned and wiggled a sassy finger at the room, “behave!”
The sound of the seal made me feel as though we had been trapped in a tomb.  I almost found myself wishing the ceiling would transform into slowly descending spikes, or a random boulder would drop on us.
Unfortunately, no such relief was forthcoming, so I took the initiative and gestured towards the comfy chairs, “shall we?”
“Well, let me straight to the point,” she sat down opposite me, “I want you to know that you don’t have to apologize for when you threw me across the room and injured my ankle.  I understand that you didn’t even know you had powers at the time and that when I, quite justly, confronted you, my emotions were too strong for you to withstand and they exploded as everyone saw.  It wasn’t really your fault, so you don’t need to worry anymore about how I was hurt.”
Her words stopped with such abruptness that I was hard pushed to not laugh from my own indignation.
She was clearly waiting for me to try and apologize regardless of her words, I chose not to disappoint.
“That’s so kind of you Chasity, thank you,” I had to struggle to keep my sincerity from becoming sarcastic, “I am still so very sorry for what happened and it has been weighing on me, so it means a lot that you…”
She raised her hand to cut me off, “I am only acting as one good human being would act under these circumstances.  I’ve been told you’re in better control of it now so you’ve clearly learnt your lesson.  I need no thanks from you, however…” she cast sideways glances at Desmosa and Culpin who had taken the stools and were both busying themselves with their consoles.  Leaning in closer to me, she indicated that I should do the same.
“It would be better if we might speak out of earshot of those.”
Without even glancing at them, I met her gaze straight on and, with a solemn face, said, “whatever you have to say to or ask of me, you can talk about in front of my companions.”
Pulling her head back before the rest of her body, her expression shifted as though she had realized something.
“All right,” she made no attempt to keep her voice quiet from that point, “I want you to be the face of Humanity First.”
I half expected my face to go so completely blank that it simply flattened into a stretch of skin.
Slowly leaning back in my own chair, my forehead seemed to finally catch on and scrunch together.
It took several attempts for me to open my mouth and get words to actually form, so confounded and bewildered I found myself.  However, each time I looked at her face and witnessed the sincere and expectant expression that shone out at me, my thought process faltered.
I decided to stall for time to think.
“What, exactly, is Humanity First?  What do you do?  What is it that you stand for?”
An unpleasant smirk spread across her face as she raised her chin so that she was looking down her nose at me, “human supremacy.”
Trying to suck my lips in any further into my mouth would have begun to hurt so I forced myself to say words instead, “supremacy?  Over what, exactly?  I’m confused.”
Her chin waggled with, what I could only describe as, self-importance “the Community.  The galaxy.  You name it.  We deserve more than this tiny island and limited resources.  We have been through so much, lost so much, that we deserve, at the very least, to have a seat on the Community.  You know as well as I do that we should running the bloody thing.  But, realistically, that’s a long term goal.  For now, we are demanding that humanity are seen as fully evolved beings.  Do you know that they all think of us as lesser beings, that we don’t even qualify for their Community because we haven’t evolved enough?”.
I could only offer a bewildered nod as it was clear she would not be stopping.
“We are more advanced than any other race out there!  We have more passion, more love, more creativity, more respect for human lives!  They won’t even help find or bring home any humans that were stolen and tricked into slavery.  They don’t see our brilliance.  They don’t see our potential.  You are living proof of that.”
My eyes had found a section of wall more or less directly behind her head to focus on.  With a startling haste they snapped directly onto her eyes.
“Meaning what exactly?”
“What you have become,” she spoke with absolute certainty, “is the future for all of us.  We all have the chance to become a superior race, we have to take it!”
“I thought that you said humanity already was THE superior race,” I said as much with the pre-extinguished hope that it would make her realize that she had already contradicted herself and would loose her drive.
As I expected, my attempt was unsuccessful.
“We are the superior race,” her words did not lack for conviction, “we all have that potential just locked away within us.  All we need is for you to convince your alien friends to let us use the signal, that was used on you, on everyone else.  All you have to do is…”
It had gone far enough.
“No.”
Her head twitched in confusion as she repeated my answer back at me, “no?”
“No.”
I knew I would have to give her reasons, however, if she were to discover the fate of the unfortunate one-thousand, seven-hundred and thirty one people that the signal passed through unsuccessfully.  It would simply add fuel to the flames of her prejudice and narrow minded view of our saviours.  Further to that, if she discovered that Orthus and Deia had been involved, goodness only knows how she would react.
“The signal that was used through me to locate everyone was used illegally,” I began my exercise in diplomacy, “it was extremely dangerous and is something that should not and will never be used again, least of all for such a shallow reason.”
The glower that illuminated her face was certainly a sight to behold, “so you think that you’re the only one who should be allowed to be a super hero?  Just because of a little risk?  Don’t feed me that bullshit!  You are the least deserving person to ever exist to be given such incredible power.  Its only thanks to your overwhelming guilt that that power is actually being used for a good cause.”
“Precisely,” I countered, suppressing the urge to harness the waves of self-righteousness that were rolling out of her, “these abilities are being used for a singular and very specific purpose, without which, they would be completely superfluous.  Even if the process were not illegal and dangerous, the results could potentially be catastrophic.  To allow such power to be wielded by anyone with corrupted morals or those who would be moronic enough to use them to attempt to gain supremacy would be a grave mistake.”
“How can you say that?” she was on her feet, “humanity deserves the right to be in control of this mixed up universe!”
I sat back in my chair, looking up at with pity, “humanity deserves nothing.  We are a war-mongering race who use love to justify the very worst crimes.  We were so bent on destruction that we wound up destroying our own planet and it’s only by the actions of a few true heroes that we didn’t commit the mass genocide of our own race.”
She took great offence at my words and allowed her body language to display it, “how dare you say that love is what destroyed the Earth!  You have so little comprehension of what you’re talking about, it’s pathetic.”
She had leant in towards me to such an extreme that I found myself fighting the urge to move away, such a simple movement I actually found intimidating, however I would not let it cow me.
“Love is the only reason humans do anything.  Love of power, love of money, love of a god, love of a certain style of life, love of lust, love of other people.  Love drives us, it makes us selfish, it is used as an excuse to marginalize others that we have a personal dislike of for whatever reason,” I swallowed my stomach and stared at her head on, “tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re wrong,” she spoke with confidence, yet I felt her waver, “its not up to you to decide whether or not the rest of us deserve the power that you possess.”  Her ability to avoid the issue in favour of what she wanted was almost impressive.
“You’re right,” I nodded, “the decision never was mine.  It belonged to the beings that govern trillions of other beings.  It belongs to the being who broke the Community’s laws just to get us off of our planet in the first place.  They said no, they have the right, the responsibility and the expertise that is required to do so.  And I agree with them.”
I watched as the flames in her eyes roared into a blaze, “you are so closed minded!” I had to do my best not to snort, “you don’t deserve those powers, you’re a pathetic waste of a human being.”
A thought seemed to occur to her and she relaxed backwards, a nasty sneer on her lips, “at least your days are numbered.  You’re gonna get what you deserve, we’ve all seen it.  And once you’re gone, I will ensure that humanity climbs to the heights that you are fighting to keep us from.”
I simply stared at her, my face as blank as the feelings that she was hoping to injure.
I think that it simply unnerved her.
She stalked to the door, turning to say “we’re finished here.  I can tell that my words are falling on deaf, ignorant ears!” and with that she flounced out of the door.
The breath that I took as the room was resealed, wobbled so much that it caused my hands to begin to tremble uncontrollably.
Sitting forwards, I gulped at the stillness of the air that felt as though it were smothering me.
The next thing that I became aware of was Desmosa setting a glass of water down in front of me.
I focused my eyes whilst I continuously balled and stretched my fingers, “thanks.”  My voice came out sounding as drained as I felt, with the slight wobble that my companions had begun to get used to.  I raised the glass to my lips using the energy that was on the verge of rearranging the room. 
“You handled that situation very well,” Culpin’s words interrupted my thoughts, “are there many humans who share her… disposition?”
I had to smile at the diplomatic use of words, however, considering its position, the answer to that question could cause certain ramifications.
“Of the people that I knew,” I put my diplomatic words back into play, “very few.  Generally, such an attitude or opinion is generally dismissed, or thought of as inconsequential.  The more reasonable majority will act as though it doesn’t exist.  Unfortunately, that was more or less how the final leader of a certain country came into power.  Many people thought of their candidacy as a long running joke, until it was too late.  By the time the right people realized that they were actually winning, it was too late to find someone that was strong enough to run against them.  There are those who would say that it was the beginning of the end.  Although, in my opinion, the world was set to self-destruct ever since mankind came up with the concept of a weapon.  But that’s neither here nor there and far from provable.  I know that we won’t make the same mistakes again.  Grant’s explained that, whilst they’ve established rules about free speech, there are also restrictions on who has access to public forums.  Anything that is prejudiced or that could damage humanity’s standing in the galaxy, is monitored and limited as necessary.  They’re doing their best to stamp out hate and segregation.  However, for some…” I gestured to the door,” it’s going to be a bit of a learning curve.”