The Only Way

 The television screen clicked on, and bright light filled the living room all the way to the edge of the carpeted stairs leading above. The clock above the television read 11:00 PM, and the man holding the remote didn’t bother to even sit down.

Lately, relaxing was a tricky thing.

The flourishing fanfare of the news broadcast gave way to a white haired anchor in a pressed navy suit introducing himself.

“-we begin our broadcast with some breaking news out of the Paris Conference between the Federal Alliance of Earth Nations and the secessionist United Colonies of Terra. News broke less than an hour ago that the conference, expected to last two more days, has been called early with no signs of reunification between the two nations. Political experts warn that peaceful options are running dry, and the citizens of the Alliance must brace for the possibility of war.”

Suddenly, the picture of the man holding the remote appeared next to the anchor: a gaunt-looking face with medium length brown hair and a matching beard.

“Silas Beaufort, the chief Alliance diplomat to the United Colonies, had this to say-”

Cut to a video clip, where Silas was walking down the marble steps of an ornate building with press surrounding him on all sides.

“The option for diplomacy is not off of the table,” he growled to the press. “I have assurances from the Chancellor and the Prime Minister themselves that war is our last option. Earth still bears the scars of the last great war humanity fought, and we are not keen to reopen them so carelessly-”

The television screen clicked off, and Silas threw the remote to the couch. The rest of that statement, he knew, wasn’t his best work.

At this point, no one believed peace was still possible.

Silas walked into his kitchen and plucked a glass from the cabinet, then stuck it under the faucet spout and stopped with his hand on the cold water knob. His eyes narrowed on a strange sight in his backyard, blinding in the nighttime darkness outside.

His back gate was ajar, and the light beyond was lit.

This hadn’t been the case when he last looked out into the yard just 15 minutes ago.

Suddenly, he recalled where he’d seen this before, and placed the glass in the sink before sighing and heading toward the back door, stepping out into the warm and muggy night and feeling the weight of a woolen blanket on him.. The light near the gate led him through the dark expanse of his backyard, and onto the dirt path leading behind the house. Silas walked past the hanging lantern, eyes fixed on the footprint laden path before him. As he stepped further from the light, the darkness closed in. Only a few minutes later, a second light caught his eye; a square dot nestled within a rotting tree house tucked into the branches of a gnarled oak.

Shaking his head and laughing to himself, Silas approached the bottom of the tree and found the old boards leading up. Carefully, he grasped the first one and pulled himself off of the ground. Silas climbed with caution, then peeked into the dirty and dusty interior of the tree house and looking around to find no one.

Yet, someone was obviously here.

Silas climbed inside, finding a battery-powered lantern resting on the window ledge of the tree house, and sat down. He took his hands out of his coat pockets, waited a few seconds, then spoke up.

“You could have just knocked,” he said. “I’ll still let you in- you are my sister, after all.”

A thin woman in a dark colored dress emerged from the shadows, her hair no longer discernible between red and brown in the yellowed glow of the lantern.

“Am I really?” she asked. “Is our blood enough of a bond to keep us together?”

“Sarah, don’t talk like that; this isn’t-”

“This isn’t that big of a conflict?” Sarah Beaufort asked. “There’s no reason for family to turn on each other at a time like this? I wish others shared that viewpoint, Silas.”

“I know, and I’m sorry they don’t.”

Sarah cocked an eyebrow and sat down on the floor, cross-legged and opposite her brother.

“You’re here because of the negotiations?” he asked.

“The negotiations were never going to work, and you knew that as much as I did. The citizens of the seceding territories are far too angry and resentful toward the Federal Parliament to even consider rejoining the Alliance.”

“Then why are you here, Sarah? Why go to all this trouble? Why lead me back to this old tree house?”

“You don’t like being back here, brother? You don’t like reliving all the time we spent here? That doesn’t seem like you.”

“Of course I do, I cherish those memories every day, but-...” Silas hesitated. “There’s not enough time for me to focus on the past now, not when the future has so much at risk.”

“Then focus on it now, brother; remember those happier times.”

Sarah laughed to herself.

“How many times were you carried away crying from the ground below?”

Silas smiled.

“About as many times as I came back the next day with a cast on my arm.”

“You never did realize that a 10 year old boy wasn’t meant to just fall from this height.”

“I believe you pushed me one time.”

“You were the one who lit Barbie’s hair on fire.”

“Didn’t you do that?”

“No, that was Ken and it was his pants.”

“Oh, right; he cheated.”

“I was big into symbolism at that age.”

“You still are, Sarah.”

The conversation paused for a minute.

“I miss those days,” she said. “I miss my time here on Earth, among real trees and breathing natural air.”

“Then stay longer.”

Sarah fell silent as Silas nodded.

“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” he asked. “To tell me you’re leaving?”

“I don’t have a choice, Silas. Less than an hour after the negotiations ended, my office was informed we have 24 hours to clear out the embassy and return to Colonial space or be arrested as traitors to the Alliance.”

“Traitors? That’s a bit harsh-”

“Not to your bosses, Silas. The moment that the Oceanic Nations voted to leave the Alliance, we became traitors to the good of humanity. I’m leaving on the first flight back to Oceania in the morning. I’ll be back at the Eden Colony by the end of the day.”

Silas let out breath of air.

“So, this is it then?” he asked. “Until there’s peace once more?”

“It doesn’t have to be, Silas. I didn’t come here just to say good-bye.”

Silas waited, and Sarah continued.

“I came here to ask you to come with me.”

Silas straightened his posture.

“You know I can’t do that.”

“What I know is that you see our reasoning, Silas; you know of the corruption guiding the Federal Parliament, of the industries with their boots on the Chancellor’s neck, of the ignorance and neglect that still plagues the seceded nations to this day. The Imperials haven’t been seen in over 20 years, but Australia’s cities look like the last war just ended yesterday. But it wasn’t yesterday, was it? You know that’s not right.”

“I do, but I’m supposed to just leave?” Silas asked. “Leave Earth- my home, your home as well? Become a Colonist and go to war against my people?”

“The Colonists are your people as well, Silas. This is not an issue of nation versus nation, but innocent people against corruption in the state. The Federal Parliament has proven that it has no intention to listen to peace, so now war remains the only way.”

“I don’t believe that, and I know you don’t either.”

Sarah then stood up and brushed herself off.

“It doesn’t matter what I believe, Silas. It’s out of our hands now.”

Silas sat facing his sister, the two of them sharing a moment of silence that passed with the speed of eternity.

“Earth may be your home,” she concluded. “But its rulers have failed you. I’m leaving in the morning, and I don’t know when I can return to Earth next. My hope is that it won’t matter, and that you’ll come to the stars before it’s too late.”

“And if I don’t?”

Sarah paused.

“Then I promise I won’t take it personally,” she said. “I wouldn’t wish this decision on anybody, but I now know where I stand. Where do you, Silas? Where do you?”

Sarah broke eye contact with her brother and headed for the ladder.

“Goodbye, brother.”

Silas waited, watching Sarah as she climbed down the ladder and disappeared through the opening. When the creaking wood stopped, he waited a few minutes before standing and climbing down the ladder himself.

Minutes later, Silas stepped through his backdoor and into his house; he flipped on the light in the living room, and found his phone sitting on the empty chair he’d avoided using earlier. Silas picked up the phone and dialed the first contact in his list. The phone rang three times before an answer came from the other side.

“This is Silas Beaufort calling for the Prime Minister,” he said. “I need to speak with him right away, it’s urgent. I-”

He hesitated, then forced the words out.

“I’m resigning my post.”