Thomas held his breath as he gingerly tried to realign the two crumpled halves of the watch frame. Every time he thought that he had gotten the connection pegs to finally align, his hand seemed to shake, and he would miss it. And the one time he had been able to get one of the pegs inserted, none of the other three would be aligned.

He held the watch as close as he could to the white light of his desk lamp, and inched the two halves ever so slightly closer together until he was able to get the first peg connected.

Finally.

He shifted the watch in his hand and tried to rotate the frame to align the others, brushing the back of his hand against the light. Feeling the white-hot lance of pain, his hand spasmed and sent the half-assembled watch onto the stone floor.

“God damn it!” Thomas said, nursing his hand. Aside from a small red mark, the lamp hadn’t branded him too badly. He scooped up the remains of his watch, flicked off the lamp, and got back into bed. Azure moonlight streamed through the circular window on the wall next to him.

The room that Ithlin had given him was basic but far nicer than the grimy one he had back at Point Nemo. This one had a bathroom fitted for humans, or at least as close of an approximation as an alien could make for a human. It was shaped like a pentagon, with his bed along one wall, his desk on another, and a glass table at its center.

The only sound in the room seemed to be the thumping of his own chest. He had hoped to drown it out in music, but that certainly wasn’t going to happen now, and he had already wasted two hours trying to get his watch working again. He was surprised it wasn’t morning yet.

You need to decide.

Ithlin’s offer had been gnawing at him the whole night, holding sleep just out of reach and carving a familiar pit in his gut. There were other options outside of the legion, Ithlin had assured him of that. She had even said that this apartment was his even if he chose not to join.

‘This world is covered in empty buildings. One room isn’t too much to spare.’

With a population that was orders of magnitude higher than Point Nemo’s, he was certain that he could find a job in some sort of support role. It might not be anything too glamorous, but at least it’d be safe. But then again, what if he couldn’t?

‘So, less than a year.  Doesn’t make much of a difference then, does it?’

The dead man’s words rattled around his skull. Richard hadn’t been wrong about his lack of experience, and he had no idea what looking for a job would even look like here. And even if he did, what would that even look like? Would he just be moving boxes until his back gave out while another Richard belittled him all day? And it wasn’t like he had Edd anymore to help keep him sane.

Edd…

Thomas became suddenly aware of the absolute silence in his apartment. He pinched his eyes shut and tried to immerse himself in it and embrace the stillness, but instead only saw the empty train station at Point Nemo. But the station had only been silent, never empty. Edd, Campbell, Adrianna, and even Richard, were all still there. He could still feel the ashes falling through his fingers.

At least, this time, you know for sure.

He had been away at school, fortunate enough to be in an area not important enough to the Idex to bother burning it from orbit but close enough to a city that was to still feel the world quake beneath his feet. The last he had seen of Earth had been from the window of the shuttle, the atmosphere so thick with smoke that the world had looked like a black and red marble. But the last time he had seen home, it had been the same yellow suburban house with a rusted swing set behind the driveway. He didn’t know it any other way, and he didn’t want to.

He squirmed beneath the sheets entangling around his body until he was finally free of them. Without thinking, he pulled some clothes on and made for the door but stopped and looked at the broken watch on the table. He stared at it for a moment before grabbing it and heading out the door.

Despite the late hour, the streets of the Atrium’s upper levels were bustling with activity, humans and aliens alike. Thomas couldn’t say whether the aliens were night owls or just nocturnal, but he still felt a little less alone out on the streets. Warm yellow lights glowed from between the cobblestones of the road and reflected off of the smooth basalt and chrome surfaces of the buildings. Here and there, he even saw several that he supposed were shops and restaurants.

An aroma of cinnamon and freshly baked bread trailed from one glass restaurant, a popular one, he supposed from the amount of chatter and laughter he heard inside. The smell tugged at him, but when he saw how crowded it was, a pang in his gut dragged him back onto the road.

What would Edd or Damien think I should do?

He turned off the main road and onto an empty terrace, lit only by the distant lights of the road behind it, and looked out onto the entire Atrium. He could see each of the upper levels of the atrium, each one encircling the entire city like stacked shelves and connecting at several towers along their perimeter.

Edd would probably just say to listen to my gut, but a life outside of the legion gives me as much stomach pain as one inside of it.

Beneath the stacked upper levels, rivers of light flowed between the labyrinthine streets and concentric walls dividing the lower levels. From hundreds of feet above, Thomas could only hear the distant hums and echoes of the nighttime traffic. But soon, even that seemed to grow fainter the longer he stood by the railing.

Damien would probably tell me to make a pro and con list and just pick the one that scored better.

He ran through the same reasoning that had been on repeat in his mind the entire night, analyzing the risks and rewards. He had little information to go off of for either case, but he supposed that the ultimate factor should be self-preservation. If he stayed, then he may never have to see an Idex again, or someone die again.

Are you sure about that?

And even if he did join the legion, who was to say that he wouldn’t be under the command of someone like Richard? Would he really want to put his life in the hands of someone like that? Maybe he wouldn’t get a dream job here, but at least he’d be safe and living on his own terms.

Beyond the outmost wall of the Atrium, there was an ocean of black nothingness surrounding the entire city. For a moment, the immensity of it made him feel almost weightless.

This is the largest city I have ever been to, and yet it is just a small crumb left over from what it once was.

He clutched the railing.

“I hope you aren’t planning on doing something stupid. The legion has little need for corpses," said a voice from behind him. Thomas turned to see that it was Maruch, still clad in his black and red armor, although cleaner now, gleaming in the moonlight. His helmet was removed to reveal his gray, scaly face and his two blood-orange eyes.

“No, I was…just taking in the view," Thomas said. “...and trying to think things over.”

Maruch grunted and walked up to the section of railing to his right. “I thought as much.”

Thomas waited for him to continue and then cocked an eyebrow. “Were you following me?”

“Yes,” Maruch said without hesitation.

“Why?”

“Ithlin asked me to observe you. She worries that your recent trauma might have damaged you irreparably.” Maruch’s gaze was locked onto the darkness beyond the wall.

“Is she having second thoughts about her offer?” Thomas asked.

“Surprisingly, no. Not from what I could tell.”

“Gee, thanks," Thomas said, turning back to the city.

“I did not mean any offense, Gage.," said Maruch. “Not towards you.”

Thomas looked out over the rivers of light below, and neither spoke. After a couple of minutes, Maruch pulled what looked to be a thin strip of wood and a small tool with a nozzle at the end of it. He activated it to emit a small jet of blue flame and began to slowly move it over the wood. Thomas side-eyed the alien and noticed that the flame was leaving behind thin streaks seared into the wood.

“Can I ask you a question?” Thomas asked.

“That is why I am still here,” Maruch said, not looking up from his work.

“Why me?”

“I believe Ithlin already answered that.”

Thomas sighed. “I know, but…I saw what the Idex can do. I just don’t see what I bring to the table here. Yeah, I helped out with evacuating Point Nemo, but that was only because there was no one left who could do it, and it also happened to be the only way out for me, as well. I didn’t even finish school, so it’s not like my technical background will mean much. And it’s not like I’m a peak physical specimen, not that it’d matter against them. So please, no bullshit, why me?”

The warrior continued his work for a moment, continuing one final mark until it reached the edge of the strip. Then, he looked Thomas in the eye.

“There are three reasons,” Maruch said, “The first is that it is what is asked of you by those who have already taken great pains to protect your kind. The second is that most of those skilled in the art of war from your homeworld are dead, and the precious few who remain cannot be risked before they have ensured that their knowledge and experience have been passed on. You are correct; you possess few skills that have been developed enough to fight the Idex in any meaningful way. But that is not why we approached you.”

Thomas scowled. “So you just want me to be another body to throw in their path?”

Maruch’s face was expressionless. “You are in their path already. There are no bystanders in this. It is true that other roles outside of combat are needed, and doubtless, you could find one. But do not delude yourself. The war will come here, just as it did to Earth, and every one of us will find ourselves on the front line. At least in the legion, you might be slightly more prepared to defend not only your own life but others as well.”

Thomas stared into the inky sky above, the stars hidden by light pollution. Edd had shot the golden Idex to save him, Campbell had been assigned to guard him, and both had lost their lives protecting him. And those were just the people he knew about.

“The third,” Maruch said, “is just as Ithlin said, if she speaks truly. You have the ability to persevere and learn. Yes, perhaps your actions during the Idex attack were initiated by self-preservation, but it was not what made you see it through. You could have fled and hid once the Idex returned to the station, but you did not. You stayed and launched another train.”

And it cost Edd his life.

“I took too long. If I had paid attention and learned how to operate the trains better-” said Thomas.

“And yet, you learned it well enough in the time that was given to you to evacuate four trains worth of people. Learning is the only skill that you will need, and it is what the legion will desperately require. Be it from a teacher or the trials of life, if you can learn, then you can forge yourself into whatever you need to be.”

Thomas swallowed hard and clutched the watch in his pocket.

What about what I want to be?

“Can I ask you another question?” Thomas asked, looking back to Maruch. He had put away the strip of wood.

“Will it hasten your answer to our offer?” Maruch replied.

Thomas hesitated. “How do you know English so well? I’ve never seen you use a translator or anything like that.”

Something akin to a smile flickered across his face. “It was needed of me.”