Lyroo Prenn walked through the empty barn slowly, reverently, as if at any moment she might be stopped by Aerea Herself, and called to account for her family’s crimes.

Lyroo was not particularly religious, but she felt the weight of those crimes most keenly here. Strange. This used to be her favorite place in the world, full of human children, growing up to the point where they could be shipped out. It was a happy place, especially when she had been a child herself. She’d loved hide-and-seek – the humans had been ingenious in their hiding places, and she’d delighted in trying to suss out where they’d thought to hide from her. Chuckled at their frustration when she figured it out.

She wondered how many of them had truly hoped they could hide forever. How many were not disappointed by losing, but disappointed because for one moment, they had been free…and it was over now.

It had been a game to her. Great fun. And she’d always thought it had been for them, too. And then, when Niall Freeman tried to tell her, and Darren Avery, and Yamanu Neutha, and so very many others….

“I didn’t think you’d come. I thought your dad would be here, or maybe a representative.”

Lyroo wheeled toward the voice that called to her. “I had to come,” she said. “My dad isn’t well enough to do it, and…well…I should be here.”

“Yeah,” Lezah said. “You probably should.”

They were quiet for a bit. “I saw Aisell,” Lyroo said. “On the coverage of the swearing-in,” she added.

“Mmm,” Lezah said.

“It’s funny,” Lyroo added, after a bit. “I grew up next door to you guys, and I crossed spears with Loona about six hundred times in college…even before Niall’s…even before Niall.” Lyroo sighed.

“They did have a good hatred of you in common when they first met,” Lezah said.

“I wish,” Lyroo said, her voice barely audible even in the quiet, “that I could have been the friend of both who brought them together, instead of the enemy they bonded over.”

Lezah sighed. “Thurfrit says you’re doing a good job for him,” she said.

“Better than good,” called the small voice of a man being carried by his wife, Aezhay. Eyazon followed behind; he was pushing a cart that contained Halbir Rockfist, the leader of the Tribe and Interim Mayor of Faeliapolis, as well as Othello Zonella, the head of Tribe Maris Holdings, and one other person, a young woman in a crisp business suit.

“It’s good to see you, Lyroo,” Thurfrit called, as Aezhay neared her.

“Thank you, Thurfrit, it’s good to see you,” Lyroo said. “Don’t worry, Aezhay, I don’t expect you to agree.”

Aezhay chuckled in spite of herself. “Lyroo…if you continue to do as well as you’ve been doing with the transition, I’ll agree with my husband. I can’t promise anything from Aisell.”

“I wouldn’t expect it,” Lyroo said. “Mr. Zonella, Mr. Rockfist…I am glad to see you both well. I assume your attorney is on his way?”

“She’s here, actually,” Halbir said. “My I introduce Faidor Jondi? She’s of counsel at Oteneu and Esei, our business attorneys.”

“Just recently of counsel,” Faidor said, reaching out a hand. “I’ve mostly been working with Tribe Maris’s Avalonian holdings, but Sora Otenu said he thought a human should handle this, what with the history.”

“I agree,” Lyroo said, reaching out a finger.

Jondi pulled out her pad, a small one manufactured on Earth, but designed to interconnect with Imperial comms. “Now, we’ve been through this with your counsel, I see you’re here without them. Are they on their way?”

“No, no,” Lyroo said. “I’ve been over this with them, I think the agreement is fair.”

“Very well. What channel should I send to?”

“Six-three,” Lyroo said, and instantly, a packet of legal documents appeared on her pad, a dense thicket of information that said, at its base, that the Prenn Ranch was to no longer belong to her family, that it would be owned by humans. It did not say that many, if not all of those humans could trace their lineage back to the breeding chambers in this very barn; that was understood.

She swallowed hard, and for a second, she hesitated. Her father had worked so hard for this land. Not just with the humans, but the orchard, the farmland. He’d gone into hock more than once to buy adjoining land, he’d risked everything, he’d gone so far as to try to work with the Overseer….

Lyroo nodded, and she pushed her thumb against the pad, completing the sale.

* * *

“Without Niall? I don’t even want to think about it,” Kymie said. “It wasn’t just what I learned from him about physics. He pushed me to stick my nose in, to ask the question I had in the back of my mind, but didn’t want to express, because it could be impolite….”

“Niall was never afraid of being impolite,” said a slightly squat Dunnermac, radiating clear amusement in the ultraviolet. “When I told him I was going to go into mathematics, he said, ‘Isra Tien, you’re being a right idiot. You could be a great physicist, why would you want to push numbers around?.’”

“He always wanted the best for physics!” a relatively skinny Ler said. “You should take that as an honor!”

“I do, Guzhgrz! And he was nothing but helpful to me. He made sure to contact Dr. Heglandius before I even got to Sobdu, and his recommendation got me working with the 3-times-A-plus-1 group, and my proof of that earned me Master of Sciences, and a position with the Great Ocean Science Council.”

“Niall was never seriously angry about anyone who was going on to study, Isra,” Kymie said. “He only got frustrated if you had talent but wouldn’t use it. If you wanted to go into biology or chemistry, he’d grumble, but he’d be happy you were moving on.”

“It wasn’t just that, though,” said a young woman at the end of the table. “Every one of us got where we were because Niall reached out to us.”

“I’m here because Niall reached out to you,” said the man sitting by her.

“Well, Niall reached out to me because you brought me to class with you,” the human woman said to her titan friend. “You didn’t have to.”

“I did, though,” he replied. “Niall was the first person to see you for who you were. Even more than me. I…should have, but….”

“Lorem, we’ve been over this,” the woman said. “You knew I was interested in physics, and you brought me. Most owners wouldn’t have done that.”

“True, Dr. Sapra! But most people would not have been able to do the work you did! Or the work Dr. Folan did! Both of you are noble, honorable scientists!”

“As are you, Dr. Guzhgrz!” Said Lorem Sapra. “I had the honor of being your classmate, both Lusa and I agree you were the wisest, most incisive thinker in the class!”

“I would not have been the glorious thinker I am without the challenges given to me by the honorable LerNiall!” Guzhgrz said. “I was frightened when I entered Tannhauser Gate University. While it is a glorious school, I had come to believe what people say about Ler, though it is disgraceful. But LerNiall never doubted me, even when I doubted myself!”

“Niall pushed us all,” Isra said. “He knew better than any of us…well, except for you, Orara…that we were swimming against the current. Whether we were Dunnermac or Ler or Human, or whether we grew up on a small colony – and I mean no offense, Kymie….”

“No, not at all,” Kymie said. “I was nervous as could be when I was in his class. Naskia was the first one to notice…but once Niall started working with me, he all but demanded that me as his student assistant. Because he could see that I was awkward and nervous and a bit awed by Archavia…and he could also see that if he could help me through that, I might develop into a pretty good scientist.”

“And you ended up at least pretty good,” Orara Folan said, pacing the table. “We all did. Well, except for Isra, who had to go push numbers around….”

There was laughter from the Titans, bared teeth from the Dunnermac, and the Ler’s tail pointed straight up.

“That’s why I wanted us to meet together,” Orara continued. “Niall got me up to speed and got me into the doctoral program at the University of Atlantis. He did the same sort of thing for all of us…and many more. I’ve done okay for myself….”

“You’re Chair of Physics at the University of Atlantis,” Lorem said. “You’re doing better than okay.”

“We’re all doing better than okay,” Kymie said. “Orara, what are you suggesting?”

“I got the chance to work with Admiral Chandrasekhar when she was on Avalon. She was a Freeman Scholar on Earth – after Niall’s disappearance, his wealth was used to provide scholarships in the sciences for poor students. Dr. Chandrasekhar was one recipient, and look what she’s accomplished. Niall is gone…but we and so many others profited from his teaching. I want to try to raise money, to bring the Freeman Scholarship to the Empire. And I wanted to start with his students.”

Kymie nodded. “It’s…it’s perfect,” she said. “Niall…he loved teaching. Even when he was being grouchy, he was doing it to try to motivate students. He wanted people to learn from him…and to teach others. Niall would be proud of his legacy as a hero…but he was always a teacher.”

* * *

“Thank you, Ms. Prenn,” Jondi said, “and congratulations, Mr. Zonella. Mayor Rockfist. You’ve already agreed to place the land in trust for Faeliapolis, save for that which is to be owned by Tribe Maris Holdings, that will execute immediately as per your instructions. Ms. Prenn, per the standard agreement, you’ll have 168 hours to clear any remaining effects, but the purchasers have told me that they are willing to extend that if need be, but we do need to know what you’ll be taking.”

“We’ve moved all the family items. All that remains are some records and a couple old terminals,” Lyroo said. “They’re in the office. Frankly, I don’t need them, the business is officially closed, and I’ve got copies of what we need for taxes. You can dispose of them. Suppose you’ll dispose of the barn and buildings, too.”

“That’s the plan,” Halbir Rockfist said. “We know your family built them, but they….”

“I think you can guess the humans don’t think this is a place worth preserving,” Aezhay said.

“No, it isn’t,” Lyroo agreed.

“Lyroo…what records do you still have on hand?” Thurfrit asked.

“Honestly, it’s records about breeding here. Which…sounds awful, I know, but we kept good genetic and health records. We…well….”

“You were breeding humans. We know what was happening,” Zonella said. “It was business. We understand that you didn’t think it was wrong at the time. It was, of course,” he added, hastily, “but I don’t see the need to re-litigate things, now that we own it.”

“Those records…they include genetic readouts?” Thurfrit asked.

“They do. Oh!” Lyroo said, suddenly catching on. “Oh, of course you can have access to them. You…those of you whose ancestors lived here…you should be able to know.”

“I appreciate that,” Thurfrit said. “Leader, Othello, the Aenur Foundation would ask for access to those records. And as Chronicler…I would like to have access as well. It would be good to be able to extend our lines back as far as we can.”

“Agreed, Honored Thurfrit,” Halbir said. “And thank you, Ms. Prenn. I appreciate your sharing these with us. I cannot dictate what the Foundation will do, but I can tell you that my government and people wish to know this to better know our history; we do not do so in an effort to demean your family.”

“If you did, I would understand,” Lyroo said. “I hope you will be able to learn from it. And maybe some Titans will, too.”

“Indeed,” Thurfrit said, looking around the barn. “You know…I had the privilege of escorting Yamanu to Earth when he won the Nobel Peace Prize. The only time I’ve been there. Amazing place – I encourage you all to go should you have the opportunity. Anyhow, we were in Europe, and Yamanu had asked what we should go see, what places of history and importance we should observe. We saw many wonderful places – Paris, Brussels, Berlin, the laboratory at CERN…places of great and wonderful accomplishments. But perhaps the most important place we saw was near a small town called Oświęcim, in the European state of Poland.”

“Interesting, Elder Chronicler, but perhaps we could save the story until after….”

“Mr. Zonella, let Honored Thurfrit speak,” Halbir said.

“Anyhow, near this small town, carefully preserved, was a very old military installation called Auschwitz. It is older even than I am. The installation has been preserved, carefully and meticulously, for over two Terran centuries – about thirty-five Imperial years.”

“What was it?” Leah asked. “Some sort of testing ground?”

“No,” Aezhay said, quietly, for she had accompanied Thurfrit – holographically, of course. “They didn’t keep it around because they were proud of it.”

“Not at all,” Thurfrit said. “Auschwitz was a prison, and not for soldiers. It was a prison which housed innocents. People were sent for a variety of crimes that were no such thing – the crime of being opposed to the government, the crime of loving a person who was of the same gender as you. But most were there for the crime of believing the wrong God.”

“That sounds awful,” Othello said. “Did they keep it to commemorate its liberation?”

“No,” Thurfrit said. “If the people had been merely imprisoned, it would have been terrible enough. But you see…they were executed for that supposed crime. It is believed that over a million people died in that camp. And not just adults, but children, murdered by people who believed that some humans were better than others, and that it was best for everyone if the ‘bad’ humans were destroyed.”

“Great Spirit, how awful,” Halbir Rockfist said. “Why wouldn’t they destroy such an evil place?”

“Because they knew that if they destroyed it, people would forget,” Thurfrit said. “People would forget that once, humans had done something so terrible that it could not possibly be forgiven. They preserved it in hopes that future people would visit it, and remember, and know that such horror could rise again, unless people of good conscience stood up against it, always.”

“Thur…are you suggesting the Tribe keep this barn preserved?” Aezhay said.

“Almost every human born in the Empire can trace their line to a breeder, like this,” Thurfrit said. “There was evil here, though not nearly so much as at Auschwitz, of course. But….”

He sighed. “It would do us well to remember. Not because I expect humans will ever be seen as pets, but…someday, the Empire may find itself another species that will struggle for equality. We must never forget that there was a time when one member species of the Empire was sold for the amusement of others. Indeed, humans have a special responsibility to remember it. We may one day be on the side of the oppressors; we must never forget that we were oppressed.”

Thurfrit looked thoughtful for a moment. “Though it occurs to me…if we preserve this, it will mean the Prenn name will live in infamy. I cannot forgive your family, Lyroo, but you are not uniquely evil. I….”

Lyroo had been listening to this carefully, though she had been careful not to interrupt. But now, she spoke up. “My family…we did what we did, Thurfrit. I did what I did. If our crimes can serve as lessons to the future….”

“You would allow your family to be remembered as villains?” Halbir asked.

“We were villains,” Lyroo said.

“You were,” Thurfrit replied. “But by helping to tell this story…you help to redeem your family. And that allows us to tell the other truth – that people can become better than they were, and that we must forgive those who seek atonement.”

“Now, wait,” Othello said. “This is valuable property. We can’t just declare it a memorial, think of what we could build here!”

“Nothing more valuable,” Halbir said, “could ever be built here. I would say we should preserve it if it cost us dearly indeed. But if you must be crass, Othello, consider that hundreds of millions of humans are descended from people born on ranches like this. And many will want to come and see this for themselves. Surely you can see the possibility of profit from that.”

“That is not what I’m worried about,” Othello replied. “Just…I don’t want a memorial to the past to prevent us from building for the future.”

“A proper memorial to the past allows us to build for a better future,” Thurfrit said. “So let us remember those who were born here, and who were sold into bondage from here. It includes a great many of our ancestors. It includes my grandmother. They suffered so that we could stand here, free. Let us never forget them.”

“So say we all,” Halbir said. “Now, I believe our business is concluded, and Hair Like Fire, you have been cooking for two days in celebration. We shall join you in the feast in one hour.”

“You’d better,” Lezah said. “I baked an extra pie for you.”

“And she means an entire extra pie,” Aezhay said. “There should be enough for the entire tribe.”

“Ms. Prenn,” Halbir said, “would you care to join us?”

Lyroo blinked in surprise, as did Lezah and Aezhay. “I…what?”

Halbir smiled. “Ms. Prenn, whatever horrors this land once held…you are working to cleanse them. The Great Spirit holds us all together, good and bad alike. We are bound as one. We could not buy this land if you did not wish to sell it. You are welcome to celebrate with us.”

Lezah turned to Lyroo. “You know,” she said, “I do have an extra pie beyond the extra pie.”

Lyroo smiled, a weary, honest smile. “That is the best invitation I have ever received,” she said. “Thank you. All of you.”

“Don’t thank us yet. I’m still not sold on you as an ally,” Aezhay said.

But she smiled as she said it.