Mercy

How I convinced myself that selling out my species was the right move: I told myself that if I didn’t do it first, someone else would. That these beings were so technologically superior, I should be grateful for the offer. That I may as well seize some happiness for my family before the bitter end. That we define our own success. That this is the apogee of “evolve or die.” I just hope I can trust them; their expressions are tough to divine. Plus I’m not sure “mercy” means the same thing in their language as it does in ours.