For some, killing is easy. They feel absolutely nothing for it. For others, killing is like ripping apart a piece of their very soul. He wept. Tears sliding down his face as the body lay on the ground before him. He'd agreed to be a guide to the small mixed group of haven worlders and death worlders through the shopping center, but he had never thought it would end up in a confrontation. The person was raving, either they were insane, on some sort of drug, or they really did have hatred towards those who were not like them.
The fight didn't last long, he'd not realized the item he'd grabbed was sharp, he was just trying to defend himself and the ones with him. And now the being lay deceased before him and the mixed group with him were traumatized. And all he could do is stand there and weep. Because what he'd been forced to do hurt to the core. -- Anon Guest
It happened so fast. She had been guide to Havenworlder tourists and thusly had defensive training, focussing on the field of education[1]. So, when the angry raving individual came at them with the obvious intent to cause harm to the soft and squishy aliens in the room, Lila had acted on instinct. Grab the nearest inanimate object and use it to make the enemy stop.
She had intended to block and redirect the charging body with it. She didn't know she had a plasma knife until the body fell to a complete standstill. Killed in one desperate strike that wasn't intended to kill. Intent or not, the potential attacker was now cooling gently before their eyes.
Lila turned the plasma knife off and put it down by her feet. Render weapon safe, check. Next, she turned to her Havenworlder tourists. "Who has taken their calm meds? Show hands." All showed their hands. Good. They would be physically well for the meantime. "Who has their offensensitivity filters on? Show hands." Again, they all showed their hands. Charges safe, check.
Next in the procedure was making sure everything is under control. "We are going to sit and wait for Security to take our statements," she said. "We are going to remain calm, and wait our turns to tell only what we saw to the Security. I am now going to contact them to assess and deal with this situation."
Charges organised, check. Lila sat rather heavily on the path and was not shocked that her Havenworlders joined her in sitting calmly out of the main flow of foot traffic. It was the Teacher Mode. It had a lasting influence on any cogniscent lifeform.
Finally, and at last, enact one's own self care. Calm meds, mild, administered. Chill mix at a low enough volume to hear the outside world, playing. Meditative breathing enacted. Yes. She would cry later, probably the instant someone else took charge.
Three minutes, since it wasn't a life-threatening emergency. Well. Not any more. The lives threatened had been protected and the life threatener had been rather permanently and irrevocably dealt with. This was not a matter for the Emergency Response Team. There was a person in purple uniform for each survivor and some therapists in black and red to match.
"I'm the killer," Lila said, voice cracking. "It happened so fast. I acted according to my training, I didn't think it'd kill them... and then..."
The therapist attending said, "It's going to be all right. We're taking care of everything, now."
Tears flowed at last. Hysteria finally freed. Now that Lila was free to collapse into a gibbering heap, that was what she did. Control. Once someone else took control, she was free to lose hers.
It would be half an hour before she regained the ability to speak. By then, Security had had time to go through the securicam feeds and analyse everything frame by frame. All that was left was the personal testimonies. The weakest part of the case.
Lila was sure she babbled her way tearfully through the entire thing. She didn't mean to kill him, just deflect him. It was clearly not her fault that nobody could survive a plasma knife through one lung, their heart, and a significant portion of their major organs. All she was certain of was that it happened so fast.
[1] In the twenty-fifth century, school shootings are almost nonexistent. However, the anything-goes teacher combat training that reduced them to zero remains as a matter of proud tradition. Teachers are fully prepared to use literally anything to save the lives of their charges.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / yekophotostudio]
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