The small group of guards sat at the dining table, eating their dinner of slop. That's all they were allowed to eat. It was part of the control that Commander Grev had. While he dined on real food, he gave everyone else slop.

The four guards had remained silent since they had returned from the blue planet after their forced mission to murder a family. They were afraid to speak or let anyone know that something had changed within them. Only the four guards knew about each other. It was too dangerous to let it slip that something had changed about them. The wrong person hearing meant death.

Something happened to them while they were executing the family. When they first followed their order, they didn't care at first. Then suddenly, they didn't know why, but after they discovered what they had done, they were sickened by it.

Those sitting at the table were four out of the five guards who were ordered to kill the family. There was a fifth guard, but he had been killed by a young, golden-haired female who did not have a green tint to her skin as they did.

The four of them were amazed at her speed and strength. They had never seen anything like it. Remembering back, they knew that she was trying to save the family. They didn't know females could be so strong. Their females were subdued, weak. The fear of death always hung over their heads. When Commander Grev deemed them no longer useful, they were killed. If one of his soldiers angered him, the females connected to them by blood were murdered.

Looking back, they remembered looking at the lifeless family, and they wondered why they were happy to comply and execute the family. They hadn't even protested the action. They killed innocent children and their mother over an order that should never have been followed.

They remember that right after they followed the order, a strange energy had washed through them, and everything had changed. They found that they were suddenly disgusted at their own actions. The fact that they would kill the innocent happily without a second thought was soul-crushing.

When they looked around at the other men who were present in the dining hall, many of them looked at them in anger. It was rightful anger. They deserved it. They had killed an innocent family without a second thought. It was an order given to them by their Commander. It was an order that should never have been given to them in the first place, or followed.

Two guards from another table walked over and sat down, bringing their slop with them. Anger and disgust were in their features as they tossed their slop down and sat down heavily. Their eyes were focused on them in anger, glaring menacingly. It took several moments before one of them decided to speak.

"You all make me sick!" one of them sneered. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the four guards who had executed the family. His jaw was tight, trying desperately not to make a scene. He couldn't help it. Murdering an innocent family was too hard for his mind to handle.

The first of the four guards looked up. He stared at the one who spoke for several minutes. In his mind, he rationalized. If he were wrong, he would be dead. There was only one reason that they would be angry, and that was if they had also changed during the mission. "It happened to you, too?" he asked quietly, bending forward and looking around the dining hall. He kept his voice subdued so only those at his table could hear. He was afraid that the wrong person would hear what he said.

One of the new arrivals looked at him. He froze, his eyes narrowed, trying to figure out what he was talking about, but he didn't say anything. It was the second guard who asked. "What do you mean? What happened to you?" He was probing, afraid to let anyone know that something had happened during that mission that he couldn't explain.

The first of the four guards looked around the room and then back at the two who had sat at his table. He bent forward, leaning toward the two newcomers, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "We had no control over ourselves when we were given that order. Afterward, Energy washed through us, then suddenly, we saw what we had done. It was like we executed them against our will. I think we're being controlled." His eyes briefly scanned the dining hall before he continued. "I've been watching the soldiers around me ever since we returned from the blue planet. I noticed something strange. When Commander Grev gives an order, the soldier he orders changes. The soldier goes stiff. His face is slack and emotionless, and then he follows the order regardless of what it is. He becomes robotic. It is as if he has no control over his own actions."

The two guards paled, gulping down their saliva. One of them spoke. "I thought it was just us," he whispered. "That happened to you, too? We didn't care about the execution and didn't know why. When the energy passed through us, we wanted to kill you for executing that scout's family. Now we know that what happened to us happened to you, as well. I think you're right. I think our leader is controlling us. I don't want to be controlled any longer. I know we've all done things that are bad. I look back at my own past and see the actions I took, only because of an order. I remember orders that I would have never done those things if I had a choice."

All the others at the table nodded discreetly in agreement. Their eyes look down at the table. Some stared into nothing at the thought of their past actions. Orders were given to them, which they had followed. Orders were given to them that should never have been given in the first place.

"We need to be careful. I think if the wrong people find out we know we are being controlled, they will tell on us, and then Commander Grev will kill us. We need a plan," one guard stated quietly. He peered around the room, making sure no one heard. All the others at the table nodded, then they scanned the room again covertly to see if anyone looked like they were eavesdropping in on their conversation or if they looked like they were thinking the same thing they were.

It was impossible to tell, so they remained silent. They couldn't take any chances. It could get them all killed, as well as their families.

The door of the dining hall slid open smoothly, and a family entered. It was one of the pilot's families. Since they didn't use the fighters very often, he sometimes acted as a guard for Commander Grev when he wasn't training on the flight simulator. Everyone on board the disk ate in the dining hall. This particular family was mistakenly put on the same disk as the soldier who worked on it. He had always ignored his family, not wanting to be moved away from them. Not showing a bond, the family was allowed to stay on board the disk.

All eyes turned to the family as they walked in; a soldier in the back, sitting alone, stood up and walked to them. It was his family. It was his mother, little brother, and sister. He was one of the fighter pilots who had gone to the surface with them.

When he reached them, he stopped in front of his mother and leaned into her, pressing their heads together and touching her temple. A wave of energy bursts out from them as their soul mingles. There were several gasps in the room. Some had still been controlled.

The soldier pulled away and did the same to his siblings, one by one. Everyone watched with interest. Some were visibly trying to clear their heads.

The six sitting at the table looked at each other. With a clear understanding of what took place, one of them spoke aloud for all in the dining hall to hear. "That's why we are forbidden to bond," he acknowledged aloud. "The bond loosens the control."

The others at the table nodded. All of the small groups in the room turned to look at them, hearing the statement.

The man with his family looked around the room. There was a bit of fear in his features. He looked like he was determining what to say or do. He looked at his mother one last time, then turned to the watching dining hall. "We have been controlled. We have abandoned our bonds because of it. I know those of us in this room are no longer under his control. We need to kill Grev, or we will be slaves until he kills us."

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