This sort of thing had been something routine for while. With no clocks and no windows in my cell, I couldn't tell how long it had been, but the routine was something that happened. The invasion had been a surprise and bloody. Despite their resemblances to werewolves in folklore, Lycothans weren't invulnerable to everything but silver or fire. Plain bullets and weapons could kill them easily, but they were far smarter than what movies depicted werewolves as and they managed to set up ambushes and using what they called "thralls" as cannon fodder. Some Lycothans had been killed, but the speed and ambushes that had been used had been so rapid that they were tough to deal with. And they were strong enough that they could tear the hatches off tanks and pull out the crew. And while on the ground Lycothans seemed to prefer their own claws and teeth or bladed weapons, they were still capable of interstellar travel and their attack ships did include fighter-like craft that dominated the skies and supported their ground troops.
I had then been captured late in their invasion. They had focused on the major cities and countries first, and I had been living in a rural area. By the time they caught me, it seemed as much of the resistance to their invasion was broken and people were retreating further into the wilderness areas around the world to hide. Mountains, jungles, swamps, or any place where they'd be tough to find. I imagined that there would be those hiding in a city that hadn't been captured. I hadn't been that lucky and had been take to their facility, which I thought was prison they'd taken over, but I really wasn't sure. I had come in with several other prisoners, was cleaned (roughly), given a basic introduction on Lycothan society and the "gift" that would be given to us. I didn't quite see it that way, but also didn't see physically fighting as an option. Prisoners who tried were either killed or lost any choice they had on whether or not they'd get this "gift" as they called it.
And so began the routine with me. I refused the gift as firmly as a I could and hoped that either A) they'd get bored and let me go with the promise that I stayed out of their way or B) they'd kill me and I'd die knowing that I was at least still me. The process of all this had lead to my interactions with the guard. She was of their warrior caste, and she came to my cell, took me to a large sort of conference room where a pair of Alphas, both female, sat on a pair of benches while representatives of their Warrior and Servant castes had their chances to convince me to join them. There were also a pair of Warriors holding Thralls on leashes, as to make sure that I didn't try to escape. My rejections of their "gift" had of late convinced the Alphas running these meetings that I should be a Servant, essentially a slave in their caste system, but to my great surprise, the longer I rejected the more my guard argued that I be made a warrior. I didn't know why, and at first I didn't care, but the longer this went on, the more surprising the guard's behavior became and thus raising my own curiosity.
And her last muttered breath did that even more. It was fairly clear that she didn't want anyone to hear her, but Lycothans and their growling voices couldn't really whisper all that well. I had heard her.
"What was that?" I asked her.
She stopped suddenly and her grip on my arm tightened.
"What was what?" she growled at me with narrowed eyes.
"You said not everyone," I responded, "Does that mean that some actually remember who they were..."
"I said nothing of the sort!" she answered, "No come along. We've been over this. We aren't evil... we aren't wiping out your race, at least not in the way you think. You're actually joining us. You'll get to be free and happy."
"Define both," I shot back, "you're wanting me to make war on my friends and neighbors and become something inhuman..."
"Would you rather be eaten?" she growled, "Lycothans know a lot about humanity. Being eaten by beasts is one of your great fears."
She bared her teeth to me, and I watched her canine teeth lengthen slightly and her eyes went from brown with gold flecks to solid gold and she then spoke slowly, "and we can be quite beastly."
Personally, I didn't necessarily want to be eaten, but I didn't want to lose who I was. Death was preferable to that. Yet, what the guard had said had made me so curious that I had to press on, at least to get an answer.
"I want to be free and to be myself," I answered.
"You lost that option," she answered, "You have two choices. Join us or be eaten... and you're running out of time before you'll even have a choice. The Alphas will take that away from you."
Something seemed desperate in her voice, almost as if she cared.
"And why do you want someone who's resisted you at every step as a Warrior?" I asked, "Is this some sort of insult where you'll laugh when I end up eating people I knew?"
Her eyes widened for a moment and then narrowed again. I thought my comment hit a nerve of some kind.
"You have great will," she eventually said, "a great quality in a warrior."
"But that's part of ME," I answered, "You've insisted that I'll forget who I am... what's to say all you'll create is a Lycothan in your caste with a Servant's capability..."
"That's not how it works," she answered.
"So some parts of the mind remain after getting your gift?" I questioned.
"Some... usually the best parts that will suit their new role," she answered.
"And that includes their mind and memories?" I questioned.
She didn't answer and resumed moving me along the hallway.
"I heard you say that, you can't hide it," I answered.
"It's for your own good that you not mention that," she spoke after a moment, "The Alphas will punish you regardless of what you chose if they know that you know that..."
"So it is true!" I gasped loudly.
She stopped again, looked around and on seeing a bathroom door, moved over to it, opened it and tossed me onto the floor. It was a single bathroom, which meant that it probably hadn't been intended for more than the handful of guards on duty at any time. As I tried to climb back to my feet, the guard stepped in and locked the door.
"Why do you keep doing all this?" she growled, "This IS A GIFT! You'll be stronger, you'll be happier, you'll belong and yet you keep resisting what you know will be inevitable! Why?"
"Earth didn't ask to be invaded," I answered, "Why should I want to become something I'm not?"
"Joining us isn't that bad," she answered, "and doing this IS intended to preserve those not killed in the invasion... Do you really want to resist to the point that the Alphas decide to eat you? Because that's what they'll do eventually... unless one of the Servant caste demands they need more of their numbers to serve us..."
"The fact that you're killing us if we don't chose or taking our choices away means that you're no different than any other tyrant Earth has had in its history," I answered, "freedom goes out the door. You're just another blood-thirsty tyrant who gets her kicks out of seeing those weaker than her suffer."
"I AM NOT!" she practically howled into my face.
It was then that I noticed tears coming down her eyes. In that, realization hit me.
"You... you..." I gasped, "You DO remember who you were..."
"Yes," she answered, "My human name was Lara. I was captured in the initial attack and I lost any choice in what I would be as at that time, they were still taking casualties at enough of a rate that they didn't feel they had any time to do anything else... and so I became Lartara... I became stronger... I became beautiful... and I became important... I saw how the Lycothans function. Humans can't and won't win, 992014. They'll either be killed in battle and eaten or executed and eaten if they resist to make room for all the deer-like animals that will be farmed on Earth to support the Lycothans. The only way, 992014, to save humanity is transform it. Once we're all Lycothans... the fighting will stop."
"And suppose they decide to move on to another planet?" I asked, "suppose what they're doing here is wrong?"
"It doesn't matter," the guard, Lartara, answered, "they can't be stopped and they won't be stopped. Not by humans. The only thing for your survival is to join us."
I stood there quietly for a few moments. A lot of what was said was things I'd heard before, but there was now another edge to it.
"Why don't you fight it?" I asked, "If you remember being Lara... why not..."
"They'd kill me too, and then what?" Lartara answered, "sure... I could take down a few... but I'd be overwhelmed and killed and any humans I'd turned would then be killed as an example. The Alphas like their orders being obeyed. This is the only way to save humanity, 992014."
Again, you were quiet for a few moments, when a sudden and heavy banging came on the door. A voice was then heard through it.
"Captain Lartara! Where is prisoner 992014? The Alphas are waiting!"