I don’t know if anyone will ever see this message, but … I have to leave something. A sign that I existed.

I’m going to die soon. I’ve accepted it. The aliens take us away one by one. Sometimes the cloaked ones come, and the pain follows. I don’t know what they’re looking for, why they keep testing us, dissecting us, but the one thing they don’t care about is killing us.

And maybe that’s a mercy. N’Kden was taken by them three days ago. He didn’t return. He was my friend, and I grieve for him, but at least I know he’s free now.

The other way we can die here is far worse.

She tells us to stay strong. To remember who we are. And I try, for her, but … I don’t know how much strength I have left. I’m not like her. Her will is indomitable. Her strength is endless. She watches and waits and schemes. I’ve heard her talking to the guards. Questioning. Looking for weaknesses. Searching for an opportunity.

She is more than our leader, now. She is our hope.

We have collected a few weapons. Not enough – we will be destroyed in a fight, but it would be a better end than this. I asked if we should stand up as one, but she wants to wait for the right moment to strike. Perhaps she is right. If we fight, it should be for more than an honorable death.

I know people are looking for us. We were loyal, we were true … they won’t abandon us. The fleet will never stop searching. But will they find us in time?

There were more than 900 of us here when we first arrived. Now there are less than two dozen. Tomorrow there will be fewer still.

Maybe tomorrow I will be gone too.