Chapter Seven – Vanessa
The cell, if it was really a cell, the Wytsian priests put Taliga and Vanessa in was painfully bright. The walls were all white, and the light reflecting off these surfaces hurt Vanessa's eyes. It was also far too warm. Sweat beaded her skin, made all the more unbearable from the cold that had penetrated deep into her bones on the planet. No water was provided.
Vanessa wanted to curl up next to Taliga's side, but it was just too warm for close contact. Still, she sat as close to him as she could.
The thought kept flitting through her head that she should never have stopped him when they were kissing on the planet. They were going to die, and she had never experienced that connection with another person. She had longed for it, dreamt of it, but was always frightened from engaging due to the way she had been raised.
And now she would never have the chance.
If they were alone in their cell, she would have asked Taliga to hold her, to crush her in his arms as they made desperate love. But they weren't alone.
The Suesue that crouched in the corner, his purple-pink skin paler than Vanessa had ever seen one of those aliens, wore the robes of a Wytsian priest, but they were tattered and torn. Two of his three horns were broken off at the base. It must have been a terribly painful process. He hadn't spoken a word since Vanessa and Taliga had been thrown in with him. Neither had Taliga.
"Are you a prisoner as well?" she eventually asked, unable to bear the oppressive silence.
The priest shifted, pale eyes locking on her. "Yes."
"But you look like one of them."
"I have been sentenced to death beside you for daring to question the teachings of the high priest. I believe you are truly a human and it is a terrible crime to kill you or any other human. I do not believe that there are false humans created to deceive us." The Suesue smiled calmly. "And so I will die."
Vanessa's stomach cramped at the thought. So they were willing to kill members their own order for questioning their beliefs? Taliga was right. This wasn't a religion. It was a cult. How many other Wytsians believed as he did but were too frightened to speak out?
She swallowed hard. It was one thing she was always grateful to her mother for. Even when Vanessa bluntly told her that she didn't believe anything she was taught, her mother never condemned her or turned away. It had disappointed her, that much was obvious, but she had accepted that Vanessa needed to find her own way.
Thinking of her mother made tears burn in her eyes. If she was here… Well, if she was here, she wouldn’t give up without a fight. Her mother had been a brave, strong woman, and Vanessa always tried to be just as brave and smart.
There was only one way out of this mess, and it was if the high priest decided to spare her and Taliga. If she spoke with him, maybe she would be able to convince him she really was human.
Vanessa got to her feet and marched to the door. For the first time since they were put there, Taliga stirred. His gaze followed her. When she started to punch and kick at the door, he jumped to his feet. The condemned priest stared as well.
"I know you can hear me," she shouted, eerily reminded of when she had kicked and pounded on the door of Taliga's ship, trying to get him to release her. "I demand to speak with the high priest at once!"
"They won't listen to you," the priest said.
"Yes, they will." Vanessa rose her voice. "Talk to me or I will strangle myself with my own clothes. Then how will you perform your sacrifice?"
Taliga jumped forward, reaching for her. "Vanessa, no. I think I have a way—"
The door opened, revealing a tall, winged Odap. The alien grabbed her arm and yanked her from the room. Taliga charged at them, roaring, but a second guard pushed Vanessa aside and let loose a blast of stunning energy. The T'shav went rigid as he collapsed.
Vanessa pulled against the Odap, crying out, but the guards were already pulling her away. She forced herself to calm down. He was just stunned. And she was getting what she wanted – to speak with the high priest. Would it do any good?
The two guards dragged her through the overly-bright, overly-warm ship. She was shoved into yet another burning room, and they closed the door behind her. Vanessa stood where she was, her heart hammering uncomfortably in her chest.
The high priest sat in the middle of the room on a pale lilac rug. Behind him was a bed, or rather just a mattress. There were no blankets to be seen, and he had shed his robes, leaving him in only a pair of white pants. The blue of his skin contrasted starkly with all the stark whiteness of the room he had surrounded himself with.
"You wished to speak with me. It is our custom that the condemned be allowed one audience with a priest to confess their sins. Sit."
Vanessa came a little further into the room and folded her limbs beneath her. She eyed the Aphrosian wearily, all too aware of the memory of Kulog in her mind. Would this priest want the same thing that the T'shav had?
"Confess your sins," the priest said.
"I don't have any sins to confess." Well, maybe that wasn't true, but she was hardly there to play into his delusions. "I am human."
The Aphrosian stared at her stonily.
Vanessa gulped in a deep breath. This was her only chance, so she forged ahead with it. "I was born July 12, 1989. I grew up in a big city called Toronto. When I was eighteen, I moved away from home to further my education. When I was twenty-one, I came home for a visit for a human religious festival called Christmas. It was snowing out. My mother and I went to the tree lot to find a conifer for our festival when there was this bright light. The next thing I knew, I was in a stasis pod, and my entire life was gone. My home was gone. My planet was gone."
The priest shifted ever so slightly. "It is as I suspected."
"What is?" Vanessa's heart hammered. Could he believe as the priest in the cell did, that they were actually human? Her hopes rose. He was going to let them go.
"I believe you are speaking the truth. You really have those memories, and you believe you really are human."
Relief broke over Vanessa. She leaned forward. "I am. So there is no reason to kill me or any of the other humans—"
"You are not human."
Vanessa froze.
"You believe you are human, but you are not. Humans died out hundreds of thousands of years ago. They evolved into all the species that live today, and their spirits guide us. They were the first to live. There were no others before them. It is impossible for your tale to be true. If it was, then there would have to be a species that preceded them to put them in stasis pods and on lightspeed ships."
"But it is true. You just said you believed me!"
The priest gave her a stern look. "I said that I believed that you think you speak the truth. But your words simply confirm what I have thought from the start. You are cloned from a human source. The warlord Zon must have found an ancient ship that had a human body – or many – preserved inside it. He used the DNA inside to create his humans to build his own strength and power."
Vanessa shook her head, searching for the words to protest. That was utterly ridiculous!
"He cloned you and as he grew your body, he planted false memories in your brain to make you believe you are truly human. But you're nothing but a flesh shell programmed like a robot."
"No."
"Someday he will pay for what he has done, but the sacrifice must be made. When you were cloned, the human spirit that had been made free from mortal confinements was chained to your false flesh. It will be freed again through the sacrifice."
"I am not a clone!"
"How do you know that?"
Vanessa opened her mouth, but there was no way to prove a person wasn't a clone. Nothing she would have said would have made a difference, either. She knew that. Her chest ached as fear flooded her. She was going to die after all. There was nothing she could do to save herself or Taliga. But she had to try!
"What about the children we have? Even if we are clones, the children aren't. They are their own beings. That child is fully human, produced in a natural way. Are you going to kill them, too? It's not their fault who their parents are!"
The priest narrowed his eyes. "I received a message from Zon's Sanctuary just before I sent for you."
Vanessa's heart sunk lower. Zon was her last hope, but from the look on the priest's face, she knew he didn't consider him a threat to his plans. "You did?"
"Yes. The warlord has offered me a substantial amount of money to have you returned. And he said if I don't give you back to him, then he will destroy me."
"But it's not going to change your mind."
He smiled. "He fears my power now that I have you in my hands. If he kills me, he will create a martyr and thousands will flock to the cause. And you will be the rallying cry. Soon, the true believers will take a stand and destroy Zon and his perversion of our history."
"You're insane," Vanessa whispered. "Utterly insane."
"I will protect my people. I will take no joy from ripping your still-beating heart from your chest, but I will do what I must. Make peace with whatever false gods Zon planted in your mind, girl. Your perversion will soon be cleansed."