Vai

The next day in school we had a different substitute again. This time it was someone from medical who taught us basic first aid which we had already learned. That was okay. At least it was something applicable to me. Especially now that I knew about the Corruption. I would most likely have to defend myself in the future. Owen and I had agreed to help Esther kill people with the Corruption. In either of those situations, first aid might come up. I hadn't told either one yet about the captain. After my phone call with Shel the day before I had just shut myself in my room and avoided contact with everyone else. I had no idea how we were going to kill her and I had a feeling they might delegate the task to me since I could easily - or easier than them - access the bridge.

I didn't really have a chance to speak with Shel, Minmin and Owen before class started. I had hoped this substitute would be late, but they were a little early. Right before class ended I got a message on my okulus.

«Meet me in Owen's room as soon as your class is over.

It was from Esther. Owen looked at his Okulus and then whispered to me, "But I'm in my room right now." Only his mind was in the ansible. His body was probably lying on his bed like mine. He looked at his okulus again as if he doubted what he just read. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed hard. I'd be unnerved too if Esther told me to meet me in my room while I was currently in it.

Class ended and the teacher signed off before the rest of us. Spencer looked across the room at us, but he hadn't said anything to us since Minmin beat him up on Mazax VIII.

"We should go to my refuge and talk about things," Shel said.

His refuge was the silver beach. I wanted to go back there, but . . .

"Can't," Owen said.

"You need to explain things better to us," Minmin said.

Shel and I exchanged a glance. I didn't think Shel told Minmin about his private conversation with me the previous night. I hadn't told Owen yet either.

"It's not that we don't want to meet with you," I said. Most of the other students had signed off and there wasn't anyone around us, but I whispered, "The mystery girl just sent a message to meet."

"Yeah," Owen said, but his eyes grew distant. The three of us stared at him until he blinked and turned back to us. To me especially. "Do you want to go to my room first? I'll stay in the school program a few more minutes. I'm kind of afraid of what I'll see in my room when I sign off the ansible. It would be nice if you're already there."

"She's meeting you in your room?" Shel said. "I'm not sure I like her."

"It's probably the safest place for her right now," Minmin said.

"Yeah, but it's his private room," Shel said. "And she just goes in like it's nothing."

"It's not like it's her first time in his room," Minmin said.

"That doesn't make it better," Shel said.

"I'll go first," I said. "Is your dad home?"

"I don't know. He usually is, but how could she get passed him?"

"I'll go now." I waved goodbye to Shel and Minmin and signed off. I took my okulus off from around my head and reshaped it to fit around my wrist.

"Did you have a good day in school, sir?" Warpaint asked as he held out an algae bar.

I took it and bit into it. I walked out of my bedroom and out of my quarters into the corridor. Warpaint followed close behind as I took a second bite.

"Where are we going, sir? The gym?"

But I passed the elevators and entered the corridor that would lead me to Owen's quarters.

"Your young friend's then. I'm not sure how you keep making friends with the young ones so easily. You really should interact with people your own age."

I sighed and knocked on Owen's door. I finished the algae bar while I waited. I wasn't sure what I had expected. Owen had said he would stay in the school program for a few minutes so I guess I was expecting Esther, but Owen's father opened the door.

He smiled when he saw me. "Vai. What a nice surprise. I take it you're here to see Owen. He's still in his room. Go ahead and go inside." He waved a hand in the direction of Owen's bedroom door.

"Thank you," I said and stepped passed him. I paused at the bedroom door not sure what I would see inside and not sure if I should let Owen's dad see anything. But I didn't need to worry. Owen's father had already retreated into his own bedroom.

The door to Owen's bedroom slid open and I stepped inside. I didn't see Esther at first. Not until I fully stepped inside and the door slid closed behind me did I see her at the bathroom door.

"Hi," she said.

"Hello," I returned.

I wasn't comfortable with it being just me and Esther. I really hoped Owen would sign off soon. I stepped closer to his bed. He was lying with the comforter over him. It must have been one he brought from home because it was a dark green and not the boring gray the G.E.F. provided. His okulus was shaped around his head. I stopped when I got close. Owen was not the only one under the comforter.

"What is this?" I asked Esther.

"Wilson," she replied as if it wasn't a big deal.

"How did you get him in here? Passed Owen's father? Owen is going to flip if he wakes up next to a body."

"Wilson isn't dead yet," Esther said as if that was my main problem.

I blinked at her. Owen stirred and removed the okulus off his head.

"Don't freak out," I said to him.

"What?" He saw Wilson. He opened his mouth to scream, but Esther was suddenly by his side and her slim hand covered his lips.

"It's okay," she said.

"Okay?" I said. "How is this okay?"

Esther removed her hand.

"Is he dead?" Owen asked. He crawled out of bed and scrambled to be next to Warpaint.

"He's not dead yet," Esther said.

"Why bring him here?" Owen asked. "How did you get him passed my father? Why didn't you just kill him?"

"I thought it would be wise to kill him with the mechatronic around so he could just dispose of his body."

It was macabre, but it made sense.

"As to how I got passed your father," Esther said, "I came in when he was in his bathroom."

"But how did you know where he was?" Owen asked.

"The security feeds," she said like it wasn't a big deal.

"People don't normally have access to the security feeds, friend," Owen said. Owen usually said friend with ease, but here...well, he didn't actually stumble on the word, but it sounded different than usual - strained. She didn't seem to notice. She sat on Owen's bed in the same spot he had just been.

Wilson moaned. His hand went up to his forehead. She stuck a sedative in his arm. He quieted. She looked at the empty shot in her hand. "That was the last one I had," she said. "It's going to be harder to take the others. And I'm afraid it's going to be almost impossible to get the captain."

"We haven't verified yet that the captain has the Corruption," Owen said.

"Yes we have," Esther said. "Wilson tried to call her when I took him."

"And I saw the pink in her eyes," I said.

Owen looked at his feet and sighed out low.

"I agree though," I said. "It's going to be hard to capture her. We should wait."

"What about him?" Owen waved a hand in Wilson's direction.

Esther didn't look at us, but she placed her hands on either side of his head and twisted hard. There was a pop when his neck snapped. She pulled the bag off her back - which I hadn't really noticed until then. She opened it and took out the Aether Field Prototype as the pink smoke came out of Wilson's ears and nose. She turned it on and swiped it over the pink smoke. It - or rather they - fizzled into nothingness.

She looked at Warpaint and stepped away from the bed. He stepped forward and opened his front. Wilson was not as easy to fit inside as Officer Hansi because he was a human not a Starwatcher. Once the mechanic was inside, Warpaint closed the front. The heat wafted off him. After a short while, he opened himself back up and looked at me. I had already gone to Owen's bathroom to retrieve a towel. I cleaned out the ash from inside.

"What's our next move?" Owen asked Esther.

"We need to figure out who else has the Corruption."

"But how will we capture them?" I asked. "You said you ran out of the sedative. I don't think you should steal more. They'll notice it's gone and they need those for medical . . ."

"I know," she interrupted me. "I'm going to need more help from both of you. I'm going to trust you with the biggest secret I have. Are you ready?"

Owen and I exchanged a glance. Owen turned to Esther. "I'm ready. I told you that you didn't need to be alone anymore."

This was crazy. We were agreeing to help her kill people. But I knew first hand what zek - the Corruption - felt like. I remembered more clearly than both of them the K'thaktra war.

"I'm ready too," I said. There was no turning back now.

Esther nodded. "You first then," she said to Owen. She stepped up to him and put the palm of one hand on his forehead and the other on the back of his neck. "I really hope this works. I've never tried it before." She closed her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Owen asked. He gasped and closed his eyes. The pink light I thought I saw around her during her fight with Warpaint came back and surrounded not only her, but Owen too. And then there was a faint yellow light that came from Owen - surrounded him. He blinked his eyes several times until they focused on Esther.

"What did you do?" he whispered.

"I brought out your light," she said. "It worked." She turned to me. "Your turn."

"Wait," I took a step backwards. "What do you mean?"

Warpaint stepped between her and me.

"It won't hurt him," she said to Warpaint.

"No," Owen said. "It won't. I think...I think this is good." He held out a hand and stared into his empty palm. The faint yellow light seemed to grow stronger in his palm for one brief moment. He smiled a crooked smile.

"Is whatever this is," I said, "how you were able to go one on one with Warpaint?"

"Yes," she said. "I'm not really doing anything to you. The light is already there, I'm just helping to bring it forward."

"How do you know about this?" I asked. "Was everyone on your research station able to do this?"

I pushed Warpaint and he stepped to the side. Esther stepped up to me.

"I don't think this is a good idea, sir," Warpaint said. "I have no idea what she is talking about and if it will harm you."

"If I die," I told him, "you can kill her."

"You won't die because of this," Esther said. "It will help you. No one at the Lion of Judah Research Station had tried to open the light in others. I'm the first one to try."

"Then how did you and your colony get the light?" I asked.

Owen still stared at his palm. I wasn't sure if he was paying attention to our conversation or not.

"The Awakened One. He showed us. He taught us."

She touched my forehead with one hand. Her other hand circled around and cupped the back of my neck. Her hands were warm. The warmth spread from her and seeped into my skin. It spread throughout my brain, seemed to run along electrical impulses throughout my body. Everything turned green. I blinked as something new inside me grew. I became hyper aware of my internal workings - the beat of my heart, my lungs, the blood as it ran through my veins. And then the air around me seemed to come alive as I became aware of even the very molecules around me. They floated and intertwined around me. I opened my palm like Owen had done. The molecules gathered with a thought into a green swirling light.

I looked at Esther. The pink light around her was not faint like it had been before, but brilliant and beautiful. She smiled.

"I thought Owen's yellow light was unique," she said, "I never expected your light to be green."

I looked at Owen. Yellow like the sun blazed off him. It seemed fitting.

"Friends," Owen said, "I think this is only the beginning of an undiscovered power."

"Yes," Esther said. "The Corruption will never be able to take over either of you and you can kill them now. At least in small numbers. The Awakened One had only begun to teach us. He said we had only begun to tap into our powers."

"It's too bad your Awakened One is dead," I said. "There is so much we need to learn."

"There is another one," she said. "He has called out to me. The G.E.F. will pass right where he is sleeping. We must go to him, but we can't lead the Corruption to him. Do you understand now why I have to kill everyone with the Corruption?"

I nodded. Owen nodded. "We'll help you," Owen said.

"We'll discover those with the Corruption and kill them," I said. The light inside made me feel powerful, but I knew it wasn't quite enough. I only had to remember what happened on the Lion of Judah Research Station to know that.

"Sir," Warpaint said, "I have no idea what is happening."

"You can't see the light around us?" I asked. The pink and yellow around Owen and Esther were still brilliant in my eyes and I was as green as grass.

"No, sir."

"You can only see the light if it's been opened inside you," Esther said. "The Awakened One said he saw reds and pinks in us on the Lion of Judah, but until we could see it ourselves, no one knew exactly what he meant."

But I had seen the pink in Esther before I had the light. I decided not to mention it for now. I wasn't sure what it meant.

"You only had reds and pinks?" Owen asked. "Then why is mine yellow and Vai's green? We're all human."

"I don't know," Esther said. "The Awakened One said the light affected everyone a little differently so even though we all had the same light, there were different things we could do with it."

"What about Bundu-Jo's, Starwatchers and K'thaktra?" I asked. "Do they have the light too?"

"The Awakened One said the Gathering had the light so I assume all the aliens in the Gathering could have their light awakened. The only ones besides those on the Lion of Judah to have the light brought out is you two."

"Then maybe it could be brought out in Shel and Minmin too," I said.

"But they're on a different ship," Owen said. "And we can't take Esther with us on field trips for her to bring it out in them."

"True," I said.

"Forget that for now," Esther said. "The first step is to get rid of the Corruption as much as we can on this ship before we arrive at the planet with the other Awakened One."

I nodded. I now had a personal weapon against the Corruption - zek - that thing that had made me scream over and over - that had caused the K'thaktra war and caused so many deaths - that was now silently taking over the Gathering.