Vai

"Let's go home, Vai," my dad said. "We have a lot to talk about."

"Wait," Owen said as I took a step towards the door.

My dad turned to look at my friend.

"I mean, yes, it's okay to go home and talk," Owen said. Then tentatively he added, "but I was hoping Vai would go somewhere with me tonight. This real Vai. I never would have invited Other Vai."

"Where?" my dad asked.

Owen hesitated before he said, "So we aren't keeping any kind of secrets between us now, right?"

All of us teenagers nodded. The adults in the room didn't move.

"Spencer asked if I could get back my confiscated chocolate and sell it to him," Owen said rapidly, "so I made a deal with Security Officer Pereira. I'm going to meet her tonight at midnight to get the chocolate and then meet with Spencer. I don't think too many of us should be there because that might scare Spencer away and we killed his mother the least we can do is get him chocolate for his business. I wanted Vai to be there with me at least. I don't want to go alone."

I looked at my dad and waited. My dad swallowed hard before he said, "You can pick him up just before midnight. Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this deal, but I appreciate that you told me the truth. I don't want any of you to lie to me any longer." He turned and left without another word.

I smiled at Owen and then rushed after my father. We didn't speak until we got back to our quarters. He sat heavily in one of the chairs. I sat on the couch next to him. Warpaint stood by the arm of the couch.

"You know everything then?" my dad asked. "Everything that is in my room? About your mom?"

"Yes," I said. "And I think I agree with her. I think you should have let the original Vai and my mom remain dead. Her essence is stuck as the ship's computer and I'm not a complete version of the original Vai. Although, I'm more complete than Other Vai, I'm still not complete. I don't know where I fit. I'm not even a real person."

My dad sat forward. "You are the original Vai, even if your body isn't. Your mom is the original too. She just doesn't have her body. You are both my family." I heard the desperation in his voice that he needed it to be so even if he knew differently.

I probably should have let it rest there, but I didn't. "How many clone Vais were there before me? I overheard that I was the closest to the original Vai. That meant you experimented before you got me."

He sat back in his chair and studied me before he answered. "There were other Vai clones before you, but they all fell short in some way. They all had the original Vai's essence, but for whatever reason - maybe there was an issue with the Laumalie preserver - none of them were quite right. You are. That's why I know you are the original Vai."

I shook my head. "The original Vai's essence? How did you originally get it? When he died did you already have your Laumalie preserver?"

"Yes," my dad said. "I was prepared before he died. I was working on it when your mom died. That was how I was able to get her essence. I originally tried to work with A.I.s - a perfect body that wouldn't get sick and die. That is why she works as the ship's computer. You wouldn't. When I learned you were sick - I couldn't lose you. That was when I got permission to start cloning."

"How do you know it captured all of his essence?"

"It had to," he said with that same desperation. "Look at you. You are him. Your essence is the original Vai. You are the same."

"The clones that didn't work before me had the same essence? When it didn't work in one you just put me in the next? Or did you split the essence so each of us just had a bit of the original?"

My dad paused. It was enough for me to know.

"Then I didn't have his complete essence either."

"You do though," my dad said. "I put it all back together and in you when the other clones didn't work. You were my last shot. It was all or nothing."

"Why didn't I go into the Laumalie preserver when I died on Doussix?"

"I don't know. It always worked before."

"I remember when I died on Doussix. I had control of my spirit. Maybe it was the light that made the difference because I don't have any memories of the clones before me. You don't really know that each time the essence went back into the Laumalie preserver it was complete. Pieces of it could have been lost each time."

"You are my son," he said quietly.

"Yes," I said, "but not the original."

He opened his mouth to disagree, but I interrupted him because I knew I was right and there was no use arguing over it anymore. He wasn't quite in his right mind about this. He would go crazy if he thought I wasn't the original Vai and what the Gathering needed at the moment was my brilliant dad with his full faculties. I'd leave it alone.

"Now that I know she is my mother, can I speak with her? Like you do?"

"Did you tell your friends about her too?" His body tightened.

"No."

He relaxed. "Good. Don't. We can be honest with them about everything else, but not this. There are a handful of people that know you are a clone and that I've been working on taking one's essence and passing it to a new body. No one but three people on the Gathering Council know about your mom. The computer A.I. of the Shadow was old and going crazy. It killed an entire work crew while it was being retrofitted. No one knows that so don't tell about that either. That was when the council asked me to fix the A.I. It wasn't fixable. Your mother isn't an A.I. She won't see the Gathering citizens as fallible and need correction like A.I.'s sometimes do.

"I know making clones that you can transfer your essence to could be dangerous in the wrong hands, but can you imagine how incredible the damage would be if they learned instead of 1 body that can get sick, injured and die, they could put themselves inside a Gathering ship fully stocked with weapons of mass destruction and an Aether Shield that would make injuries difficult? No. This must be kept secret at all costs."

"I won't tell anyone," I reassured my dad. "I just want to speak with my mom sometimes in the privacy of my room."

My dad nodded. "I will allow it. Now tell me about the light, how it sustained you, how you have been as you watched all of this."

I had always thought it was strange that I could see Esther's pink light before I had the light. According to Esther, that wasn't supposed to be possible. And even when we had the light, we weren't able to see what color of light others had unless it had already been opened in them. But now that I had more control over my green light, I could see what color my dad's light was - orange and hiding inside him just waiting to come out.

"Do you want me to bring out your light?" I asked him.

He thought about it a moment. "I don't know," he finally said.

I didn't know why he wouldn't want it. "It can keep the Corruption out. It can give you a defense against them."

My dad smiled. "I have my own way of keeping them out. I'm very old, Vai. I've been preparing myself to die for a long time, I just want to see you grown and happy first. I've already lived much longer than I was supposed to. If I let you open the light, I might get greedy and want more time. I will think on it."

I nodded. It wasn't until then that I realized something poked me inside my pocket. I reached in and brought out the model ship and the fake, orange petal. I placed them quickly on the little table in front of me.

"These belonged to the K'thaktra Other Vai killed," I said quietly.

My dad scooped them up quickly and hid them from my view. "I'll take care of them. You don't need to worry about it."

"He was turning into a serial killer. You know that right? We had to kill him."

My dad looked down at his large hands and nodded. "I know." He looked up at me. "You are my real son anyway."

I wasn't the original, but I nodded and told him all about my light and its abilities and my time hanging out in Warpaint's head. We spoke until Owen knocked on the door. I had no idea it was so late.

"Are you okay missing this much work this afternoon?" I asked as I walked to the door. I didn't open it yet.

"I should probably take off more afternoons than I do. You might not realize it as you aren't crew and you've been busy with the Corruption and the light, but this is an exploration expedition. We've gathered many resources on different planets, gathered data on different stars and different space phenomenon that I must go over. And between you and me there is a problem with the Remembrance's A.I. You remember the day you - died - I was working on it."

I nodded. The door knocked again, but I waited for my dad to finish.

"That is still not fixed. I'm actually not sure it is fixable, but myself and a few of my team are working on it."

"The A.I. hasn't killed anyone yet has it?"

My father shook his head and stood from his chair. "No, but it is showing all the warning signs. Maybe I shouldn't have told you. You have enough to worry about than one of the G.E.F.'s A.I.'s going crazy. I'm working on it."

"I believe in you," I said and I meant it. He smiled a true genuine smile that I hadn't seen on him in a very long time.

The door knocked again.

"You'd better go," my dad said.

I nodded and opened the door.

"Finally," Owen greeted me from the other side. "You ready?"

"Yes." Warpaint and I stepped out beside them. The door closed behind us and we went to elevators.

"Have a good heart to heart with your father, friend?"

"Yes," I said. "I have a new understanding now that I know I'm just a clone."

Owen stopped walking and looked at me strangely.

"What is it?" I asked.

He shook his head and continued on without saying anything.

We got off at deck 4. The corridors were empty, quiet and dim. He knocked on a door. It was answered almost immediately by a human. She was dressed casually - not in her uniform.

She barely glanced at me and Warpaint. Most of her focus was on Owen. "I've got some of the chocolate," she said. "There are 50 pieces here." She handed him a smallish, black bag. "You sure you can get me the Silva doll?"

"It's already been arranged," Owen said.

She nodded. "This is a small price for that. Let me know when you need more."

Owen stepped back and the door closed between them. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It will be my first time facing Spencer face to face since we killed his mother."

I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I need to. It's the least I can do for him."