THE LAST BORN

T E N

"It has come to my attention that my action towards Noir has caused disapproval among all of you. I'm here, still standing with my judgment that it was necessary. Evidence has shown that most probably Noir is affiliated with The UG, thus I will not ask for your forgiveness or Noir's." Malcolm's eyes sweep the hall as he speaks.

More than half of his people are here, as he finally gathers people to address their complaints. "However, I know that you're upset because you feel empathy to the mixed-race alien, and for my action causing discomfort of a being that is half-human, I will take the punishment for my action."

Murmurs are heard immediately as he stops speaking. Jackie looks down to her feet and shakes her head slowly, next to her Jamal rubs his face with his palm with a loud sigh. "Three days from now, exactly in this spot I will accept my retribution, it will be open for the public." He finishes his speech and walks away.

"Malcolm!" He heard a voice calling him, and yet he doesn't slow down.

Jamal jogs to reach him and immediately needs to catch his breaths, he isn't young anymore. "Please, go to Noir and ask for her forgiveness, maybe she can come up with a much lighter punishment for you," Jamal is almost begging.

Everyone in Nirvana grew looking up at Malcolm. They know that he is a good, reasonable, and a fair leader. And although they all are agreed that he was wrong, doesn't mean his own people would like to see him punished severely.

Malcolm stops and gives his advisor a cold look, unlike Noir, Jamal doesn't flinch or feel nervous, he is used to it.

"I will not ask forgiveness from someone who is possibly a threat to what is left of our race." With that, he walks fast away from the crowd, leaving Jamal alone looking sad at his leader's back.

Malcolm doesn't head to his chamber, no. He has no time to sleep. The alterations in his body don't require him to shut his eye even for a minute. Besides, he cannot afford to lose time to something useless like sleeping. He has things to do and they need to be done.

As his legs take him to his office, he doesn't waste any more seconds to spy on the hidden camera in Noir's bedroom, and to his surprise, the alien is nowhere to be seen. Malcolm squints his eyes, believing that he is finally catching the alien red-handed. He stands up immediately to find the criminal.

***

ANA

My eyes snap open and I cannot shake the feeling that I'm being watched. Slowly, unthreateningly, I push myself up from the soft bed of vines and sit up, looking from my far left to my far right.

Around me is dark, and quiet.

I can hear the engines humming from time to time, but apart from that, it's quiet here.

And yet, I know I'm not alone.

I try to remember the self-defense lessons my father taught me, but it's useless now fear controls me. I scoot myself backward until my back touches the wall-covered vines with a loud crunch. My eyes are wide still trying to look left and right, trying to catch any slightest movement in the darkness in front of me.

"What are you doing here?"

His deep voice doesn't startle me, somehow I knew that it could only be him as the one who is able to wake me up from a deep sleep with only his cold stare. I look to my right and see a faint movement. The dim light reflects on his metal arm, but apart from that, I cannot see much of him.

"Why are you sleeping here?" He asks again, this time walking steadily closer to me.

In Relish we have a lot of big carnivores, some of them are three times our size, and the way he approaches me now only reminds me of the one time I came with Dom and Lev hunting, where I saw them kill an animal and I spent the rest of the day crying mourning the death of the beast.

But this time, I'm all alone, and the beast is far more advanced, far more skillful, far smarter, and far more resourceful. What is he going to do to me?

Finally, he steps out of the shadow and I can see his other eye's red light. He is looking down at me as I'm bending my neck backward to see him in the eye. To my horror, he squats down looks at me at my eye level. The action doesn't make him less big, or less threatening, as our space is gone, I get more scared than before.

He looks at the vines under me and back at me.

"Why are you sleeping here?"

How can I answer him when I left all of my cards on the table in my room? There is no dirt at arm's length as all surfaces around are covered with green leaves. So with a shaky arm and even shakier finger, I reach for the back of his hand.

His eyes follow my finger with a frown but don't move back, so slowly, gently, I trace the letters;

Peaceful.

The enhanced eye turns into a full circle and I can hear a faint swirling noise. He is still as a statue and for a while, he doesn't ask for more or even shows any sign that he got what I traced on his skin.

It's very easy to get lost in his presence, as every time he is around, he unintentionally demands all of my attention solely onto him. He leads these people for a reason and I understood from the moment I saw him, that he is a person that will take all, or if can't, he will rob it all from you.

That is what he has been doing to me. He has been taking my sanity and my feelings, now what is left in my head and in my heart is the fear I feel for him. The feeling is powerful that every time that he is present, everything else doesn't seem to matter. He demands my attention and focuses and he has both of them every single time.

He looks right into me, with his human eye and with his enhanced eye, and I never feel so insecure about myself like I'm now. He is looking deep into me, peeling every layer I know I have, and some of that I don't know I have. He looks inside me with such intensity I feel he will unfold my deepest and darkest secrets.

Then he reaches for my hand.

I gasp, not in fear or in pain, but pure surprise. It's the last thing I expect him to do. He doesn't look like somebody who enjoys physical touch, and as far as I noticed, unlike other humans who enjoy a short embrace, or brief shake hands, or even a soft kiss on the cheek, I have never seen him initiating, or for anyone to try to have friendly physical contact with him. Why now?

His eyes move to the fingers he reached. Although the spot we are now is poorly lit, I can still see the contrast of our differences. I'm as dark as the shadow I found comfort in while his metal arm glint even in the poor lighting room. His skin has a rougher texture and is warmer than mine. I look the way his hand studying mine as he looks at my hand. He turns my palm and runs his fingers between mine. Feeling the slender shape and the blunt tips.

He pulls my hand slightly to look closer, to observe more. He lifts my hand higher and turns it as far as the joins on my wrist let him. "Just like a human's hand," He murmurs. "Do you know the kind of things humans can do with hands like this? Like ours?"

I shake my head and immediately his eyes snaps at me. My blood runs cold looking at the intensity and the coldness there. "I don't need your gesture, I want you to write your answer," He says.

I trace the answer, again, on his skin, again, with my shaky finger, again.

No.

"We can kill," His answer confuses me. "We can use weapons, we can do a lot of damage, injustice, immoral things."

I frown at his words, perhaps a lot of people are able to do that, but not me!

He stands up abruptly and stares down at me. "Nine o'clock, sharp. I will be expecting you at ring number 3." Then he walks away, leaving me with my eyes wide, and my mouth hanging open. My mind is going back to the time I saw him with the unknown alien, how he was hitting him to his death.

He is going to kill me.