Genesis

Part Four

He… is not Fedorian. I knew instantly that he wasn't, and those fuckers really thought I'd call this in. There was not a hell's chance I would, it was too much of a good opportunity to pass up. I thought briefly about how many credits I could get for a creature as beautiful as him. A lot I reckon, enough to secure my future for a very very long time, but watching him sleep something stirred inside me. It wasn't just his uniqueness, but his desperate vulnerability. 

   Those fucking liars, I thought. What in god's name have they made? Or more likely, picked up from an unknown sector of space. What is he? I've never in my time alive seen anything like him and I've seen more than one could ever imagine, but him…. No, this felt impossible, yet was all too real. Even though I wanted answers, I wasn't sure if any one answer would be a good one if we manage by some saving grace to find them. But this… beautiful creature looked so vulnerable and I know I've already established that, he did. Not some dangerous sly monster Bernard made him out to be, I could definitely see he was not that. "... Mmm…. Blood…. Blood everywhere!!" 

   Oh my fucking god, I almost had a heart attack. He bolted upright and looked around for something I'm thinking only he could see. "... Are you okay?" I asked as calmly as I possibly could, he looked almost ready to jump ship and I really didn't want that. Not out here. 

   "I…" He stuttered briefly, then suddenly his eyes looked so much darker, locked onto me sending a shiver through me. "You!" he pointed at me, making me grab my chest. "You liar!" 

   "Wait wait… hold up a mo…" 

  "No! You… you knew I was there, you said so! Who are you really!? What do you want…" then his damn lip quivered, eyes filled with tears ready to burst. "You kidnapped me!" And there it was, tears, pouring profusely unchecked from those pure white orbs, I wanted to scoop him up in my arms, but thought better of it and stayed seated. 

  "I didn't kidnap you per say. More like picked you up so no one else could ...." 

   "That's kidnapping!" he yelled, followed by a soft sob. 

   "Look, I can explain okay…." 

   "Drop me off!" 

   "What?" I cast around my small ship for a moment, then pointed out towards a black abyss of fucking nothing. "And where do you suppose I drop you off? In the middle of nowhere? You'd die." 

  "Oh my!" He yelped and covered himself completely with my thick blanket. "Are you going to do things to me?" 

   I gasped, and held back a roar of laughter I felt creeping its way up my throat. ".... Okay," I spluttered, trying my damn hardest to hold it together, but when in very close confines of a ship with a creature as cute and obviously unaware as he is, was just… just too much. "I'm not going to do things to you." Although the thought had crossed my mind. Not going to tell him that mind you. 

   "Then what do you want?" 

  "I don't know exactly," I sighed deeply and rubbed gentle circles over my temples, trying in some way to relieve the stress there. "I'm thinking about what you asked. About helping you," his face morphed from horrified to instantly soft. "It's not like I can go back, not now anyway." 

   "What do you mean?" 

   "Hold on a sec," I muttered and flipped on the auto pilot. That should keep us at an easy slow pace for now. "I was asked to find a pod that escaped Liapra. Nilvolla requested that I call it in when I found it, but I just couldn't… not when I saw you."

   "Oh…. I see, but you could be lying." 

  "I could be, but I'm not. They told me you were dangerous, that you are Fedorian and something else, something unknown. I knew they were lying when I saw you. Definitely about being Fedorian. They for one are not a dangerous race and you look nothing like them, but the unknown DNA could be anything, anything at all. Yet, just something about you tells me you are so much more… " I sighed again, I was tired and hungry and also felt somewhat guilty for scaring him. 

  "They never told me who or what I am. I asked, but I was always punished for speaking my mind or asking questions. Eventually I just stopped asking."

   "What did they do to you on Liapra?" 

  "Awful things… I did awful things. I am dangerous, you should just drop me off, anywhere, it doesn't matter…." He stopped and finally relaxed, falling forward a little. "I don't want to hurt you Tanner." 

   "You won't, if I'm not a threat and I promise you Sela," he looked up at me when I softly spoke his new name. "I'm not a threat." 

   "Sela, is a nice name." He mumbled. 

   "Are you hungry? I only have meals ready to eat and honestly they are not much to be desired, but it's better than nothing at all, at least until we reach Gronos anyway." I wasn't even sure what I was going to try and accomplish on Gronos. Fuck! I know what I'll do, I'll go and see an old friend, she's exactly what we needed right now. Sela has a chip in his body, but luckily for us we were out of range so they couldn't Pick up a signal. But for safety reasons, like getting killed, I needed to locate where in his body it was and get it removed. "We're going to see a friend of mine. She'll remove your locator chip."

   "Chip? What do you mean?" 

  "It's something Nilvolla would have put inside your body so they can locate you. I used to have one at the base of my spine, but because it's not my spine anymore it was removed."

   "I noticed you were more machine than man. I could smell it coming off you in waves." 

  "Smell it?" I asked in confusion. 

  "I notice different smells from people, they differ, depending on their situation. Like fear. It has a musky scent and when someone is Evil, rotten to the core, it smells putrid. But with you, your scent is mechanical, but also has a little sweetness to it."

  Okay, that is freaking awesome. I thought, would be good to have senses like that. Me, well I'm all too different. I sometimes have this sixth sense when things are about to go to hell. It is a talent more conditioned than instinctive, a byproduct of the tears and punctures of the flesh that have resulted from taking too much for granted. Over the years I have come to trust it. But to be able to recognise emotions from smell alone, well that would have come in very handy. "That's a pretty awesome gift you got there." 

   Sela grimaced at my comment. I guess he would. "It's not a gift. It's awful."

  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." 

  "I'm not offended, I just wish I could navigate some of the things about me. That's why I intend on finding out who and what I am." Me and him both and you never know, maybe I'll find out some things about me too. 

   "Then how about we get this craft moving so we can at least start somewhere?" 

   "Okay." He softly said, followed by a small innocent nod. If anything else, I was hoping my friend could do a little research on Sela himself, hopefully find more than just his locator chip. That would be at least something, something to help him, as he said, navigate a little more about himself. Then maybe, just maybe we could try and figure out who this human is, the human he's supposed to seek out.