Vai

Other Vai sat at a small table in the Museum Delectables. Warpaint - and I - stood by his side. Other Vai played with the ends of a napkin while he waited. I lifted out of Warpaint. I looked around to see if anyone noticed, but no one here had the light. Even when I was around those with the light, they didn't notice me. I had never been around them when they had been outside their bodies.

From what El had said earlier, it seemed she had tried to reach out to the Awakened One, but not to me. She didn't notice I wasn't inside myself. And why would she? I couldn't travel far from Warpaint and there was a walking talking Vai. Why would she think I even still existed?

My spirit self sighed, but of course no one heard. I reentered Warpaint's head.

"Hello," the K'thaktra said. He was tall - like Thrissko. He sat across from Other Vai.

"Hello, Mersk" Other Vai said. Mersk was young. This was his first voyage as an engineer. I still wasn't sure why Other Vai had reached out to him.

"I started on a new model after our last conversation," Mersk said. He was still in his Gathering uniform. His large red hands tore the napkin in front of him with nervous energy. "It's the Remembrance. It's been sitting in my drawer unopened, but I got inspired after you told me about your model of the Shadow."

Other Vai smiled with lips that should have belonged to me. "I was a small child when I built it. I'm sure it's nothing compared to your collection." His dark hand lifted and readjusted his cape - my cape - over his shoulder. I mimicked the action, but felt nothing. There wasn't flesh or cloth or fingers.

"I would still like to see it sometime," Mersk said.

"Maybe," Other Vai said. "I only have the one model and I'd love to see your collection first."

"Sure," Mersk said. "Right now?"

"Let's eat first," Vai said. As if on cue, a waiter came to take their orders.

Their conversation through dinner was mostly about models. Mersk did ask Other Vai what he was going to study once he finished school - if he was going to be a scientist like our father. I laughed out loud at that one. There was no reality where I saw myself as a scientist. Other Vai did not laugh, but steered the conversation back to models. No one heard me laugh.

I exited Warpaint and hovered around the restaurant. There was an older human couple in the corner arguing over politics. There was a family of Starwatchers at a larger table all talking about the most recent episode of Waters Reaching. Evidently it was popular with most Starwatchers and not just Minmin. Other Vai had pretended to be interested in Waters Reaching, but as soon as he left Minmin's side, he dismissed it. How I wished I could sit next to Minmin and take in everything she had to say about it. I wished I could respond to her and ask questions. More than anything I wished she could hear me.

I hovered over the staff who were arguing about who messed up the order for table 3. I almost reached the kitchen before my tether to Warpaint snapped me back to him.

Other Vai's okulus chirped with an incoming call. He saw it was Owen, but didn't answer it. He muted all incoming calls and messages. "Let's go see your collection," Other Vai said. He slid his seat away from the table and stood up. He walked towards the exit.

I drifted out of Warpaint just enough to see Mersk pay and scramble after Other Vai. Mersk didn't seem to think his new friend was being rude, but I did.

That's no way to treat a friend, Other Vai. No one heard me.

I'm glad you decided to befriend a K'thaktra, but you still have to treat him right. Our father makes a lot more money than Mersk does as a low level engineer. And you were the one who invited him to dinner. You should have paid.

The two of them were immersed in a conversation about models. Warpaint was silent as he followed a long.

"I burnt myself with the vibroscalpel," Mersk said. He held out a red, barbed hand to point out the tiny blackened spot on a finger. "It's been too long since I've put together a model."

"That must have hurt. Why didn't you go to medical?"

Mersk shrugged a shoulder. "It's not that bad."

And why did you ignore Owen? He's my best friend. We've been through a lot together. You have the memories even if you aren't me.

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We got on the elevators and went to level 4.

"This is me," Mersk said at quarters 4053. He opened the door and waved Other Vai and Warpaint in before following. The door shut behind us.

His quarters were small. There wasn't a separate room for the bedroom. His bed was set against the right wall just passed the gray couch and a small wooden table. On top of the table were pieces of the Remembrance model and a vibroscalpel.

"This isn't my entire collection," Mersk said as he guided Other Vai to a pair of small shelves on top of a dresser. "I left a lot back home - with my parents."

He had models of different alien ships. There were Starwatcher ships which always reminded me of eggs. There was an older Bundu-Jo ship that kind of looked like an octopus with less arms. There were a few K'thaktran ships, but one in particular I recognized. It had headed the fleet of the K'thaktrans during the war. I never knew what the K'thaktrans called it, but the rest of us called it the Killing Monster. I knew it was the same because even though I couldn't read K'thaktran, I recognized the K'thaktran lettering on the side of the red, insectoid-like ship to be the same.

Other Vai lifted the model carefully. He stared at the lettering much as I was. "What does it mean?" Other Vai asked. He had my same memories. He knew exactly what it meant.

Mersk took the model carefully out of Other Vai's hands. "It says on the side, Hope."

They had named their death ship Hope? The ship that had killed thousands upon thousands of Starwatchers, Bundu-Jo and Humans was called Hope.

"I haven't researched it to know the significance," Mersk said. "I'm not even sure what part of K'thaktra history it belongs to. I just thought it looked cool."

Other Vai tried to smile, but it came off looking wrong. "Where did you buy it? It must have been a K'thaktran colony or homeworld."

"It was on Mazax VII." A K'thaktran colony. Mersk didn't have a clue of what the Killing Monster was. He didn't even know it had another name besides Hope. He was just an innocent fool who liked model ships and didn't have many friends. I liked him.

Other Vai turned away from the dresser and shelves and walked to the small table.

"Do you want help building the Remembrance?"

"Sure." Mersk put the Killing Monster back on the shelf. Other Vai sat on the gray couch next to the table. Mersk sat next to him. Warpaint moved behind the couch to place Other Vai in front of him.

Other Vai picked up the vibroscalpel and turned it on. "Where would you like me to start?"

Mersk bent forward over the table and picked up the part of the model he had started. "I had started from the back and was working my way to the . . ."

Other Vai shoved the vibroscalpel into the back of Mersk's head.

No!!!

I moved into Other Vai. I tried to control his hand to pull out the vibroscalpel. It was futile. I fit over him like a translucent blanket. I couldn't control anything in this body.

"No, sir!" Warpaint grabbed Other Vai's arm and pulled it away from Mersk. It was too late. Mersk slumped over the table dead with the partially built model in his hand.

I sat in Other Vai's body and saw his spirit. He was incomplete. There were large pieces missing like an incomplete puzzle. This is wrong. You are wrong. You are not whole.

Warpaint took the vibroscalpel away from Other Vai like a parent taking away something dangerous from a child. Warpaint looked at dead Mersk. "What have you done, sir?"

"I killed a potential threat," Other Vai said easily. Many pieces of his spirit were missing - including how to differentiate a threat. I could see the pieces that were there - could see what they meant. I could also see what was missing. He had no real care for my friends. He remembered they were friends. He knew how he was supposed to treat them. He knew how he - or I rather - treated them in the past, but he felt nothing for them.

Warpaint, he doesn't understand what he just did was wrong.

"He wasn't a threat," Warpaint said. "There was no Corruption inside him. He only wanted to show you his models."

I liked him. He really could have been a friend. Other Vai, what have you done?

Other Vai stood to face Warpaint. His fists clenched at his side. "The K'thaktra have proven they can't be trusted. They've proven they are evil. Remember the war? No, you weren't built then. But you've seen vids. The Corruption chose the K'thaktra over the other aliens for a reason. They are more susceptible to the Corruption. They tore us apart with their bare hands surrounded by that zek fog. No K'thaktra can live."

I wasn't sure why Other Vai thought that. There was no proof and as far as I knew no mention anywhere that the K'thaktra were more susceptible to the Corruption. There was no accounting as to why the Corruption first chose the K'thaktra. Maybe it was just a matter that the K'thaktra were the closest to the Corruption.

The green light opened something inside me. I could not only see Other Vai's spirit, but the internal workings of his body as if he was splayed out in front of me. I could see the blood cells as they rushed through his veins. I could see the electrical impulses run from the brain through the rest of the body. I could see the marrow in his bones. I could see it all. I understood it all. Even as I watched it was broken down further so I could see the molecules.

It frightened me. I pulled out of Other Vai and settled back into Warpaint.

He's crazy, Warpaint. You have to tell my dad. Other Vai can't be allowed to go around killing innocent K'thaktra.

"This can't be allowed, sir," Warpaint said. "I must tell your father."

Other Vai grabbed the vibroscalpel from Warpaint and put it up to his neck. "Then I'll kill myself."

"No, sir. You mustn't."

"Then you will keep quiet about this, take care of the body and help me in the future. If you don't, I'll kill myself, but you won't know when and won't be able to stop me."

"No, sir. Don't hurt yourself. I'll do anything to protect you."

No, Warpaint. He's manipulating you like I did occasionally. He's not going to kill himself. Warpaint, please hear me. Please tell my dad.

Warpaint picked up Mersk and put him inside him. He turned on his internal fire and burnt Mersk to ashes. Other Vai put the vibroscalpel in his pocket. Warpaint didn't ask Other Vai to clean out the ashes like he used to ask me. Instead he used his internal cleaning system.

Other Vai was back at the dresser looking at the other models. He picked up the Killing Monster and put it in his pocket with the vibroscalpel. The other models he left untouched.