Chapter 36
Loud clapping snaps them both back to reality.
"You have no idea how…relieved I was when you didn't kill her; it was a good thing I turned on the lights." The man's eyes zero in on Ze'eva and Khan can see her stiffen out of the corner of his eye, and Khan moves forward to put himself between her and the man. The man's voice goes cold and his eyes narrow into snakelike slits. "After all, what would we do without our favorite little anomaly?"
"Leave her alone." The Augment growls threateningly.
"Or you will do what, exactly, Khan?" A glass wall slams down from the ceiling, separating the captives from the warden. "Attack me?" He sneers and Khan glowers at him. "Go ahead and try—nothing can break through that glass." He walks away and out the doors.
"He called you an anomaly? Why?" Khan asks suddenly and Ze'eva's eyes drop to the ground. "Ze'eva?" He grabs her wrist firmly and squeezes, but he doesn't apply enough pressure to hurt her. "What did he mean?"
She pulls out of his grasp and backs away from him. "It doesn't matter."
She sits down with her back to the wall and he sits stiffly a few inches away from her making sure that they don't make physical contact.
"It does. He has a dangerous fascination with you and I can't help you if I don't know what's going on." He states matter-a-factly.
…
And how will you do that? I think. If you can't even save yourself? Not even I could get me out of this mess: what are you going to do? Crush his skull in? Threaten his family?
I can't tell him my secret. In fact…I've never told it to anyone…not even Truk, and he's my husband! Why would I tell Khan: practically a random stranger?
"No." I say firmly. "It is not important." I glare at him but he holds my gaze easily.
"He will kill you." Khan replies simply. "Does that not matter to you? What about your children?"
My heart seems to freeze for a beat. He's right. What would they do without me? Growing up without a parent is hard…but growing up never knowing if your loved ones are even alive is agonizing. I can't do that to them, can I?
"Why do you care about my family?"
"Why do you care about me? Why fight for the life of a stranger when you had so many other problems going on? What was I to you? You helped me; Now it's my turn."
"What if I don't want your help? Then what, huh?"
Are you going to attack again?
He shrugs and the motion looks so alien that I find myself fighting a smile despite the grim circumstances and he nudges my arm lightly with his elbow. "Come now, it can't be that bad." He urges. Still, I say nothing and he sighs in mock defeat and tilts his head back so that it rest against the wall.
"When I was young, I watched as these monsters tortured my family and forced us to go through all these test. Little by little, our numbers dwindled until only the strongest were still alive. The others were either killed, shipped off to another facility to act as a lab rats, or used as spare parts. For the humans." My blood curdles. "It was not a good time and it was filled with fear and uncertainty."
"What did you do?" I lean forward a little to study him.
"Escaped." He said simply. "And together, my family and I…my crew…we sought to build a better world." He gives a wry smile. "We failed." He stops talking.
"And then?"
He looks at me now. "You don't know?" He inquires.
"No…should I?"
"I had assumed it was common knowledge. Did you not learn of the Eugenic Wars at school?"
"I…never went to school." I can see the shock in his eyes and I swallow from embarrassment. "Cassie keeps telling me to learn them."
"But?"
"Well, what's the point of learning about something when over half of what they teach me is probably a lie anyway? They say that 'history is written by the victors'; if the Augments never told their part, how can we possibly say that we have the whole story? Anyone could say anything happened and there would be no one to contest it or set it straight."
He nods. "That sounds reasonable."
"So…what happened? After you failed?"
He sighs and his eyes waters slightly. "We ran away, into the stars. I cryogenically froze my crew and myself, hoping that, when we awoke, things would be…better."
"And they weren't." I say softly, this much, at least I knew. He was awoken by the late Admiral Marcus and forced to build weapons under the false pretense that the Star Fleet Admiral would not kill his people. He was wrong.
"Not entirely, no."
I inhale deeply and sigh. "I don't want to talk about it, okay?" I can tell he's disappointed but he doesn't voice it. "Are you angry at me?" I ask finally, breaking the silence. He looks at me for a while.
His blue eyes seeming to stare right through me before he finally shakes his head in sharp calculated angles from side to side.
"No." He says quietly.
"…Are you lying?"
"Have I ever lied to you?" He asks, an amused tone creeping into his voice.
"I don't know: have you?" I fire back and he smirks a little.
"Maybe." He admits with a sly smile. "But you can prove nothing."
We sit there for a moment, just enjoying one another's company, and it feels nice to be in the same room with someone who doesn't particularly wish to rip me to shreds, light me on fire, and dance on my grave. But hey, at least I'm an optimist.
"Did you know that all my siblings, including me, are part Vulcan?" I ask and Khan raises an eyebrow at me.
"No."
"Well, did you know that Vulcans are even more awesome than Augments?" I give him a joking smile and he tilts his head to the side and studies me.
"How so?"
"The pointed ears."
…
We sit in silence before they come to take us away. Roughly eight guards take him one direction and three take me the other. I glance back over at him over my shoulder but he never looks back. He's dead silent and marches stiffly, not once acknowledging the ones who lead him towards uncertainty. Because I'm being taken back to the cells.
I don't know where they're taking him.
Hi! It may be a while before I post another chapter, but I'll get back to it as soon as I can. Hope you enjoyed reading and please review. Sorry about the errors before: they have been fixed.