Day Eight
One by one his systems would break down. His body was in a state of total shock right now. That was what Mem'na told them just before she left. Eventually he would die completely, and he would only have mere minutes to save himself. After ten minutes, they were to read the rites and turn off all the monitors. Do not even try to resuscitate him. Those last words were what stuck with Liam the most.
The energy shower worked much like the ones Liam and Renee were used to. The only difference was that there was a catch pod at the top center that particlized any liquid substance that was poured into it enabling it for Taelon absorption. Mem'na also explained to Liam the monitors that supervised Da'an's vitals. The top blue monitor displayed his neural activity. The middle green monitor displayed the rate of his energy flow. The bottom golden monitor displayed his core energy level.
According to the monitors, Da'an's energy circulation was completely frozen. However, his neural activity was still strong. Mem'na had told Liam and Renee that the poison worked much like the toxins in a blowfish. It paralyzed all functions in the body. It would take longer for Da'an's neural activity to cease functioning, but it was to be expected. It was almost like being in stasis.
Renee and Liam remained in the room the entire day just watching their friend's neural monitor. When people offered them food, they both declined to take any. Several times, Renee had just plain not noticed. They were just waiting for something—anything—to happen.
Upon nightfall, it started to rain once again. It was harder and dirtier this time. Not pleasant like last time. Renee watched it turn the once white snow on the grass into brown slush weaving and oozing around the temple's structure and between the trees. It was a cold, damp, and very nasty day. One brief humorous thought entered Renee's mind of how the weather well reflected her mood tonight.
"Pretty nasty night," Renee said putting on a thick robe Mem'na had given her.
"It's freezing too," Liam shivered miserably.
Renee threw him a blanket.
"I guess we should've taken Mem'na's offer when she came with that hot tea," Renee said.
"It would've gotten cold by now anyway," Liam said. "She's a good person."
"Better than that Alo'in," Renee said. "He's a jerk."
"I don't think he's so much a jerk as he is pessimistic," Liam said.
"If he was pessimistic, Da'an's lasting through all of this would've come as a pleasant surprise," Renee scoffed. "He's just bitter. It's almost as if he wants Da'an to fail just to prove himself right."
"Right now, I don't really care what he thinks," Liam said.
"It's just nice to have him out of the picture," Renee said. "But Mem'na…I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm gonna miss her."
"Why can't you believe it?"
"I made a promise to myself that I'd just get in, get out, and get on with my life, pushing all of this crap out of my mind, no matter what happened," Renee said. "I never expected to get attached to a cult."
"Except Nye doesn't call it a cult," Liam said.
Renee sighed. "Just two more days. Two more days and we're out of here."
"In about four hours, it'll be one more day," Liam said.
"How do you know? You don't have a watch."
Liam stood up and led Renee to the window. "You see that moon over there—the one in the clouds?"
"No."
"That light behind the tree. See? It's right there between the branches. It's kind of small, but you can see it."
"Where are you looking? I can't—no wait. Oh! I see it."
"At night, it's always behind that tree. When it rises just above the tree, it'll be midnight here and the start of a new day."
"I can't believe you've been here long enough to figure that out."
Liam walked back to Da'an's bedside. "Neither can I."
Renee followed him and sat to the right of Da'an. She felt his palm. It was cold and stiff. It had that strange chill to it that Liam could not describe earlier.
Under Da'an's neck and on his legs and shoulders, Liam could see little pockets of energy appearing beneath his façade. "His façade's starting to fade out."
"It'll be gone when he…" Renee couldn't bring herself to finish. "I…I never thought I'd be this close to him and this far away at the same time. It's not right."
"I don't think he expected it either."
After that, all conversation ceased. After all they had gone through, there was nothing left to say.
It was raining where he was too. Da'an's biosuit was covered in mud and water when he awoke. When he sat up, he found himself sinking with every movement. He rose and sluggishly tried to maneuver his way out of the mud. He found that it was an endless swamp of rain and mud. There were no trees, there was no grass, and there was no solid ground. The level of slush was rising with every step he took. He could not figure out why he was here and how to break free.
The rose!
It was stung him with it's poison thorns. Now he knew where he was. He was dead, and this was his hell. He had been unworthy to touch the delicate blue rose that was his freedom, and he knew why. This was his punishment: to wander forever in an endless sea of mud.
"A fitting punishment, no doubt," a booming voice said. Da'an did not recognize the voice. It was not the high priest speaking to him now.
When he tried to turn around to find the voice, the thick mud caused him to trip. He slowly tried to steady his way on his feet, and then he saw…them!
The men in the black robes! They had tried to take him before. Da'an tried to back away, but the mud was so thick that he merely stumbled and fell backwards. Now he was stuck. There was absolutely nowhere to run.
"Who are you people?" Da'an demanded. "Why can't you just leave me?"
They removed their hoods. Extreme nausea attacked Da'an's torso. He felt his energy stop moving. So this was how it would all end. He was now to be judged by his own peers. The ones he had wronged.
Bel'lie, Zo'or, Sandoval, Jonathan Doors, and the Jaridian lieutenant he had killed were on one side. Renee, Lili, Boone, Joshua Doors, and Lucas Johnson were on the other side.
"You bitch!" Sandoval cried firing his skrill at Da'an.
Then blast was so powerful that Da'an was knocked five feet across the muddy sludge.
"Treacherous Taelon whore!" Bel'lie cried.
Joshua and the Jaridian grabbed Da'an by his arms and forced him to his feet.
"You lying little harlot," Jonathan said sinisterly. "Did you honestly think you could just run from your sins? Did you think that freeing yourself from the Commonality could make it all better?"
"How many more did you kill, Taelon?" the Jaridian whispered. "How many more are dead because of you?"
"What about humanity, Da'an?" Sandoval asked. "Exactly how many did you use like puppets? How many lives have you ruined?"
"Unhand me, you insubordinate lunatic!" Da'an shot back. "What makes you think you're anymore sinless than I?"
"Because you made me," Sandoval said lowly. He pushed Da'an into the Jaridian's arms and struck him clear across the face. "You took me from my wife. You implanted me with your virus, and you turned me into you!"
"I never forced you into anything!" Da'an cried.
"But you did force me," Boone said.
The Jaridian released Da'an back into the mud. Boone approached Da'an and pulled his head up to face him.
"My wife is dead because of you," Boone said as if he was more hurt than angry. "You killed her just so you could force me to serve you."
"That is not true," Da'an whispered sadly. "I never meant any harm towards your wife."
"What did she ever do to you, Da'an? When did she ever wrong you? She was innocent. All she ever did was love," Boone said painfully. "You took her from me for no other reason than to force me to serve you. And then, after all I did for you, you leave me in a blue tank to die."
"There was no way I could have known Zo'or was going to kill you," Da'an said. "I went to your funeral."
"Only to rid yourself of any shame you felt for ruining the lives of two innocent people," Joshua said. "But then, you've ruined a hell of a lot more than that, haven't you? Or did you forget about One Taelon Avenue? You turned me into a mindless minion. You turned me against my father and caused me to kill him."
"I had nothing to do with that," Da'an said. "That was Zo'or's project not mine."
"Always blaming it on someone else," Renee scoffed. "You are such a coward!"
"Why can't you just take responsibility for your sins?" Liam asked. "Why can't you just face the fact that you are nothing more than a treacherous, vile, lying, cheating scum?"
"You cannot mean that, Liam," Da'an cried desperately.
"Who will you blame for my pain?" Lucas asked. "The machines that plagued me with eternal pain? Who will you blame for my suffering? You acted like you were my friend. You pretended to actually give a damn, but instead of helping me, you dumped me on to another lab table an into another experiment—an experiment that left me a vegetable!"
"I only wanted to help you."
"Did you want to help me when you dumped me on a Jaridian planet to be used in experimentation?" Lili asked. "You were supposed to be my friend, and you betrayed me!"
"Bullshit! You betrayed me, you conniving Jezebel!" Da'an snapped. "You kidnapped me and tried to sacrifice me for that little half-breed you laughingly call a daughter."
With his shaquarava, the Jaridian knocked Da'an back into the mud hole. The pain was so great that Da'an couldn't move. Slowly his child approached him and pulled him up by the arm.
"Then, how did it feel, Da'an?" Zo'or asked slowly. "How did it feel to have the tables turned? How did it feel when you were the helpless one?"
"Let go!"
"We're not here to clean up your mess anymore, Da'an," Liam said. "You want redemption? Stop running from your problems."
"You do not understand," Da'an said. "The priests…"
"Had absolutely nothing to do with your sins," Renee said. "You chose to kill that Jaridian. You chose to turn Zo'or into a monster, and you chose to come to Earth and ruin our species. The priests aren't doing this, Da'an! You are!"
"No!"
"Why do you fear me when you look into my eyes?" Zo'or asked. "Do you see something familiar? Something that makes me like you? You should not fear me, Da'an. After all, you made me."
"It was a different time, Zo'or," Da'an panted. "We were at war. I was only trying to teach you how to survive."
"Oh, really?" the Jaridian asked. "Is that why you experimented on humans and slaughtered Jaridians?"
"What hurts the most Da'an?" Sandoval asked. "That you and I are two sides of the same evil coin? That you can't atone for any of your sins? Or is it that somewhere inside that guilt-stricken soul lies a part of you that actually enjoyed violating those souls?"
"I am nothing like you!"
"Two thousand years of death and destruction at your hands say an awful lot differently," Lili said.
Da'an felt something grab his leg. When he bent over to see it, he saw the scaly corpse of a Jaridian hand. Da'an tried to pull himself out when another hand grabbed his other leg. This time, it was a human hand. Stricken with fear, Da'an tried to pull the arms off of him, but he lost his balance and fell back into the mud. More and more dead arms grabbed him. He saw his judges gather around him to watch as he was pulled into the muddy swamp. There were so many! All were clawing at him, pulling him, ripping into his suit and tearing through his façade.
"You don't deserve to be free, Da'an," Liam said. "You are nothing more than a liar and a traitor, and we've decided to give the souls of all the lives you've ruined a chance to get back at you. That phony human skin of yours has fooled me for the last time."
Da'an barely heard him. He was too busy trying to free himself. But there were so many arms. So many souls! Had it really been this many? Had he truly hurt so many people? How could he possibly expect to atone for so many sins? They were all right. He truly was evil. All of this was a vain effort to hide from his true self. The mud was up to his head now, but the dead arms only increased. All he could do now was scream and beg for a quick death.
About two hours after their last conversation, exhaustion had finally won Renee over to sleep. She was awakened abruptly to the sounds of Da'an's screams. She saw that Liam was trying to hold a thrashing and hysterical Da'an back down on the cot. His vitals were critical, and his neural activity was off the charts.
"What the hell happened!" Renee yelled.
"I don't know!" Liam grunted trying to hold Da'an down. "He just started to spasm and then he started screaming."
Renee rushed over to help him. "Da'an, it's Renee!" she cried hoping he would hear. "You have to calm down. It's just a nightmare! It's not real!"
Their efforts only seemed to be making it worse however. With his eyes still closed and his body blushing frantically, Da'an was doing everything he could to try and free himself from Liam and Renee's grip. It was as if he was possessed!
Both Liam and Renee continued to plea for Da'an to calm back down. They pled for him to just hear them or even see them. But their efforts were for naught. There was a final jolt of energy as Da'an's entire body shut down. From his throat came one final and desperate gasp. At the midnight hour, as the moon rose above the tree, all three monitors flat-lined, and Da'an died away into the night.
