THE LAST BORN

T W E N T Y

"What were you thinking?"

It's dark in the cell, cold, and stinks of bodily fluid from different species. The cells can hold up to forty prisoners but now it currently only has one. On every side, there are two rows of cells, one on the bottom and one on the top. This makes the ceiling of each cell are low that every prisoner has to crouch down. At the end of the cell, blanketed by the darkness and the silence, Jamal is squatting low with one hand rubbing his face. "Do you think Tob—"

"DON'T YOU DARE TO SAY HIS NAME!" Messiah bangs the metal door in a rage. He was immediately thrown into the cell as soon as Malcolm disarmed him. The only reason why he is still alive is that Ana isn't seriously injured. "Nirvana is full of cunts! Who would rather have promising, high price goods than to save their own kind!" He adds hissing, cursing the ship and everyone inside it. To him, everyone is guilty of the death of his brother. None of them stopped Malcolm from commanding Toby to try to get information, none of them tried to put Ana back to the cell after Malcolm decided to get her out, and none of them remembered the heartache and the grief of losing three of their own kind because of Ana.

"And your high mighty Captain did nothing, NOTHING! Even though he had lost two of his own, instead of killed the bitch, he sent MY brother! HE KILLED HIM!"

Jamal looks blankly at the metal door. To say it's unfortunate that Messiah is on the other side of the door is an understatement. Nobody hates Messiah, nobody wishes him to be put in the cell. But after the stunt he pulled today, nobody can deny that he brought this upon himself.

"Noir didn't kill him, not intentionally," Jamal says shaking his head.

A bitter laugh echoes from inside, the sounds are chilling and purely senseless everyone knows it is caused by no humor. Soon, it is followed by a series of loud bangs that tells Jamal that Messiah is punching and kicking the metal door with all his might.

Jamal knows that Messiah is fully aware that no amount of hitting can break the door, but he understands that Messiah needs to let out his steam and anger.

"I will fucking kill all of you, starting with that cunt of Captain, then I will kill the bitch myself!" Messiah yells, and yells, telling Jamal what he will do, and how he will do it with extreme details that if not because of the robust door, he'd fear for the life of Ana and Malcolm.

Jamal sighs and slowly stands up. Jamal was one of many who were against Malcolm's decision to put Noir in the cell, for him, either kill the prisoner or let that person go. They knew immediately that Noir's kind doesn't communicate verbally, which means it's useless of them to try to gain information from her. And again he was against it when Malcolm decided to take Noir in just to lure her to share some information, which is now proven that she knows nothing.

She didn't even know what UG is before they got her.

But what's done cannot be undone, all he can do now is to advise the Captain how to deal with this loss. Messiah is one of the best scavengers, just like his brother used to be one of the best fighters. The truth is, Nirvana cannot afford to lose even a single person if they want to keep things going. And if the Captain still with his plan to deliver retribution to the UG, they will need every set of arms they can get to help them fight.

***

"Are you sure this is safe?"

A human woman, with bright orange hair and the palest skin frowns at Jackie. She is lean and looks capable to defend herself. She lets her hair free, the end of it reaches her middle back. A few small braids are framing the front of her face, which is the only feminine thing about her.

Jackie sighs and nods, "of course it is, I'm still alive, am I not?" Jackie replies.

The orange hair keeps her eyes on me and her hands on the weapon on her side. I squirm uncomfortably with her body language. It's disturbing sitting so close to someone ready to hurt me at a wrong twitch of my hand.

So I get up.

"Sit your ass down!" Jackie pulls my hand down and I accidentally slam my ass back to the hard metal chair. "It's pretty tense right now, don't even think to go to him because then he will know that there is a reason why aren't you sitting with us," Jackie glances at the orange-haired woman. "And relax you scaring her."

The orange woman frowns offended.

"Bitch I'm not the one who killed the best three of us without touching!" She replies almost whispering. "I have all right in the universe to be cautious." She says again stabbing her food violently. "My name is Cara, by the way, and I don't like you," She adds.

The feeling is mutual.

"Great," Jackie mutters under her breath. Jackie looks up and takes a glance on the opposite side of the dining hall, which the rest of us follow. There we see Malcolm and Jamal conversing something that seems very serious.

"Anything I need to know?" Jackie asks Cara.

"Same old shit," She replies popping a fruit inside her mouth and immediately spitting it out. "I swear to God the fruits here are getting sourer and sourer every year," She spits the rest of the strawberry to the floor, "Disgusting,"

Exactly my thought about her. I frown at her attitude, I help Helen grow those, it's not nice of her to be disrespectful after all the hard work we did in the greenhouse.

"What happened when he heard the news?" Jackie asks.

Cara whistles low and leans back, still with her dominant hand on the weapon. "He went crazy. You know how close the twins were, the only time they separated was when Captain ordered one of them to a mission,"

Jackie looks down, "Yeah, I know."

There is a pregnant pause before Cara stares at the bowl of strawberries she isn't going to eat. "She knows?"

"Nope,"

"That's twisted,"

Jackie sighs, "You don't understand, but now you're back, you'll," Jackie stands up and walks to the food. I stare at her back feeling betrayed, why does she leave me with somebody ready to hurt me?

"So..." Cara says, "I heard you're not much of a talker,"

I look at her and nod.

"You... uh, half-human?" She asks again.

I nod again.

"Your mother, was a human?"

I nod.

"And your father?"

I take my tablet, a gift from one of the humans who works together with me in the Greenhouse, and starts writing; Ter-Zenirian.

"Shit, you know the alphabet?" Cara says in shock. "I can't even write! I mean, I can read Alphabet, but I never write in that ancient language," Cara stares at my writing and lean closer. "What is Ter...Zeririninirinan?" Apparently she can't read alphabet very well.

Black skin, black blood, black organs. Origin of Relish.

She reads my words and then she laughs. Like bellyaching, full laugh. "Oh! That was funny!" She says trying to catch her breath.

It's not a joke. I write again.

Cara's eyes snap to me with confusion, then anger. "You do know, that particular floating rock is under monitor every second of the day under UG's most advanced technologies, and is inhabited, not to mention its impossible to penetrate the atmosphere, right?" She raises her eyebrow.

I tilt my head slightly, I think if one day Cara has the opportunity to meet one of my siblings, I'd love to be there to see her reaction.