Split Between Stars

Frozen

Danny waited in the lab. Bright, burning lights filled the room, piercing his eyes and making his head ache. Vlad had bound him and left the room hours ago. Danny was left with nothing but the small noises of the lab and his own seething anger.

He berated himself as he struggled pointlessly against his bonds. He knew something was wrong here. But he messed up. He had taken too long to realize the truth and blundered his way into answers. He tried desperately to phase through his bonds. But the shackles across his arms, legs, chest, and neck remained firm.

Vlad knew what he was doing. He must have been prepared against something like this for years.

Frustrated tears welled in Danny's eyes as he thought of all the other Halphas. They had no idea what was happening. Nothing about this seemed strange to them because they didn't know any better. He had to tell them!

Danny wrenched at his bonds. His body screamed in protest as the cold metal dug into his skin. Fire spread across his wrists as the skin chaffed. The clasp across his throat made him wheeze for breath as he struggled.

"Daniel, enough!"

Vlad's sharp voice startled Danny into submission. He rushed forward, into Danny's limited line of sight.

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed. His red eyes focused on Danny's bleeding wrists and the bruises forming across his throat.

Danny scowled, managing to make a rude hand gesture despite his bonds. Vlad glared back at him.

"You think I want to do this? I don't. You have incredible potential, but you're not leaving me any choice."

Then without warning, Vlad lunged forward, sinking his teeth into Danny's neck. Danny tried to scream, but the breath caught in his lungs. The teeth sank deep, a cold spreading feeling seeping across his skin. Blood welled around the wound, spreading down his side.

After a long, terrible moment, Vlad pulled away. Glowing blood stained his face, green clashing nightmarishly with red.

Danny tried to react to what had just happened. But with horror, he realized that he could no longer move. The cold had worked its way down his body. He felt it pulsing in his fingertips, behind his eyes, in his heart. He took shallow panting breaths, eyes locked on Vlad.

Vlad wiped the smears of blood off his face, and dabbed at Danny's neck.

"I'm sorry. But like I said, I won't let you destroy what I've built."

He set down the bloody towel and opened the door to the lab. Danny's heart stopped as he saw who was outside.

The Halphas. All of them stood in the hallway, sleepy and confused.

As they entered and saw Danny however, their eyes grew wide and alert. Shocked silence filled the room. Then D'yani rushed forward.

"What's going on? What are you doing to him?" she demanded, grabbing his hand.

Vlad put a hand on her shoulder, sending a wave of revulsion through Danny.

"It's alright my dear. I'll explain everything."

D'yani looked between them, torn and confused. Danny wanted to scream at her to run. But his body betrayed him. He couldn't even twitch.

"I learned something terrible tonight," Vlad announced to the group. "Something I hoped would never come to our home."

He pointed at Danny with one long finger.

"Space Corps."

A nervous mutter ran through the Halphas.

"What do you mean?" D'yani asked, still clutching her brother's limp hand.

"I mean that D'any'a is nothing more than a Space Corps spy. An agent. A traitor."

Danny looked at the faces of the Halphas, trying desperately to tell them that it was a lie. He wanted to scream at them, to make them understand. But he could do nothing.

The Halphas turned to look at him, betrayal and rage and heartbreak in their faces.

"He ambushed me in the lab tonight, hoping to kill me and take you all to Space Corps. He was almost successful too," Vlad said, holding up a knife stained with his own blood.

D'yani dropped her brother's hand, tears welling in her eyes as she looked at him.

"We've all been tricked," Vlad mourned, bowing his head. "I took him into our ranks, trained him, let him into our family. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Jax'i snarled, stepping forward from the group. "I should have seen it coming. You were always snooping around, asking questions about the bounty hunter."

"No, I should have known. It was too good to be true; Space Corps finding a Halpha from your same escape pod."

Vlad rounded on Danny.

"What are you then? A clone? Did you watch the real D'any'a die? Did you kill him?"

The Halphas began to close ranks, glaring at Danny. D'yani however, was not among them. She ducked through the crowd, running into the hall. They could all hear her crying.

A storm of questions rose from the frantic group.

"Does Space Corps know where we are then?"

"Are they coming?"

"What are we going to do with him?"

Vlad raised his hands, and silence fell immediately.

"No, he has not managed to make contact with Space Corps. I managed to apprehend him before he could give our position away. I'm sure they would not be surprised if he died in the attempt to sabotage us. No one will miss him."

All eyes turned on Danny, frozen, mute, unable to speak or defend himself. Vlad let the silence spiral for a long moment. Then he went on,

"But we are not the savages Space Corps thinks we are. No matter if he is a clone, or brainwashed, or even a synthetic monster... he is still a Halpha. And no matter how misguided or twisted he is, we cannot have his life on our hands."

Silence.

"What are we going to do then?" a quiet voice asked.

"Luckily, I've been working on more than just radiation suits in here," Vlad smiled grimly. "Soon my cognitive recallibration process will be complete. We can wipe the memories and actions of his past away. He'll be innocent once again. Part of our family, with no ties to his treacherous past."

A wave of dread flooded through Danny as Vlad turned to look at him.

"He'll be one of us."