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  “What do you want to know about my rank? Isn’t it clear enough that I’m a Prime? Oh, right. I forgot. You’re human. Maybe your tool can help you by explaining these things to you.” He smiled, but I think he just wanted to taunt us.

  “We don’t know what a Prime Officer is, or who are you, or what your species are. We, me and Silver, we just came here looking for something and instead we found you inside a cryo pod. So can you please explain to us, what are your motives, and what a Prime Officer is?”

  He sighed, but never leaving the body of his dead trophy. It fitted him like a throne fitted a king’s butt, and to be honest, he was kinda the king of this place. He could kill us all in seconds, if I wasn’t careful on how to handle him.

  “Okay, okay. It seems that I’m way too far off my planet so that you know about our ranks out here. Well, a Prime Officer to our people is a big, badass soldier who controls other soldiers in battle. It’s kinda like the greatest rank a soldier can achieve.”

  “So, you’re a General or an Admiral of some sort. I get it. And, what are you doing out here? This planet, Earth, is abandoned.” At the moment the words came out of my mouth, I saw his expression change. His arrogant sneer and powerful smirk faded off his face.

  “Abandoned? I don’t understand. When did you monkeys abandon your own planet? I thought you were still swiping from one tree to the other.”

  I squeezed my hand into a fist, tried to get past his insults. I was seriously ready to punch him in the face, though. “We have left this planet for a hundred years now, and expanded all the way to--”

  “Oh, shit. How long was I asleep?”

  Yes, I was certainly punching him in the face when I would get the chance. “I don’t know. A hundred years, give or take. At least, that’s what...that’s what we estimate.” I felt Silver behind me get restless. If I told him the truth, that there was another Jay, a silver-looking one, other than him, he might got violent not believing us. For him, we were strangers.

  “Fuck. One hundred years? That’s a lot. That’s a fucking lot.”

  He finally got off the dead beast and moved closer to me. He checked me from top to bottom, probably trying to decide if I was useful or not. He nodded to himself and smiled again. “Tell me, human. Did we win the Magna Bellum?”

  Again with those wars. Magna Bellum, Latin for the Great War. What was this Great War he kept talking about? “I don’t know. I don’t even know what species you are.”

  As soon as he heard me utter those words, he got serious once again. “Do you dare not recognize the great...the great…”

  He was amnesiac as well. “Don’t worry, it’ll come to you. You must have hit your head pretty badly after crashing on Earth.”

  “I’m not a puny little human like you to hit my head and lose my memories. I could pierce through stone walls with my head and still not feel a thing. No, someone messed with my head.” He stopped to think, but I didn’t like the direction this conversation took. “You. You’re the only one here. It makes sense now. You want to trick me into believing you don’t know about my people and me so that your experiment is successful.”

  Satisfied with his own deduction, he turned his back on me, laughing. My whole body was trembled, too much to hide it. But, in the end, was there something I could have said to change his opinion? He would kill me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  “What’s your name again human?”

  “Eladia,” I answered immediately.

  “Eladia...it has a nice ring to it. Well, Eladia you’re lucky I fought those puppies or else I would have to kill you. Now, I’m bored again, and you seem too fragile for my tastes. I’ll let you go, but by the time I wake up again, I’d like for you to have returned my memories.”

  A deep relief left my chest in the form of a sigh. The huge man walked away from me, got to the other side of the spaceship, lied against a wall and tilted his head to the side, getting ready to fall asleep. In a matter of seconds, the dark matter that covered him before, slowly started to wash away.

  “Quickly, Silver, scan him,” I uttered amidst my confusion.

  Just like before, the dark matter vanished into nothingness, the same way the water evaporated. His hair slowly changed back to their safe, black color, and fortunately, by the time the thing that had covered him vanished, he was back to his usual, stoic and cryptic self.

  “Eladia, it’s amazing. It’s as a different organism exists in those dark particles. If I could make a wild guess, then Jay’s species are symbiotic organisms. Dark Jay works the same way a parasite works, and Jay is the host. The only thing is that they also share personalities and memories.”

  Silver talked as fast as she could, afraid that by the time Jay woke up, he would be as hostile as his dark counterpart before him. Yet, I didn’t sense the same blood lust coming off him. Not that it would matter, but this Jay looked different. Logical and safe.

  I turned and saw the other human, my feral cousin. “What did you learn about him? Can he be of any help to us?”

  Silver made a sound that greatly resembled a laugh. “Him? He’s harmless. Before, he thought you were going to harm Jay, so that’s why he attacked you. But after I talked to him, it seems sentient enough to communicate.”

  As I checked him out I noticed that his eyes, a bright mix of brown and green, tried to understand me as well. He must have been aware we were talking about him. It would be better if I introduced myself. I stretched my hand and pointed at my chest. “Eladia. Human.” Then, I pointed at him. “You? Your name?”

  His eyes brightened up after I was finally interested in him. “Zan...Zan.” He pointed at himself and continued uttering his name; in the end almost chanting it. Silver laughed and truth be told, I felt somehow better myself.

  “Zan it is then. Keep talking to him, Silver. We might need him to lead us to the relic, when and if we finally find it.” A pinch ached my heart. If. Would this all be for nothing if we didn’t find anything after all?

  “I would love to. He’s great. It’s like I’ve just gotten my first pet!” Silver said.

  I hit my face with my palm and shook my head. “He’s every part human as I am Silver. Don’t do anything inappropriate to him.” As I turned to see Jay, I heard Silver changing. “And no physical experiments. Just scan him or ask me anything you want to know about him. Is that understood?” I told her, not even turning. I only began to go on after I had heard her changing back.

  Jay was sleeping soundly, probably trying to recover his powers. But still, for a man like him to move so fast, and come toe to toe with those animals; it seemed impossible. He moved like a shadow, his hands striking like thunder, his feet stomping their way through every obstacle. This is an Originator for you. I had heard rumors about them being able to win a whole battle by themselves, but I never believed it to be true. Now…now I wasn’t so sure anymore.

  I took two steps to the front, towards him, and I could hear his breath whiz. For all that mattered, Jay was a gorgeous man. Strong, powerful, awe-inspiring and even sacrificing himself to save a bunch of strangers. And yet, his eyes had that cold feeling, the feeling that he had seen too many horrible things in his past. For a moment, I almost wished this man never recovered his memories, but the scientific interest of his past was too great to hope for something like that.

  I just had to keep following him until I found out more about him. And of course, he might helped me find the Nusae relic...if it existed.

  I sighed, turned my back to him and walked towards Silver. But then, I heard him coming to his senses. My heart beat faster. I hope he’s back to his usual self.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Chapter 6

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Jay

  Enough with those headaches already. I rubbed my temples instinctively, my cold hands cooled off my warm skin. My muscles felt sore, and I wasn’t sure I could stand on my feet without help. For some reason, I also found this feeling familiar, like something I was used to i
n the past.

  And yet, I didn’t seem to remember anything about it. As I opend my eyes, I saw the human female, her robot and the wild man staring at me in fear. I smelled blood. I looked around me and saw the dead bodies of the predators that assaulted us before.

  Did I do that? I want to ask them, but I knew the answer already. I did that. My body still felt the impact, and yet I was the only one scathed. A certain feeling started to swell inside my body. Thank God, no one else was hurt. It was strange for me to feel that way, but amidst the darkness of the spaceship, I didn’t want to feel alone anymore.

  Alone. Alone was Esuh. A white, excruciating pain stroke my head. The word Esuh, a word that meant a lot to me, kept swirling in my head.

  “You. Human. I...I remember!”

  She turned to look at me, but she didn’t make another step towards me. She stayed put and talked to me from a distance. “Are you...are you Jay?”

  What was that question? I just told her I remembered something so important, and she asked me if I was Jay? “Eladia, isn’t that your name?”

  She nodded.

  “I remembered the name of my people. And yes, I’m Jasih, the Prime Officer, and an Originator. Do you still doubt me?”

  She rushed to my side. She laid out her hand wanting to help me get up, but I didn’t need help from puny humans. I could get up by myself. And so I did, my whole body in agonizing pain, but nothing an Esuh couldn’t handle.

  “I’m sorry. It’s just…,” she wanted to say something but stopped.

  “It’s what? Speak human!”

  “Nothing. Again, I'm sorry. Now, can you please tell us? What’s the name of your people?”

  She was hiding something, but I was in no mood to play her game. At the same time, she was the only one that could know what had happened to my people. “Have you heard the name Esuh? Esuh of the Two Faces?”

  Her face suddenly lightened up in the hearing of the name, but I got the sense that it wasn’t from recognizing them. “Of the Two Faces you said? Do you remember more about your people? Why did they call you that?”

  My hand jolted to grab her arm. I knew I was squeezing way too much, but maybe some pain could wake her up. Anger made me talk slowly, steadily. “Don’t...you...understand...what...I’m...saying...to you?”

  For a moment, our eyes met, and I couldn’t move my head. Her fearless glare matched my own in every aspect. If she were two heads taller, with bigger muscles and another color, she would have been an Esuh herself.

  I released my grip, and she immediately took two steps back. “I haven’t heard anything about your people Jay. But the next time you touch me, I won’t help you even if I find something about them.”

  Silver, her robot, got in front of her now, and for some reason, that feral kid also wanted to protect her. He growled at me like I’m the enemy, but they seemed to have forgotten that I was a Prime Officer, that countless Esuhes counted on me and respected me. But this funny bunch didn’t.

  They looked at me as if expecting me to apologize, but I just turned my head and searched the way out of my spaceship. Before taking another step, I heard the young one yelling at me, trying to say something. I acted like I didn’t hear him, but then the robot stopped me as well. “It’s dangerous out there. Zan is trying to protect you.”

  It had a name after all? “Did this Zan kill all those animals or did I?” She didn’t answer. “I thought so. Get out of my way.”

  Zan kept yelling, but I didn’t care anymore. Better out there with any of those monsters than in here getting disrespected by a bunch of weaklings.

  “My camp is close. You can spend the night there with us and leave in the morning.” Eladia’s voice was rough, soulless. She didn’t want me there. But I couldn’t die, not knowing the fate of my people.

  “Okay. One night.” One night and then I’m done protecting your sorry asses.

  Two minutes later, we were walking down an open place full of a strange, black material. I heard Eladia talking to her robot assistant, discussing the importance of roads and tar in the archaic ages. Soon, I found myself getting intimidated by the sound of her voice. But still, I couldn’t get enough of it.

  A round, pale object was flying in the sky. This planet’s natural satellite was beautiful but lonely up there. Back home, the three moons used to dance all night, casting many different colors to the sky. The night was as bright as the day, and the Esuh didn’t feel lonely. I didn’t know why that name gave me that painful feeling, but Esuh didn’t feel pain, no loneliness either.

  Even by just remembering that one name, all those pictures came back to me. The Living Oceans that swallowed and spat whole worlds in their wake, and the Flying Fortress, the pride of all the Esuhes. Walking down this...road, I suddenly felt the weight of the world falling on my shoulders. Esuh meant lonely, and I felt like I was just beginning to grasp the meaning behind that word.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Chapter 7

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Eladia

  In my family, we had a saying: ‘you can’t be silent or hungry, or else you’ll stay silent and hungry.’ To be honest, I had never quite understood the meaning of that peculiar saying, not before I found myself walking on that red thing I could only guess was some kind of moss.

  Seeing Jay walk in front of me, his head up but totally absent the whole time, reminded me of the things my mom used to say. However, I was still not feeling comfortable around him. What if he turned back to that...Dark Jay? What had triggered that reaction of him?

  Questions span inside my head, but I couldn’t find the strength to ask him. Well, not before I heard Silver laughing two strides behind me. I slowed down and allowed her to get closer to me. She and Zan seemed to have a pleasant chat, but I was more surprised at the fact that Zan was walking on his two feet and not on his four.

  When I first saw him before, I thought that his longer limbs and stronger arms indicated his inability to master walking on his two feet, but I was totally wrong. I stumbled upon a strange conversation:

  “And so, how old are you?” Silver asked, trying to add more information to her research.

  Zan replied using a raucous, seemingly random, choice of words from different languages. Silver laughed at him again. What could he say to her that would make her laugh? She just asked him how old he was. I decided to delve deeper into the matter.

  “Hey, Silver. I see you’ve got a new friend.” I smiled, but I didn’t feel the joy reaching my eyes. Jay was still on my mind.

  “Oh hello Eladia. Yeah, Zan is superb. He’s intelligent, and funny, and doesn’t munch on his words. He’s a perfect gift. Thank you again, Eladia.”

  I suppressed the need to hide behind my palm and decided to take the usual path: “He’s not a pet Silver. I thought we talked about this before.”

  For an Android morpher, Silver had an extensive array of expressions; the one she was casting at me now was a blend of bafflement and disappointment. What was with robots and pets? I would never understand them.

  “So, what are you talking about? Has he seen any signs of the relic or anything towards it?”

  Her holographic face flashed. “Now that you mention it, there was something he said that was weird. According to a story, his ancestors told him, humans didn’t exist until very recently. A surge of growing potential seemed to appear in this part of the world a hundred years ago, right about the time Mr. Jasih appeared.”

  Nice. Now she could pronounce his name too. And what was about the honorifics? “That’s really interesting. That’s why other Chroniclers didn’t find anything in other parts of the Primordial Earth. The new species of these mammals must have started their evolution in this section of the world. But, that also means-”

  “Yes. The only reports of technology apparently affecting life are that of the Nusae.”

  She was right. Oh, my God, she was right. But that meant that Jay must have had something to do with it. I left behind my second thought and raised my
pace to get to Jay’s side. I hoped that if I talked to him about it, then something may jogged his memory and more information about his previous life would come to the surface. Hell, he may also knew the exact location of the relic.

  I got closer to him, but he didn’t slow down. I’m almost sure that he had seen me, but he started walking faster, intentionally. Finally, I caught up to him. “Excuse me! Jay, can you please slow down? I have something I want to ask you!”

  For a change, he seemed to hear me; he slowed down, but not nearly enough as I would have expected him to. My ponytail swang furiously, and in my mind, I thought that I must have looked like a crazy person. Well, I didn’t care. He might knew something about the relic.