Chapter Three: The Brush Fire Wars

[Akirapryde]

Facing the Truth
City of New Hope
The Free World of Iktotch
The Expansion Region
Date: 2922 the following morning (Date Corrected)
 
Zay let out a deep sigh, “so that was when I realized the truth.” The level of depression showed across her face. She gazed down at the white cloth soaked with her own tears. It was hard for her to hold them back.
 
Father Dira nodded slowly as he spoke evenly, “things like this can be hard.” He reached forward and rested his hand on hers, “affairs of the heart often can be.”
 
“So, what should I do,” Zay asked softly.
 
Father Dira leaned back and sighed softly, “what does your heart tell you, you should do.”
 
“I know I should tell him,” she said as she slowly blinked her eyes. “He deserves to know the truth.” She leaned back and looked around in confusion. “Even if I tell him the truth, it won’t change a thing.” Zay drew in a deep breath, “the truth only presents more questions. Questions, that he would expect answers for. He’d have a right to these answers. Answers that have eluded me to this very day.”
 
“So,” Dira said then paused a moment before adding, “Why haven’t you told him, what you do know.”
 
Once more Zay drew in a deep breath, “I don’t know.” She played with the white cloth, moving it around in her hand. “It first started innocent enough. I just wanted to prove to him…….” She fell silent as she slowly pulled the cloth with both of her hands. She wanted to say more, but the words simply wouldn’t leave her throat. She closed her eyes and lowered her head in to her hands. She felt so defeated.
 
Father Dira leaned forward resting his hand on her head, “child, sometimes we want to prove things to ourselves more than to others.” He paused a moment before he continued. “So, what are you trying to prove to yourself?”
 
Zay blinked as she raised her head. On that, Dira slowly removed his hand as she raised her head, “he is,” she stuttered, “he is just so smart. It makes no sense to me. How can he be so much smarter than me? No matter how much I try, he is better than me.”
 
Father Dira nodded as he took in all that she was saying. He read her body language and what she wasn’t saying, “so you felt threatened.” His voice was soft, and his touch was reassuring.
 
Zay nervously shook her head, “no, not threatened. Well maybe…” she paused then added, “more like, no longer special.” She paused a moment before continuing. “As you might suspect, I am a clone,” she said softly then paused. She knew he knew she was a clone. There was a time when no one knew that she was a clone. That was how special she was. Now, here, everyone knew. And more than that, she was seen just like everyone else. It still felt weird for her to consider herself like everyone else.
 
She drew in another deep breath. “But not just any clone. I was created to be singular and remarkable. The best of my line. My intellect, my reasoning, my skill sets, were all perfected beyond any other model within any other maintenance line.” It was the first time she had uttered those words since her liberation. For the first time, she actually took pride in those words. Before she was forced to say them as a token of value. She continued, “I have been upgraded with the latest knowledge bases available on the market.” She shifted her eyes around the room, “and some that are outlawed knowledge bases.”
 
She slowly stood and walked towards a small window, “My eyes can see the spectrums of this hologram,” she said speaking of the holographic image that gave the window a realistic image. “I can decipher each frequency on the light spectrum. My ears can detect the sound that emitters are making.” She ran her hand along the edge of the window/hologram, “I can feel things, vibrations, that others can’t detect. My senses, to say the least, are heightened beyond any other life form’s abilities.”
 
She turned from the window and faced him, “For as long as I have been aware of what I am, I have been the very best of cloning technology. Since my creation, I have been without equal. But now that has all changed. Since my liberation, I have been forced to deal with many ‘truths’ that were uncomfortable.” She was holding back the truth of these ‘truths’. They were terrifying and rocked her confidence to her core.
 
Dira nodded once more as he followed her statements, “then you met Bay.”
 
She half nodded, “well,” she said then fell silent. After a moment, she found her voice, “I met him before my liberation. But I really got to know him afterwards.” She shifted nervously then added, “then I fell in love with him.”
 
He nodded, “it’s understandable. Family is family.”
 
She shook her head, “I know. But it’s just so confusing. He is just…..just……”
 
“Better than you,” Father Dira said softly.
 
The statement of fact caused her to turn to face him. Father Dira watched her lean back against the wall from the sofa. She slowly brought her arms up to her chest and folded them across her body. It was a clear sign to Father Dira that he exposed something. Her mannerism changed drastically as she attempted to shake off the strange sensation of being exposed. Father Dira smiled softly as he spoke with kindness. “Oh, my dear,” He said softly, “we are all special in the eyes of the Prophet.”
 
“Father,” she said softly holding back the powerful emotions that this conversation had brought forward. “Imagine, if you will,” she said started. “For all your existence you were one thing. Then in a blink of an eye…..” she paused and moved her arms to the side as if going back. “No, in the beat of a heart” she said walking back to the sofa. She continued speaking as she set down. “In the steady beating of my heart, I discovered that I wasn’t the very best of my line. I was no longer the best technology out there. I was,” she said then paused as a tear formed in her eye, “I was no longer top of the line.”
 
“I….” she said softly, “I was designed to be the very best of my line. This shouldn’t have been able to be possible.”
 
“But it was, as you discovered in Bay. It was possible and in fact done,” Father Dira said softly then added, “and that is why you started all of this?”
 
She nodded as shame washed over her. “I had to know. I had to know, how I could have been replaced when it was supposed to have been impossible to supersede me.”
 
“Child, you speak as if you are but a machine. A machine that can only exist for one purpose.” He leaned back as he shifted sideways so that his body would be facing her more. “All my life, I trained to be a soldier. Trained to kill in the name of the Republic. I fought during the battle of Olivan. It wasn’t my first battle, but it was my last. Like you, I was liberated from that life.”
 
Father Dira fell silent for a moment as he collected my thoughts. He then continued, “I saw the Prophet. It was the final day of the battle. I won’t bore you with the long story. But I will tell you this. I watched the Prophet reach out with his hand and my whole unit felt his love, his kindness. We felt the light and heat of the Eternal Flame. Some of my unit choose to keep fighting. Some of us choose a, different path. A path issued by the Divine.” He smiled as his voice filled with pride and happiness. “Sometimes the path that the Prophet lays before us, isn’t always clear.” He smiled as he reached down and touched an old wound on his side.
 
“No, it isn’t always clear, nor easy. But once you find it. I promise you, you will know it. And it will be filled with the light of the Eternal Flame.” He reached out and touched her hand. “Don’t see this, as becoming second best. View this as the Divine showing you that your intended path has yet to be revealed to you.”
 
She turned away for a moment, “How will I know what that path is, Father?”
 
“You will feel it in your heart, my child.” Father Dira said softly. He leaned back, “Can I ask you. Now that you have made these discoveries, what does it tell you about yourself?”
 
She looked down for a moment as she whipped her eyes. As she pulled the white cloth away, she smiled softly. “I discovered that I am still the top of my line.”
 
“And that doesn’t bring you peace of heart,” Father Dira said. Before she could answer the door chimed. “Were you expecting someone,” he asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.
 
Zay nodded, “yes” she said softly. “I have to prepare for this morning’s meeting.”
 
He nodded, “the reason why you sought my Church and were so upset last night?”
 
“Yeah,” Zay said as she frowned deeply. “I’m sorry father, but I can’t divulge any information about that. The situation and those at stake are just too sensitive.” She had spent the whole morning trying not to think about the Rocinante or that given situation. Now her break from that crisis was over. Her mannerisms and disposition revealed her fears for the situation.
 
Concern washed over Father Dira’s face, “you don’t expect it to go well?”
 
“No, Father Dira, I don’t” she slowly rose to her feet. “You don’t know Bay like I do,” she said looking away. As she looked away, Father Dira slowly rose to his feet as well. Zay continued, “he can be so stubborn and unreasonable. I know, from my dealings with him over the past year, that he will do whatever he has to, to get his way.” She turned to face him once more, “and,” she said with determination in her eyes, “I cannot allow him to have his way.” Zay turned to leave, “not this time.”
 
As she took her first step away, Father Dira reached out and took hold of her arm. “Please,” he said causing her to half turn. “The actions that we take in the heat of any given moment define us.” She glared in to his eyes, “I believe in my heart that like so many, you have been touched by the Eternal Flame. I see the Light of the Divine burning within you,” he said with passion. “Don’t let the heat of the moment turn you from the Light of the Prophet.”
 
Zay moved her arm, freeing it from his grip, “Father,” she said with anger in her voice then fell silent. Her mind cleared and her stance softened. “Father, I am grateful for all that you have done, but an innocent life is in the balance. I cannot trust Bay to keep his mind open.” She was going to say more but was interrupted.
 
“You don’t know that…..” Father Dira said softly.
 
She nodded, “you didn’t see that look of horror in his eyes when I showed him what I discovered. I saw his fear of the unknown. He made his fears clear to me. I cannot trust him. Not now. Not after how carelessly he removed me from my work. How he was so quick to forcible kicked me out of my own home. How quickly he resorted to threats of violence.” She fully turned towards him and placed a hand on his chest, “so yes, I do know. He has shown that I cannot trust him.”
 
Father Dira slowly let out a deep sigh of defeat, “I understand child,” He reached up and took her hand and carefully held it. For that moment he pondered if her passion was driven by the Light of the Divine. He slowly released his concerns and allowed himself the opportunity to embrace the Will of the Prophet. Father Dira smiled as he looked up to her, “Please child,” he said softly and with compassion in his voice. “Go with the Light of the Prophet.”