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And the Truth will not set you free

'My Lord. We have the bloods back on the boy.'

The young medic shifted from foot to foot. He tried to keep his eyes on the floor but he couldn't keep from glancing into the shadows of the room, trying to find the one he was addressing. He didn't want to find him. He didn't want to be there and if the Lord even suspected…

Malvae had turned sinner from a single, unforeseeable mistake. Even though the boy had suffered no side effects. The soldier's quarters, who's silence was normally broken only by marching feet, bubbled with intrigue over Commander Anura. No one had seen or heard from the Commander for quite some time. His last sightings connected him to the boy. All stories. All rumours. All leading back to the same place. And rumours had a habit of holding truth. After all, they had to come from somewhere.

'And what do you have to tell me.' The voice slid from the darkness like a knife into flesh: sharp and just as deadly. The medic jumped despite himself.

'They're not what we expected, sir.'

'In what way?'

The medic flinched. 'Even accounting for the morphological differences the leap is too great. It takes millennia for mutations to build in a species and-'

'What is your point?'

Deep breath. 'He's not human, sir'

Gohan's voice was ice. His eyes glazed over as they did before battle, locking his humanity away where it couldn't be hurt. 'Well maybe I don't wish to meet them.'

The Lord was already moving toward a door on the other side of the room. Gohan was loath to say he walked. He was more like a ballet dancer free from the confines of gravity. As though air slippered his feet. So moved the Lord. And when he did no eye could leave him.

The Lord reached the door and glanced back over his shoulder. He cocked his head, questioningly as though surprised Gohan hadn't followed. His little smile made love to his lips.

'Don't be silly, child.'

Gohan lifted his wrist. His sleeve bunched around his elbow revealing the brass bangle welded there. 'Then what's this?'

'For your protection. So we know where you are?'

Like a micro-chipped animal. 'And why do you need to know where I am?' Why are you hiding so much? Only those with something to hide didn't answer questions. And the Lord didn't answer so well: dancing from one topic to the next, distracting with a wave of his hand. A lesser intellect would have lost himself. Gohan knew better. He was no guest. He was a prisoner. He just didn't know why.

'You wound me child. So little trust in one so young. Have I not nursed you back to health? Have I not provided the finest services?'

It was the Lord's influence that had left Gohan in poor health in the first place. Gohan opened his mouth to protest again. But closed it without saying a word. Cro, on the other side of the room, crossed his arms. He did it so Gohan couldn't fail to notice the movement out of the corner of his eye. As if Gohan wouldn't have noticed anyway. They shouldn't underestimate him.

Gohan understood. So much for apologies. So much for promises. He was to follow at the Lord's heels wearing an invisible leash, either under his own power or with a whip at his rear to persuade him. Well what harm could it do for now. As long as he knew he was still in control of himself. Maybe he could find some answers.

Gohan sighed and pushed away from the star's aquarium. Cro tensed the moment he moved towards the Lord. It was a mark of a soldier's training and trust that Cro didn't leave his position. But he did frown and rise onto his toes, ready to scurry to his master's bidding. Ready to cut Gohan down.

The Lord's eyes dazzled Gohan like rubies to greed. 'Good. Now that wasn't so hard was it.'

Gohan half expected the Lord to pat him on the head. Every step was a wrench. Every step forward was one more he had to take back. His father would have trusted the Lord's word. He would at least have given him a second chance. To Goku the world was ice cream. Gohan saw the rat's tails in the cornet. Goku had given Freeza a second chance and look where that had left him. Years separated from his family. As good as dead.

The Lord took hold of Gohan's upper arm, dissolved the door with his palm, and propelled Gohan through it.

It was like being on stage. The Lord took the spotlight and glittered gold within it. Still Gohan could feel their glances. The councilmen were wraiths at the table, each shrouded in black, their faces hidden in the shadows of their hoods. Gohan shivered. If they even had faces. Every one had his hands crossed neatly on the table in front of him, right over left. The Lord looked like a child in comparison and yet they didn't cross him. Gohan had seen what happened to those who did.

'…Hear me My ministers! I present to you the reason for our little detour. A new age. A lamb to baptise and embrace. A new species hits its pinnacle. I present to you an evolutionary leap. To take him into our fold and become one of us. Neo sapiens. New Human.'

The Lord stepped to the side and the light fell on Gohan. The shadowy holes turned towards him. The mass movement of material diffused around the room like drumming fingers. Gohan didn't know where to look. Their stare drove him backwards, but the door wouldn't open to his touch. If he'd known what he'd find before stepping into the room he would have put up more of a fight. Cro holding him would have been better than this. At least then he wouldn't have been alone.

They had no ki. It wasn't just hidden. It wasn't there at all. Gohan's stomach twisted. He looked to the side, to the ceiling, anywhere, as though they might disappear if he ignored them hard enough. The colour had long since drained from his face. How could the Lord keep shining?

If Gohan had been thinking more clearly he might not have said what he did.

'But I'm not human.'

For the first time the Lord's smile faltered. His gesturing arm drooped. 'Oh?'

Gohan swallowed. 'Well I am. I mean, my Mum's human. My Dad is… was… well… Saiyan.'

Silence already filled the room. But it fell again still deeper. And it was far from golden.

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