Imperial times- Coruscant

Tarik sobbed in his sleep, sore and worn out from what they'd made him do today. Every cell in his body felt like someone had set him on fire, it even hurt to lay still on the rough sheets of his bed.

There were bruises and scratches on parts of his body that hadn't seen sunlight since his arrival here. The dull gray pants and off-white shirt hid most of the bruises, but they couldn't hide the pain they caused. The shadows were starting to return to the hollows beneath his cheek-bones from being indoors so much, and not being fed enough.

His little slip had ruined every attempt he'd made at making sure they didn't know about his abilities. Now they knew, and the emperor was making sure he was miserable from now on to punish him for keeping it a secret.

He chirruped sadly in his sleep, sniffling. There were now two metal bands on his wrists, one on each wrist. One was the same tracking/identification band he'd had since being captured, the other was a new one that beeped at regular intervals, reminding him of why it was there.

The second band wasn't as benign as the other, it was programmed to kill him if he left the palace, and to zap him if he went somewhere he wasn't supposed to. He really was property now, no longer a pet, he was something between a prisoner and a slave.

A sharp tug in the back of his mind forced him awake with a yelp of pain. He nearly fell out of bed as he scrambled to his feet, looking around the room disoriented. A malicious cackle echoed through the telepathic link, indicating that this had been more for torment than any other reason.

He flopped back onto the bed with a growl. He immediately regretted it, wincing in pain as his sore muscles hit the hard mattress. He whimpered softly, picking at the point of one of his claws. He grumbled unhappily, rolling over and trying to go back to sleep.

He hadn't even had a dream since his last one about the red-haired woman. Every part of his body hurt, he wished he could just curl up under the shade of a tree back home, or maybe go swimming, anything to relieve the burning in his limbs.

He cheeped softly, curling his tail over his leg and trying to sleep. He closed his luminous orange eyes, half-wishing Vader would keep his promise and kill him. He buried his snout in his pillow,forcing himself to relax and try to sleep.

If any dreams did come, they wouldn't be nice ones.

~~~~~~~~

He was alone on the street, back on the lower levels of Coruscant. He could smell the familiar stench of too many people and not enough maintenance that permeated the lowest levels. Something called his thoughts deeper, into a part of town he'd only been to once before.

He recognized the sealed-over wall where the lab had once been. A hole had been cut into the wall, on the floor where he'd once been held. As he came closer to the hole, he suddenly realized it had been cut the same way the door in the detention center had been.

Someone with a lightsaber had been here? but why? There was nothing left in the lab, just the charred remains of the machines they'd used to make him, and the broken tanks.

The tanks.

As the images shifted to the interior, he saw one of the tanks had been cut out of the storage room and removed.

A hiss came from behind him, and he turned, coming face to face with something foreign yet familiar. Another creature like himself, but distorted. The Other, he realized. A smirking human face hung in the shadows far above, up where his cage had once been.

Yes, this was the room where his cage had fallen! Now he remembered! The distorted version of himself snarled, preparing to attack him.

He backed away, confused, it didn't smell like anything dangerous, it smelled like part of him.

The other lunged after him, and the image faded to blackness.

~~~~~~~~

Tarik jumped awake, frightened, fighting to slow his breathing. There was another Tarik somewhere! he'd seen him, he knew he existed.

No, wait, it couldn't be real, he'd been loose then, but he was a prisoner now. The other Tarik looked mean, but he hadn't smelled dangerous, like the emperor didn't.

It was part of the genetic programming he realized, his hyper-sensitive senses were bred to ignore both one of his own and the emperor as targets. Then why could that one attack him?

He vaguely remembered the emperor's comment about the second prototype's programming being changed, it had tried to attack him and Vader. Well, Tarik had attacked Vader, but he had a good reason. Then again, if the other was able to hunt the emperor, then someone could use it to kill him.

The thought fit together with the other things he'd seen.

Riker was going to make another other and make it kill Vader. Which meant he'd use it on Tarik too, and anyone else that got in his way.

Tarik suddenly had the urge to tell the emperor what he'd seen, to warn him what was going to happen. He fought off the instinct to answer to the haggard human in black.

He was Tarik, not that ugly human's little pet lizard. Instinct or not, he could think on his own, and he intended to keep and use his free-will.

He buried what he'd seen as deep in his mind as he could, forcing himself to go back to sleep.

He'd have to do the nastiest thing he could think of for now, he'd have to keep quiet and follow what they told him to do. He had to live long enough to figure out what to do about the other and Riker.

He had to live, otherwise others would end up dead, that he was certain of, though he didn't know why.

Things were going to happen soon, big things.

----on to Part 6 of Chapter 7---

© 2000 Michelle Petrosky

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