Babylon: The Rebel's Woman by Kaitlyn O'Connor

Author:Kaitlyn O'Connor [O'Connor, Kaitlyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Concepts Publishing
Published: 2006-01-31T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

A coldness washed over Lena even before her mind fully grasped what Mel had just told her. It took many moments more for Lena to really assimilate the information.

She was living a nightmare! How could it be that she’d spent her entire life doing everything she was supposed to, never doing anything she wasn’t supposed to, and then wake up one day to find out that everybody wanted to kill her?

“I guess that explains why nobody wanted to get to know me,” she murmured through lips that felt strangely stiff.

Mel’s face creased in distress. “I shouldn’t have told you. I could go to the brig for it, but I believe you, and you need to know your life’s on the line here. This is a deadly serious game we’re playing, and we play for keeps. If you can think of a way to prove your identity beyond the shadow of a doubt, you need to do it before it’s too late.

“Captain Morris must have seen something that gave him pause, because if he’d been certain you were the clone he would have taken you out.”

Lena just stared at the woman, trying to master the wobble in her chin. “How? I saw the way you looked at me when I told you what happened. You say you’re on my side, but you didn’t believe it. I told Dax about something I remembered from when I was little, and he didn’t believe that--because you all have that all figured out. If she was my clone, then we were identical. How the hell am I supposed to prove I’m Lena?

“What could I say? What could I do? What could possibly be different between me and a duplicate that would prove it, and who would believe it anyway? It seems to me that everyone here has already decided.”

When Mel said nothing more, just stared at her sympathetically, Lena whirled and fled the med lab. She was halfway down the corridor to the tube before she realized she had no idea where she was going, no destination in mind, nowhere to go even to be alone and think. She couldn’t escape. She was on a ship, in space, and she had no place on board that was her space. She found herself in the deserted gym with no memory of even heading for it and simply stared at the huge room for several moments before she skittered into a dim corner and curled into a tight ball, tucking her chin against her knees and covering her ears with her hands.

She hadn’t done it since she was a child, but when she’d been very young making herself ‘invisible’ had made her feel safer. She didn’t give much thought to the fact that her fear had driven her to such a mindless, useless attempt to protect herself by reverting to her childhood habit of finding a dark corner to hide in. She couldn’t think at all for many moments.

The act itself seemed to bring back a

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