His Queen had set him a task.

Locate the soul and develop a procedure that would allow for the destruction of said soul.

As a scientist, Joshua knew that research was a cornerstone of all scientific discovery. Since they had no research of their own, he used the ships computer to delve into what the Humans had to say on the subject.

Unfortunately, the humans were incredibly prolific in the variety of theories they had about the nature of the soul. There were many definitions of the word, the animating and vital principle in humans, credited with the faculties of thought, action, and emotion and often conceived as an immaterial entity…The spiritual nature of humans, regarded as immortal, separable from the body at death, and susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state…The disembodied spirit of a dead human…The central or integral part; the vital core: "It saddens me that this network ... may lose its soul, which is after all the quest for news"…A person considered as the perfect embodiment of an intangible quality; a personification: I am the very soul of discretion…A person's emotional or moral nature.

Which was the correct definition?

One man, named Descartes, conceived the soul as essentially thinking (i.e. conscious) substance, and body as essentially extended substance. The two are thus simply disparate realities, with no vital connection between them. This is significantly marked by his theory of the soul's location in the body. He confines it to a single point — the pineal gland — from which it is supposed to control the various organs and muscles through the medium of the "animal spirits", a kind of fluid circulating through the body. Thus, to say the least, the soul's biological functions are made very remote and indirect, and were in fact later on reduced almost to a nullity: the lower life was violently severed from the higher, and regarded as a simple mechanism.

Anna believed that it was the soul that made Humans so emotional, that, by donning Human skin, a normally rational V could become susceptible to an infection of emotion. Since she was his Queen, of course she had to be right.

But he didn't think she was.

No, such thoughts were wrong. Anna and Marcus had told him he'd been weak enough to succumb to emotion and had even foolishly aligned himself with the Fifth Column, a rebel faction, so he assumed such traitorous thoughts were some hold over from that time.

He knew he should immediately inform someone of his treasonous thoughts….

But he knew he would not.

Standing before the data read out, watching lines of information scroll by, his fists formed into fists by his side.

…think…

…feel…

…will…

…belief…

His head pounded and it seemed as though his thoughts echoed in his head. How was it that this completely abstract and convoluted deluge of information, while illogical and confusing, seemed, at the same time, to make complete sense. It touched upon something deep inside him, something intangible…something….

"Joshua?"

He blinked, eyes swinging from the data stream to Lisa, who was standing by his side, an appropriate distance away.

…Her hands were small, soft and warm as she clasped his larger palm. He was confused as to why she was touching him and even more confused by his own reaction. He liked it. But he was far too disoriented to even consider that, instead telling her that she was behaving inappropriately…

"Yes," he managed to say, grateful that they seemed to be alone in the medical bay. "How may I help you?"

…They had been alone before, staring at each other through the hazy blue of a containment field. Then she freed him….

Lisa was Fifth Column. Anna would not tolerate that. She would be immolated.

He would not tell.

"I just wished to inquire about your research," Lisa was saying politely. "Mother says she has tasked you with unlocking the secrets of the human soul. It must be…interesting work."

…"What are you going to do?"

"Whatever I have to. Go back to dinner. I'll wait 15 minutes, so you're not suspected"…

"It is intriguing," he replied, turning to face her more fully. She stood silently, motionlessly, hands clasped demurely in front of her.

His chin tingled.

She had stepped in front of him before, stopping him from leaving. He remembered the emotion in her eyes and the pounding in his head intensified.

…Her fingers rested below his chin as she drew his gaze with her own. "You're very brave, Joshua." She sounded…a bit sad even as she praised him.

He felt a swell of conviction, deep in his chest, knowing what he was about to do was right. Hope, pride, peace…he felt all those things, knowing that, even as he went to his death, his people would have a chance. Lisa was the kind of Queen that would rule without the subjugation of Anna's Bliss, would allow everyone the freedom to just…be.

"Thank you…My Queen."….

He felt lie a supernova had detonated behind his eyes and he couldn't help but press the heels of his hands to his temples and double over, gasping at the stabbing pain and then the tidal like rush of memories… emotions washing over him.

"Are you ill?"

Lisa was trying to keep her voice steady and she was doing an admirable job of it, but he could hear the slight waver of concern.

"No," he gasped and ran a hand over his face before planting them on his knees and righting himself. Lisa had reached out as though to touch him, but yanked her fingers back when he stood, still thinking he'd react as he had before.

Instead, he reached for her, hands trembling as they wrapped around hers, causing her eyes to widen as she fought to retain her emotional control. "Lisa…" His voice broke. The resurgence of emotions was intense and he needed to reign them in, otherwise someone would know, realize he remembered.

For the moment, they were safe. The medical bay, along with other areas on the ship where experimentation was conducted, were free of cameras. Anna was very particular about what was to be recorded and what would be disastrous if footage got out.

That paranoia worked in the Fifth Column's favor and he was thankful for it.

Large, blue eyes stared at him as Lisa tried to work out his intentions. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he murmured, "Thank you for your concern…My Queen."

Her gasp echoed through the large room and he felt her fingers twitching in his grasp. "Joshua," she breathed, tiny, pink tongue darting out to wet her bottom lip. "Joshua, what do you remember?"

"Everything," he assured her and that brought a smile to her face. A real smile, not like the ones she put on when she and Anna were putting on a show for the Humans. It lit up her eyes and he found that he liked that. "I remember everything…we must be doubly careful now. Anna is aware that I sabotaged the results of the emotional screening."

Lisa's eyes widened in fear again and he knew why. It was only through his intervention that she had escape immolation. If Anna was to have all the scans re-done, the likelihood of a Fifth Column sympathizer doing the testing was minimal. Fortunately, Anna seemed more interested with destroying the soul than she was with individual emotional screening…at least for now.

Still, she rallied to tell him what she knew of Fifth Colum activities since he had been removed from the equation. "Ryan Nichols is back on Earth. Mother is using his child to try and force him to do her bidding and sabotage the Fifth Column from within. They've made contact with a scientist who might be able to shed some light on Mother's plans…How long do we have before they try to retrieve your memories again?"

"Three days," he said, knowing the timetable for such treatments without even having to think. "Don't worry, I won't allow them to put me in the chair again."

"No," she agreed, shaking her head and meeting his eyes with resolve. "We will get you off the ship long before that happens."

In response to her words, Joshua lowered his eyes and dipped his head, mirroring his actions on the day Lisa had accepted her place amongst the Fifth Column. As his warm brown eyes met hers again, she drew a breath and vowed that the outcome of Ithis/I day would not involve Joshua throwing himself before the gun, figurative or otherwise.

Staring him in the eye, Lisa wondered how Joshua had managed to operate secretively aboard the ship for as long as he had, when it was so very clear to her that he was different? Mother, Marcus and so many others…their eyes were cold, some even flat and nearly lifeless. That seemed to be what Mother wanted. Emotionless, soulless drones who would cow to her every will.

Joshua's eyes were alive, they held a glimmer of something she didn't understand, but somehow it was so familiar. She saw that same spark when she looked in the mirror. Mother thought the soul was a physical thing, like flesh and bone, but Lisa disagreed.

It was nothing tangible, but, at the same time, it was everything.

Suddenly, Joshua's fingers tightened around her own, before he released her and stepped back to the computer readout, tapping the screen to make a random file pop up. Before she could ask what he was doing, the medical bay doors whooshed open, admitting Tyler.

Lisa was definitely going to have to ask how he did that. She hadn't any idea anyone was about to enter.

"Lisa, hey!" Tyler exclaimed happily, striding across the room to her side. When he joined her, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I've been looking all over for you for Ihours/I."

He was exaggerating. She'd shared a meal with him just over an hour ago. "You knew I was meting with my mother."

"But I saw her and Marcus, so I was wondering where you got off to," Tyler said, as though she should have known that fact. Then he turned to Joshua. "Hey…you're one of the doctors, right?"

What was the first clue ,the fact that he was working in medical or the fact that Tyler had seen Joshua healing Lisa's injuries after Mother had her beaten to cast a bad light on the Fifth Column?

Joshua merely nodded, keeping his expression placid as he replied, "I am. Do you require medical assistance?"

"Me? Nah, I'm good," Tyler said, seeming surprised by the question. "I know I've seen you around before, but I was never really sure what your job was."

Tyler wasn't the most observant creature ever born. If he was, he'd surely have noticed the fact that Mother was up to something, but he remained blissfully unaware.

"Joshua is our chief medical officer," Lisa informed Tyler, then realized the boy was probably wondering why Lisa was hanging around in the medical bay. "We grew up together."

It was more or less the truth. Joshua was slightly older than her, but, considering how few V's had been born in past few generations, especially among the higher functioning castes, they'd had a lot of contact during their youth. Soldiers, Trackers, drones…they were plentiful, but individuals capable of independent thought (even if they did submit themselves to Mother's whims), those who were born to be captains, department heads, doctors and queens…fewer and fewer were born with each generation.

As their numbers dwindled, Mother's determination to succeed in her domination of Earth grew.

"Oh," Tyler was saying, nodding as he processed the new information presented to him. "Wow. So, you're really young to be the head doctor. Doctor McCoy was way older."

Lisa blinked, having no clue what that reference was and, clearly, Joshua was equally puzzled. Reading their expressions, Tyler shook his head, "Star Trek reference. It's a, um, cultural thing."

Perhaps she'd look it up later.

"We should let you get back to work," Lisa said to Joshua, chiding herself for not remembering to pass along Erica's request for information about V experimentation on Humans 18 or so years earlier. She'd have to ask him later.

Joshua inclined his head in goodbye to her and then, to Tyler, added, "Have a nice day."

"You too, man," Tyler replied, holding out his closed fist.

Staring at the limb for a moment, Joshua cocked his head to the side. "Have you injured your hand since the start of our conversation?"

Lisa smiled at the look of befuddlement that crossed Tyler's face while he worked out the miscommunication. "No…It's a guy thing, you know…a fist bump."

"Oh." Somewhat awkwardly, Joshua bumped his own knuckles against Tyler's before turning back to the computer.

As they walked out of the medical bay, Lisa glanced over her shoulder and smiled when she caught Joshua's eye. He nodded and gave her a small smile in return.

She wasn't the only Fifth Column on the ship anymore. Even though they were still in danger of being discovered, just knowing Joshua was on her side made her feel much better.

"Hey, can we take out one of the shuttles again?" Tyler asked, happily oblivious to the mounting dangers of an invasion/rebellion that was brewing around him.

"Possibly," she said, knowing what he'd want to do on the shuttle, what he always wanted to do when they were alone. The sex was…pleasant, but she really had other things on her mind, other things she'd rather be doing.

But her assignment from Mother was to keep him happy, so that was what she would do. She'd maintain her cover to ensure her continued ability to aid the Fifth Column and prevent her Mother from enslaving the entire population of Earth to use as breeding stock.

Sure.

No pressure.

TBC...

Comments?