Kai shook his head lightly, his hair drunkenly swayed from side to side,
gently caressing his face, soft as the first gently kiss of snow on the
ground..
 He looked around the bridge of the Lexx, a huge gore-ridden gash obscured
the view screen, clusters of pinky-orange nerves dangled down from far
overhead, the pylon which Stanley Tweedle stood upon seemed to Kai as if a
giant hand had reached down and snapped it in the middle like a flower
stalk. The few steps around the pylon were strewn with gore and wreckage.
 A single sensation permeated the bridge and in fact, every chamber of the
Lexx. Death, it filled the air with a disturbing quality, Kai felt it, it
was a dead ship.
 And judging by the rich, dark smell which assaulted his senses and made
them reel, Lexx had been dead a long time. A very long time.

Still, Kai stood motionless as another feeling assaulted his reeling senses.
He felt like a grave robber, as if he had desecrated a long forgotten tomb.
 Unknowingly his hand tightened around the metal in his hand as another wave
of anxiety washed over him.
He surveyed the wrecked, and dead bridge of the Lexx. Strangely his eyes
were drawn to the pillar in the middle of the bridge. Some of the wreckage
looked very familiar.
Small grey shrapnel.
 Grey plastic shrapnel..
Something wet splashed down onto the floor next to him. Blood, he thought as
he looked up to see where it could have come from.
Any and all precious life giving fluids from the Lexx had long since emptied
onto the floor.
 A warm sensation travelled up his arm up to his elbow and then it coiled
around, and slowly pooled into his sleeve as nothing but wet sensation.
 With the confidence that comes with knowing it could not be him, he looked
down at his hand and unclenched his fist, like a morning flower, his fingers
revealed his palm. Deep in the flesh of his palm nested the piece of metal,
blood, or something similar flowed around and from the metal.
 A sensation like fire less burning connected with his mind and with it,
came memories;

He remembered Xev's arguments.
He remembered the planet.
He remembered the people.
He remembered how they showed they're joy at his help.
He remembered how they had showed him how to live.
He remembered their faces.
He remembered living.
He remembered flying the Moth back to Lexx.
He remembered Lexx destroying the planet.
He remembered 790's surprise.
He remembered with relish Stanley' surprise.
He remembered Lexx's anger and fear.
He remembered Xev helping him.
He remembered how she had given herself to him.
He remembered her surprise.
He smiled. Broadly.

Kai ripped the remains of 790 from his palm and tossed it across the bridge,
where it landed with a  tinny clatter. Slowly, ever so deliberately, he
turned to a shadowy corner of the bridge and flashed a perfect set of teeth
at two hunched figures.
 Two small rows of brilliant white reflected light at the figures,
unnaturally so, dull reflections of the light caressed Xev's hand and slowly
travelled upwards to her face.

Xev woke up quickly, gathering her bearings and situation in an instant,
with her eyes alone she looked around her.
 Gently she prodded Stanley Tweedle in the ribs. It was out of habit and
faint hope she did this. He finger sank knuckle deep into Stanley's skin and
body, tearing it. Panicking Xev yanked her finger from his body. Stanley's
body visibly sagged as a stench filled Xev's nostrils.
Stanley's ragged uniform rustled once more and then was still.
Kai tutted.
Xev tried to back away from him, to hide within her own skin, anything but
look at him directly. But she couldn't help it, before her stood the man she
loved. The man she'd helped live again, the man she had killed for and the
man who had butchered other people and taken parts so that he might live.
 At his first approach she hissed at him, but realisation dawned on her as
to the futility of fighting Kai, her one monster, her love. She gave up and
resigned herself to her impending fate at the hands of the one person to
have ever shown her love.
 Her mind was elsewhere;

Warm waters splashed against her bare feet, fine white sand pricked against
her skin as if billions and billions of tiny needles were pressed against
her back. And the heat was incredible, Xev was as prepared as anyone who
grew up in a box would have been.
 Stanley, Kai, 790 and herself seemed so out of place on that planet, their
pale skins shining like a beacon. A beacon to the other pale skinned people,
the Neferandia. Occultists and witches, people who had lots to do with the
dead and the living.
 Kai saved a school bus of children from dying and everyone had been
grateful, especially them.
 They had replaced his Proto-blood with some thing far more effect and
functional, then revealed how he could live again. The new Proto-blood had
affected Kai in more ways than they knew.
 And he did live again.
 After he had killed them all.
 

She awoke in a confined space alone. Claustrophobia ravaged her  mind and
took control.
 She hit the walls with her balled up fists, desperate to get out, she had
to get out. A fine, fearful sweat broke out across her body making her skin
itch, she had to escape the confines of the box. She had to!.
 Then, a soothing voice spoke to her from behind the single screen in the
box:
"Good Morning...." It slowed and the continued, "Zev of B 3 K, today's
lesson is how to address your new husband. May his divine shadow Fall Upon
You".

A shadow fell on her. Waking her from her memories.
 Kai leant down slowly and dragged a bloody finger across her cheeks,
finally cupping her chin in his hand. Like a perfectly fitting jig saw
piece, his warm skin on her feverishly hot flesh. It sent electric tingles
up Kai's arm, whilst it sent waves of disgust to Xev.
 Kai's hand began to travel again, his knuckles caressing the contours of
her perfectly formed jaw, slowly up, past her ears pulling gently on a few
stray hairs but not out of spite,  a soft gentleness permeated Kai's action.
 When his hand reached her forehead, his hand spread out from the palm
pressing against the feverish skin. He pressed harder against her skull
until he had a firm grasp.
Then he lifted her up, her body dangling from the neck down like a broken
doll. She was very much so, everything had turned against her and had been
swallowed by the gaping maw of death.
 In her last few moments, she idly wondered how long it would take her to
choke to death on her own tongue.
 Kai studied her closely. He'd always liked her eyes.
 So he took them.

The End!
 
 

 
 (1999)