Tara lifted her eyebrow. Celeste knew Tara hadn’t expected her to put Phog on the spot, but she needed to know the truth. There wasn’t going to be a better time than right now.
Phog smiled and stood up. “I was wondering when you were going to get around to asking me.”
“You knew already?” Tara asked in surprise.
“I knew you wouldn’t simply believe the story that I was a trader after I had killed those Zandrax guards, deactivated the force field and even treated you Tara. My cover story wasn’t going to stand up to all those things I had to do. I don’t regret doing it as lives were at stake.”
Celeste felt Phog wasn’t going to be a threat to her and Tara. She leaned back in her chair and let him continue his story.
“First of all, I am not an intergalactic trader from another part of the galaxy,” Phog started. “My ship is an old Zandrax ship that I stole. I needed it to escape from them.”
Tara raised her fist in jubilation. “I knew it. We found engineering parts in this ship that matched yours.”
“Oh I didn’t expect that,” Phog said. “But there is much more to my story.”
He stepped back, pressed something on his right hand and his appearance changed to that of a Zandrax.
“Oh my goodness,” Tara exclaimed. “You are one of them and are using a holoskin.”
Celeste couldn’t believe that Phog was also using a holoskin to conceal his identity. She hadn’t been able to spot any difference in him up until now. However, she felt there was more to come and waited patiently.
“Celeste isn’t the only one who needs to hide her identity,” Phog chuckled. “We all have something we are trying to hide.”
Tara wasn’t as patient. “But why are you helping us?”
“Not everything is as it seems,” Phog highlighted, as he again pressed on his right hand.
Celeste’s eyes nearly popped out as she stood up in shock. “It cannot be! How is it possible?”
Phog stood in front of them both in his human appearance. He had blue eyes and his skin was a shade of brown. Freckles lined parts of cheeks as he smiled at them awkwardly with his crooked white teeth.
Without asking for permission Celeste walked over to him and touched the skin on his hand. “I don’t believe it. This isn’t happening.”
Based on Phog’s appearance, Celeste guessed he was around the same age as her. Maybe, slightly older.
“I am human, Celeste,” Phog announced. “This is my original identity. Just like you.”
She continued to touch his skin and then moved her fingers to his face. Phog was a human male. It was the first time she was seeing a human in a very long time. She didn’t understand what was going on. How was it possible? It was impossible. She was supposed to be the last living human in the galaxy. She had never heard that any other human had been sent out of Earth. She recalled her father’s words:
If humanity is destroyed in the war that is coming, you will be the last representative of humanity. Stay alive and be strong for humankind.
Tara stood up in defiance. “You are lying! I don’t believe you. How can we be sure? First, you revealed yourself as a Zandrax. Now, you change your appearance to that of a human.”
Celeste’s eyes were teary. Despite Tara's doubts, something inside of Celeste had been triggered. She didn’t know what, but she knew Phog was a human, like her. The first human she had encountered in so many years. It ripped apart into shreds everything she had ever assumed after reaching the Grekk home world.
“I understand, but I am telling you the truth,” Phog insisted.
Tara folded her arms. “Prove it! For all we know, your holoskin is so advanced it can change into the appearance of any species.”
Celeste rubbed her eyes as she stared at Phog. Was it true?
She had always believed that she was the last living human in the galaxy. That ingrained belief had shaped the course of her life ever since Tara and her father had rescued her. She had put her heart and mind to achieve as much as she could in her life in memory of her humanity. It was the least she could do in remembrance of the billions of humans who had died during the Enigma War. Now, all those assumptions she had held in life were no longer true. It was like she had been walking on water before being submerged beneath it.
“Before I was sent from Earth, my father gave me this holoskin,” Phog explained. “He told me this holoskin is …”
“Your oxygen,” Celeste interrupted, as she stepped back covering her mouth with her hands.
She was still reeling from the revelation that Phog had been sent from Earth just like her right before the start of the Enigma War. He had also been told the same information as her.
Tara pulled out a knife. “Show me your hand Phog.”
Celeste looked in alarm. “What are you doing?”
“I am about to find out the truth one way or another,” Tara said. “I do not trust anyone with holoskins around.”
Phog obeyed her command and laid out his hand in front of Tara.
She pierced his hand slightly with the knife.