Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
What makes a human? Genetics? Consciousness? Other humans perceiving them as humans?
Nora-Ceph had been asking herself that for a while now. Every human she encountered saw her as a human too. And she, or at least the body she was inhabiting, did have a lot of human DNA. Not to 100% but very close. And she was conscious.
But was she human?
What makes a Ceph?
Other Cephs, who knew that she resided in her host, regarded her as a Ceph, not a human. And she did have a significant amount of Ceph DNA. Not 100%, but still.
Was Michael-Ceph human or a Ceph? What about Quelz, who had given up his whole body to split it between several hosts? What was he?
A few months had passed since the construction company Michael-Ceph’s host had worked at had been completely overtaken by Cephs. Even the average office workers had been taken one by one, lured with the promise of an additional 3-day vacation. It had worked better than anyone had hoped to dream. And the construction project at the outskirts of the colony was also already in progress.
Nora-Ceph felt … useless. There was nothing for her to do. She had integrated herself perfectly into her host’s life. So perfectly in fact, that not even Nora’s family had noticed the switch. Now, her main objective was to wait for new orders that never came.
It was a Wednesday evening and she was sitting inside a museum, staring at the art, wondering about her existence. The painting she was looking at was abstract, confusing shapes in bright colors, intertwining with each other. The chaotic state of the human mind, she assumed. Or maybe the artist had just been color blind. 
A man sat down next to her and joined her silent staring. She ignored him.
He coughed.
She kept ignoring him forcibly.
”Have you ever wondered”, he begun, ”why we consider something like this art?”
Nora-Ceph ignored him more.
”The great painters from the past”, he continued, ”they had a reason to paint what they did. Religious motives, portraits, scenery, even van Gogh’s Starry Night depicts something we can understand and compare to what we see. But this?”, he pointed at the painting, ”this doesn’t tell me anything.”
Ignoring was obviously not an option.
”Excuse me, who are you?” The annoyance in Nora-Ceph’s voice was not an act. Why was this random guy rambling on and on about art to a total stranger? She turned to look at his face.
It was burned half off. Not a pretty sight, not even for a Ceph who didn’t care much about human beauty.
”I’m sorry”, the man said, ”but you’ve been looking at this piece of … I don’t want to call it art … for about twenty minutes now. I was hoping you could provide some insight.”
”I can’t I was lost in thought.”
”But can you still tell me what you think about it?”
Nora-Ceph lifted one eyebrow, then sighed. This human didn’t seem like he’d just leave her alone if he didn’t get an answer. So why not humor him.
”I think it’s crap”, she said. ”Can’t imagine the artist was thinking about anything that wasn’t making money. People like to interpret so much into art, they tend to forget that artists need to make a living too. So why not create something completely random and hope that people will do their own thinking and thus make it something great?”
”I see. And what do you think about art made by Cephis?”
Nora-Ceph’s heart seemed to skip a beat.
”What?” She asked eloquently.
”Cephis, they sometimes draw. It’s interesting to look at their creations, as they’re in such a different place, culturally speaking, than humans. Have you not seen any so far?”
”I have not, no.” That was the truth. Nora-Ceph had never heard of a Ceph creating art, at least not a Ceph who wasn’t inside a host. But this human apparently knew something she didn’t. How?
”I can show you some”, he said. ”They have a tiny room in this museum where they’re displaying the art of a Cephi who had been taken in by a human artist. It’s mostly interesting replications of already existing, ancient art pieces made by humans, but with a twist … It’s hard to explain. You need to see for yourself.”
Although it made her uncomfortable that he was using the word “Cephi” instead of “Ceph”, which was rude and infantilizing, she was curious about what the stranger wanted to show her. So she swallowed her pride, stood up and gestured at him to lead the way, which he happily did.
The room he had talked about was at the far end of the museum, small and dimly lit. Only five pictures were displayed on the walls, but they took up all the space. Intrigued, Nora-Ceph looked at them. The stranger had been right, they were recreations of already existing paintings but … with Cephs instead of humans.
A particular one caught her attention. It was modeled after “The Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo and displayed one godlike Ceph in the sky reaching out for another one on the ground, almost touching. It was very simple, by far not as detailed as the original, but it moved something in Nora-Ceph to see it.
”Ah, The Creation of Squadam”, the stranger said approvingly. ”I like this one too. Although I always wonder why the Cephis in this painting don’t seem to have all their arms? It’s almost like they were cut off for some purpose. And the Cephi on the right seems to be trapped in something that kind of looks like a human skull.”
Nora-Ceph tensed up, her hands curled into fists. The human was standing right behind her, she could feel his breath on her neck. Fear paralyzed her when he reached out to move her hair a bit to the side, which revealed a faint scar.
He touched it.
”You’re a Ceph”, he said.
Picture Credit goes to Franz Anthony / Studio 252MYA who kindly gave me permission to use the picture in my story. Check out the post with the original painting here and get a print of either this or another piece of great cephalopod art here.
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