Alexander

Chapter Four

He hasn’t spoken to me since our last exchange as I spend the entire afternoon until dinner time going over my thoughts on how to proceed with the idea of a vaccine. I would need some blood for that, but now that I have fed him I have no idea how much strength he has regained. I’m not sure if he’s strong enough to break through the cage. At some point he will likely try. I am going to have to keep in mind how unwilling of a participant he is. Blood won’t be easy to get. It would have been nice if I had more time to plan, flying by the seat of my pants as my grandma used to say isn’t easy with science.

“I’ll be back.”

I don’t give him time to respond. He could have been asleep and I wouldn’t have known. I double check the lock on my door, now having a sense of doubt since our conversation. Have I underestimated him and the Angels in general? It’s possible I have. Actually, I know I have, but it isn’t something I can turn around on now. The damage is already done and no, I haven’t considered the consequences with what would happen if I damaged an angel. I was so hell bent on not giving a damn about them as I tried to fix my sister. I try to shake it off as I walk towards the cafeteria for dinner. A good meal and I can come up with a better plan.

When I enter the commons it’s clear I was later than usual again, the line stretching around in what is likely a twenty minute wait. Deciding that taking the long way around to the end of the line would make it feel as though it was a lesser wait, I proceed pass the food pick up counter and continue my pace around the wide path that leads around the outer circle of the field. The cafeteria reminds me a bit of a mall food court only instead of tables and chairs being in the middle, they are actually in an outer circle around the indoor fields and the space is much larger in order to feed the over two thousand residents we have in our compound. Instead of large potted green plants we have orchard trees and everything is consumed as the cycle of food takes to grow. We store as much as we can along the way, stretching every bit as far as it could go. One thing is for certain we are healthier as a complete race than we were just two decades ago. We don’t have much room for anything other than basics and there aren’t cupcake trees.

As I make my way around I see Clara eyeing me from the line with a knowing smirk upon her boldly painted lips. She knows more than she is letting on. She stands with her arms crossed, her weight focused on one hip, the other turned out towards me as I got closer. She too would fit into a mall setting as the snobby rich lady who could afford anything but a nice attitude. I could almost picture her with half a dozen bags dangling from her folded arms. She smirks harder as I stand next to her.

“How is your experiment going?” She asks subtly with a more pleasant tone than normal.

She must be up to something.

“Well,” I answer vaguely.

“Uh hmm,” she chuckles lightly. “I can see how well. You realize you’ve gained two wrinkles since this morning.”

She points to my forehead that I can’t help but to smooth over with my hand.

“I didn’t sleep as deeply as one might need for the energy it takes to entertain this new experiment, but I know it will be worth the investment,” I respond sourly.

I take a lot of pride in my body and I hate the idea of aging quickly, but I’ll take a wrinkle or two if it gives me what I am after.

“I see, so he has gotten to you,” she says under her breath.

I shake my head. “No, I am simply tired Clara, but I do have a few questions for you since we are discussing it.”

She nods as we both check out those in our presence to see if anyone has paid any attention to our undertones.

“Okay.”

Having our food in hand we seek out a table far enough away to remain out of earshot. There isn’t a lot of room for deviation without it being noticed by someone so we remain close enough to the rest to seem like we are blending. We set our trays down and take our seats, both ensuring we are safe to whisper.

“What do you need?” she questions interested in my curiosity.

I separate out the food I intend to eat so I don’t accidentally eat it all by distraction. I have no idea where this conversation is going.

“I was instructed to educate myself on why you are here, and was told that Serissa may have had something to do with it.”

“You know of Serissa?” she asks surprised.

“I don’t exactly go around telling everyone about myself Clara, because it isn’t really anyone’s business.”

“Nobody cares anyway. When was the last time you paid any attention to these people? They are all hopeless.”

Looking around, it is evident the slight conversations happening around us are rather uneventful. Not much happens here that isn’t somehow redundant. Few people have smiles, fewer are laughing; most just look as though their meal might be the most exciting part of their day.

“See?” she laughs. “Nobody cares as long as you aren’t creating a scene. No one has any drive to even tell a joke these days. They are quite lame.”

It is quite stifling living here, but it isn’t like our personalities have all melded into one boring one. As far as I am concerned the happier side of humanity is just buried deep. The kids we do have still run around and get up to the same kind of mischief I did as a kid, just in a smaller space. The adults still do what they need to, to get through the day. It is just more limited. Maybe our expression is limited because there isn’t room for much more than what we are used to at the moment.

“I met her when I was younger. Serissa. I was there during the war. My sister was the one who got her to move in with us. I was witness to the worst of it, before the rest were gathered and we were herded into this place. Why did she send you?”

She seems surprised by my answer.

“I had no idea you actually met her.”

“Lived with her for awhile if we want to split hairs,” I say frustrated by her evasion of my question.

“Of course not, you are well aware of her abilities then and of the war, but how familiar are you with what followed? With the contagion that was released by the group of aliens that were here previously?” her face scrunches up as she speaks.

Is she nervous?

“I know what most know. During the war, before it was decided whether or not to let Earth stand as is and rebuild, another group of aliens escaped into space.”

“What do you know of those aliens and why they were here?”

“Nobody knows those answers,” I say exasperated.

“Oh, but I do. I was there. I was one of the lead scientists.”She keeps her eyes down at her tray as she speaks.

“What the f**k?” Is all I could manage to say, my mind spinning at the possible meaning behind her few words of an explanation.

She was one of those aliens? Was she responsible for my sister and all the others?

“Before you lose your mind, it isn’t my fault. The contagion was a side effect to one of the experiments I was not involved in. I have no idea how it came to work out the way it did. I’m not sure what went into it other than it involved items not necessarily from Earth in its formula. I was sent here because I didn’t die or manage to escape as the others who were caught in the middle of the attack on my people.”

I am unsure what to believe with her explanation. My heart is beginning to race. Sweat forms on my brow and upper lip. I feel my pulse behind my ears as though I had just run a marathon. I’m not even sure I am breathing normally.

“You did this to us?”

I back my chair away from the table, the legs screeching across the floor. Those near us look up at the disruption. I swallow and pull my chair back in.

“How could you?”

“The humans held my family captive and blackmailed me into working for them. I didn’t have a choice, and I wasn’t involved in what happened to your sister. That wasn’t my experiment. I was just organizing DNA like you are here perfecting a new species, a hybrid species.”

“Then why did you get punished?”

“My people made arrangements with some terrible humans who began making the hybrids. Hybrids are frowned upon, generally. I’m here because I am supposed to help fix what I managed to help break, even though it isn’t my fault. Like I said it wasn’t my experiment. I was caught in the middle.”

“Then why are you such a b***h? You are one of the lucky ones to even survive and yet, you walk around here like you have a stick buried in your ass.”

“I’m not allowed to bitter, seems you are?” she retorts angrily.

“No, you are right this working against each other isn’t going to get us anywhere. Just as long as you know I still don’t like you much.”

“Then it’s mutual.” She grins.

Clara could never fill the role as my favorite person. She’s bitter and angry and tends to use that against everyone as though every mistake they make should be held against them with such fervor most of our community has begun to ignore her existence. She’s intimidating in a way that keeps anyone from even trying to know her, because heaven forbid you do the wrong thing in her eyes. She will not let you live it down, which is why I find it intriguing she is full of disclosure. Even more that she is offering to help. She clearly needs something. I can’t trust her that much is for sure, but I will have to learn to work beside her. Regardless of her typical tactics of superiority, it is with our current situation that I know neither of us would be comfortable being caught.

I have a hard time holding all of her personality flaws against her after hearing how she was brought here as punishment. Watching her eat she seems to transform before my eyes as less of a b***h to more of a lost soul; misunderstood, with a past that contributes to her less than enjoyable personality. I don’t feel sorry for her, only less judgmental. Everyone here has a past. Even the amiables as they go on using us a test subjects. Even with the mental note to maybe not think of how much I dislike her as we work, I find it hard to forget she has never made anything too civil.

“What do you have in mind at this juncture?” she questions, her tray only half eaten, saving the rest for the angel.

“I haven’t gotten that far. I know I have to test his blood for antibodies, but I’ve been considering how strong he would be if we continue to feed him as well as he’s suggested, as you have suggested.”

She nods. “Agreed. Ancients unfortunately require more sustenance than your kind, but that doesn’t mean that the sustenance doesn’t also have a way of slowing him down.”

I may have smiled my first ever real smile at her then.

“As in sedate him with his meals,” I say shaking my head. “Do you know how to do that without causing harm to the experiment?”

“Yes, as matter of fact I do and so do you.”

“I do?” I give her a look that would suggest otherwise.

“Alcohol.”

“But what about overdosing. I was feeling pretty brave with the initial dose. Is there a threshold?”

“Just a couple cc’s and he’d be pretty tame without causing any more harm than necessary,” she explains with a simple shrug.

“Any more harm?”

“Well, it won’t kill him, not quickly. It should give you enough time to test the blood and begin pulling enough to process anyway. Won’t it kill him once you siphon all his blood?” she asks looking me dead in the eye as if to gauge my intentions from my reaction.

“I hadn’t considered taking it all,” I say with disbelief, God, she could be so damn cold.

“Why not? Do you plan on supporting him for the rest of his time here? At some point it’ll be a heavy task to keep under control, as in a massive burden that you cannot handle.”

“You were the one who warned me to be careful, how would killing him be careful?”

“It wouldn’t, as far as his species goes, but here in the compound it might keep you from becoming an outcast like myself. Secrets don’t stay secret long in contained environments like this. Eventually, someone will discover what you are doing.”

I shake my head again.

“Still no one has figured you out.” I raise an eyebrow and she lets out a small laugh.

“I’m different, everyone knows it. People fear different and I’m not going to cause a scene, but your angel on the other hand will eventually become restless. Who is to say what he will pull to regain any kind of freedom,” she says with a tone of certainty.

“You seem to think you know a lot about these angels, but you forget I lived with a couple. I’ve seen them in action. Sure, maybe they are powerful, but they also have forgotten about us, so how afraid should I really be?”

She shrugs indifferently. “I don’t know. It would seem to me that they would want this one back.”

“What do you mean? What’s so special about this one?”

She eyes me carefully before explaining in a firm whisper. “He’s special.”