BOOKER 3
I thought I knew everything about these humans. However, as soon as I left that lab it became painfully clear how wrong I was. I didn’t know where I was, or where I was going. It was my first night outside of the lab, and with the sun’s radiation gone I had shrank back down to human size. I was walking around Phoenix, Arizona. Not many people paid attention to me, which I thought was odd.
Whenever someone would notice me all they would say is “Nice costume Bro!” What was a costume? Why did they think they were my brother? These were only curiosities though, I was only concerned with finding water and fish. After walking around town for about an hour I managed to get a large plate a fish and a water pitcher from a local business. It was hardly edible compared to what I was served while in containment. When I got up to leave my waitress stopped me,
“Excuse me sir, you have to pay for that!” Pay with what? I thought. I started to turn to walk away again. “Sir if you can’t pay I’m going to have to call the police.” The waitress addressed me again. I kept walking until a familiar voice said, “No need, I’ll pick up his tab.” When I turned to see who paid for my meal I saw no one I recognized.
I left the establishment and was followed by the woman who paid for my meal. I was going to cross the road when I heard “Booker, don’t you recognize me?” It was the woman again, but it wasn’t English. I was about to speak until I remembered my teeth weren’t exactly human. “Don’t worry I know about your teeth. I used to have the same ones.”
“ALJBVDAKJS?” I asked.
“The humans call me Neila. But yes, Booker, it’s me.” She said.
“I can’t believe you made it!” I yelled. After everything that had happened with my family I was shocked anyone else made it out. Especially her. “Wait, how did you make it?” I asked. Before she could speak I yelled, “AND HOW ARE YOU HUMAN?” This got some looks from the parking lot. Neila put her head down and sighed,
“First things first Booker, I’m glad you haven’t changed a bit. Secondly, the same reason you can jump super high and run fast; it’s my mutation. Thirdly, while big brother caught you and Veralyn, I was lost in the ocean.” I must have looked confused because she continued, “When I drown I come back to life, like when you burn.” Grinning she added, “And I turn into any human I touch. Right now I’m Neila Elprup, but that will change at some point.”
“Wow, wait… what do you do about the sun?” I asked.
“Oh it doesn’t affect me while I’m human,” Neila replied.
“Are there any other survivors?” I questioned.
“Yea, there’s a few, want to come meet them?” She opened the door of a car and said “Get in.” I hopped in and she was off. “It’s a long drive so we will have plenty of time to catch up.” She said. “So what’s with you? You’ve been here how long and you didn’t come say hi?” I was about to start explaining myself when she said, “Stop. It was a joke, remember? Hive mind dude. It looked like a light went off above her head, “Wait Booker, where is Veralyn?”
“I don’t know…I-I-I escaped. She doesn’t have the same mutation I do. S-S-She couldn’t follow me.” I was starting to break down, for the first time I actually thought about how I left my sister behind.
“Hey, hey, hey it’s okay.” Neila said, “What matters is that you could find Veralyn again yea?” I nodded. “Good, because your sister is the key to stopping the parasite.”
“How?” I asked. Neila started laughing. “Seriously, how does it have to do with the Mother?” A chill went down my spine.
Neila laughed and said, “Ha, yeah she’s watching alright.” I looked down remembering what the after effects of the possession felt like. “Don’t let that get you down though, there is a way to stop that and it involves your sister. For now though let’s talk about who you will be meeting; DFKJKDFSJ, who now goes by Ghost, ZSMJBUF, who now goes by Tech, and QWUIFGI, who now goes by Sandman. They’re weird, but they’re us…you know?” Neila shrugged
“At least you had names to call people.” I said.
“Fair enough, but there is a reason they chose those names. Ghost can…well name kinda speaks for its self. Tech can control the human’s electricity and Sandman can put anyone to sleep just by touching them.” Neila finished.
“So what do you all do? Sleep under a bridge?” I asked, jokingly.
“We didn’t all fall together Booker. Each of us was the lone survivor of our quarters. Each of us has a unique talent. Sandman was actually the one who first brought us all together.” Neila stated.
“Not what I asked Neila. I’ve been a test subject for two years what did you do?” I asked a little louder.
“We rob places Booker. We’re thieves, no one ever gets hurt, I promise.” Neila sighed.
“If you’re a thief, why did you never come to break us out?” I was starting to get angry now.
“Booker there is a difference between security at jewelry stores and secret military compounds.” Neila was starting to get frustrated. “How about you get some rest and I’ll wake you up when we get there?” she said, when something came to me,
“Oh wait that’s right, There’s supposed to be more of us arriving tomorrow. Veralyn and I were supposed to be the welcoming party.” I said. Neila’s eyes widened.
“Did they say where it was coming down?” She asked.
“No, but they’re preparing a transport to go meet them. So probably not close.” I said.
“All right. Well there’s nothing we can do anything about it right now. So get some sleep.” She ordered.
“Where’s Sandman when you need him, huh?” I joked. Neila smiled and turned up her music.
Clearly talking time was over. I rolled over and went into the hive mind, searching for my sister. When I found her she was busy learning Chinese, Spanish and German. She must be preparing to give a speech to the planet, apparently instead of having Veralyn go to the new arrival they would shoot it down and make her take its place.
“Stop staring at me idiot.” Veralyn said in Thraen. It made me smile. “What are you doing here?” She asked.
“I’ve learned a lot in the day I’ve been gone. I can’t tell you about a lot of it. She will hear.”
“Who will hear you Booker?” Veralyn asked.
“Mother. In any case I was just seeing what you were doing. I’ll see you later.”I came to and Neila had pulled over and was hovering over my chest.
“What were you doing?” she asked.
“What you can’t do that? Enter the hive mind?” I asked.
“Yes of course I can do that Booker, but to talk to other people through it? Never.” She said.
“Maybe it’s Veralyn. The Mother did say something about powers Veralyn doesn’t know she has yet.” I suggested.
“Maybe it’s your link as brother and sister?” Neila added. I shrugged. “You hungry?” She asked. I wasn’t but I didn’t feel like I had a choice. “I tell you what Booker, these humans are hungry all of the time. Their entire life revolves around it.” She ended up getting us fish sandwiches. I only ate the fish. “A positive of being human though? I’m not stuck eating that all the time.”
I liked the way humans cooked fish. We finished our meal and got back on the road. “If you want to sleep you still have time it will be a couple hours.” I nodded and tried to sleep.
It was a lot harder than sleeping in the beds back at the compound. It took me a while to fall asleep but when I finally did I dreamt of my old life back on Thrae. My mother and Father were always at work during the day. Veralyn was always at school and I was left to my own devices. I didn’t have any friends, and I frequently got in fights. Most of the time it was me who got my butt kicked. Neila was always there to help me back up.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Everything changed when the enormous volcano we had built our city on came out of dormancy. As soon as the first smoke started to rise planetary evacuation plans were enacted. I thought I would never see Neila again. The volcano took weeks to wake up but when it finally did it decimated the continent. Those who hadn’t fled were either vaporized or buried in ash. At that point they started loading people onto the carriers that had been built.
I awoke sometime later with a white substance smeared all over my face. “What is this gunk?” I asked.
“It’s called sunscreen and hypothetically it should make it so you don’t become a giant. Now rub it in.” That solved one problem. “Ready to meet everyone?” Neila asked. I nodded. “Alright then follow me.” She said as she descended some stairs. I followed. We must have gone down thirty flights of stairs before she stopped in front of a purple door. “Everybody is just in here.” She opened the door and the first thing I heard was loud music, it had a deep bass that I could feel in my chest. I smelt a strong floral scent I followed it to a table. A large scented candle was burning. A smaller snamuhian that was neon purple with scales seated at the table said. “I’m Tech.”
“Neila said you control electricity. Is that true?” I asked.
“Yea more or less. You want to see?” I nodded. We headed into the next room where there was a kitchen and bottles filled with what appeared to be flavored water. Tech and I grabbed one and headed deeper into the maze. The next room was occupied with nothing but jewelry, I couldn’t help but stare. I walked into something, but when I turned to look in front of me nothing was there. “Hi, I’m Ghost.” Said a low voice as he materialized in front of me. He was a large snamuhian, coming in at seven feet tall in reduced form.
“Hi Ghost, out of curiosity… how tall are you when you’re normal?” I asked.
“About twenty feet? When I landed I scared a local city, said they saw a walking tree so I’m a bit less invisible and more like a chameleon.” Ghost replied. My jaw dropped.
“Ghost, Booker wants to see MY mutation.” Tech said. Ghost went and turned off the lights. Tech walked over to the wall socket and put his hand on it. Blue streaks of plasma began to orbit his hand. When he drew his hand away from the socket and made a palm. He released the charge and created an EMP. I felt a burning in my neck, but when I reached to feel the spot it was my regular skin.
I heard Neila yell from down the hall. “STOP DOING THAT TECH!” I continued on, now all I heard was light music and the air was filled with relaxing scents and oils.
“Neila tells me you are named Booker.” A cloaked figure asked.
“You must be Sandman. “ I said. He nodded. “Where did Neila go?” I asked he pointed even further down the hall.
“To your room.” Sandman replied. I thanked him and left. Every time he spoke I fought the urge to pass out. His mutation was astonishingly potent. He didn’t even have to touch me. I followed the corridor peeking in each room until I saw Neila.
“Hoping for more guests?” I asked.
“Yea, something like that.” She grinned. “Here you go home sweet home room B. I’m in room N. Sandman is in room S and Tech is in room T.”
“That’s just silly, your setup isn’t alphabetically correct.” I said.
“It’s actually reverse because I’m between you and Sand.” Neila said. “It’s not really important though Booker, alphabets are created by the species that speak them. It’s an arbitrary order, made to teach children.” Neila paused. “What’s important is where our new arrival is landing.” She said looking at me.
I sighed, “It looks like they are going to shoot it down and introduce Veralyn and the first arrival instead. We still have no idea where the new arrival is coming in from to go retrieve them. That is what I learned from Veralyn last night.”
“Any plan on how to get your sister out then?” Neila asked.
“Yea, I’m thinking of one but it’s a bit harder than that.” I said.
“Why is th-“ I cut her off. Veralyn was talking to me.
“Booker! Booker listen to me! Jason just shot down the pod, they did it early! I can sense someone in there. Give me a second, I’m going to mind dive them.” She said shortly before our connection was cut.
“The new arrival is coming sooner than we thought.” I informed the others.
“How soon?” Neila asked.
“The Director of the program just shot it down. The pod’s in freefall.” I replied to Neila.
“Booker! She’s crashing right on your position!” Veralyn screamed in my mind. I motioned Neila to round everyone up. “I told her to!” She added.
“Neila grab everyone and head down as deep as we can go.” I ordered. “We have an escape pod crashing on us.” We headed down a staircase that led to a door. Running through it, we heard a rumble. The pod crashed through the ceiling, first floor and basement. Everyone’s room had been destroyed. I ran over to the pod and pried it open with immense strength. I looked inside and saw a glowing ember.
I had time to get back through the doorway with everyone else before the phoenix adaption triggered. The pod was vaporized along with what was left of my new home. My friends Tech, Sandman, Ghost and Neila climbed out of the wreckage.
“The car is still okay!” Neila celebrated. I grabbed the arrivals body and jumped back up to street level. I put her in one of the back seats. Everyone else hopped in, and Neila got us out of there before anyone arrived on the scene. We didn’t know at the time, but a camera across the street had seen us exit the building after the explosions.
It was about an hour since the arrival was reborn. She jerked into consciousness. “Hello.” Sand said. Everyone’s eyelids dropped a little and it started a yawning fit.
Between each yawn the arrival spoke in Snamuhian. “Where-am-I? Who-are-you?”
“I’m-Booker, my-sister-sent-you-to-me. Welcome-to-Earth.” I yawned back. At this point we had to pull off the road and get out. “What’s your name?” I asked.
“DFJBCKX. It’s short for DSKULBVVKSSKJB. I got it from my mothers’ side.” She replied.
“Good to know. Now are we ready to go or what?” Neila asked. We all nodded and got back in the car. “So what’s your deal? Like, what is your mutation?” Neila asked.
“Mutations. I have multiple. Thanks to your sister, Booker. After my pod had been shot she entered my mind and ordered me to find you. I sensed the metal in your neck and propelled my pod towards it.” The arrival answered. I had never heard of two mutations. Then I thought about my sister and her connection with the Mother. The connection could finally end this war.
“So what, magnestism and flight?” Neila asked.
“I guess.” She laughed. Adding, “So far, who kn-“
“Alright then your name is Angel.” Neila interjected.
“As in?” Angel asked.
“As in angelic because of your flight.” Neila said.
“What can everyone else do then?” Angel asked.
“I’m Neila and I can become any of the humans. The neon one on your left is Tech, he controls electricity. On your right is the titan known as Ghost. His skin adapts to project his surroundings on his skin to produce camouflage. Behind you is Sandman, who demonstrated his power earlier. He doesn’t talk a lot anymore. Finally up front next to me is Booker who does….wait Booker what do you do?” She asked.
“Oh, uh I’m just really strong…fast…and agile. It’s kind of just like being supersnamuhian. I already broke our all-time high jump record.” I answered.
“How high did you get?” Ghost asked. “I’m number five on that list.” He added.
“Like…five hundred feet?” I said while shrugging.
“That’s incredible!” They all gasped.
“Hey what did you guys say? I haven’t understood you the last like thirty seconds.” Angel asked. I didn’t even realize I had switched to English. So had everyone else apparently.
“Oh boy this is going to take a while.” Neila said. “Someone start teaching her English.” We ended up pulling straws, everyone except Sandman that is. Tech drew the short one and sighed. Tech and Angel went to the furthest back seats and Sandman came up to the first row.
“I always forget how good you smell Sandman.” Ghost commented. Sandman gave a thankful nod and put his head against the window.
“Don’t forget to teach her to learn from the hive mind Tech!” I yelled. I hoped that Angel would learn faster than I did. She did have the hive mind to use though. I was the first snamuhian English learner after all. “So where are going?” I asked Neila.
“I bought this place last year after a really good heist. It’s on a large plot of land up north about fourteen hours from here. Easily fortifiable, and easily defendable.” She answered. “We can lay low there until we know how to break Veralyn out.” Neila added.
I decided to get some rest for the journey ahead. I asked Sandman to show me his power. He cautioned me, warned me of the potency of his sleep. I didn’t care. Seconds later I was snoring. In my sleep I went and watched Veralyn.
Agent Pikman was there with Jason. They weren’t happy that Angel and I escaped. The burning I had felt in my neck earlier was a tracker shorting out. Probably inserted when I was first captured. I heard them say something about the parasite, but I couldn’t make it out. At that point she forced me out.
“Booker? Are you okay? Were you dreaming?” Asked Neila. She had her hands wrapped around my shoulders.
“Yea I’m okay, but Veralyn is paying for what we did today.” I answered. It was hard to stay calm, doing nothing while my sister was in danger drove me crazy. I kept trying to see into her mind, but it was blacked out, like someone covered a camera in paint. All I heard was static. I went to go look at the scenery outside the car. It must have been several hours since we left though, because it was no longer light out and I couldn’t see anything.
“Speaking of what we did today Booker, it’s your turn to drive.” Neila said.
“Uh…I escaped a secret military lab like yesterday, I don’t know how to drive.” I said in monotone, “I may as well be a robot.”
“They have those now Booker, robot drivers that is.” Neila pointed out.
“Well then why don’t you have one?” I asked. Neila sighed,
“Because Booker, they have cameras, and would see the aliens in the vehicle.” I didn’t know what to say to that. All of this was so new to me. Back in the lab I had borders, limits, duties. We didn’t learn of Earth’s people or cultures. That thought brought up a question.
“Neila, last night, when you found me. Why was no one panicked by my appearance?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, I meant to tell you about that. You chose the perfect night to break out of that place. It was October thirty first, also known as Halloween. It happens once a year. The humans all dress up in costumes depicting themselves as different things.” Neila answered, cringing when she finished.
“How long have you been on Earth Neila?” I asked.
“Three days less than you Booker.” Neila said. “Now, we have six hours left. Who are you going to wake up to drive? Ghost or Tech?” We thought about it a second to long. “Not Tech!” Neila blurted. We both laughed, and I went to the back seat to wake up Ghost.