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Hybrid, Chapter 9: What is he?

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Chapter 9:
What is he?

August 24, 2343

    On Hadean, Seeker uploaded his files into a built-in jump drive from his probes to present Seiton his new data. The little Thresher jumped off a balcony and flew with his jet-pack to the Great Tower. Then he slid down a pipe to enter his leader's den. He got on the platform and Seiton's image appeared.

    "Seeker, what do you have for me?" asked Seiton.

    "I brought helpful information about the "Child of the Spacers," said Seeker.

    "Well, bring them to me!" Seiton waved his hand to his little Thresher.

    A rod from the platform emerged, Seeker inserted his scissor finger into it, and the data got transferred into his leader. While Seiton received the data, he asked "How did you get this?"

    "My probes in Chartorla found where "The Child of the Spacers" and Queen Helen used to live and recorded what they were saying and doing," Seeker explained.

    The recorder came on and they watched Alexander and Helen as they were packing to get away as fast as possible. Alexander asked in the recording, "Mother, why this is happening?"

   He panicked, "Why this is happening to us? They are after us aren't they?  Are they after me?!"

   His mother exclaimed. "Alexander, please! We have to get out of here and travel deeper into the forest! I don't have time to answer all of your questions! I know you are scared, I am very scared too! As soon as everything is over, I will explain everything! I promise!" Then the recording stopped.

    Seiton chuckled, "So the "Child of the Spacers" is named Alexander. He doesn't know his own origin and I killed his entire race."

    Seeker said, "With Alexander not knowing his true identity, we would be able to kill off the Spacers' Children easily."

    Seiton nodded, "Let's just hope this stays like that. We still don't know where he is now located."

    "We do know that he is with the humans," said Seeker.

    "That is true," Seiton agreed as he skimmed through the recording. "Wait a minute, what is this?"

    Alexander and Helen appeared on a screen in the middle of the chamber. Helen crushed by a tree and Alexander tried to save her. But he couldn't.

    The dying Helen told Alexander, "Alexander,......please don't save me." Alexander burst into tears.

    "Mother, I need you! Please!" he cried.

    "It is.....too late for me," she whispered.

    "No! No! I can't go on my own!" he cried. "Please don't die!"

    "You have to! Go.....through the portal," she whispered.

    Thunder rumbled in the sky and started to rain. Helen reached her hand to him. She opened her hand and there was her amulet.

    "Take my amulet, it will guide you," she whispered.

    "I don't understand," he was confused.

    "You will! Go......I......love........you," she said her last words and the recording ended.

    "She gave him the Spacers' Index!" shouted Seiton.

    "That's the Index?" Seeker asked.

    "Of course it is! If he still has it, he would use it to find out who he is!"

    "What should we do?"

    "Since I am in this network, Alexander might use it to activate a Spacer computer or a structure. I will be able to find out where he could be. Once his location is locked, we will kill him."

**********

    Meanwhile back on Purelif, Alice took Alexander to the hospital for his first physical examination. As they approached the entrance to the lobby, he looked up and saw the "Purelif Colonial Hospital" sign. Next to the title was a symbol of the galaxy with the red cross printed in front of it. Ambulances flew down into the emergency room entrance and doctors rushed their patients inside. A few people left the lobby with stitches and casts on their head and limbs. Some were even taken out of the building in a hoverchair.

    Alexander hid behind Alice and whimpered. "I want to go home."

    Alice turned around and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Alex, this is where people who are hurt or sick get better. No one is going to hurt you. If they were going to hurt you, then I wouldn't take you here in the first place."

    He shook his head. "I still don't want to go in there."

    "Alex," she patted his spiky white hair. "Would it make you feel better that Doctor Veelet will be giving you that physical examine?"

    "I guess," he said remembering meeting Vyla's father.

    They got into the waiting room and waited for Doctor Veelet. He had them come into the examination room for Alexander's check-up.

    "Hello Alexander," Doctor Veelet smiled. "It's great to see you again."

    Alexander didn't answer as he stared at the instruments hanging on the wall next to a table.

    "This is his first time ever getting an examine," Alice said to Doctor Veelet.

    Doctor Veelet nodded, "I understand. I was like that when I had my first examination. But don't worry, I am sure there is nothing wrong with your body. Who knows, you might get back home within a few minutes."

    Alexander took a deep breath and climbed onto the table. "Alright, here it goes."

    "That's the spirit," Doctor Veelet smiled and took out a otoscope. "I am going to use this device to look inside your ears, nose, eyes, and mouth with this special probe. It will not hurt."

    "Ok," Alexander whispered.

    Doctor Veelet examined his nose, mouth, and ears and they turned out healthy. He took a longer time to examine his eyes. Alexander's eyes were dark blue pupils, dark blue iris, and ocean blue sclera. He used the device to scan them. Then he uploaded the information into his hand held.

    "Alex, how do you see through those eyes?" he asked.
   
    "What do you mean?" Alexander asked.
 
    Doctor Veelet explained, "Many races see objects in different colors through either blurred, thermal, x-ray, ultraviolet, good color vision, or color-blindness. How do you see?"
   
    Alexander said, "Your skin is blue, my shirt is red, my jeans are blue, and the walls of this room is white."

    "Ok, so your vision is similar to a Human and Aquatic," he said and puts a stethoscope into his ears. "Now, I am going to listen to your lungs. Just breathe normally."

    He placed the end of the stethoscope on Alexander's upper back and listened to his breathing. When he listened, Alexander inhaled a massive amount of air into his lungs. Then he listened to the heart as he puts it on the boy's chest. Surprisingly, his heart pumped four times in one rhythm as if he was fibrillating despite being healthy.

    "Are you having trouble breathing, feeling like you are going to faint, feeling dizzy, or having chest discomforts?" asked Doctor Veelet with concern.

    "No," Alexander shook his head.

    He paused for a minute as he wrote down his notes. He opened a cabinet and took out a needle. Alexander shift back as he saw a syringe with a sharp, thin needle.

    Doctor Veelet puts his webbed hands up and said, "It's ok, I'm just want to take a sample of your blood. Here is how I am going to do it; I am going to insert a needle into your skin. It will pinch, but it won't hurt very long."

    Alexander gritted his teeth as the needle was inserted into his arm. Doctor Veelet pulled the plunger up. Blood began filling in the barrel of the syringe. The blood was blue. Doctor Veelet looked at Alexander's blood sample, bewildered. Alexander looked at him, wondering if he should be worried or not.

    "Alice," said Doctor Veelet. "We should take him to the Virtual Diagnostic Projector room."

    "What is that?" Alexander asked.

    Doctor Veelet said, "A machine that scans your body to look at your insides. It's not as scary as it sounds."

    Alexander and Alice followed Doctor Veelet out of the examination room and down the hall. The room they needed to go was just right around the corner. He took out a card and slid it into a keyboard. The door beeped and lit up green, letting them know it was unlocked. The door slid open and the room was dark.

    He flipped the switch and the corners of the room lit blue. In the center of the room as a table. A flat screen computer monitor was attached to the side of the table. Above the table was a rectangular ceiling tile, which was about the same length. Alexander walked about the table wondering what was it.

    "Excuse me for one moment," said Doctor Veelet as he was texting on his handheld.

    "Is that the machine you were talking about?" Alexander asked.

    "Yes," said Doctor Veelet. "I am going to have you lie down and I will scan your body. It doesn't hurt."

    The table lowered and Alexander slowly got on it. Then the light tile lowered from the ceiling toward him. Doctor Veelet explained, "This would send out CT lasers to scan your whole body. You would not feel anything."

    He then put a black googles on Alexander. Alexander couldn't see anything through the googles. Doctor Veelet added, "I can't have your eyes looking directly at the lasers. If that happens, you will go blind permanently. So lay down and relax."

    Alexander took a deep breath as the ceiling tile got close to him. Then a Human male doctor quietly entered the room and shook Doctor Veelet's hand. "Hello Doctor Veelet."

    "Hello Doctor Marshall," Doctor Veelet said. "This is Alice McAuliffe."

    "Hello," said Alice feeling confused about why there is another doctor in the room.

    Doctor Veelet said, "Doctor Marshall is an anatomist who specializes in extra-terrestrial intelligent bodies. I am hoping he could assist us."

    Doctor Marshall asked, "Doctor Veelet, what is it that you need assist on?"

    "Yes," Doctor Veelet nodded. "I am in a middle of examining one of my paitents named Alexander and he seems to be kind of alien."

    Doctor Marshall felt puzzled, "What do you mean by alien? Could you be more specific?"

    Doctor Veelet said, "Well he seems to have a physical form of a human in the outside, but his body parts aren't really human at all."

    "Start scanning him and I'll take a look," said Doctor Marshall as he walked up to a computer.

    Doctor Veelet flipped the switch at the side of the computer and the tile lit red. He typed a few codes into a scanner's program. Then a line of red laser beams waved back and forth through Alexander's body.

    "How are you doing?" Doctor Veelet asked Alexander.

    "I'm fine," said Alexander. "It doesn't hurt at all."

    Then a full scale holographic image of Alexander appeared at the other side of Doctor Veelet's computer. He zoomed into his head and showed Doctor Marshall his eyes and hair. Alice stood at a corner quietly, watching as they scanned his body.

    "My goodness," said Doctor Marshall. "Those eyes and hair seems very mysterious, what could you tell me about those eyes?"

    "Each eye has the same structure as a human eye, but the colors are different," said Doctor Veelet.

    He changed Alexander's anatomy by slowly removing his epidermis and hair. They first took a look at his muscular structure and the muscles was like any others. The computer showed it be to highly dense.

    Doctor Marshall said, "Humans don't have a muscular system that dense yet, especially for a kid that age."

    "Do you know any race with those kind of muscles?" Doctor Veelet asked.

    Doctor Marshall shook his head. "No, I have not!"

    Doctor Veelet switched Alexander's muscular system to his circulatory. His ocean blue heart was five inches wide and six inches long. Doctor Marshall was speechless.

    Doctor Veelet explained, "According to the computer, his lungs inhale about 30 liters of air per minute. About four times the amount of oxygen of an average human. The reason for that is because his right lung contains twenty lobes and the left one has fifteen lobes, making room for the heart. The heart contained six small atrium and six ventricle chambers. Each three chambers beat following the other chambers. The heart beats four times in one rhythm. Purple veins and blue arteries circulated his alien blood throughout the body."

    "With a heart like that, he could be vulnerable to heart disease," said Doctor Marshall.

    "I disagree," Doctor Veelet shook his head. "He has more lobes in his lungs, oxygen could travel to every cell in his heart in a short time. Plus, he does not show any symptoms of an upcoming condition."

    They looked at his skeleton and the bones appeared Human. Then they looked at the digestive system and those too looked human. They even looked at his brain, that organ shocked them the most. This brain did not contain any fissures or lobes. The cerebellum was half the size of the brain. Inside were trillions of neurons highly active within each section, which more than a human.

    Doctor Marshall tried to get the facts in his head while seeing this mysterious anatomy. "There is so much to understand this anatomy. Could it be possible that there is a race we have not met yet that he could be part of."

    Doctor Veelet turned to Alice. "Alice, what do you think?"

    Alice said, "This galaxy is so diverse that it could be possible."

    Doctor Marshall said to Doctor Veelet, "If you give me his blood sample, I'll extract his DNA from the sample and analyze it into my computer."

    "How long do you think it would take?" Doctor Veelet asked.

    "It would take about a week," said Doctor Marshall. "Check me up next Friday; I would probably have it done by then."

    "Thank you," Doctor Veelet shook his hand.

    Doctor Marshall left the room. Doctor Veelet looked over the results for the scanning. He turned the lasers off and said to Alexander. "The scanning is over. You can take your googles off."

    Alexander got up as the tile retreated back into the ceiling. He took his googles off and handed them to Doctor Veelet. Doctor Veelet uploaded the results into the medical data bank on the computer. "Hey, that wasn't so bad at all."

    "Well I am happy to hear that," said Doctor Veelet. "You know, Vyla is here if you want to go see her."

    "Really?," Alexander beamed. "That's great!"

    Doctor Veelet opened the door. "She is in the children's waiting room. Go see her!"

    Alice escorted Alexander to the children's waiting room. Vyla and Elora sat at a wooden bench. Elora talked on her earphone while Vyla played with a small flying saucer. She jumped off her chair the moment she saw him.

    "Alex! I knew I would see you again!" Vyla cheered and gave him a hug.

    "It is great to see you too!" Alexander cheered as well.

    "Hey Alex, I am going to have a talk with Doctor Veelet, ok?" said Alice.

    "Ok," said Alexander.

    Alexander and Vyla played with the stuffed animals next to a fish tank wall. Then they watched the fishes swim through the kelp forest. Elora picked a book up and told them a series of stories.

**********

    Alice and Doctor Veelet returned to the room to discuss more of Alexander's examination. Holographic computer screen hovered over his desk showing images of his body scan.

    He asked while typing a report with a projectile keyboard, "Alice, this kid is very alien based on the scans I ran with Doctor Marshall. He may look human, but his insides seemed a little to explain."

    "Is he going to be ok?" she asked.

    "I am sure he will as far as I know," said Doctor Veelet. "Some of the things that are unusual I saw in any patient is his blue blood. The eyes are very blue, but has the same structure as a Human. He has a large lung capacity and his heart pumps four times per beat. Is there any abilities he has that is unusual?"

    Alice said, "He jumps about fifteen feet into the air; he runs faster than anyone or hovercar."

    Doctor Veelet raised his eyebrows. "Faster than a hovercar?"

    Alice nodded. "That is all I know he could do."

    "That is not unusual for any person to be faster than an average hovercar," said Doctor Veelet.

    "Do you know what he could be a member of a race we never met?" she asked.

    Doctor Veelet shrugged wishing he knew. "I really don't know. I will be checking out this data in the lab and give you more information."

    "Ok, thank you," Alice got off from her chair and left the room.

    As she returned to the waiting room to take Alexander home. Elora watched as Alexander and Vyla played with the toys around the play area. She hugged Alice got back into the room.

    "Hey Alice," Elora smiled. "How are you?"

    "I'm ok," said Alice. "Velvor said to me that Alex is doing great."

    "That is great!" Elora patted her back. "I just got back from my ultrasound and it turns out I'm 2 months pregnant!"

    Alice raised her eyebrows, "Oh my god, congratulations!"
   
    "Velvor will be so happy," Elora rubbed her stomach. "Although I have to wait until he gets out of work."

    "He will be very surprised when he gets home," Alice smiled.

    Elora looked back at Alexander and Vyla and said, "Say, let's take the kids to this park close by that Vyla loves, Alex will love it too!”

    "He will!" Alice nodded and called for the children to take them to the park.

**********

    Alexander and Vyla played in the park of 023 Newbury. They slid on the tall slides, swung on the swing, and hung on the monkey bars. He was happy having a friend no matter what race she was. Alice and Elora enjoyed watching them play in the playground. While they were sitting near the pond with swimming swans, Vyla asked "Will you be going to school?"

    "What is school?" he asked.

    "That is where kids go and learn many different things like math, science, history, and literature."

    "I like learning!"

    "You learned stuff from someone?"

    "Yes, I did! I am a quick learner!"

    "Well, that is good to hear. What did you learn?"

    "I learned some math and science mostly."

    "Maybe you can help me with math, it is hard for me."

    "I would be happy to! When does school start?"

    "In the next couple weeks, the day after Labor Day. Oh by the way, you're it!"

    Vyla tagged Alexander and he chased her in a game of tag. He chased her over the park and finally tagged her. Alexander jumped over the swings. Once he landed, he ran as fast as he could until the sprinklers came on. When they came on, he slid across the wet grass as if he was sliding on a skating rink. When he got back on his feet, he grabbed and sat a tree branch. Vyla just stood amazed by his abilities.

    "Wow! That is incredible!" she applauded.

    "Thanks!" said Alexander.

    "How did you learn those things?"

    "I didn't."

    "What?"

    "That is true. No one taught me those tricks. I was just born with those abilities I guess."

    "Well I think you are amazing!"

    "Thanks!"

    Elora and Alice rushed up to the kids and Elora said, "Come on, it is getting dark. We need to get back home."

    "Ok," Vyla sighed and gave Alexander a hug. "I will see you soon!"

    "Bye!" Alexander waved as she and Elora headed out of the park.

    Later that night when Alice tucked Alexander to bed, she picked up her phone to talk to Commander Chan.

    "Hello," Commander Chan answered.

    "Hey Commander, it is Alice. How are you?" Alice asked.

    "Well still not good. General McKinley wanted to send a fleet of ships to Chartorla to fight off the Threshers."

    "This is risky! We barely know how the Threshers' military strategy works!"

    "The General seems to be a little absent-minded about this situation after the destruction of the WRS Washington. Even Commander Chan disagreed with him."

    "That is stupid. We have to get a better understand of the Threshers."

    "Don't we all! How is Alexander?"

    "That is what I want to talk to you about. He was attacked by Aquatics bullies and Doctor Veelet gave him an examination and found that he isn't really human at all."

    "He looks Human."

    "Well, Doctor Veelet told me that his vital signs are very different from any extra-terrestrial intelligent life form we have met."

    "Explain."

    "Well, his eyes, hair, lungs, muscles, heart, brain, and blood vessels looked odd. His blood is blue, his eyes are very blue, and his hair is very white."

    "Have we ever come in contact with intelligent life forms with those traits?"

    "Besides Alexander, no we have not."

    "Maybe they could be somewhere in this galaxy we have not explored yet."

    "Maybe, it bothers him that he doesn't know what he is."

    "That must be very tough for him. Damn! I am late for a brief meeting with General McKinley. I hope that old man has better things today!"

    "Things will get better! Don't worry!"

    "Thanks! See yay!"

    "Bye!"

    Alice turned off her ear phone and headed for bed. She hoped that someday they would discover what Alexander was. He must be a member of a race who could help end the conflict with the Threshers. Maybe brought here from a different galaxy. For now, they needed to look around to find something to be the key to his identity.
This is the ninth chapter of the Hybrid Series! Enjoy! Post any comments and opinions on this chapter please!The preview image was drawn by 0-xcheekymonkeyx-0 Check her gallery if you want to. 0-xcheekymonkeyx-0.deviantart.…
Prologue:fav.me/d5ktl3a
Chapter 1: Hybrid, Chapter 1: The Child
Chapter 2: Hybrid, Chapter 2: The Prophet
Chapter 3: Hybrid, Chapter 3: The Helbots
Chapter 4: Hybrid, Chapter 4: The Marine
Chapter 5: Hybrid, Chapter 5: The Escape
Chapter 6: Hybrid, Chapter 6: The World Leaders
Chapter 7: Hybrid, Chapter 7: A New Life
Chapter 8: Hybrid, Chapter 8: Aquamaids
Chapter 9: Reading
Chapter 10:fav.me/d46p5y4
Chapter 11:fav.me/d4jgu57
Chapter 12:fav.me/d4jtcvf
Chapter 13:fav.me/d4kvxos
Chapter 14:fav.me/d4l8nue
Chapter 15:fav.me/d4m3pyv
Chapter 16:fav.me/d4sgor8
Chapter 17:fav.me/d4skwio
Chapter 18:fav.me/d4ssgjj
Chapter 19:fav.me/d4z5nvw
Chapter 20:bclement117.deviantart.com/art…
Chapter 21:fav.me/d52fnpr
Chapter 22:fav.me/d53a8rb
Chapter 23:fav.me/d53mt7a
Chapter 24:fav.me/d548yei
Chapter 25:fav.me/d554g1u
Chapter 26:fav.me/d5590rm
Chapter 27:bclement117.deviantart.com/art…
Chapter 28:fav.me/d55qymt
Chapter 29:fav.me/d55qzbl
© 2011 - 2024 CommnderShepard117
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CobraToon's avatar

“Alexander asked in the recording, 'Mother, why this is happening?'” … you might want to check the previous chapters where this took place, to make sure the recording still holds true


“He doesn't know his own origin and I killed his entire race” … I'm used to angry shouting Seiton, so this feels a little too quiet and sympathetic for him. The rest of the scene too, it feels odd somehow for Seiton to be acting normally and waiting patiently


“Alexander was nervous because he didn't know what it was like to have one. "I am nervous," said Alexander” … you should decide between either saying something with narration or dialogue, and generally dialogue that isn't so straightforward is more interesting to read. Something like “Alice took Alexander to the hospital for his first ever physical examination. "I want to go home," said Alexander” would Show that Alex is nervous rather than Telling it


“'It is great to see you again,' said Alexander” … unless Alex is mimicking the doc out of nervousness, you probably don't want him saying the exact same thing the doc just said


“you could see through good color vision” … but that means nothing. Blue and red and white are just names of colors, Alex might see everything in different shades of blue but the subtle differences might be how he knows something is red or white or whatever. And none of what he said confirms that his vision isn't special somehow, maybe the blue eyes let him also see heat or something. The doc should know that


“Human's blood is always red. Based on the results, Alexander doesn't seem to be human” … these are pretty much unnecessary sentences


“it only [takes ten] seconds” … that “like” felt weird for a doctor


“Does he talk about his mother?” … this long section of dialogue feels odd having no descriptions, I'd like to see what these two are doing as they talk. What expression does the doctor have when asking that question, and what expression does Alice make in return? Stuff like that seems like it should be there, and none of that Telling the reader how they feel when you can Show it


“the muscles were purple and thicker” … a scanning machine can't record what color the muscles are, there's no light inside his body. I thought the display was coloring them based on their thickness or something, but then the doctors say his muscles are purple so I guess the machine recorded it somehow


“They even looked at his brain, larger than [an] ordinary human. This brain seems to make him highly intelligent” … I'm pretty sure doctors no longer believe that brain size determines intelligence … although it would explain his inherited athletic abilities, so maybe that's what they meant to say, “A brain that big might hold some interesting inherited abilities”


“Alexander and Vyla played in the park” … it's nice for them to go outside and get some physical activity, but a little setup for the sudden scene change would be nice. Maybe after everyone meets up in the waiting room and before Alice leaves Alex there, Elora should say something like, “Hey Alice, after you talk with my husband let's take the kids to this park close by that Vyla loves, Alice will love it too!”


“He was [happy having] a friend no matter what race [she] was” or “He was [happy to have a] friend no matter what race [they were]” or whatever combination feels right


“Didn't my Dad find out what you are?” … this feels like a sudden and somewhat awkward change in the conversation, why did Vyla go from talking about school to about what he is? I liked the talk about school, it's good setup / foreshadowing for future chapters


“It is very complicated. You wouldn't understand” … ah, the first sign appears of a brooding hero


“Besides Alexander, no we have not” … this feels too expository, Alice is basically saying it to let the readers know if she and John already know it


“Thanks! See [ya]!”


It's nice to see Alex interacting more with Vyla, getting excited for school and talking about his old homeworld with her, I wish there was more of that because almost everything that the adults say bored me. It either seems unimportant (we don't need to know about his super lungs and his purple muscles, it's enough to know he has amazing abilities) or expository (we don't need to know that no one has ever heard of his race, it's enough that the doctors are unable to tell him or Alice anything)


In effect the chapter comes off as a summary of - or an unneeded explanation for - previous chapters. The section with Seiton is literally a showing of previous moments and getting told why they were important, then Alex goes to the doctor as promised and we learn why he can do amazing things but no one can say anything more than that, Alex plays again with Vyla and talks about his homeworld that we already saw and does some amazing things we already know he can do, and Alice swears yet again to protect Alex and learns that the army is finally getting to the promised fight


Here's something that might be interesting: instead of having the doctors just list his physical attributes, I'd like to see them theorize what he could do with them. “With those muscles I bet he could jump pretty high” or “With lungs like that he might be able to run without getting tired” in other words stuff we've seen him do and which these smart doctors should be able to guess at and even test later. Or better yet, potential problems like “With a heart like that he must have a severe risk of heart attacks” or “With big muscles like that he must be in constant danger of breaking those normal-sized bones” so we know his weaknesses


Any questions?