HASH: Human Alien Species Hybrid Read online

  “And what happened next?”

  They always asked me what happened next. I told them a thousand times, but I think they were searching for a loophole in my story or maybe they were having a hard time understanding why someone would do this to a person.

  I answered like I always did. “The same thing as before, Dr. Stevens. She reached her hand back and grabbed this metal glob from her back and it was like jelly in her hands. She pressed it against my arm and the pain was horrible.”

  “Explain the pain, Jade.”

  “It burned. I felt it in my head and my back and the metal disappeared into my arm and I saw it moving below the surface of my skin, slithering toward my back.”

  “Tell Miriam that I’m bored,” Em said right next to my ear. I jumped at Em’s sudden outburst. She did that sometimes, going from spot to spot, faster than I could see. “Go on, tell her.”

  I looked over at Em. “I think she probably knows by now. You tell her that every time she comes into the room.”

  “So, Em’s bored again, I take it?” She looked at a random spot in space. “Honestly, dear, we’re doing our best. I’ll try to bring you back some more puzzles later.” Dr. Stevens took my hand and led me to a chair on the other side of the room.

  “Puzzles are easy,” Em said from behind the doctor, “and I’m not over there, Miriam.”

  Em always insisted on using Dr. Stevens’ first name. It was just as well that Dr. Stevens couldn’t hear Em. Or see her. Or touch her. Only I had those dubious honors. Just one more reason why some of the scientists still gave me psych evaluations on the subject from time to time, or suggested that I should be on pills for it. Dr. Stevens wasn’t one of them. I believe that Dr. Stevens believed that Em actually existed.

  Dr. Stevens smiled down at me as I sat in the chair. “Okay, Jade, just the usual checks today, and then I’ve got something to discuss with you.”

  Em sighed from beside her and managed a passable imitation of Dr. Stevens’ voice. “The usual checks. Are you still breathing, Jade? Does the implant hurt, Jade? Is there any sign of more growth? Do you have any more idea about this than we do, Jade?”

  I struggled not to look at Em and laugh as she pantomimed along with Dr. Stevens’ checkup. The usual checkup was drab and tedious and like Em’s impersonation, it was always the same.

  “You said you had something to discuss with me.” I couldn’t keep the note of hope out of my voice. “Is it… are we any closer?”

  Em pouted when I asked it, the way she always did. She’d never liked me asking if they were any closer to a cure—any closer to finally removing the implant. Yet, I had to ask. The doctors had told me that I couldn’t leave as long as it was embedded in me. That it wouldn’t be safe. That I probably wouldn’t be able to survive away from the Institute with it still changing the way my body functioned. Was it so wrong to want something more than this?

  Dr. Stevens shook her head. I could see the hint of sadness there. She knew how much I wanted this. “It’s not that, Jade. I’ll tell you when we’re done. Now hold still.”

  We were still only about halfway through the checkup when the door opened again and another woman walked inside. She was a few years younger than Dr. Stevens, and she had short dark hair, glasses, and a focused, no-nonsense expression. Like Dr. Stevens, she wore a lab coat, but the clothes under it were more formal and businesslike. I didn’t know her.

  Dr. Stevens didn’t seem entirely pleased that she had come in. “Professor Ahern, I didn’t know that you were planning on joining us.”

  “You should read the memos. It was clearly stated that I’d be here for this checkup.”

  Dr. Stevens gave one curt nod. “I guess I should. This is Jade.”

  “I heard that your subject was awake and you were starting early. Next time, be sure to inform me first.” She stared at me. “So, this is the famous Jade. The girl who has eaten up so much of your funding over the past decade and a half.”

  “That is our business, Professor.”

  Professor Ahern shrugged. “It was, until we had to bail you out.”

  Dr. Stevens looked at her sharply. “Perhaps this isn’t the place to discuss this.”

  “Perhaps not.” Professor Ahern walked up to me and reached out and lifted my braid, huffed and then dropped it with a look of disgust.

  I wasn’t sure that I liked Professor Ahern. I tried to like all the scientists I encountered, but the truth was that I inevitably liked some more than others. Some were stern or standoffish. Some seemed to care more about their research projects than about the possibility of helping me ever live a normal life again.

  She’d obviously caught Em’s attention, or rather, something in her pocket had. I saw Em take the phone out and start poking at it. At least, that’s how I saw it. I knew that the phone hadn’t actually left the professor’s pocket. But I also knew that Em was doing something that she shouldn’t have because of the tingling in my back.

  “Em, stop that. You can’t just grab people’s phones.”

  Dr. Stevens looked at me in surprise, then over at Professor Ahern much more sharply. “A cell phone? You brought a cell phone in here? Didn’t you even read the protocols?”

  “Of course I read them.”

  Even I could tell that Professor Ahern said it automatically.

  “So, you thought that they didn’t apply to you? That the Faraday cage around the room was just for show? You’re just lucky that will stop the implant from getting a signal out. As it is, it’s probably downloading everything you’ve got on there.”

  I looked over at Em. She was still happily reading the contents of Professor Ahern’s phone and the tingle in my back was still there but less annoying. “Em, stop please.”

  Professor Ahern looked around us. “The assessment team was right, Stevens. You don’t have adequate control here.”

  “I would if people didn’t bring their phones inside a highly restricted area.”

  Professor Ahern wasn’t listening, though. She was too busy running for the door. Her phone, or rather my impression of it, disappeared from Em’s hand as soon as she was out of the room.

  Dr. Stevens looked back at me. “I’m sorry, Jade. I need to go after her. Her employers…well, they’ve put a lot of funding into the Institute recently, and we can’t afford to risk it. I’ll tell you the news later.”

  She left. Em stood there with her hands on her hips, glaring theatrically at me. “You didn’t have to tell Zara that I had her phone.”

  “Zara?”

  “Professor Zara Benita Ahern, of Harvard, working for something called Startech. According to her email, they’ve bought the Institute. Something like that, anyway. She’s Miriam’s boss now.” Em paused for a moment or two. “I don’t think I like her. Or you.”

  I sighed. I got this every time I asked how I could disconnect the implant from me. “You’re being childish.”

  Em sat down against the wall. “Oh, shut up. You’re just trying to provoke me into telling you all about what Miriam has planned.”

  “Do you know what the news from Dr. Stevens is?” There was only one way she could possibly know. “It was on that phone?”

  Em smiled to herself, obviously enjoying the moment of power. “Yes, and I’m not telling you, even though…oh, we’re going to love this one.”

  I sighed. “You know, there are days when you sound about twelve years old.”

  “What do you expect, when I’m stuck here with just you for company? And you’ve been trying to get rid of me again.”

  This was what this was really about, of course. She got this way every time I mentioned the possibility of a cure to Dr. Stevens. That was Em through and through: my imaginary friend, my annoying not-quite sister, my invisible helper. My implant. Or the mental manifestation caused by it.

  It was hard to think, some days, that Em was no more than a silvery organism of metal on my back. “Look, I’m sorry. Now, are you going to tell me this news, or not?”

 
She stayed silent, at least until I picked up a book and threw it at her. The fact that it passed straight through her and hit the wall didn’t really make a difference.

  “Oh, all right. I’ll tell you.” She half-closed her eyes, smiling as she leaned back. “They’ve brought us someone to meet. Someone…special.”

  Chapter Two

  I hated guessing games and Em loved to play them, especially when she had the upper hand and at this very moment, she had the upper hand. She could do one of two things when she received new information floating out in the world of technology: she could review it and retain it without actually sharing the information or she could transfer the information to me.

  I wasn’t quite sure how she would do that because she never had, but she’d threatened to fill my head with so much information that I would actually go crazy and Dr. Stevens would have no choice but to move me into the mental facility. Of course, Em only threatened that when she was mad at me.

  “Special? What does that mean?”

  Em shrugged and smiled.

  “Come on, Em. Who am I going to meet? Another scientist?”

  She shook her head and that ornery grin stayed on her beautiful face.

  “Are we playing Pictionary now? Maybe you should act it out and I’ll try to guess whom it is. That would be fun. We haven’t played that in a year.”

  Em uncrossed her hands and leaned forward. “No! I’m not going to spoil the surprise.”

  “At least tell me when I’m going to meet this mystery person.”

  “Okay, I can do that.”

  I leaned forward, ready to hang on to each word she was going to say. It wasn’t very often that I got to meet someone new, so I wanted to be ready for the moment.

  The doorknob moved and Em, now behind me, whispered in my ear. “Now!”

  My stomach instantly tied in knots and I glanced back at her with narrowed eyes. I quickly regained my composure, stood up straight and waited for the door to open.

  Two scientists guided me down through the Institute’s corridors, Em following in my wake, looking almost annoyingly excited at the thought of wherever we were going. She still hadn’t said where that was, or who it was we were going to meet.

  The scientists hadn’t said anything either. I vaguely recognized one of them as one of Dr. Stevens’ researchers. The other had a logo with the word “Startech” on his lab coat, suggesting that he had something to do with Professor Ahern’s people.

  The researcher was on one side of me and the Startech guy on the other. They were both too close for comfort, considering I wasn’t used to strangers. I noticed the Startech guy look over my head and address the researcher.

  “I can’t believe you transported her without restraints.”

  Her? Without restraints? What was I, some kind of animal?

  “Jade’s no trouble, are you, Jade?” The researcher nudged me to talk, as if I didn’t understand his English.

  I shrugged, uncertain what he wanted me to say or how to act. After all, two guys were walking me down the Institute’s hallways without even telling me where we were going. And if it weren’t for Em, I wouldn’t even know about the special person I was going to meet.

  The researcher gave us an embarrassed grin. “Anyway, that’s not how we work here. She’s harmless.”

  “I can tell she’s harmless, but what about that deformity on her back?”

  “The implant?”

  “If that’s what you want to call it, but it’s really not an implant, now is it? It’s more like an alien is using her body as a host.”

  I sucked in a gasping amount of air and slowed my pace.

  “It’s okay, Jade,” Em said in my ear. “Let them talk. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

  I reached my right hand to my left shoulder and ran my fingertips over the cold metal. Maybe they were right. Maybe Em was trying to take over my body somehow. A film of tears coated my eyes, but I quickly pushed them away and continued to walk down the endless corridors with the two men.

  The scientist led the way down a path of hallways where I had never been. A runner of fluorescent lights on the ceiling lighted the white corridors. Occasionally, we passed through doors to offices or labs, and signs pointing the way to particular parts of the Institute.

  There were people, too—people who mostly stepped back when they saw me. I was used to that. Sometimes, it felt kind of like an honor, having the right of way everywhere, but more often, I knew it had more to do with them just not wanting Em to make a grab for their phone or their pager. It was probably just as well that she couldn’t stray far from me, or who knew what kind of trouble she might cause?

  I knew the way to Dr. Stevens’ office, to the small medical bay, the recreation room and the Institute’s gymnasium. I’d been to a few more of the labs over the years, too, as they tried different things to understand better what had happened to me. Today’s route was different. Up above the doorway, there was a sign that read “Outdoor Assimilation”—I had never seen that before.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Don’t tell her.” Em was practically next to the scientists as she said it, but they gave no sign of hearing her. “You’ll spoil the surprise.”

  “Sorry, Jade. Professor Ahern said she doesn’t want to risk influencing your reaction.”

  “Professor Ahern is the boss here now,” Em supplied from beside me. “It looks like, from her email, that Startech bought the Institute. I didn’t know you could do that, did you? Just buy a whole research program like that.”

  If Em was back to chattering again, it probably meant she’d forgiven me for wanting to get rid of her. That was one thing with Em: she never seemed to stay angry with me for very long.

  Although she still didn’t tell me where we were going.

  When we stopped in front of a door that read the same thing as before—“Outdoor Assimilation”—my heart began to pound hard against my chest. Em must have felt my anticipation because I heard her giggle from behind me.

  The scientist slid a card in a slot and then pounded at a keypad. A loud unlocking sound thunked and echoed before the sliding doors opened into a small room where Dr. Stevens and Professor Ahern waited, along with six other individuals in white suits.

  “What’s going on?” I whispered to Dr. Stevens, concerned. At that moment, she was my only friend, beside Em, in the room.

  “We have a surprise for you.”

  “I don’t want it.” I backed up and my shoulder blades hit the closed door.

  Dr. Stevens reached out her hand.

  Professor Ahern pushed down Dr. Stevens’ hand. “Oh, this is ridiculous.” She looked at me. “Don’t you know by now that you don’t have any choices here? You’ll do what we say and get your ass—”

  “Enough!” Dr. Stevens stepped in front of Professor Ahern with her back facing me and they had a brief stare down. After a few seconds, she turned around with that comforting smile that I had become accustomed to. “Jade, I’m here and I won’t let anything hurt you. Do you trust me?”

  I nodded.

  “I will be right in this room and once you’re in there, if you feel like you have to leave, just say my name and I will get you out of there quickly.”

  I nodded again.

  Em leaned next to me. “You really are being a baby. This is a good surprise, not a bad one. And Miriam is bending over backward for you. She could have lost her job after what she told the professor.”

  “Shut up, Em,” I snarled.

  When the doors leading into the next room opened, a waft of a strange smell smacked me in the face.

  “My readings tell me that the smell you smell is fresh air,” Em said from behind me.

  I tilted my head but didn’t say anything to Em. Once we were inside, the door closed and the light came on. Not just any light. It felt like the sun beaming down on my face. When I glanced around, I saw trees on either side with chirping birds perched on their branches. Real birds.
/>   In a distance, I saw a car with three heads inside the vehicle. It reminded me of the car in my dreams—the car that I was in the night of the accident. I glanced around and tried to take everything in…the sounds and smells…they were all so familiar, yet I had not been outside since the accident.

  Em seemed as mesmerized as I was and she was staring intently at a rock on the ground. Greenery surrounded us. I ran my fingertips over a tree leaf and leaned over to smell its scent.

  “And to think, this isn’t even the surprise.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Come on, I’ll show you.”

  “But this is so beautiful. I remember these. We had these trees in our front yard when I was a child. From one of them, my father had tied up an old tire and I used it as a swing.”

  I hadn’t looked at Em because I was, for the first time since I was a kid, looking up into the sky and smelling this new world around me. Or so I thought.

  “The trees and grass are real, but we’re in a room, Jade, one that’s made to look like outside.”

  My heart sank, but I managed not to say anything and admire what was real.

  Em stood in front of me and pointed. “There, Jade.”

  The simulated wreckage of the spaceship still buried in the dirt was the first thing that caught my attention and the second thing was him.

  I wanted to run and scream and beg Dr. Stevens to let me out, but Em’s wide eyes were begging me to stay. Curiosity had taken hold of my every movement. After all, Dr. Stevens did say that she wouldn’t put me in any danger. I believed her.

  Em and I both stood as perfectly still as he was and we all stared at each other. Em’s voice was dreamy, lost in lust even when she whispered, “He’s even better than I thought he’d be.”

  “What is he?”

  “One of us.” Em moved forward, pushing me to do the same thing and follow closely behind her.

  The male subject was wearing white sweats like me. He was much taller than I was, maybe by an entire foot, and his hair was dark and touched his shoulders. Like mine, his body was every bit as honed by a scientifically designed exercise regimen.

  His angular, almost odd-looking features were handsome, but the glints of metal were visible over his bare forearms. The same metal that I had down my spine. I was mystified, scared even.