by Tiana Laveen
“Well, you just make sure you’re afraid of the right thing, Claudia.”
The steely tone of his voice didn’t go unnoticed.
“Your friend, Xzion, he isn’t your enemy. You probably need him now more than ever. I suggest you find him, Claudia, or whatever your real name is, for your own protection. That is your ticket to survival—he is it. I think you know who the real alien is—the true monster in this scenario—and it ain’t Xzion.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Xzion wiped the blood off the corner of his mouth as the two warrior militants dragged him back to the domed chamber. He managed to catch one off guard and hammer him down to the ground like a nail bit, but soon he was overpowered as four others rushed to their fallen comrade’s aid, zapping Xzion with a heat gun straight to the cranium. He shrieked in pain, gritted his teeth and bit down on his tongue so hard, he’d almost severed it. Aton walked in front of the crowd, shook his head at Xzion and turned away as people took their seats in the vast auditorium, dressed in their royal navy blue robes. He knew the routine, he’d seen it before—some of his closest friends who were caught violating the rules had to attend and every single one of them, as apprentices. Forced to attend for class, to see what happens when you disobey your commander and chief. Aton was gracious until you decided to think for yourself. Then, all bets were off. Worse yet were allegations ledged at officers. They were never the same, and were ostracized from their society.
Xzion felt himself sink deeper into a dismal abyss of heated anger upon seeing his mother and father, the two that had brought him into the world, sitting shoulder to shoulder, toward the back of the room. His eyes met his mother’s, and she turned away as if in shame, her long black hair cloaking her profile. His father kept watch, disappointment etched all over the man’s face.
Xzion stood still for if he didn’t, the metal shackles around his ankles and wrists would rattle. Aton stood to his side and began to speak in their native tongue.
“Trial I.D. is UI-0-HK. Plaintiff: Military University of Zarkstorm, Ward 13 Militia Officer. Defendant: Xzion Khrome.
“Xzion Khrome is an example of the pride and joy of our kingdom gone awry. He was a platinum student, from the tender, innocent age of five. Once born, our most revered scientists and doctors discovered he was an anomaly, one that could possibly save our entire race. He was brought to my attention after conferencing with his parents, astute intellectuals also from the University, as you all are aware of. His father also has warrior lineage. Xzion was enrolled and exceeded all of our expectations. He not only mastered all the University courses, he surpassed the military milestones, breaking records, time and time again. He was mentally and physically agile—a rare find, a born leader. I come to you,” Aton paused, turned and looked at Xzion then back at the audience, “humbly, for I am disturbed to have to bring my prized pupil to you all on these charges. He was not aware of this, but I was training him to be my successor...”
People began to speak amongst each other until the judge struck the gavel, instructing everyone to hush while Aton continued.
“Mr. Khrome was born with the rare MXZ gene, allowing him the physical characteristics of our ancestors, their strength and physical resolve, and the endurance and intellect of the rest of us. In culmination with this, he was able to withstand environmental temperature changes with little to no harm to his cerebral vortex, unlike the rest of us. That is what made him ideal for the lifesaving mission he was sent upon.”
Xzion glared at Aton, wishing he had just one bullet...just one. He’d make it work, send it straight to the heathen’s dome in the central nerve-plex...
“Three years ago, Xzion was assigned to planet Earth to rid that world of their drug addiction. It was a win-win situation. We wished to extract the blood from the humans, not terribly prolonging or interrupting their daily routines. Afterward, we’d erase the encounters as soon as the extraction was complete. We would not need to be there, naturally; we’d be able to do it remotely, via mind control and simply pick up the samples intermittently, via our portal runners.
“As you all realize, we soon discovered this was easier said than done, due to humans’ intense drug dependency. We could not gain control over our subjects, and the blood supply we needed was contingent upon not a small sector, but most of the Earthly population, since we’d need to consume the blood daily, like vitamins. Xzion was our answer to that issue.” Aton paused.
“Remove the addiction, administer mind control, remove the sample, and carry on for synthesization—that was the plan. This would be a life-long medication for us, but it would work, and that is what mattered. We need human blood for our coolant—we’ve known this for over sixty years. Human beings are the only species with blood that works this way, that works in agreement with our own system. Yes, we have to purify it, and that is sometimes tricky, as Xzion and I have figured out, but it can be done.
“In that time, all these years, our large population has dwindled and we are nearing extinction. Our mothers, fathers, friends and coworkers have died. The ice and coolant systems can only help so much; it is a temporary bandage to our disease. Xzion was able to withstand extremely high temperatures in the Sahara Desert of the Earth world and as long as he was able to get relief in a timely fashion, he was able to heal in time for his next assignment. He was invaluable!
“Xzion, dare I admit it, was my favorite student of all time.” His shot Xzion a look of disdain. “He’d never disappointed me. He was an exceptional pupil—bright, and had the strength of twenty men. He was well-trained and had put his personal endeavors on hold, for the greater good of our people. Everything was going well, until approximately seven months ago.
At that time, Xzion was half way completed with his assignment in an area in the United States called Baltimore, Maryland. Ironically, Baltimore Maryland hosts the United States President in a city called Washington, D.C. There is a raging drug problem there, despite the large government presence. For whatever reason, the humans don’t seem to question the connection.” Aton paused to allow a few chuckles. “They even re-elected a man that was a known crack addict, as their mayor!” More laughter exploded.
Aton puffed out his chest, placed his hands on his narrow hips and began to strut back and forth as he systematically worked the crowd in his favor. “In typical fashion, as we’ve been accustomed to in previous years, the Federal Bureau of Investigations of Earth became involved regarding our new worldwide presence. The CIA had also tried to interfere, but once Xzion was on U.S. soil, the FBI took over. We expected them to, they are predictable, but what we didn’t expect was for them to send a female cop to find out Xzion’s whereabouts. Some of you may wonder why this matters. We as Zarkstormians treat the sexes the same, unlike some of our terrestrial counterparts. However, the FBI hooked into one of Xzion’s weaknesses, unbeknown to them, no doubt, they’d simply struck gold and landed on a kernel of kryptonite for our boy, here.”
He knew Xzion hated being called boy, and Aton smiled at him while he said it, antagonizing him, daring him—giving him a reason to lunge at him and be taken down like the Berlin Wall of the Soviet Union.
Xzion honed his gaze on Aton, wanting nothing more than to tear the man from limb to limb.
Self-glorifying slug. You know damn well women aren’t a weakness for me...liar.
“Xzion was lonely,” Aton continued, giving him a small glance of understanding. “I was becoming suspicious of this, based on remote viewing that I was privy to at various times. I won’t disclose the details here, in this court of law. Some things shall remain private for the defendant.”
Like you’re doin’ me a favor! Yeah, I fucked a few Earthling women during the course of time, so fucking what? What did you expect me to do?!
“I saw no harm with him taking care of his basic needs. Though they are beneath us, and some of my constituents compared it to bestiality of sorts, I let this go, unwilling to judge him. I wasn’t in his shoes. I could only imagine the pressure
one would be under. After all, on the surface, they do look like us. They served their purpose. Things quickly spiraled out of control, however. When the next woman appeared, the police officer sent by the FBI, I thought he would dispose of her. He’d never hesitated previously when someone threatened the mission. He knew what was at stake. Instead, Xzion made her his concubine.” Aton turned and pointed at Xzion, making a theatrical ceremony of the ordeal, turning him into a circus freak amongst his peers.
Loud gasps sounded from the audience.
“He impaired the mission, the operation!” Aton’s voice echoed throughout the auditorium. “I had no idea, and I apologize to you all, that it had gone this far. He had disconnected my remote viewing, stating it needed to be repaired when in fact he’d cut the data transfer so that I wouldn’t see him and his new found weakness. I trusted this man!”
His finger shook as he kept pointing at Xzion.
“He told me he was fine but, instead, the officer was in his home, living with him, as a husband and wife would. He was literally sleeping with the enemy—the F.B.I’s lapdog.”
Xzion swallowed and caught his mother’s expression. He’d never seen it quite before and he resolved that it was a mixture of embarrassment and anger, though he never expected her to articulate that to him. Like all the others, she’d suppress the emotions, and declare them null and void. He looked back at Aton, who continued to rant and rave, throwing him under the spaceship for all to see and hear.
“We had no choice but to recover Xzion from Earth. His mission was not finished, he was approximately seventy-six percent complete. However, it was the farthest any of us have come to finishing Phase I. Hence, Phase II was unsuccessful. He’d tried to administer the human blood on himself and suffered an adverse reaction after a problem with synthesization, thus, we re-worked the formulas. To aid him, I had even sent him cadaver brains which we have brought back, untouched.” People began to murmur amongst themselves. Aton grabbed a laser light, and pointed to a chart that was now highlighted electronically on a wall.
“We ran an analysis on Xzion’s brain before he left and upon his return, and the results are astounding. Here, the left lobe, where intellect is supposed to thrive, is enflamed. This is the part of the human brain that controls...emotions. Ours, as Zarkstormians, is under-developed, which helps us to focus on what matters in life and not become distracted. Not only that, the part of the brain in a human being that is susceptible to drug abuse and addiction, is right here…”
Aton pointed his laser at the overhead chart. “Xzion’s brain is also inflamed, the circuits completely drowning in dopamine. He is addicted to something! His neurotransmitters are impaired. We checked his blood, urine and hair follicles and he came up clean, – so what this substance is, we are not sure. It was not detectable in our trial testing.”
Xzion held his head high. A trickle of sweat ran down the side of his face as he sneered at the people in the room. He shuffled his feet, abruptly, causing his chains to clank loudly.
“You will have to excuse him, people.” Aton glared at him. “He is still in active withdraw. When I found him, he was barely breathing. When he came to, he became extremely violent toward us, striking and punching. Two of our men are still in the sanatorium after he choked one until he blacked out, and collapsed the throat of the other. Xzion is now considered a menace, a danger to us and the mission.”
“The only danger is you, Aton!” Xzion had had enough. He was no longer going to stand there and let this spectacle continue at his expense.
Everyone’s eyes zoomed in on him.
Anger—unbelievable, thick, dark wrath—oozed from Xzion’s core.
“I did everything you told me! The hell with who got hurt in the process! You tell these people, so they can make a decision to lock me away forever, like a criminal... that I’m dangerous! I’m dangerous because I didn’t complete the mission? Yet I’m stronger than most of you and smarter, too. That doesn’t even make sense!”
“Silence! It is not your turn to speak, Xzion!”
“You tell these people that I can’t be trusted,” Xzion yelled louder, “and that I had an Earth woman in my home. I did! And I’m not apologetic! She was set up; she wasn’t the damn FBI’s lapdog! I thought you resided in the lap of the truth, but that’s bullshit! You grovel at the feet of a mistress of control and lies!”
Some people stood to their feet in disbelief, protesting loudly. The judge used his gavel to bring back order.
“Mr. Khrome, please remain silent while we finish these proceedings until you are told otherwise,” the judge announced in a her monotone voice.
“This is about me not being your lackey anymore, Aton. It is about me enjoying myself, and not being at your beckon call. I was still working, and I never questioned anything you asked me to do. I understand how important this is, but, I was learning things from this woman you could never understand! Things you could never teach me, that were far more valuable! These are people, just like us. They aren’t experiments! They aren’t inferior! They aren’t walking blood transfusions!”
The gavel struck again. Aton crossed his arms and glared at Xzion. It was clear to see that if the two men were alone, they’d fight to the death.
“I can tell you what to test me for, I can tell you, but you still won’t find the drug because you don’t know what it is that I’m high on!”
“What is it?” Aton marched toward him, his cape swinging as he got in Xzion’s face. “She destroyed my best man! The key to our longevity!” His voice quaked in anger, and what sounded like…heartbreak. “What the hell did she do to you?!”
“She loved me...”
A hush came over the room, as well as many looks of confusion.
“That’s not a substance.”
“It is. You of all people should know this. We studied the human brain, and what happens when they are high on a mind altering drug. What happens when they are in love, in hate...all of it. Their brains change. It doesn’t make them inferior, it makes them alive. My deep attraction to her led to love, and she loved me in return. I’d never had that before, I’d never felt it, not even from my own mother.”
Xzion glanced at his mother in the audience. Their eyes met and he held that gaze with her until she turned away once again. This time, her dark, thick black hair shrouded her face completely.
“The woman left me. I went into withdraw and you found me. End of story! There is no great mystery here. That’s what the hell happened!”
“As she should have! She had enough sense, you didn’t. Xzion, I am begging you...” The desperation in Aton’s voice was clear as he marched toward him, and placed his hand on his shoulder. “Please, go through debriefing and reprogramming for the next three months. We can get you back on track if you agree to a probationary period. That’s what I was going to propose here in court. I wasn’t going to ask the judge to lock you up! We need you to get the—”
“That’s all you care about! Have you heard a word I’ve said here, Aton?!”
Xzion strained and broke free from the thickly knotted iron chains around his wrists, forcing many to stand and make their way out of the auditorium in fear as he yelled in agony and anger. He was now an enraged beast, capable of killing in a millisecond.
“Everyone relax!” Aton turned toward the audience and waved away the militia that had immediately begun to swoop closer. “You’ve been brainwashed,” Aton said, stunned, as he stepped away.
“No, I haven’t, Aton. My people are important to me, but I deserved a life as well. I could do both, but you wanted me all to yourself. I’m convinced you never cared for me at all! I saw you like a father figure. All you cared about was making sure you got me to do what you needed me to do, the hell with my wellbeing. You’ve obviously looked at the recordings from my right lens before I stopped remote viewing and taping, and saw my activities. Couldn’t you see it? Couldn’t you see how unhappy I was, goddamn it?! I wanted to give it and feel it! Love! We lost it in our e
volution.”
“Xzion, there is no excuse for you jeopardizing my life’s work!”
“Your life’s work? Is that what this is about? This is bigger than you, Aton!” Xzion screamed in exasperation, their eyes glued to one another. “I’m the only one of us with the MXZ gene. Did you ever stop and think that our ability to love and care were not weaknesses, but strengths? Anything that made us more human-like, you resented. It is in all of us, only repressed.”
“As it should have been! What use our emotions? We used to have them, and ended up in wars that lasted for years!”
“And what good is only having a brain without using our hearts?! I am not a robot! I’m a man! We’ve had these emotions all along. They are not dead, they are dormant! Things that don’t get used are pushed away, but they are still in us! We were great warriors at one time, the gene I still carry, because we needed to be, but also, because our emotions drove us to protect our families, because we loved them, Aton. Can’t you see? Maybe that is the reason why it has taken us over sixty years to get this all figured out. If we had approached it differently, really understood the problem, things may have happened much faster.”
“What are you talking about? More rubbish! Love has nothing to do with healing our minds.”
“You don’t know that, because you never tried and I don’t know how it may play into it, but this method hasn’t worked. I will always be a warrior, it’s in me, but my brain tells me every part of me is useful, Aton. I needed something, or better yet, someone, to bring it out, make me see my full potential. You always told me I was the best of the old and new world. Now,” he smiled sadly, “You look at me with disgust, Aton.” He pointed to his chest. “You’ve had me since the age of five. You think I failed. I didn’t, and...this freak show is over. I’ve done nothing wrong!”