There was a young boy sitting on a bed. In his hands, he was handling some sort of grey machine. Arex could only guess that the device was the reason for that piano-like sound.
The boy looked up…and saw Arex standing at the door frame. His mouth dropped and at the same time, he let go of the grey device. Arex held his hands up, hoping not to frighten the child.
“I‘m sorry to bother you, I hope I didn‘t scare you,” said Arex, “I just woke up and I heard a strange sound. I was wondering where that noise was coming from.”
“I‘m sorry, mister. I guess I was playing too loud.”
Mister? Arex felt strange to be called mister. Then again, he had no idea how old he was. It was very possible he was older than the child, but he didn’t feel all that old.
“Please, just call me Arex.”
“Arex? That’s a really cool name. My name‘s Jason.”
Arex nodded. He looked around the bedroom, his eyes registering everything. The room was painted a dark blue. Jason’s bed was up against the wall to the right. Opposite the bed was another machine with what he recognized as a screen and a keyboard. Who did he know these things? And then there was the filled bookcase in the corner next to a television set. He noticed that a lot of wires were laid on the floor.
Arex slowly edged himself inside the room, feeling comfortable that he wasn‘t scaring the boy anymore. Jason, meanwhile, picked up his dropped device and started touching it with his hand.
“Is it broken?”
Jason laughed at the question.
“This thing? I dropped it so many times when I was younger…right on the wooden floor. But it‘s a Game Boy. These things were built like bricks. Did you know one of these things survived an explosion during some war in the Middle East. It still works today. That was so incredible that they have it playing in a museum somewhere.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Wait, you never heard of this? Everybody who has one of these knows that.”
“I‘m sorry to say that I don‘t know much about anything. You‘ll have to forgive me, but I‘m new to the world, if you know what I mean.”
“You‘re an alien? Do you come from outer space?”
“I don‘t know anymore. It‘s more likely I was once human. The first thing I remember was waking up in a bedroom inside some company‘s building. I was told I was supposed to be a soldier.”
“Awesome. You‘re like Wolverine or something. Did you escape from your creators? Do you have any idea who you were?”
“No. I plan on helping your mother bring them to justice.”
“That‘s really cool. You‘re like, above everything like violence and killing people. Are you sure you‘re not a comic character who came out of your book?”
“No, that much is certain.”
“That‘s cool. Well, if you want, there are comic books that you can read. Most of them were my dad‘s. I‘m sure he wouldn‘t mind if I let you borrow any.”
Arex turned his eyes to the bookshelf in the corner of the bedroom. It was filled with comics books, each and everyone of them encased in what Arex guessed was a plastic sleeve. Somehow, he knew just what a plastic sleeve was and what it was used for. Arex looked at the titles on the covers of those who were thick enough to even carry a title there. As he looked at them, he sensed there was a pattern to the way Jason had placed them. They were alphabetized by the name of the main character, which usually found itself on the cover. Looking even closer, Arex could tell they were further classified chronologically from the earlier releases to the left, to the newer copies on the right.
“Some of these were made in the late fifties,” Jason commented, “those ones are the rarest, and I never let anyone borrow them. They‘re gonna be worth a lot some day, and maybe, if I‘m a dad, I‘ll have twice that many issues to pass down.”
“That sounds like a dream. I hope it comes true for you.”
“You wanna see my dad‘s all-time favorite?”
“I would. Thank You.”
Jason stood up and searched the second to last shelf. He carefully read the labeled covers until he found the one he was looking for. Using both hands, he slowly slid the book from the shelf and showed it to Arex. Arex sucked in a gasp. The cover read: The Amazing Spider-Man. The cover was the exact same one he’d seen in his dream.
“I know this one. Or at least, I think I do.”
“Yeah, it‘s the one where the Lizard appears for the first time.”
“You don‘t understand. I don‘t know how, but this book cover is familiar to me.”
“Well, if you want, you can borrow it and read it. Maybe you‘ll remember what the story is about.”
As he was about to ask Jason another question, Janiece appeared in the doorway. Surprising to Arex, she was smiling.
“You two seem to be getting along well,” she said.
“I didn’t know you had a child,” Arex replied.
“I wasn‘t sure how you would react to that. I adopted Jason a few months ago.”
* * *
The truth was that Janiece wanted to protect Jason from Arex, because she still wasn’t certain she could trust Arex. Could he be deceiving her? She couldn’t tell by just looking at him. Arex’s face was completely neutral and never gave any emotion away. Janiece had to rely on his voice, and that fact didn’t make her feel too comfortable about her situation. Patrick Sandlak wanted her dead, and that meant that if Arex didn’t kill her, Sandlak could probably create another soldier and send him after her. If that happened, Arex could be the only one able to protect her. It seemed that in a matter of days, she had managed to lose Jason’s father, get herself involved in a matter of corporate corruption, and endanger not only her life, but the life of the eight-year-old kid she was supposed to nurture, teach, and protect. Could this get any worse?
She contemplated her worries until she witnessed the most bizarre of scenes. Jason, who seemed to be getting more and more comfortable around Arex, had just asked him if he wanted to try playing the Game Boy.
“The game is called Pokémon Red Version. Right now, this is the hottest game around. It came out about a month ago.”
“I‘m sorry? What does that mean?”
“It means that millions of people around the world are playing this game and its sister game. As we say it “Gotta Catch‘Em All!””.
Arex took a look at the small screen on the Gameboy. The image he saw was fuzzy and green. Even though the screen was small and blurry, he could clearly make out the image of a small man in the middle of the screen.
“You move the guy around with the cross on the left,” said Jason, “you have to maneuver through the grass up to the building.”
Arex concentrated his sight on the screen . He pushed the head of the cross down. The character responded by moving upwards. He had gotten about half an inch before the screen suddenly turned to black, and the music changed.
“What just happened?”
“You just entered a battle,” said Jason reassuringly.
* * *
Jason went on, patiently guiding Arex through the game, step by step. Janiece thought it was strange that an adult would actually have the patience to learn a video game from an eight-year-old boy. There, she saw an aspect of parenting she knew she needed to work on. She smiled to herself. There was clearly more to Arex than met her eye.
Janiece cleared her throat loud enough for Jason and Arex to snap out of their game-induced reverie.
“If you two are finished being Pokémon trainers, I need to talk to Arex for a moment.”
She had Arex follow her in her kitchen were Janiece had made breakfast for the three of them.
“I need to talk to you about something,” she said.
“Is there anything wrong?”
“It‘s just that there‘s so much I don‘t know about you. There is a huge mystery surrounding you. I find myself second-guessing my decision to let you stay here. It‘s nothing personal, but I can‘t read you as well as I‘d
like.”
“”Read” me?”
“People tend to judge other people by what they see and hear, but the sight usually has the advantage. Sometimes, you can tell a person‘s state of mind by looking at the expressions on their faces. Your face is neutral. I can‘t tell what you‘re thinking, so I can‘t make my mind up about you. And now, Jason‘s met you, and he already likes you.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Jason‘s at an age where reality and fiction are still being defined. You‘ve just blurred the line between the two by just being here.”
“But I‘m real, I can assure you.”
“You are, it‘s just…I don‘t know.”
She really didn’t know how she felt. There was confusion, disbelief, anger, relief, happiness, and sadness all mixing her up inside. Janiece felt vulnerable, and she didn’t want to show it. There was so much at stake. She couldn’t expect Arex to understand her feelings. But then again, she had to remind herself that she couldn’t understand Arex’s feelings either.
It was probably frustrating for one to not be able to remember anything about one’s past. Who was he? Did he have family, friends who liked him? What was his crime? Nothing about him was supposed to be personal. Instead of memories, there was a void that might never be filled. He was designed as a weapon, a living killing machine. What some people didn’t realize, was that this weapon had a heart and feelings.
“Janiece, maybe it would be better if I left,” said Arex, “I agree when you say that we don‘t know much about me. We can‘t ignore the fact that I might be a threat to the both of you. I can‘t imagine anyone else‘s reaction to my presence would be better than yours. I will leave tonight, and keep a low profile until you need me .”
That made Janiece very nervous. At least if Arex stayed here, she could keep an eye on him. She knew he was right in saying that there was no way to predict anyone’s reaction to his existence.
Suddenly, an idea dawned on her. She had to have Joe Henry meet Arex. Her boss should be able to be a good gauge for future reference.
She had Jason dress up. They left Arex in the apartment. Janiece then dropped Jason at Kip Simon’s place. She was comfortable in leaving Arex alone with nothing to do, but watch TV.
Chapter 2
Sunday, November 1st, 1998, 10:23 AM
Janiece Ryder’s apartment
Arex suddenly found himself alone in Janiece’s living room and couldn’t understand why. He had practically promised her that he would leave as soon as the morning settled, but she insisted on him staying here. And yet, Janiece wasn’t very comfortable having him around. He couldn’t imagine how she could possibly feel safer with the prospect of leaving him alone in her apartment and him being here when she came back.
He had been someone else once. When Janiece told him that, an entire other set of questions entered his mind. Shouldn’t he remember being someone else? Who was he? What was he like? What was his name? He had to find some answers, and he just couldn’t trust the person who sent him there to kill someone.
Janiece was having second thoughts about trusting him, of that he was sure of. He hoped he was wrong, though. If he was right, then he would have to find a way to let her see that there was nothing to be afraid of as far as he was concerned.
Janiece had given him the file on the A.R.EX. project the night before, so that he could read it at his leisure. From what he read, he was able to piece together what he had become a part of. He was created from another person, whose memories were erased and whose genome was basically reconstructed. Who that person was, was unknown since it wasn‘t written in the file. His appearance and genetic structure were altered to the point that he would be unrecognizable when compared to his former self. His memories were wiped out thanks to a special computer known as the Mind Shifter. He was to be only one of many anthropomorphic reptiles that were to be created from this project. The idea was to create a squadron of beings like Arex that would be trained in covert operations, espionage, assassinations, and open warfare. Arex was disappointed knowing that there might have been more information on the project that didn’t show up in the file, such as the composition of the A.R.EX. serum. It wasn’t as if he was certain to be able to understand a chemical concoction, but he was curious as to what was now coursing through his veins as a result of a science experiment. He did feel a little angry at the thought of having been used as test subject for something that was potentially dangerous, and left without the memories of being a guinea pig among maybe others. That sparked another series of questions. What if he wasn’t the first one? What if there were others like him out there? If there were others, what was Sandlak making them do?
He turned his focus back to the television set. His idea of having fun did not include staring at a glowing box with sound, but what else there to do? Nonchalantly, he pressed the button on the remote control to turn it on. When the screen came on, he was looking at something that defied belief. He saw what looked like a war going on inside a building. People holding guns and dressed in shiny white uniforms were chasing a man and a strange being that was very tall and hairy. The pair was chased through a door that closed automatically, leaving the soldiers in white frantically scrambling to open it. The scene cut to an old man being called to a fight with a masked being dressed all in black. A strange humming sound was heard from what looked like swords bathed in light. As the two people’s blades clashed, Arex was awed. Who were these people? Why were they fighting? Was this some of event that happened?
Suddenly, Arex saw a story unfolding as the earlier pair were joined by two other people. The group watched intently as the men in white disappeared from their view. Two metallic beings, who were also watching the scene unfold, joined the group as they ran toward some sort of ramp. One of the people a young man, stopped and looked at the old man, fear gripping his face. The old man smiled and then appeared to vanish as he left himself be struck down by the dark being’s sword.
The screen seemed to get bigger Arex’s eyes were almost glued to it. He was jarred from the screen when the door suddenly opened. It was much too early for Janiece to be back. Someone else had the key to the apartment, but who?
Arex heaved a sigh of relief when he realized it was Jason. And yet he wasn’t supposed to have been back until Janiece came back with him. The question was: was there a reason why he was here?
Arex turned his head. Jason was there, but he wasn’t alone. Another boy was with him. The other child seemed to be around Jason’s age. Janiece hadn’t told him about the other boy, nor did he think she wanted anyone else to know about him yet.
The boy took one good look at Arex, and his mouth dropped. He then looked at Jason with a look of admiration and said:
“Dude, you are so lucky.”
“I know, awesome, right? Arex, this is my friend, Kip.”
“Hello,” said Arex timidly.
“Hi,” Kip replied.
Jason pointed at the TV screen.
“Cool, you‘re watching Star Wars.”
“Star Wars?”
“Yeah, it‘s a great movie.”
“A movie?”
“Yeah, a movie. It‘s not real, or anything.”
“It isn‘t?”
“No. It‘s just actors and special effects. Really good actors and special effects, but that‘s it. This story never happened. That galaxy doesn‘t exist and neither do the people.”
“Oh. I thought it was real. It‘s very believable.”
He was distracted once more by the space battle that was raging on the screen. A few seconds later, though, it hit him.
“What am I doing? Jason, why is your friend here? Does Janiece know you‘re both here?”
“… No.”
Jason and his friend bowed their heads, ashamed.
“I wasn’t supposed to tell him? Are you gonna tell her? Are we in trouble?”
Arex sighed. He knew that the right thing, the safer thing to do, was to tell Janiece. He didn’t feel i
t was right, however, to tell Janiece that her son had done something against her will. He also didn’t want to leave Jason with the daunting task of trying to explain his bringing his friend to her apartment to show Arex off to him while she was away.
“We will tell her together. It is the right thing to do.”
“Okay.”
Arex then looked at Kip.
“You have to keep this to yourself. You can‘t tell anyone about me, do you understand?”
Kip nodded.
“Alright. I promise”
He had Jason and his friend leave the apartment. Just in time, he thought, as the phone rang in the kitchen. Thankfully, Janiece was just checking up on him, and was a long way from coming back. That was good, because he had no idea what to tell her once she returned.
* * *
10:45 AM
Henry’s Law Firm
Janiece got to the firm’s offices, and immediately accosted each of her co-workers to find out where Joe Henry was. Along the way, she ran into Kirk Hall.
“Whoa, Ryder, you‘re not supposed to be here. Shouldn‘t you be on sabbatical?”
“I need to talk to Henry now. It‘s urgent.”
“Well, he‘s in a meeting, which is just as urgent. You‘re going to have to wait.”
That was fine with her. She was willing to wait the few minutes, even though anxiety took hold of her again. She used the time to calm herself down before her boss arrived. Joe Henry was there within 15 minutes. He looked just as surprised to see her there. Janiece saw him give her a reproachful look.
“You‘re not supposed to be here.”
“I know, but I really need to talk to you right away.”
“What is it?”
How was she going to break the news to him? What could she say? She didn’t want him to panic, but she also wanted him to know the full extent of what had happened last night. She wanted to start the conversation gently, but what she ended up saying was:
“There‘s a giant talking reptile in my apartment right now. It was created out of the A.R.EX. project.”
The A.R.EX. Project:Transformation Page 7