The A.R.EX. Origin

by Angelo Facchin

  Whiplash’s reaction was easy to gauge. His mouth was wide open, and he was shacking his head.

  “I don’t believe this.”

  “There’s more. The project was originally intended as a military endeavour. The goal was to create potentially an army of reptiles just like you. The leader of the project decided to create you as a first test. The test was a disaster as you know. Arex was created three months later, but there was an ulterior motive to creating him.”

  “What was it?”

  “He was created with the idea of killing his past self’s lawyer and possibly, his own son.”

  “What happened? Did he do it?”

  “No. You see, this is where the both of you are different. I’m not saying he’s better, but you followed different paths. He was abandoned almost right off the bat, and that made him suspicious. He instead decided he would let the lawyer tell him her side of the story. Today, they’re best friends. He’s a celebrity and a well-like member of the community. What happened to you is that Kevin took care of you right from the start. You learned to trust anything he said, and that ended up being the worst thing that could ever happen to you, because taught you the world the way he wanted you to see it. You were manipulated from the start, and now, you’ve had to pay the price for it. It doesn’t matter what we say now, there are people out there who will want to see you be punished for what you did.”

  “What about Kevin? He used me. Does that mean he’s going to get away with it?”

  “No. It only means that he will punished more severely. The fact is, technically speaking, you are only five years old, and so there is a chance that you won’t be put on trial as an adult, especially since you were only being used.”

  “But I did cause a lot of harm. What about those homeless people? Are they going to be alright?”

  “They will live. Right now, you should be worried about what happens to you. I just don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

  “At least you’re being honest with me, which is more than I can say for Kevin.”

  But even as he said that, Whiplash sunk his head down. It was clear that even after everything Spencer did to him, he still cared about him in a certain way. She had to finish the interrogation

  “Now I have to ask you one final question, and this is important: How did Kevin manage to keep you a secret for so long?”

  “He told me that I had to stay hidden from everyone because if they ever saw me, then they would be afraid of me and hunt me down like some sort of monster. Even when we moved to Arkansas to live on a farm, I still had to stay hidden, at least during the daytime.”

  “Well, I guess that that would be an effective way to keep you a secret. Listen, I have to leave, now. Don’t worry, I will tell you exactly what will happen next as soon as I know more.”

  Mika left the interrogation room with mixed feelings. No matter how many times she tried to convince herself that Whiplash was just another criminal like any other, she couldn’t help but feeling sad for him. She wished she could have told him that everything was going to turn out fine for him, but that would have guaranteeing him an outcome for this case, something she couldn’t do, if only because she would be lying to him, something that’s happened to him enough already.

  Corey Rodgers met her outside her office. He had been watching the interrogation from behind the two-way mirror, and had heard and recorded everything that was told.

  “This is going to be much more complicated than we first anticipated.”

  “I don’t know what to say or do at this point. A good part of me doesn’t want to see him punished. He’s committed crimes, but he’s really not the one we should be blaming here. Do you think we can get an arrest warrant out for Kevin Spencer?”

  “I’m already in the process of obtaining one. I’ve noticed that you haven’t told him about the other world.”

  “I thought that what I told him about his creation was enough as it was. You saw his reaction to finding out that he was once human. Can you imagine what would have happened if I had told that his creation was due to something alien and unexplained?”

  “I suppose you’re right. Besides, it’s not likely we can trust him with a secret this big. Listen, come with me to Scatchard’s office, there’s something he wants to show you.”

  They arrived in Mike Scatchard’s office, where the agent was laying out copies of a file he was putting together on his table. He invited them in and gave them each a file in order to be able to follow his explanations. Mika kept a close eye to the folder, while at the same time holding her ear to Mike’s words.

  “Please, bear with me on this one, alright? Arex brought Jason here to see me and the kid was panicking for some reason. He was afraid of life, and it was all because of some journal he was given by Tom Smith, the curator of the American Museum of Natural History.”

  Rodgers, instead of looking over the file himself, decided it was best to hear it from Mike himself.

  “What could possibly be so terrible about a man’s journal or autobiography that would get the kid so riled up? This is kid who accepted Arex into his life like just another one of his friends. We are talking about the same eight-year old who taught us not to be afraid of an amnesic talking reptile, and he’s afraid because of some book.”

  “Well, he was afraid, and it wasn’t because of what was in the book, well, not really, but… Okay, the journal is about a parallel universe and the people who live there who are discovered by a Greek explorer in the early 1930s.”

  Mika tightened her grip on her copy of the folder. They hadn’t told Mike about the world Gianlorenzo came from.

  “Yeah, I saw that,” said Mike, “Jason Meyers told me about the parallel world you were told about.”

  “You mean Arex told him?”

  “It seems that we can’t count on our reptile to keep secrets from even his best friend,” stated Rodgers with clear disapproval in his voice.

  Mike looked at him, then cleared his throat to get the attention of his elders.

  “Well, anyway, back to the journal. What was bothering Jason most of all, is that, for all the talk of the people in the other world and the world they lived in itself, the map to the portal from which the world could be accessed, and the physical description of the aliens are missing from the book. All lot of pages were torn from it. This led Jason to conclude some sort of conspiracy theory in which agents from this other world were after Tom Smith because he possessed it, so he tore the important pages to keep for himself or destroy and then he gave Jason the journal so they wouldn’t find it in his possession. Now, he’s disappeared, and Jason became worried, and that’s why Arex brought him here.”

  “Did you try and reason with Jason and convince him that there was nothing to be afraid of? This journal must have been some elaborate hoax. It’s just a coincidence that the text would talk about another world existing in a parallel plane to our own”

  “I tried, but the problem is, I’m thinking that there might be something to his fears, if only because of the situation with Gianlorenzo Di Nicola. But there’s more: the journal, as you can see, is not something you find in a library. Not in this condition. Furthermore, I conducted thorough research that revealed this journal does not exist according to the Library of Congress, and that the explorer who purportedly wrote it, disappeared sixty years ago. After beating a path through the Amazon ten years earlier, he taught at Cambridge for five years before retiring inexplicably, and then went back to Brazil. He had rented a small apartment in Sao Paolo during the five years before his disappearance. He must have gone to that other world when he felt confident he wouldn’t be missed.”

  “But what about the journal? How did it end up in Tom Smith’s hands?”

  “There are a couple of theories that come to mind: One is that he knew the guy, and he was given the journal. The other, is that he stole the journal from him somehow. The only way to find out is to bring him in.”

  “Good. Head out to the Museu
m…”

  “He’s not there. Jason already looked into that.”

  Smith’s disappearance was definitely suspicious. The FBI agents put out a warrant for the man’s arrest immediately

  Chapter 26

  July 17, 6:13 p.m.

  Janiece Ryder’s Apartment

  Arex took Jason back home. Janiece invited him to stay for supper. It was her way to repay him for the night spent at his place. After an early supper of homemade burgers, they settled down to watch the evening news, whose headlines included an upcoming FBI press conference. Arex had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that the building was locked down earlier. When the time came, they stared intently at the screen, waiting for Corey Rodger to start his speech.

  “Ladies and gentlemen of the press and the audience, I am here to inform you of the capture of the reptile who is responsible for the serial muggings that have occurred in the past two months. The reptile in question does indeed have a name. His name is Whiplash. He had given himself up late this morning after having had a verbal altercation with his human… there is no other way to say this. The man was acting as his keeper, essentially hiding him and encouraging him to continue mugging homeless people in order to frame Arex and ruin his reputation. We have issued an arrest warrant for Kevin Spencer, an ex-BIOGENCORP scientist. Let it be known that Mr. Spencer helped transform Whiplash and had erased his memories not once, but twice during the course of two days in July of 1998. Let it also be known that Mr. Spencer wilfully convinced Whiplash that mugging the homeless was a legal act, and a much heroic one at that. He took advantage of Whiplash’s ignorance and also had him believe that we would react quite negatively to the notion of his existence. Needless to say, we must find Mr. Spencer and bring him to justice. I urge anybody who has any information regarding the whereabouts of Mr. Spencer to contact authorities immediately. Now, if there are any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask them. Yes?”

  “You mentioned that Mr. Spencer was the one who hid, uh, Whiplash, and basically raised him, but why would he encourage him to continue with the muggings even after it was known that Arex was in no way involved with these crimes?”

  “Our theory is that Mr. Spencer had already raised Whiplash to think a certain way. If he were to try and change that line of thought radically, then his protégé would have gotten suspicious and asked him sensitive questions he didn’t want to answer.”

  “How exactly did the… uh, Whiplash come to be in the first place?”

  “As it turns out, the subject from the A.R.EX. project’s first test in July of 1998 wasn’t disposed of as we thought. In fact, after the incident in which he caused the death of several BIOGENCORP scientists, Whiplash’s memories were erased once again. Mr. Spencer figured that, given time, he could re-enter Whiplash in the project, but that plan somehow never came to pass. On that note, another reason Mr. Spencer was able to keep him a secret was the fact that they had moved to a farm in Arkansas. We are currently coordinating with our colleagues there in case he flees the state and tries to hide himself there.”

  “How can you trust that Whiplash’s memories were indeed erased? How do you know that he’s not trying to trick us all by claiming amnesia?”

  “We have no reason to believe that Whiplash hasn’t been anything other than sincere with us. He has no reason to try and trick us, because he’s been able to recognize just how much trouble he’s in because of his actions. I would also like to apologize to all of his victims on his behalf, which is something he truly wished to do himself.”

  “Then why isn’t he here?”

  That question seemed to catch Rodgers off guard.

  “That was my decision. I didn’t wish him to be exposed to the media and have him be asked so many questions by an obviously curious crowd. It would have been far too overwhelming for him. This one is very different from Arex, no matter how many similarities they share.”

  “Sir, what will happen to Whiplash? This is obviously not a typical case no matter how you look at it. If he truly was a puppet, then will he stand trial?”

  “Thank you for your time.”

  The press conference got Arex thinking about his own troubles and how small they seemed compared to what Whiplash must have been going through. The fact was, Rodgers was right. He and Whiplash were different people, just as he was different from everyone else.

  “You awake?”

  He had forgotten about Janiece sitting right next to him.

  “Sorry about that. I was off in my own little world there. That’s something that’s been happening way too often lately. I promise that it won’t happen again, though. I’m back.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I was feeling depressed about not being so unique, remember? Well, not anymore. I am unique because I’m me and no one else is. The press conference helped me realize that. It also reminded me of how my troubles aren’t really ”

  * * *

  8:23 p.m.

  Gianlorenzo’s Apartment

  Alice and Gianlorenzo attempted to salvage their night together, but it was a hopeless endeavour. They decided it was best to sleep on it and try again the next day. The meal was pleasant enough and surprisingly, Alice found herself enjoying Gian’s company all over again, despite his reptilian appearance. She tried to figure out a reason why, and finally settled on the idea that she had been a student of Arex for so long, that being around reptiles was almost normal. What they talked about also didn’t seem to bother her as much as she thought it would.

  “So, you said that your grandfather actually changed his entire species because he fell in love?”

  “Yes. He was actually younger then than we are now, but he was in love. I wish I could have known him more.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “He died of pneumonia. He wanted to get some firewood for his foyer, so he went outside during winter. Thankfully, our tolerance to the cold is almost as good as yours, but it still wasn’t enough to keep him from slowing down. It took him ten minutes to get back home. By the time we got him to a doctor, we were too late. On the anniversary of his death, we always keep extra wood and keep the foyer lit all night. It’s a way to remember his sacrifice.”

  “That’s sweet. I wish I could say the same for my father. He just up and left one day. At least that’s what my mom says. I don’t even remember him at all. I can’t even say whether or not he loved me.”

  “That’s horrible.”

  “It’s not that bad. I’ve always had my mom and we love each other.”

  “Isn’t there a part of you that wishes you got to know him?”

  “Maybe, but I have to face the fact that there’s only a one in a million chance that I will ever meet him and even less of a chance that I would have any kind of relationship with him. What about your family?”

  “My father is an electrician.”

  “You guys have electricians?”

  “We pretty much have everything you have, albeit a little less sophisticated than what you have. The fact is, we don’t have any such thing as a metropolis, or at least, we don’t have a native word for that.”

  “What’s your native language called?”

  “We never named it. We never felt the need to. Besides, it’s dying very fast. It’s much easier for me to speak Italian or English. It’s easier on the uvula.”

  “I can’t help but notice you still have that accent. Did you really grow up with that?”

  “We bought a few old videos that taught us your languages. It’s the foundation of our school network. Before that, we were only taught what we needed to do our job. That was the extent of our education.”

  “We really are responsible for a lot of your culture’s situation.”

  “It was inspiring. When Dr. Tselios discovered us, we didn’t have much in the way of knowledge or technology. He changed our lives. He introduced us to more advanced medicine and tools. Thanks to him, we can now harness the power of electrici
ty. He’s the reason why we started recording our history. He opened the door to a new world. This city, this society, is a wonder for me to explore and learn about. I can’t think of how my life would have been if he hadn’t found us.”

  “I wish we could say the same for you, but as far as everyone is concerned, our world is the only one with any life on it. What did Dr. Tselios tell you about us?”

  “He told us that humans have a natural curiosity and intelligence that allowed you to discover the wonders of science and technology. We never really had that until then. There’s a reason we didn’t take some of the ideas he presented to us. We don’t think statues are a good idea. For us, it’s a waste of time and effort to sculpt a statue. It looks good, but we would have no need for it. We have sports and competitions, but the only reasons we compete against each other is pride. We have no need for trophies.”

  “It sounds more like you have no need for vanities as a whole.”

  “We value our pride, our health, and especially, our life. Everything else that we have is just an extra.”

  “What things do you have at home are just extras?”

  “Our emergency rations of food. Storing food for the future and emergency was a great idea you came up with, so we have fridges. We also have restaurants, though not many of them. I doubt that there are more than one in any given settlement. And all the food there is made fresh and to the customer’s likings. The village restaurant has everything you need, like a supermarket, only it has much better ambiance. That’s really the only reason we have restaurants. I remember one of my cousins went to an Italian restaurant one day and fell in love with it. It inspired him to learn how to cook and open one up in our village.”

  “Wow, I wish I could go there and meet your family.”