HASH: Human Alien Species Hybrid

Chapter Five

The door opened and the woman who came in was in her forties, a little shorter than I was, with a kind of gentle beauty, even when she looked as worried as she did now. She had mousy blonde hair that fell in slightly tangled curls and wore a white coat over casual clothes. She had the scent of jasmine around her, as usual. I knew her well.

“Jade, are you all right?” Dr. Stevens asked.

“I had another nightmare, Dr. Stevens. The same as usual.”

“The woman in your dream took you in her arms?”

“Yes.”

“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?