HASH: Human Alien Species Hybrid

Chapter Six

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.”