D.N.A.

by Jami Lynn Saunders

  “Sit with us,” John said.

  David gave him a blank stare.

  “Look, it’s not a trick. I’ve even forgiven you for popping me. That took real stones. Didn’t think you had that in you anymore.”

  “What do you really want, John?” David asked.

  John smiled. “I’ve decided to make you my senior project. My goal is to make you popular this year.”

  “Good luck with that,” Brice whispered.

  “Not interested,” David said, ignoring Brice’s comment. He continued toward the back of the lunchroom. Before he had taken two steps, someone tripped him and he went sailing to the floor along with his pizzas and soda. He heard Brice laughing behind him.

  “Not cool, Brice,” John said.

  David climbed to his feet. His shirt was covered with pizza sauce and Coke. A wave of laughter broke across the room as David made his exit.

  “You are a loser,” David said to his reflection as he stood before a mirror in the boy’s room. He used a wet paper towel to try to clean his shirt, but his efforts only spread the stains. He bent over the sink to splash water on his face and noticed a burning sensation on the back of his neck. He wondered if his dreams had crossed over into reality. The pain was intense. He rubbed his palm over his neck but felt nothing. Then the dizziness returned and he heard the sound of air being sucked down a wind tunnel.

  “Are you all right?” John said, grabbing David as he lost his balance and began to sway. The dizziness and searing pain vanished at the sound of John’s voice.

  “Yeah, I’m okay, I guess.”

  “Figured I’d give you my jersey to wear. You sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m fine, just been feeling a little lightheaded today. But I’m more aggravated than dizzy,” David replied as he pulled off his sauce-stained shirt. “Thanks for the jersey. I was thinking, maybe it is time to bury the hatchet. After all, we used to be best friends.”

  “And now we’re brothers, too,” John said, smiling. “I’m ready to start over. I’ll even talk to Brice, get him to lay off.”

  “I can handle my own problems.”

  “Brice isn’t such a bad guy. You just have to stand up to him. Once he knows he can’t push your buttons, he’ll leave you alone.”

  David nodded.

  “I still think you should join the football team,” John said. “Dad will let you on, he already said so. Brice will leave you alone once you’re one of us.”

  “Somehow, I don’t think football is an option anymore, not after Calculus class.”

  David’s head wouldn’t stop spinning. By last period, he felt like a drunken monkey on a perpetual tilt-a-whirl. He counted the minutes to the final bell. He lay his head down on his desk and closed his eyes. The last thing he remembered was squinting against blindingly bright lights.

  He groaned. “Am I dreaming again?”

  “You’re fine, honey,” his mother said as she squeezed David’s hand.

  “Where am I?” David asked.

  “You’re in the emergency room of Atlantic Bay Hospital.”

  “What? What happened?”

  “You passed out at school. The doctor says it looks like mono. Worse case he’s ever seen. You’ll be out of school for a week or two.”

  “What a way to start my senior year,” David said to his mother as she tucked the sheets around him on his foldout couch in the basement.

  “You sure you don’t want to sleep up in your old room?” she asked.

  “I’m better off down here. I wouldn’t want anyone else getting sick.”

  “Call me if you need me. Good night, honey.”

  David fell asleep, plagued by dreams of the alien being tortured and random equations floating in his head. The last dream he remembered was climbing his basement stairs, standing in the kitchen, and looking up at the ceiling. A beam of light shot down from the sky through the roof and into him. He woke up, startled, and stared up at the ceiling. He crawled out of bed and made his way to the kitchen.

  John was sitting at the breakfast table. “Coming out of your coma?” he said with a smile.

  “It’s morning already?”

  “Sunday morning. You’ve been pretty much asleep since you passed out at school.”

  “Guess I’m feeling better then.”

  “You sure?” his mother asked.

  “I feel fine. Better than fine. I feel amazing.”

  “Don’t think for one minute that this gets you out of detention,” Don mumbled as he read the Sunday paper.

  Karen felt David’s head. “Cool as a cucumber. Your fever seems to be gone.”

  “I swear, mom, I feel like a new person,” David said. “I think I can go back to school tomorrow.”

  “Not without your doctor’s permission.”

  “That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen anyone recover from mono,” Dr. Robertson said.

  “Maybe it wasn’t mono,” David replied. “Maybe just a bad case of flu.”

  “Maybe. Anyway, I’m giving you a clean bill of health. You can go back to school tomorrow. But, I’ve got to say, young man, you’re definitely the first kid who’s ever asked me for a doctor’s excuse to go back to school.”

  “What can I say, it’s senior year.”

  David strode the halls of Atlantic Bay High School on Monday morning feeling refreshed and renewed, almost reborn. Confidence poured out of him as he walked to his first-period biology class. On his way there he encountered Chastity Bertrum, who was heading to the same class.

  “I don’t like being snubbed,” Chastity said, putting her hand on the back of David’s shoulder as they entered the room.

  “Me neither,” David said. Chastity Bertrum had once been the girl of his dreams. Her sister Cera was just as hot, but something about Chastity had always caught his eye. He had taken her to a dance once, but that was in eighth grade, and this was now. She was off the market, attached to Brice Cooper since sophomore year. Brice had made it perfectly clear to David, on more than one occasion, that anyone who so much as smiled at his girlfriend would receive the pounding of his life. But Brice didn’t seem so intimidating any more.

  “So don’t do it again,” Chastity said. “Okay?”

  “Sorry, I had somewhere to be.”

  “Somewhere more important than me?”

  David shrugged his shoulders.

  “I’m starting to think that maybe you don’t think I’m that pretty.” Chastity batted her puppy dog eyes, her signature move.

  “What gave you the idea that I ever thought you were pretty?” David asked, grinning.

  Chastity pouted. “As if.”

  “Whatev.”

  “Hey, are you going to the game this Friday?” Chastity asked. Chastity, the school’s head cheerleader, was interested in all things football. “Rumor has it you might join the team.”

  “Not interested in the team, but I may show up to the game,” David said. “That is, if you promise to cheer just for me.”

  “You’ve got to earn a cheer from me,” Chastity said as they walked to the back of the room. “You up to earning it?” she whispered over his shoulder into his ear. The way she said it almost made him blush.

  “Okay, class, today is the day to pick your lab partner,” Mr. Bonzo said. “Pair up and let’s get this show on the road.”

  “You and me,” Chastity said, grabbing David’s arm as she took the seat next to him.

  “What about your gorilla of a boyfriend?”

  “He’s late, as usual. You snooze, you lose.”

  Just then, Brice entered the room. “Sorry I’m late, Mr. Bonzo,” he said, reeking of cigarette smoke.

  The teacher waved the stench away. “You been driving another nail in your coffin?”

  “Huh?”

  “I smell the smoke, son. I wasn’t born yesterday. Detention. Maybe I should ask Coach Butler what he thinks of your little habit.”

  Brice turned red as the class laughed. He trudged to the back of the room and noticed
Chastity and David sitting together. His eyes smoldered. “Out of my seat, Noble.”

  “Sorry, Brice,” Chastity said. “David and I have been assigned as lab partners.”

  “Well, I’m un-assigning him,” Brice said, glaring at David.

  “You snooze, you lose,” David said. Chastity giggled.

  “Sit down, Mr. Cooper,” Mr. Bonzo said.

  “You’ll pay, Noble,” Brice said. “Count on it.” Brice headed toward the last remaining lab table at the opposite corner of the room.

  Tara Downey walked in a moment later, looking just the slightest bit flustered. David grinned. Tara’s personality was a mixture of confidence born of her extreme intelligence and doubts about herself born of her geeky looks and glasses. Except her looks weren’t geeky anymore, David suddenly realized, and she had traded in her horn rims for contact lenses. Tara had transformed from a skinny geek to an elegant beauty, and she was far prettier than any other girl in school. David wondered why he hadn’t noticed this startling transformation earlier. Tara should be fighting off suitors, but David supposed that most of the boys were put off by her braininess.

  “I apologize, Mr. Bonzo,” Tara said breathlessly. “The yearbook staff meeting ran over.”

  “No problem, Tara,” Mr. Bonzo replied.

  “Hey,” Brice shouted. “How come I get detention and she doesn’t?”

  “Because she’s stuck with you as her lab partner,” Mr. Bonzo said. “That’s punishment enough.”

  The class laughed.

  Tara made her way to Brice’s table. On her way, she gave a quick glance in David’s direction, catching his eye and confirming his opinion that she was, indeed, the prettiest girl at Atlantic Bay High.

  Lunch couldn’t come quickly enough. David barely managed to keep his new genius-level intelligence in check, especially in Don Butler’s class. Being a genius was going to be tougher than he thought. To help keep a lid on his secret, he begged Don Butler for a truce by owning up to the accusation that he had cheated. Mr. Butler dropped the detention in exchange for his confession. He also dropped the big fat A that David had earned.

  David was hungry. He waited for the lunch lady to slap a cheeseburger on his plate and then quickly left the lunch line with a tray full of food. As he headed for a table, Brice caught him by the ankle and tripped him.

  “Two for two,” Brice announced as David fell toward the floor face first.

  Time seemed to slow, and the lunchroom noise became a dull buzz in the back of David’s mind. David watched himself extend his right hand toward the slowly oncoming floor as his left hand balanced the lunch tray. He bent at the knees, his left foot in front of his right, his right hand finding the floor, his left hand still holding the tray. He brought his feet together and stood up from the squatting position. Not a crumb or a drop had spilled. He heard a ripple of applause as he continued on his way, brushing past Brice as if nothing had happened. He left the lunchroom and sneaked down to the boiler room, a place where he used to hide and eat. He plopped down at an old square card table with gold-painted legs and a black plastic top. He’d played euchre many a lunch at the same table with the janitors. Today, the place was empty.

  The old boiler was loud, but David could still hear Brice tiptoeing down the stairs. Not much could get past his newly acute senses.

  “What do you want,” David said without turning.

  “I’m here to give you the whupping I’ve been promising you since freshman year. I know you’re sweet on Chastity. That’s why you chose her for your lab partner. Now you’re gonna face the wrath of Brice.”

  “Actually, she chose me,” David said as he stood to face the bully. “I think she has the hots for me.”

  Brice unleashed a right hook. Time slowed again and David watched the fist coming as if Brice were swinging through a vat of molasses. David sidestepped the blow and took a bite of his apple. Then he slammed the apple against Brice’s temple, sending juice splattering. Before Brice could respond, David lifted him up by his armpits and slammed him against a wall. David saw the fear and confusion in Brice’s eyes.

  “Don’t,” Brice whimpered.

  “How does it feel, Brice, to have the shoe on the other foot?”

  Brice didn’t respond.

  “I’ll say this once. If you mess with me again, I will wipe the floor with you.”

  David let go of him and stepped back. As he did, Brice cocked his fist to deliver another blow.

  David thumped Brice’s chest with the heel of his palm before the goon could swing. Brice hit the floor, and David pinned him with his foot. “Final warning,” David said. “Next time you’ll be spitting teeth.”

  David picked up his lunch tray and dumped the remaining contents on Brice before heading back to the lunchroom.

  David’s dreams were haunted again. This time it was an urgent call from across the galaxy. He tossed and turned, feeling as if the alien had invaded his brain. His imaginary friend from another world was begging him for help. It was only a dream, but he knew it was time to build the portal. But it was only a dream.

  He woke up in a sweat. He wondered if the past week had been real. He tried to assess the situation logically. It was true that he had changed, but perhaps he was just coming out of a three-year funk. He’d always been athletic, which would explain his strength, and he’d always been smart, if not quite at the genius level.

  He got up and climbed the steps from the basement, went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. As he drank, he felt the ground shake. Though he knew he was awake, a flash from his dreams returned as a bright light appeared above him, piercing through the kitchen ceiling. He looked up, and the light pulled him through the ceiling and through the roof and into the stars.

  His mind and body flew across the galaxy. Stars flew by so fast that it looked like he was flying through a tunnel made of strands of gold and silver light. He came to a sudden stop. He was floating in outer space like a stranded space probe. A round, yellow alien with smooth skin, one large eye, and no body, approached him through the blackness of space.

  “Am I dreaming?”

  “No,” the creature said, projecting its thoughts into David’s mind.

  “Why am I here?”

  “You were chosen to become an Ascendant. Now you are here to complete the task asked of you.”

  “What task? And what’s an Ascendant?”

  The creature chose to impart only what was relevant. “Return our own by completing the portal. In turn, you’ll receive what is needed to save your planet.”

  “What are you?”

  “I am the collective consciousness of the body of beings that inhabit the planet of your true ancestors, David Noble. I am connected to the one you are to save. You are one as well.”

  “What am I doing here?”

  “You are here to receive the gift of knowledge, so that you can complete your portal and save your own world.

  “Then I’m ready.”

  “It is done. Knowledge will come as needed.”

  In a flash, David felt a magnetic pull sucking him back toward Earth. He watched the tunnel of light and space whiz by in reverse.

  “Whoa, that was crazy,” he said as he was returned to the kitchen. Water spilled from the glass he held in hand. As his mind settled, he knew it wasn’t a dream. Equations and geometrical shapes danced in the air before his eyes. It was as if he were connected to some sort of universal Internet, the empty air in front of him his monitor screen. He shook the thoughts from his mind, and the images faded as quickly as they had appeared.

  He stood frozen, steadying his water glass as he reviewed his vision. The captive alien was real, though he couldn’t perceive how. And how he’d gotten back home from the hills remained a mystery. Nonetheless, he knew he had a job to do. The alien needed to return home, and it was up to David to build the portal that would return the being to his home planet. He rubbed his eyes and thought about what was required of him. A spherical shape appeared before
him floating in the air. It was made of what looked like glass, and equations painted in gold and silver covered its surface. The shape began to spin wildly, emitting blinding light as it spun.

  Starfire cube. The name popped into David’s mind, though the portal wasn’t a cube. He ran down the stairs and turned on his laptop to search the Internet for “starfire cube.” He found nothing. “What are you, starfire cube?” he whispered. As he did, his gaze drifted past his monitor. The empty space in the basement room was coming alive with more visions. David ignored his laptop and began typing at the air, his fingers moving at a speed beyond human. The air around him was glowing with words and equations.

  “It’s me,” he realized, his heart racing. “All I have to do is think about something, and I can see it in the air.” Information was pouring into him so fast he almost couldn’t keep up. He shrieked with laughter. “I’m a friggin computer!” he yelled.

  Memories of the alien returned. “We are one,” it whispered. A revelation struck. David abandoned his mind monitor and ran to the bathroom. He grabbed a hand mirror, held it behind his neck, and looked at the big mirror in front of him. A small geometrical shape was emitting light from beneath his skin. The light was so bright, he could tell that it was the same shape as the starfire cube and had similar etchings. “No friggin way.”

  The lights went black. When they returned, he’d become the alien again. “We are one,” it whispered. He knew the alien was hidden just north of Atlantic Bay. Tubes ran into him, pumping him full of sedatives as the same group of scientists continued their tests. David could feel the physical pain as if it were happening to him. “We are one,” he realized. “I’ve got to finish the cube!”

  David was a bucket of nerves when he entered school that morning. He knew what had to be done, and it had to be done soon, but he knew he couldn’t do it by himself. “The Fannins,” he thought. “They’ll help me.” But he hadn’t spoken to the Fannin brothers since his father’s death. His best bet was to catch them after school in their garage, also known as the Fannin Brothers’ Bachelor Pad. He had a feeling that that day would be the longest of his life.