H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS

by Natalie Wright

  He found them together in a room with two small beds thrown into it tucked into a corner on the first floor of the bunkhouse building. It looked like a room that had maybe been used for storage but hastily made ready for two more people.

  Alecto was on one of the beds, balled into an upright egg-shaped blob. Tex was glad to see that she was resting and preserving her energy. He needed her to be at peak performance in the morning.

  Commander Sturgis sat quietly upright on her bed. Her eyes were closed but it was unclear if she was asleep or just resting. Her suit jacket was hung neatly over the back of a wooden chair at the end of the bed but she still wore her shirt buttoned up, her hair still pulled tightly into a twist at the back of her head. The immaculately coiffed hair was in strange contrast to her legs in a lotus position, her pencil skirt hitched up on her thighs.

  She knew immediately that he stood in the door. Her eyes opened slowly. “Hello, 9.”

  He did not answer but entered the room on swift feet and stood at the end of her bed facing her. “I must speak with you.”

  “Of course.” She did not uncurl her legs or get up. She indicated he could sit in the chair with a motion of her hand.

  Alecto remained in her tightly coiled position giving no indication that she was aware he was in the room.

  Tex sat on the chair, his legs straddling it. Sturgis looked at him evenly but without the cool mask of indifference he usually saw her wear. If anything he thought she might have looked sad.

  “I need you to do something for me,” he said.

  “I will do what I can.”

  He hesitated. He had never wanted to ask her for anything. She had been the last person he wished to show any weakness or request any favors from. He wasn’t sure what moved him to come to her in the first place, but some part of him had forced his feet on the path to her door.

  “The task before me tomorrow…”

  She waited patiently for him to continue. “Go on,” she said finally.

  “I must not…Clothes, even hair can catch fire at high temperatures.”

  Her eyes softened and he thought he heard a small gasp escape her lips. But the sound may have come from Alecto. He glanced over at Alecto but her head still rested on her knees, her arms wound tightly around her body.

  “Will you—cut my hair?”

  A rogue tear filled the corner of her eye. “I would be honored.”

  And he believed she meant it.

  She rose from the bed, slipped on her shoes and left him there. “I will be back soon. Stay here.”

  As soon as Sturgis departed, Alecto slowly raised her head. She blinked her eyes a few times as if trying to clear her vision. She cocked her head to the side and regarded him. “Your attempt to pass as a human is unsuccessful. You are still H.A.L.F.” There was no judgment or sarcasm in her voice.

  “I know.”

  “Does your new form please her?”

  “Are you speaking of Erika?”

  Alecto nodded her large head slowly.

  “I am not entirely sure. Strangely, I don’t think that she minded my original appearance.”

  She sniffed. “An odd girl, that one.”

  Tex smiled and nodded. “Probably why I enjoy being with her so much.”

  Alecto sat cross-legged, her back erect, her neck long and her bald head held high. “Commander Sturgis said that you no longer need fear water. Is that true?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you know that I was cured too? Commander Sturgis created a gene therapy that Dr. Randall administered.”

  “That’s wonderful.” Tex smiled widely but she did not return the smile. Her emotions seemed as blunted as ever.

  Tex truly was happy for her. Without the threat of being rendered as useless as a car without wheels simply from a dousing with water, Alecto could achieve a free life if she wanted it. Tex was surprised though that Sturgis would voluntarily take away the one method of total control of Alecto.

  Her dark eyes bore into him. It seemed she had something she wanted to say but she remained quiet. Tex attempted again to probe at her mind but she still blocked him. She was unwilling to communicate with him telepathically.

  “Do you ever wish that things…” Alecto said.

  “Wish what?”

  “That it could be different? That we were—”

  “Human?”

  “Yes.”

  Alecto picked up a water bottle from the small table next to her bed and took a long draw. “This thirst. It is an unpleasant sensation.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Every step I take into the human world brings with it a host of unwanted feelings. It was easier below ground.”

  He could not share her sentiment. Tex had never found life below ground easy. But he decided not to argue with her over it. “Maybe.”

  They sat in silence a few minutes more. Alecto, apparently tired of looking at him, began to pull herself into a ball again.

  “There’s one thing—a thing I’ve wanted to say to you. For a while.”

  Her arms were wrapped around her legs and her head was almost to her knees but she looked up at him, waiting.

  “I wish things could have been different with us. That we could have been friends. After all, we are the only two of our kind in all the universe.”

  She silently regarded him. “Your attempt to seal the portal will put you in danger?”

  He nodded.

  “Should anything happen to you, I would then be the only one. I would be truly alone.”

  He nodded again.

  “Then I shall do my best to ensure that your survive your endeavor.” She then tucked her head down to her legs and withdrew all attention from the world outside herself.

  A few minutes later, Sturgis returned with a plain, white sheet in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other. She had him move his chair to the center of the small room and asked him to sit. She draped the sheet around his body and let its loose ends hang at the back.

  Her cool fingers ran through his hair, combing it gently back away from his face. The touch reminded him of the feeling of the Regina’s touch. The memory sent a shiver up his back. He forced the memory from his mind.

  No words passed between them. There was only the sound of the scissor blades clanging against each other and the gentle swoosh as locks of his hair were snipped and fell to the floor. His neck prickled from the cool air.

  Commander Sturgis whipped the sheet off of him and brushed the back of his neck off with her thin fingers. He stood and realized that he was now taller than she was. Somehow she looked smaller to him. He had a slight urge to hug her but thought better of it.

  “You can have the hair. I think you’ll find a use for it,” he said.

  She bit her lip and nodded. “Yes. I know exactly what to do with it.”

  It was clear that she fought back tears. If he hugged her, the tears would fall. But that is not how she would want him to remember her. He knew that much.

  Instead he nodded back at her once and left her surrounded by the white-gold locks that she’d shorn from his head.

  46

  ERIKA

  Pale pink light filtered through Erika’s eyelids and beckoned her to open her eyes. She was drowsy like she’d taken nighttime cold medicine but she couldn’t recall taking medicine. Her vision was bleary and her head throbbed. With great effort, she hoisted her legs over the side of the bed, her head cradled in her hands.

  She was still dressed in the clothes she’d worn the day before. She wasn’t even under the covers. What did I do last night?

  Erika pushed herself up off the bed and grabbed her toiletry bag. As she shuffled down the hall to go to the bathroom, she became aware of the eerie quiet of the place. She stood still and listened. The only sound was the whirr of warm air blowing out of the heating register.

  The bathroom was empty and as cold as ever. She quickly took care of her business and brushed her teeth, eager to get back to her warm room and layer on more
clothes before breakfast.

  Her head still throbbed like she had a terrible hangover. But she couldn’t recall drinking anything the night before. She pulled her hair back into a tail while trying to recall the previous night. The last thing she remembered, Jack was in her room. He had told her to go to Tex. Did I?

  As she tried to recall whether she had seen him or not, her head throbbed. Then it hit her. It was the day Tex was supposed to close the portal. He was supposed to begin what he called Interface just after dawn. Her clock read 7:30. He could already be gone.

  Erika pulled on a loose-fitting jacket as she ran down the deserted hall of the bunkhouse. She pulled her shoe on as she hit the top of the stairs. The building was the quiet of a deserted school on a Sunday. Where is everyone?

  Each time she wracked her brain to remember what had happened to her the night before, her head throbbed. And each time she thought of Tex, the pain nearly made her pass out.

  But she couldn’t help thinking about him. There was something important about him. She knew it was there but her recollection was hazy like a dream from years ago, vivid at the time but faded now to vague and hazy.

  The gravel courtyard was empty as well. No one sipped morning coffee or scurried on their way to work. It was as though the entire place had been abandoned.

  Erika ran past the long building that housed the computers and equipment that were the brains of the VLA and wheeled around the corner toward the first dish in the array. She felt a low thrum in her stomach like the rumble of far off thunder. But the skies were clear. The sun was above the horizon now and the distant mountains were purple silhouettes against a light blue sky.

  There was another blob on the horizon that had not been there before. As Erika ran to it she realized it was a mass of people. A crowd had gathered standing on the sandy soil while others were in the backs of jeeps or on top of vans. They formed a small mound of humanity all intently focused on the area around one dish aligned to the northeastern sky.

  As she got closer the deep rumble in her gut grew larger and more insistent. She tried to make out familiar faces. She searched the shapes, most facing away from her, for Ian, Jack, Dr. Randall or even Anna. No one in the crowd paid her any mind as she gently pried her way through them searching for people she knew.

  Erika worked her way forward through layer after layer of the throng. She hadn’t realized there were that many people at the VLA but between the military personnel that had descended on the place plus the regular cohort of scientists who were regulars plus her small band of friends, there had to be more than a hundred people crowded near the base of the dish.

  Erika finally caught sight of Ian. His height made him stand out in the crowd. He was with Jack, Anna, Dr. Randall and Commander Sturgis. Where’s Alecto?

  She was glad to see them but also miffed that none of them had cared enough to make sure she was awake and there to support Tex. As she approached Ian, she had intended to give him a piece of her mind but was stopped short by the look on his face as he saw her.

  Ian’s eyes were rimmed in red and puffy, his cheeks wet. He didn’t say a word but simply pulled her to him and enfolded her in his arms stroked her hair.

  The rumble in her belly was now also an audible hum. Erika pulled herself away from Ian and peered through the gap between the people in front of her toward where everyone looked.

  Tex stood directly under the dish, his face upturned, his feet planted a few feet apart from each other, his arms outstretched to the sides. His head was smooth and shorn of hair. He was in his more human form complete with pale, alabaster skin that practically glowed in the early morning light.

  A low, guttural cry rose from his lips and filled the morning air. His eyes were open and the skin on his face was mottled pink and red with blood that ran in a trickle from his eyes, ears and nose. Alecto was sprawled on the ground next to him, her hands wrapped around his leg. Her eyes were closed and her lips set in a grim expression, her brows knitted tightly together. She clung to him as though she was trying to keep him from flying away.

  He opened his mouth and this time the low guttural yell was an unearthly scream. It was a sound full of agony as if from an animal with its leg caught in a trap, tearing at its flesh as it tries to get away.

  But no one rushed to his side. Erika turned to Ian and hissed, “Why isn’t anyone helping him?” Without waiting for an answer, she took a step forward and was about to push the rest of the way through the crowd but Ian caught her by the elbow and yanked her back.

  “No, Erika. You can’t.” His voice trembled through tears.

  “Let go.” Her voice was a low growl.

  But Ian didn’t let go. He took her by the shoulders, looked down into her eyes and said, “He didn’t want you to be here because he knew you’d try to stop him. He didn’t want you to remember him like this. He’s doing what he has to do and you have to let him.”

  Her face softened and Ian loosed his grip on her shoulders. Erika turned back toward Tex and it was as though he was only a faint outline of himself but then solid again. There was a collective gasp that came from the entire crowd sucking in air all at once.

  His body seemed to waver like heat shimmering on pavement but it could have been the tears filling her eyes. She turned to Ian. “I can’t just stand here and watch him suffer. He’s hurt, Ian.” She looked around them and no one made a move to help him. Her voice rose in anger. “Sons-of-bitches, he has sacrificed for you his whole life and none of you will raise a hand to help him.”

  A few turned to look at her but she didn’t pull their attention away from Tex for long. He let out another loud screech that made her heart drop to her stomach.

  She flung herself forward through the crowd but Ian surged after her. His legs were longer than hers and he caught up to her within a few strides.

  Ian grabbed her hand and pulled her back. “He ordered us not to interfere. And he specifically asked me to make sure you didn’t try to stop him.” Ian wiped at his eyes with his hand. “Do you want me to walk you back to your room?”

  Erika looked across the faces of the gathered throng. There wasn’t a dry eye to be seen. Even General Hays’ eyes were red.

  Ian still had hold of her hand and Dr. Randall came from behind and took her other hand in his. “If you can bare it, I think you should stay,” he said. His cheeks were wet. “On some level, he knows you’re here and that will give him strength.” He smiled at her wanly.

  A bolt of purplish white light arched down from the sky and into Tex from above. It shot out of his hands and shook him like a dog shaking a toy but he stood upright still, planted firmly on the ground despite the fact that his naked body smoked from the heat. Then he was a faint outline again, here but gone.

  Despite the pain it caused, she forced herself to remember Tex as best she could while watching his body bleed and his voice call out. He was here and she recalled the feel of his lips on hers. Did that really happen? Or was it a dream? His body began to disappear again, a faint outline of him remaining behind as though it was a place holder waiting for his return. His chest was firm against hers, his skin ablaze with warmth. They had been in his room. I was there. It did happen. We were together.

  His body was back, his screams filled the air of the place. His nearly baldhead was singed black and smoke billowed off of him. Alecto’s face was wet with sweat and tears, her knuckles white from gripping him.

  “What is she doing?” Erika whispered.

  “Healing him,” Dr. Randall said. He wiped at his eyes and his voice quavered. “Though it looks like she can’t keep up with the damage this process is causing him.”

  “Can’t keep up with the damage.”

  Tex screamed out to Alecto, “Let go.” His voice was scratchy and hoarse.

  Alecto did not loose her grip on him. If anything, she clung more tightly.

  Jack asked, “Should one of us go pry her off of him?” He seemed to be directing his question to Commander Sturgis.

>   Sturgis regarded him and appeared ready to step forward to retrieve Alecto. But before she could take a step, the space around them was filled with a thunderous rumble and the ground shook. Alecto was flung away from Tex like she was no more than a tumbleweed bandied about by the wind. She toppled heel over head and landed about ten yards away from the edge of the crowd.

  Drs. Randall, Sturgis and Lewis ran to her but before they could determine if she had any injuries, the ground trembled again and a more powerful shockwave emanated from Tex. He was jolted again by plasma that seemed to come from heaven itself. It filled him and his mouth contorted in agony though no sound escaped his open lips.

  Several people toppled to the ground and camera equipment was shattered. Erika remained standing only because Ian held her upright. Her knees were jelly; her stomach a hollow pit.

  Tex was surrounded by a glow of white-hot light. A man in one of the van’s opened the door and shouted, “It’s working.”

  Tex’s silhouette in the light was almost a shadow. His eyes had been pointed upward as though looking into the heavens. For the merest hint of an instant, he looked directly at Erika, picking her out of the crowd as if his eyes had a laser focus in them. And for that moment, her knees were steady and her tears stopped. The noise of the crowd was gone. There was only the rush of her blood in her ears and a lone voice speaking directly to her mind.

  “I love you,” he said.

  But it was more than words. She knew his feelings for her as wholly as she knew her own feelings for him. And then, as soon as it had come, the moment was passed. His eyes drifted away from her and he was not quite gone but not quite here either.

  In the next minutes, it was as though time slowed. Dr. Randall scooped Alecto up and carried her away from Tex, Drs. Sturgis and Lewis right behind him. An excited murmur erupted in the crowd at the announcement that Tex’s efforts were doing what he said he could do – close down the galactic highway. With the gate closed, the M’Uktah harvesting plan would come to an end.