A Human Element

by Donna Galanti

  "Laura knows it to be true." Felix stared at her as if waiting for affirmation. She looked at him with tears in her eyes.

  "Yes. And I have a brother. We're twins."

  "Yes."

  "And he has special powers too."

  "Yes."

  "How did my mother, Sarah, become pregnant with us?"

  "We could only surmise what happened the night the spaceship crashed. Your father, Feo, was injured. His partner dead. Their mission was to come to Earth and procreate here to carry on their race. It was a desperate risk to take, but they faced extinction. We know from logs decoded that their planet had been dying for some time. They were trying to locate another planet to live on."

  "But we're so far away," Laura said. "There had to be another planet closer than six million light years away."

  Felix sighed. "You're thinking again in a physical sense. Time is relative to them and the way they travel. It did not matter Earth was so far away. It had the best resources and quality they found to relocate. And when their mission failed Feo must have been desperate. He came in contact with a runaway girl that night and passed on his essence to her through some power. He could have impregnated her in the hopes she would carry on their race. In a sense it was a virgin birth."

  "Where's my brother?" Laura stood up and touched Ben's arm. He blew out a big breath and yanked his fingers through his bangs. Laura moved toward Felix and stood beneath him. His face was craggy and sharp with heavy lines, carved over time.

  "You've known him all along. He's coming for you, right now."

  "What do you mean? That sounds sinister," Ben said.

  "It is," Felix replied. "He is the one coming to kill you, Laura. And I believe you are the one person who can stop him."

  CHAPTER 25

  Laura tried to process all Felix had told her. "How can you know all this?"

  Felix stared at her, his fierce eyes burned deep into hers. The longer she stared the more hypnotized she became. She felt a wave of feeling pour off him and roll over her. She didn't recognize it at first, but then she did. It was desire, but not lustful. A desire to feel whole with her as a partner, yet there was a touch of melancholy. It was as if he knew it would never happen and resigned himself to just yearn. She didn't know what to make of that.

  "There was another spaceship that landed fifty-two years ago from the same planet. That one landed in the foothills of Virginia. Another set of aliens from Elyon. Only these didn't die right away. The government used them for experiments. Sick experiments, involving genetic testing and surgeries. Cruel things were done to them, before they finally died along with the humans they were tested with. That's what our lovely government does."

  "Why were humans tested with them?"

  "They wanted to see if their alien seed could be planted into a human female, impregnate her, and have her give birth naturally. It worked, but all three women they impregnated as paid test subjects died in childbirth along with the babies. The babies were too large to come out naturally. The mothers bled to death and the babies suffocated. All except one."

  The wind whipped up in gusts. Laura moved into Ben's side. He held her tight to him. The cold didn't seem to affect Felix. He stood there, still as rock, overlooking the pond. The sky darkened as the afternoon crept toward evening. Laura felt faint. They hadn't eaten since breakfast except some nuts in the car.

  "Let's go now," she said. "I need to eat. It's been hours since we last ate. You can tell us more in the car."

  Felix grabbed his bag and strode back to the car, ahead of Ben and Laura. They trudged back through fallen leaves. "Head back into the city and find a drive-thru restaurant," he instructed as they got back in the car.

  Ben eased down the dirt road and turned onto the main paved road, back the way they came.

  "What happened to the baby that lived?" Laura turned around from the front seat to face Felix.

  "He also became a science experiment. He was raised in a secret facility where he was prompted to show the scientists all the amazing things he could do. Things such as foresee the future and demonstrate his strength. They gave him rewards of food and books and movies. All he wanted to do was go outside and play with other children. But he was not allowed. Eventually he grew up. They trained him to be a government agent, tracking his whereabouts at all times."

  "How do you know all this?"

  There was a long silence in the car.

  Felix stared at Laura with a look of pain on his face. "Because I am that man."

  Laura now understood his melancholy. No one spoke for a long moment.

  "I don't understand all of what's happening here or why it's happening," Ben finally said. "But if it matters, I'll protect Laura no matter what."

  Felix looked over at Ben, his eyes reflected the afternoon sun streaking in through the window. "I'm counting on it."

  "We're meant to be together for some reason, aren't we?" Laura touched Felix's coat.

  "Yes."

  "And you were there the night I was born, weren't you?"

  "Yes, I was there the night you and your brother were born of an alien father and a human mother. Like me. However, I was created by man from the alien race as an experiment. You, Laura, were created by an act of desperation. An act committed by a dying race seeking to carry their people on."

  "You were the man who took my brother away weren't you?"

  "Yes. I had been paid to switch him out with a dead baby I stole from the Albany morgue. I waited in the rain that night outside the health facility. When the nurse brought him to me I heard something. The cry of another baby. I thought there must be another baby born, perhaps a twin. So I kept watch over your town and found out about you, Laura. I needed to know if you were like me, or like your brother. I've kept your existence a secret all these years. The government used to track me, but not anymore. They know I come here still, but they think it's because I feel connected to the lake through the second spaceship that came from Elyon."

  "How could you steal a dead baby?" Ben gripped the steering wheel hard. The sky grew darker above them as night approached. Dimness closed in around the car as they moved into twilight.

  "I had no choice. If I refused my duties I could have been eliminated or placed back into a facility with limited freedoms. Some days, when I have jobs of a particular hideous nature, it seems like death would be a peaceful ending. But, I continue with my job. I carry on. I have to."

  "Why do you have to carry on?" Laura pulled her coat around her tighter, although the heat blasted through the vents. She wished she could read his thoughts but she could only glimpse his feelings. She sensed the same jumbled feelings of conflict, dispassion, and anguish now as she did all those years ago. But there was something new within him. A sense of destiny. And hope.

  "I needed to make sure you and Ben came together."

  Laura looked at Ben, who glanced at her with surprise. Felix moved closer to the window, looking out over the woods they drove by. Watching. And waiting.

  "There are two kinds of people from Elyon, Laura," Felix said. "We learned about these people from decoded logs from the first and second spaceships that crashed. They are Seekers and Healers. I am a Seeker and you are a Healer. First, you must know that Elyon is billions of years older than Earth. Its sun is nearly burnt out and Elyon people are dying. Food and water are scarce. Civilization there has diminished to mere survival. Elyon beings evolved to become people of great mind power, eliminating the need for many of our types of communication. They eventually evolved into these two groups. Seekers are beings that can see into the future—or seek out people."

  "Like you," Laura noted.

  "And your brother."

  "And that's what he's doing now. Seeking me out. To kill me."

  "Yes," Felix said softly. He placed his thick hand on her shoulder for a brief moment then pulled it back. "But it's also a skill used to do good. It can be used to find lost loved ones, criminals, or natural resources. Seekers also have superhuman st
rength, humans would say. They can be impassionate beings without the evolved array of emotions humans have. Seekers have evolved beyond feelings and emotion to rely on facts and logic, although they are not without empathy for others."

  Laura nodded. What he said about himself was true. She had sensed it long ago and sensed it still. Dusk had now settled in and shadows stretched across the inside of the car. Ben turned the car lights on. The road slowly became more populated with houses as he neared Albany.

  A sad smile played across Felix's face as he gazed at her and spoke in a low voice. "As a Healer, you have much more power than I. You have the power to move objects and look into the minds of others to see their thoughts and feelings. More amazing is that you have the power to heal, to bring life back from near death, to give relief to pain. You also have a great capacity for love. This is what enables you to carry on after great tragedy. It is a trait many are without and why there are so many lost people in this world." Felix looked at Ben then in the rear view mirror.

  "And what about my brother? What is he and where has he been all these years? Why does he hate me so much?"

  "Your brother is a dangerous mix. He is a Healer like you, but also a Seeker. This is a unique combination, a mutation we call it. From Elyon records we found there are a small percent of them born with both of these abilities." He stared at her now with an intensity that scared her.

  "Why a dangerous mix?" Ben looked at Felix in the rearview mirror.

  "Because their mutation also includes a high testosterone level with a predisposition toward rage and hate. Add this to the fact he can seek out others, see into the future, move objects, and heal. This all makes for a volatile and dangerous personality. He has no remorse, no consideration for human life. He does not use his healing powers to heal, but to kill. He is what we call a Destroyer. It has not helped that his upbringing fed into his hatred. The Destroyer gene these people carry may lay dormant inside them forever, unless it's triggered by hate. And that's what happened to your brother. He grew up in the same facility I did. He killed many people and they discarded him to the basement. He has lived out his days there in a cell with an old, has-been scientist to care for him. One who still uses him as a science experiment."

  "And he is there, now?" Pity surged through Laura for her twin, isolated and forgotten. But fear of him also crept into her. He sounded like a monster created by his genes and environment.

  "No, he escaped the facility last night and now seeks you out, Laura. We have a few days until he reaches us. I have seen it. Now is the time to face this enemy. You can face him now or keep running forever. He will never stop looking for you."

  A chill settled in Laura's heart sending goose bumps along her skin. "Why does he want to kill me?"

  "He's drawn to you because he knows you and he are connected to one another. And he hates you for that. He also hates the idea that you have a life of freedom and pleasure. And he has sought to destroy your life." Felix paused and bent his head, speaking so softly that Laura had to strain to hear him. "It was him who burned your house down and killed your parents. He killed Moe and he entered the body of your co-worker to kill your colleagues. He tried to kill your friend, Jim Barrens, once too in the orchard."

  Laura closed her eyes to block out his words. Ben's fingers pressed into her arm and it was the only thing that grounded her as anger and sorrow stormed through her in a wave swell she didn't know how to stop. She hugged her stomach and rocked to quell the intense feelings shooting through her.

  All of the tragedies in her life were connected, and here she was hearing about it from the man who'd been watching her all her life. The man she first saw when she was seven years old. It was on that day her mother, Fanny, almost died and Laura healed her. She felt an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. Had her brother tried to kill her mother then too? Fanny had gone on to die anyways. Was fate telling Laura something? Maybe it was fate her mother should die then. Could fate be changed?

  She took deep breaths to slow her racing heart. "Why doesn't he seek you out too, Felix, and kill you if you are watching out for me?"

  "He can't see me as I am not tempered by emotion, therefore I'm protected. I'm safe from his seeking powers."

  "So why me?" Ben cleared his throat. "Why do Laura and I need to get together? And why've you been watching us all these years?"

  "At first I just watched Laura," Felix said. "I knew she was from the same planet as me. We were connected. I needed to know what powers she had."

  "I was eleven when I saw you in the woods and you said you needed to know what I was," Laura whispered, looking into his eyes. They burned brighter in the rising darkness crowding into the car. "My whole life I didn't know what that meant. Now I know. I am only half-human. Half-alien."

  The realization hit her with a physical force as she said it aloud. She had been so absorbed by Felix's story her mind couldn't process the reality. She looked at Ben and felt a deep pain in her stomach, twisting up into her heart. How could she be with Ben when she wasn't all human? A freak. That's what she was. It sounded like her brother was one too. Ben could have any woman. Why would he want an alien one? The word alien conjured up two-headed beings with tentacles. Strange monsters, evil and hideous.

  She looked at her arms, her legs. She touched her knees. She hugged her breasts. She couldn't be hideous and evil. She was human. She was a woman. Ben had shown her last night. All this went through her in a second.

  "Human to me," Ben said, with a tight smile.

  "Half-human. Yes," Felix said. "Just like me. Just like your brother. Half-human, half-Elyon."

  "So why did you start watching me too?" Ben reached for Laura's hand. She sensed he didn't care what she was. But she did.

  "Because I saw into the future. I saw a healthy baby boy with special powers who was half-Elyon, half-human. Your baby. A baby who would grow to save our race. And so I sought you both out through the years to ensure you would survive and meet. And I can see all is going well from your night together. It happened faster than I thought."

  Laura let go of Ben's hand and turned back to face Felix, both hands gripping the seat back. "What are you talking about?"

  Felix looked at her with his green eyes fixed on hers. "It's destiny. You and Ben are meant to procreate and have a successful match as breeders to continue the Elyon race and our powers. It's our one hope to continue our race here on Earth."

  "Is that what I am to you? Just a breeding machine to keep this alien race going?" For a moment Laura hated Felix.

  "No, never." Felix sighed and his face sagged. "You are a miracle, Laura. And now you have a chance to make miracles happen. You and Ben are a promise."

  Laura put her face in her hands and shook her head, willing herself not to cry. She didn't want to look at Felix or Ben. She just wanted them to disappear for now. She wanted to run. She felt sick processing the fact she could be half-human and she was designated the sole person to carry on this alien line. She turned back around and sank into her seat.

  Ben stared at the road ahead but she heard his thoughts loud and clear. He was thinking about that morning making love to her, unprotected. And now what if she was pregnant? She had asked him to stay that first night. Could he stay if it was forever? His final question burned in her mind. But do we even have the promise of forever?

  "I don't know, Ben." Laura answered him aloud. He looked startled and turned his attention back to driving.

  Felix remained silent, a guardian from the backseat.

  CHAPTER 26

  They reached the outskirts of Albany and strip malls popped up with restaurants and stores.

  "There." Felix pointed at a fast food chicken joint. "Go through that one."

  Ben pulled in to the drive-thru restaurant and ordered them all grilled chicken sandwiches, fries, and lemonade. Not the healthiest meal, but they needed something to go on. Laura felt a headache growing and hoped it was just due to lack of food. They ate their food in silence.

&
nbsp; "Just where am I heading to?" Ben balanced his sandwich on his lap as he steered the car back on the road.

  "Turn left at the light and go down a few miles." Felix stared out the window.

  Ben crumbled up his food wrapper and shoved it in the drive-through bag. "All these years you've been watching us, making sure we survived to come together?"

  Felix nodded.

  "You rescued me in Hawaii, so why not from my abusive foster father?"

  Laura sipped her lemonade, images fresh in her head of Ben being tied to a rock and standing before a burning bed. He hadn't opened up to her about these events. Then she grew angry as she thought of this man knowing her loved ones would die and doing nothing about it.

  She turned around in her seat to face Felix. "And you left me notes warning me of this man coming and to use my powers, but you never showed up to rescue my parents or Moe or Renee. Why? Couldn't you have stopped him?" Laura's voice rose louder. "If you can see into the future and know these things then you could have done something! But you just let them all die. Why?"

  Felix sat still with no trace of expression on his face. "Because as a Seeker, my privilege of seeing into the future also comes with the law I must not interfere with the future unless it's for a greater good. If I had, the course of your life might have changed and your brother would keep coming. He wouldn't stop. He would keep killing those around you to torment you and eventually kill you, as he plans to do now. And fate has a hand in it too. Fate seeks to re-align itself to its correct path, no matter how bad the outcome. Those that died were meant to die, at that time or another. Fate would find another way to achieve its set course."

  "But you did interfere in my life," Ben insisted, glancing at Felix in the mirror. "You saved me from those men. Why not from my foster father?"