Chapter 4

Kevin stared at the stranger, baffled. He looked around but the place was deserted, and the stranger still lay unconscious on the floor. After unsuccessfully trying to shake him, Kevin decided the best course of action would be to get him to Victor's hospital ... somehow. He was taller than Kevin by a few inches which make the whole process a lot harder. Kevin supported the body over his shoulder and dragged it out to where his bike was still lying in the bushes. It was an ordinary little one seater bike and after a few unsuccessful attempts to fit both of them on it without the stranger falling off, Kevin resorted to lying the teenager across the bike and dragging it by hand. The process took a couple of hours and he was hot and tired by the time the lights of the Landow hospital came into view. The sky was beginning to grow pink at the edges, and Kevin hoped he had a good enough excuse for having been out all night. He left his bike tied up at the stand and gently lifted the unconscious teenager off of it. Bracing himself, Kevin rang the hospital doorbell. A few moments later he heard brisk footsteps, the kind Victor used when he was irritated, which wasn't often. The door was swung open and an angry Victor stood n the doorway in his pyjamas.

"Kevin where have you bee-"

The sight of the unconscious person stopped Victor in his tracks.

"I'm sorry boss, I would have been sooner but ... I found him and he needs help"

The Cuban looked too perplexed to argue with Kevin's late coming and simply nodded, taking the body off of Kevin's shoulders and taking him to a hospital bed. Kevin was exhausted by this point, both mentally and physically. Luckily it was a Saturday so Angel suggested he went to sleep. Kevin was out the second his head hit the pillow. Then, something unusual happened. For the first time in almost a month, he did not have that same dream with the baby and glowing pillars. Instead, he dreamt about the meteor he had split open. He dreamt he was back in the lab, breaking the ore open with his prosthetic hand. However this time when the rock split open, there was not a pod but an oozing sludge of bright purple and blue, which sizzled and spat at him. Kevin backed away and tried to leave, but a giant tentacle-type-thing came rushing from the slime and wrapped itself around him, trying to pull him in, suffocating him-

The teenager woke up in a tangle of his own blankets, panting heavily. He was aware of a presence in the room and looked up to see Angel holding a cup of tea, which she placed on his bedside table before sitting herself on the edge of his bed.

"Victor's starting to bring him to conscious but ..." her pearly pink lips twisted sideways. "There's something ... not right about him"

"W-what do you mean? Is he going to die?"

"Well ... we're not sure" Angel looked as though she knew something he didn't. "His vitals are ... off. And Victor noticed his blood sample was ... well ... purple. He has these weird glowing veins and Vicky thought that it was paint at first but further examination suggests they're in his skin. I'm not really one for superstition Kevin but ... whatever you've brought back can't be human"

I guessed that from the fact he came from a space pod- Kevin thought to himself. Angel was still looking at him with interest.

"Kevin ... how DID you find him?"

The teenager didn't want to lie, but he didn't want them knowing about the rock – or that he'd snuck into the geology lab. He squirmed a little.

"He ... collapsed in front of me"

It was true after all; Kevin just didn't say where they had been. Angel was about to ask another question but Victor poked his head around the door.

"He's awake, but he's no making much sense"

"Can I see him?" Kevin asked, scrambling to his feet. He was curious after all.

Victor and Angel exchanged a glance before nodding.

The stranger was sitting up in his hospital bed, observing an object in his lap. Kevin realised it was a rubik's cube. The stranger turned it over once in his hand, and then snapped his fingers. The pieces of the cubes separated, rotated in mid air, and then came back together to form a completed puzzle. He smiled and set the toy down on the bedside table.

"That was ... not right. See if you can get a word out of him" Victor whispered, ushering Kevin into the room. The teenager looked up, squinted, and then started babbling a long stream of words in his strange language. Kevin simply stood, dumfounded, until the stranger realised he couldn't understand him. He sighed and beckoned Kevin closer with a waving motion. The teenager approached the other with trepidation. Once he was close enough, the stranger pressed his middle three fingers to Kevin's forehead and he felt a strange tingling sensation.

Is he going to drain my life force?

Kevin was about to break away, but the teenager had already pulled his hand back. Nothing seemed to be wrong with Kevin, other than a slight feeling of pins and needles on his face. He rubbed his forehead trying to get rid of the sensation.

The stranger in the bed was silent for a few moments looking as though he were deep in thought processing something. Then he smiled.

"Earth language?"

"Uhh .. yes?"

"Good. I am Philipxnethz, pleased to meet you"

"P-ph what?"

The stranger bit his lip thoughtfully, once again looking like he was trying to process something.

"Call me ... Philip. I think your human tongue will manage that"

"P-philip. Right" Kevin gulped. "I'm Kevin"

"K-ev-in" Philip rolled the name around on his tongue, and then smiled. "Ok, got it. Now, where's my pod? I took a crash landing at the milky way – attacked by Qeldoix warriors. Slimy spacekelp suckers" Philip beat a fist into his palm. "And I have an urgent message to deliver, so if you go point me in your earthly direction towards my shuttle, I should be able to stop the war before we're all wiped out"

That was too much information for Kevin to handle.

"W-war?"

"Obviously. The Qeldoix won't rest, and our good queen Evroid was lost to us many moons ago. No one's seen Corveilis for years so he's obviously no hope, and right now Eirai is doing her best to keep the situation under control but she can't hold off the war forever. I'm the Nevvix messenger for now since there's no royalty to guard."

"I ... have no idea what you're saying." Kevin blinked.

Philip sighed, as if the concept was simple.

"Many years ago the intergalactic society was peaceful, right? The Nevvix – that's where I come from – we had a lot of valuable space ore. The Qeldoix king didn't like that and he tried to attack our planet and murder the royal family. We managed to move most of the kingdom to the far side of the galaxy, but we've been at war ever since trying to build up our empire again. Queen Evroid's sister Eirai is the only royal left alive. 3 moons ago the Qeldoix king's niece went missing, and they're trying to wage war on us again thinking it's our fault. We didn't touch her, and I have proof in that pod of mine, but I need to deliver it before they destroy us again. We don't have the same defences this time and they're more powerful than ever. It could wipe us all out"

"So where is the niece?"

"No one knows. Probably ran off with some Quarkzoid"

Kevin didn't even bother asking this time.

"Now, it's vital I get back to that pod. If you earthlings could lend me some of your Ilzex, I can be on my way"

"W-what?"

"For starting up my pod, you must have broken through the pod case with that, Nevvix pods only open to metals from our planet, duh. The Qeldoix can open them since they're staying there right now" There was a clear hint of spite in Philip's voice. "Anyway, earth must contain the same metals which is lucky, heh. I won't bother you, just show me the pod please, it's urgent"

Kevin looked down at his prosthetic hand. The rock – uh, pod case – could only be opened by metals of the Nevvix planet? In that case ... where outside of earth had his hand come from ... and why did he have it?