"These calculations are wrong."
The men in grungy uniforms stopped speaking and turned to look at Alex. They glanced at each other and chuckled a bit. The taller one, who must be in charge, spoke convincingly, "Sure, kid."
"They are. You'll never get to Mars with this little gas." Alex said, holding up the files in explanation. The little tent they were in had piles of messy paperwork, some of which was held down by rocks and bottles. Alex scanned the little tent easily, shaking his head at the unorganization, "What kind of company are you running here?"
The taller man scoffed, snatching the files from Alex's hand. "Listen, kid. We've done this thousands of times -"
"Seems like a hyperbole." Alex muttered to himself.
" - we know what we're doing. We have plenty of gas to get from here to Mars." The guy said, gesturing to the large rockets that stood in the distance, "These babies are fine."
Alex tilted his head in challenge, "Have you taken into consideration of the weight of the cargo?"
"Of course we have." The worker scoffed, "We-"
"But this specific file," Alex tried to reach for it, but the man held it above him, out of Alex's reach. The boy huffed, but continued regardless, "is for a unique kind of cargo. Normally you ship things like food and supplies, correct? It's unusual for you to get a request to ship live cargo." Alex paused, curiosity getting the better of him, "What does Mars want with a ton of elephants anyway?"
The men shared a look, before the smaller one spoke up, "It's the anniversary of colonizing Mars, in a few months. They wanted a parade."
"Does Mars have enough oxygen for elephants?" Alex asked.
"The parade's inside."
"Oh."
The taller man shook his head, "Look, living cargo or not, it doesn't matter. We're the professionals here."
Alex glanced at the files held out of his reach. "Really? Because I didn't see any equations for the elephants' food and water."
The men paused. The files slowly lowered, concerned expressions exchanged. Neither said a word.
"You are planning on feeding the elephants, aren't you?" Alex asked.
The men still didn't say anything.
Alex took a deep breath and spoke quickly, "Elephants need to eat at least 200 pounds and drink about 50 gallons of water a day. With the kind of rocket you're using - a Ion-SJ47, right? It takes about 125 days to get to Mars - or about seventeen weeks. So you need 200 pounds of food every day for seventeen weeks, which is about 3,400 pounds, per elephant. You have nine, so that's about 30,600 pounds, and that's just food alone. For water it'll be another," he hesitated, mentally counting, "466,875 pounds. At least. If you want parade-worthy elephants, it'll be more. Now, the amount of fuel you have listed would certainly get you to Mars on time, if the weight was accurate. But you're missing 497,475 pounds worth of cargo; so either you deliver dead elephants - which the president of Mars would not take kindly, or you add more fuel. With the way you currently have it, the rocket would never get out of Earth's atmosphere, the strain on the engine would be too much."
The men opened the files and started flipping through the equations, finally, they looked up at Alex, eyes wide.
Alex filled in the silence by saying, "It would probably explode."
The taller man shoved the files in the shorter man's arms, growling, "Fix this."
The shorter man scrambled away, exiting the tent. Alex could hear him shout, "Where's my mathematics team? Who did this!?"
Alex watched as the taller man ran a hand through his hair, "What's your name, son?"
"Alexander Hamilton." Alex said. Then, he added, "I'm not your son."
"Hamilton." The man said, "I know that name."
"You're my landlord." Alex supplied quietly. "I lost my key, so I came to your work to ask about getting another."
The man nodded, "Yeah, yeah. You live alone, right?"
"Yeah. But my abuela, not my actual abuela, comes by and checks on me sometimes." Alex replied.
The man was watching him suspiciously, "How'd you get in here? This worksite is fenced off."
"I climbed it."
"It's electric."
"Only in little pulses, in order to save electricity. It only sparks once every thirteen seconds, you can hear the electric as it runs across the wire. And only the top wire is electrified, so if you wait until the pulse passes, then you can quickly climb over and jump down." Alex explained. "It just takes timing, balance, and luck."
"That seems like a lot of effort."
"I need my key." Alex said, like it was the most obvious thing in existence.
The man chuckled, "Okay, how about this. You help me and I'll help you."
Alex hesitated, unsure where this was going. "...what do you mean?"
"Clearly, I may need a bit of help around here." He gestured to the mess around him, "You need a key. And an income, I'm guessing? Your rent always comes in late."
"The price of that shack is too much." Alex mumbled.
The man ignored him, "How about you work for me? Like an internship or something."
Alex agreed immediately. He didn't come to the shipping yards for a job, but he certainly knew when to take an opportunity. "Okay!"
The two shook hands, satisfied with their new arrangement. The man spoke after releasing Alex's small hand. "How old are you, kid?"
"Fourteen." Alex said proudly.
The man whistled, "Damn, you shootin' for the moon, ain't ya?"
"Yes, sir!"
"I-I-I swear, I didn't do anything!" Thomas was saying as he followed James back to his room, "Some idiots were attacking him, s-so I brought him back to my room and - and -"
His hands switched between grasping at nothing and picking at invisible nail polish. He couldn't form a coherent sentence, and he kept stepping on the back of James' shoes.
"Thomas!" James finally growled, "You have to calm down!"
"Easy for you to say, you didn't just watch yourself bleed out on your couch." Thomas replied, breathless.
James halted in his steps, a look of horror flashing across his face. Thomas almost ran into him, but he caught himself on the shorter man's shoulders. They stood like that for a moment, taking grounding breaths for different reasons. James placed a hand on Thomas', biting his lip. He pulled away briskly, continuing his path, "Hurry."
When they came back to Thomas' room, the area is filled with white spores, floating in the air. Each little blob glowed in the sunlight, staying out of the shadows' reach. They couldn't see Gilbert from the door, so they walked forward slowly. Thomas felt James' hand slide against his, fingers clasping tightly. They shared a look before they glanced over the back of the couch at the hurt alien.
James made a soft squeaking noise, his nails digging into Thomas' skin.
"They're not me, remember? I'm right here." Thomas mumbled quietly.
James nodded, but his hand came up to cover his mouth and his eyes were a bit wet. Finally, he took a deep breath and shook his head, "Okay." He said, his voice shaking, "Okay. I think they're just healing? Keep in mind that this isn't an Earthly creature. It doesn't function like us. So. Maybe they're okay."
Thomas took a small step back, "I don't like this. What if the Fuatlics come back when they're like this? What if this is what starts some kind of intergalactic war?"
"It would be humanity's fault." James muttered.
"It would be the Fualtic's fault!" Thomas replied, "They disappeared with Alex! That's the only reason why those guys attacked Gil!"
James lips twisted to the side, like he was trying to push away the words before he said them. "Those idiots probably would have attacked Gilbert anyway. They're racist and immature. I can't imagine any respectable person shoving Gil against a wall like that."
Thomas felt a chill run down his spine at the words. Who would have thought that the man that threatened Gilbert's life, would now be the one to run to his aid?
"Thomas." James spoke quietly, his eyes not leaving Gilbert's white throat, "Can we talk?"
"Biologically, yes." Thomas replied.
"I'm serious, Tom." James' grip loosened on his hand.
Thomas watch his friend's expression as he nodded silently.
"This whole thing with the Immigrant Program…" James started. He hesitated and then started over, "This whole thing with Alex… When did it start?"
Thomas felt himself stiffen, his eyes widening, "Um-"
"You never bothered to tell me." James said, "It was super obvious, once he was chosen and left, but…" He shook his head, looking up to Thomas, "Why didn't you ever talk about it?"
Thomas bit his lip, "You know how George is with me and my … partners."
"But that's the Captain. Why not tell me?" James asked, a bit offended, "I wouldn't have told anyone! You know that!"
"Be-because I liked having him to myself!" Thomas said, his voice rising in desperation, "He was mine, my little puppet, that I could play with and he'd do what I say and- and- ….and…. Then, it changed. He changed in my eyes. He became so beautiful and precious and, Gods, I just wanted to take care of him…"
James blinked in surprise, "...Oh."
Thomas blushed darkly, looking away, "And I didn't want to say any of that, because it's embarrassing."
"How you've been acting is more embarrassing than that." James teased easily. Thomas' face grew darker.
"I just want him back."
"I know, Tom. We all do."
A day or two later, Alex stared at bare feet as they scraped against the white floor with each step. They weren't his bare feet. But they were. Alex blinked slowly, both understanding what was happening, and being completely lost. His chest was pressed against a human back, so he didn't mind what the world around him did. He closed his eyes and pressed his face against the neck under him.
Your being carried, Alex. A voice said in his head. He nodded along to the beat of the footsteps.
"Human Alexander arrived!" His own, slightly robotic voice called out.
"Bring here." Another said.
Alex kept his eyes shut even as blobby Fualtic hands poked at his exposed skin. He shuddered and buried his face further into the recognizable skin. Alien Alex shifted under him, trying to remove Alex's arms from around his neck. Alex didn't let go; he stayed attached to the faux human, his legs tightening with a strength he didn't think he had anymore. They'd have to pry his cold, dead body off of this other man. Alex was not moving.
Fake or not, Alien Alex was the only form of humanity in the room. Alex was going to keep this piggyback ride going for as long as he could. The Big Fualtic moved in front of him, it still had the stupid marker expression Alex had drawn on him.
Alex glared at the alien, his grip tightening even more.
"No move." Alien Alex commented.
"That okay." Big replied, "How fix?"
"I don't know." Alien Alex replied, "Humans have no heat."
"No heat?" Big asked, the other Fualtics in the room repeated it quietly to each other. "No heat? No heat?"
Alex was a statue, gaze unmoving as he scowled at Big.
Alien Alex turned his head slightly, asking Alex, "How do we helpful you?"
Alex's gaze shifted to the copy of his face. His glare dissipated as he recognized the facial features. Human. Alex relaxed against Alien Alex's back, a small pleased noise escaping past his lips.
"What mean?" Big asked.
Alien Alex shrugged, "Just noise me think?"
Big reached forward, attempting to touch Alien Alex, but Alex growled, a noise that came deep from within his chest. He snarled until Big pulled his hand away. Alex only relaxed when Alien Alex placed a hand on his arm. Alex continued to glare from his spot between Alien Alex's shoulder and neck.
Alien Alex and Big shared a look, neither speaking out loud. Finally, Alien Alex mumbled, "Maybe we should head back?"
"Humans too hard." Big nodded, "Send back."
Alex didn't react as the ship took a sharp and sudden turn to the left. The Fualtics barely moved, but Alien Alex stumbled slightly. He looked up to Big and grumbled, "Horrible walking sticks."
The ship was silent as Alien Alex walked back to Alex's bedroom, carrying the man with him. He spoke quietly, as he said, "You go home now. Other Alexes can take care of you. We tried all of the things."
These words meant nothing to Alex. He couldn't feel joy, because it had been too long since he had felt it, he didn't know what joy was anymore. Even getting what he wanted was useless to him. What was the point of going back, if they left him alone in his room again? As long as he stayed with the other human, he'd be okay. He was safe with Alien Alex around. That's all that mattered. He didn't allow Alien Alex to leave when they entered his room. He needed the other human, without him, he couldn't function. He was connected to him by the dark strings of necessity.
He was his puppet.
Tell me what you think!
