Chapter Three: The Doctor Visit
It did not take long to get to the hospital. It was considered one of the finest research facilities on Arus. They were greeted by Dr. McClusky, the head of pediatrics. Allura ran up and gave him a hug. The doctor greeted her but his eyes were fixated on the Drule. Like most civilians, he had never seen a Drule in person – let alone a child.
The doctor examined the boy. It was uneventful enough. The boy seemed quite use to the proddings of medical personnel. He even lay down in the doctor's scanning equipment. He understood that he had to be still. Finally, after a good hour it was over and Dr. McClusky told Lotor to get dressed. He had been surprised at the child's command of Universal which far exceeded his own
"Aren't you going to give him a lollipop?" Allura reminded the doctor. He shook his head no.
"Why not? Lotor don't you want a lollipop? Lotor shook his head yes because he thought that was the right answer. He had no idea what a lollipop was but he was sure that Allura seemed anxious that he get one.
"He doesn't have the taste buds for it. He can barely taste sugar. He would be happier with a steak." The doctor turned to the Queen. "He requires a lot more protein than a human child does." The doctor was writing notes on his clipboard. He took one last look at the neck and shook his head.
"Someone has very large hands." He murmured as he examined the bruises on the child's neck.
Doctor McClusky called over the Queen and Coran. They went into his office while Allura tried to entice Lotor with the lollipop. They both looked up as the door shut. Bored they returned to the thing at hand. He had no interest in the strange sticky thing though he liked the way the word sounded.
"I'm surprised he is still alive. This child has been severely abused. It was hard to find a major bone that has not been broken. I won't even mention the internal scarring." The doctor put up the scans revealing all the damage.
"Are you sure about the injuries? Maybe their anatomy is just different from ours. There are no scars on his body." Queen Alanna had been hoping the abuse was not as severe as she imagined.
"I am as sure as I can be. These were severe injuries and it looks like some of them probably required surgery to repair the damage. Our little boy blue is one tough cookie." McClusky pointed to several areas that showed adhesions.
"Drules are incredible healers. The boy is fine." Coran chimed in. Queen Alanna was starting to get very angry at this officer. His concern for the child's well being was nonexistant.
"Coran, why do you hate him so much?" Queen Alanna lashed out.
"Your Majesty, I don't personally hate him. I don't trust him either. This abuse that has you all concerned is how the Drules raise their warmasters. He needs to be the hardest thing out there if he is going to make it to adulthood. The boy was born with a target on his back. In a few years he will be a killing machine." Coran walked out of the room. He walked past Lotor. Lotor offered him the used lollipop which Coran looked at with a hint of disgust. Lotor assumed that it was directed against the confection and not himself, but he had his doubts. They were both on each other's radars.
"Coran does not like lollipops either." Lotor looked down at candy and popped it into Allura's mouth. She seemed content to enjoy it as the Queen continued her conversation with the doctor.
"I would like to run a DNA analysis on him. You know he has white hair. It means a hell of a lot to those Drules. They say the possessor is linked to their legendary Empress Jain, a Wyvern. The Wyverns are practically extinct since the Colonial Wars; it is rare to even find one among the Drule worlds. They were as smart as hell and were rumored to have all sorts of unusual psi abilities. He must have one hell of a background because he does not even look like a Korronnite. What the Galactic Alliance wouldn't give for a snippet of him in their DNA banks." The doctor mused as he looked at the tube of blood.
"He's our guest. He is not a science experiment." Queen Alanna was disgusted with her staff's treatment of her guest. Coran's was outright hostile to this child and a royal physician was salivating over his genetic find.
"You know I'm a exobiologist by training. That's why I agreed to come here to begin with - to get closer to them. Please, the Drules ability to intermix among themselves is just mind boggling. I mean look at him – I bet you the average Drule could not make heads or tails out of that boy. For instance, look at those ears. He definitely has one of the ancient Drule races in him. Think about it, Your Highness, the genetics of the oldest sentient species known to exist are coded in that child. They are on the other side of the galaxy so we never get a look at them. Come on Alanna. It will be our dirty little secret. Who knows – it may come in useful one day." The Queen swallowed. She could hear the excited voices chattering through the door.
"Agreed. But you keep it quiet. I don't need the Galactic Alliance involved. We have remained neutral for years and the king wants to keep it that way." She answered hesitantly. Her stomach was sickened a bit. She was not used to all of this interplanetary stress. Her husband usually handled these affairs.
"Sticks and stones and puppy dog tails – let's see what this little boy boy is made of." The doctor chuckled in English as he called for a technician to come up. He pulled out the needles and swabs and called for the smiling boy. The boy stop smiling when he saw the assortment of sample gathering materials on the table. He gave the Queen an odd look as the doctor found his vein. Lotor opened his mouth and the swab went in, gingerly scrapping his cheek cells. Doctors had done this to him before - he knew a DNA test when he saw one - but his father's scientists had a purpose. They mostly wanted ascertain if he was a healthy, and more importantly, a fertile hybrid. His father was determined that there would be a direct descendant to the throne he had worked so hard to take. He wondered why the Arussians were doing this. He considered it inappropriate at best. He wondered what they would say to him when he found out that he was part human. More importantly, he wondered what his father would think. The man had gone to great lengths making sure that the stories of Lotor's mother being human were debunked. Outside of Korrinoth, and the ruling class of warmasters, it was not a well known fact. Oddly enough, the humans never did talk about it. In the end, he was sorry about that because he would have liked to meet his family on Arus. They were out there, high up in the mountains. He wanted to know what sort of people could produce such a woman as his mother.