Ali studied Devon's shocked face for a moment before following his gaze. She smiled at what she saw. Emery was supported in the air by strands of corded resin. He, no, she had a largely formed crest on her head; however it wasn't full size yet. The egg sack had not been formed yet so Ali knew that there would be no new aliens for a while. Emery looked over at Ali and flashed her clear teeth and let out a deep, resonating hiss.
Who is that human? Emery asked.
Ali took Devon's hand and dragged him closer to Emery. Devon looked up with fear at Emery, but he didn't pull away from Ali. Suddenly, Ali watched the fear drain from his face.
"I'm Devon," Devon said, squaring his shoulders.
Emery hissed in surprise. You can hear me?
"This is what I wanted to show you," Ali put in, "he's like me, I think."
How did you come to be like this?
"I don't know, I was abandoned when I was three, I think," Devon said.
Hmm, perhaps I could find out, Emery said, Would you mind if I looked into your past?
"What good would that do? I can't remember anything about my past."
Ah, yes, you may not remember, but those memories are still there, in the farthest corner of your mind. If you let me, I can access those memories.
"Okay, if you want," Devon said, skeptical.
Close your eyes.
Devon did as he was told and Ali watched as his face became totally relaxed. She wondered what Emery was seeing, and if Devon could see it too. Just then, everything around her went black, as if the lights had been turned off. Ali spun around in fear, wondering what was going on.
Fear not Ali, I want you to see this memory. I assume you never knew the manner of how you were born?
"No." Ali answered.
Then allow me to show you. I think you'll find this interesting.
"Okay."
Suddenly, a room came into focus, but it was unlike any room Ali had seen before. The walls weren't made out of brick or metal; instead they seemed to be made out of some weird colored rock. There was a bed in the middle of the room with two men standing above it. A woman was bound to a metal bed, screaming and trashing. The doctors were yelling frantically at each other while trying to hold the woman down. Ali moved around them to get a better look at the woman. She had thin features and wiry black hair. Ali couldn't figure out the eye color because the woman had them squeezed shut as she screamed and twisted. However, there was no doubt as to who's mother this was; Devon's features were almost exactly the same.
"What the heck--?!" one of the doctors shouted and he backed away from the woman.
Ali looked down at the woman's giant, bloated stomach, which was what held the doctor's interest in the first place, and watched as it bulged upwards.
"Hey, get back over here and help--," the second doctor started to say just as the bulge on the woman's stomach burst open, spraying the room with blood and gore.
A scream rose up in the air along with a dead tone beep, but the scream wasn't coming from the woman, she was dead, it was coming from the woman's stomach. The doctor who was closest to the woman, the one covered in the most blood, reached down to pull out a screaming baby. He took it over to a small side table and began wiping off the blood.
"It's a boy," he said.
The image faded out with the doctor holding baby Devon, the other doctor who was backed up against the wall in horror, and the dead mother. The next image came into focus with a similar room, except there was no bed and no doctors. There was only a little boy, a three year old Devon, sitting in the corner. His dark eyes were red from crying and there was a puddle of blood at his feet, shining in the lamp light, and more dripping off his fingers. A door opened and a two people, a man and a woman, walked inside. The man was looking harshly at the boy, but the woman's eyes were soft. Devon began crying harder as the adults approached him. Ali couldn't help but wonder what Devon had done.
"Devon," she said, her voice soft and caring.
"Don't talk to him like that!" the man shouted.
"He's just a child!"
"Who has committed murder!"
So that was it. Well, it certainly explained the blood and Devon's crying. But who did he kill? And why?
"I didn't mean to!" Devon cried in his little boy's voice.
The woman's eyes were soft and she opened her mouth to speak, but the man interrupted her.
"Of course you didn't," the man said sarcastically. "It's not like your existence has been a threat to this colony since the day you were born!"
"Stop it! Just stop it! He's still just a kid" The woman pleaded.
Devon was crying harder than ever now. He tried to wipe away his tears, but only managed to smear blood across his cheeks.
"Kid or not, the council has already spoken. The boy will be banished to the upper world and will never be allowed to return.
Upper world? What does that mean? Ali wondered.
The scene faded with the man dragging the woman out of the room as she sent a sympathetic look over her shoulder at Devon and was replaced with the walls of the basement.
Once the real world had returned, Ali turned to Emery. "What did they mean by 'upper world'?"
I'm not--, Emery started to say.
"They mean this place," Devon said, "And everything else above ground."
"So that means the rooms in your memories were underground?"
It would appear so, Emery said, The question is why?
"I think I can guess," Devon said.
Yes? Emery asked, turning her head to stare at him so fast that he was momentarily at a loss for words.
"Well, um, I'm just guessing, but I think they're hiding from something."
"Yes," Ali said, staring intently at Devon and coming to the same conclusion. "Other aliens."
