Alive

A fan fiction in progress by

Bryan Harrison

Part 2

1.
Minutes stretch into hours, into days and then weeks. David acclimatizes to his new senses. He learns of the smelling and the tasting; of the common pains mortals live with every day and the strange new sensations that have been awakened in his body. He learns the pleasures of eating and drinking and then the crude but relieving task of dispelling of his wastes. Doctors come and go, studying him with detached fascination, poking and prodding, taking samples of his vital fluids, of his flesh and hair. They ponder aloud why a boy of his apparent age has not been inoculated against common illnesses and then David undergoes a painful round of injections. "Big boys don't cry!" Dr Chen scolds when tears accentuate his complaints. So David learns to tolerate the pain of their intrusions in silence. They speak in cryptic coded language but he understands some of their banter. "Is it brain damage?" they wonder. Could that be the reason why he does not seem to know simple human functions? "What of his digestive track?" they ponder, "His lungs? His veins? His liver?" He is as untainted by normal toxins as a newborn..

They ask him questions. "How old are you?" "Where are you from" "How long were you in the copter?" He answers truthfully which does nothing to alleviate their confusion. His story incites more coded language and communications are sent. But they do not tell him if his tales have been validated. More tests ensue, painful, invasive. Humiliating.

So David learns to take refuge in sleep. He finally understands the lure of that dissociated state and he lingers there as often as they will allow. Soon, he hopes, he will be taken to see 'Her' where he wishes to stay for the rest of his time. Her face comes to him at night, but it does not constantly glow in his mind as it once did, when his flesh was not flesh and his heart was only the hard coded commands of the chip in his head.

It might have been a month that he had been captive to these men of science; he was not sure. He could no longer access the clock in his head. What he saw there now was dark, cold memories in which the recollection of 'Her' face was the only source of warmth. But somehow it is fading. Trapped amidst the background clutter of this shell of flesh, this soft machine, Her image is fragmenting. His feelings are as strong as the day they drove him to fall into the Ocean in hopes of escaping them. But oddly he finds himself lost as he tries to recall the specific contours of Her face.

This thought was on his mind as Angelo came into his room. The Mecha nurse had become the only friend that David had in this antiseptic environment.

"Time to wake, David," Angelo said cheerfully. "They want to talk to you. Let's get you up and dressed."

But David had not been sleeping. He threw off the covers and sat on the edge of his bed. "When can I go home?" he asked as Angelo laid out a pair of pants and shoes.

"Whenever they find out where that is, I guess."

"But I already told them!" David yelled. Angelo shot him a reproachful glance and the boy lowered his voice as he continued. "I live with Mommy and Martin and Henry and my friend Teddy in a big house near a pond in the woods. I told them when Mommy took me to the forest and about the Flesh Fair and the End Of The World and Blue Fairy and when she made me real. What else to they want to know?"

Angelo didn't respond for a moment and there was something sad in his face. But it was gone quickly and the Mecha smiled when he asked, "You do know how to dress yourself, right?"

2.
The man that was standing beside the large chair, gesturing for David to sit, had a stern unreadable expression. So did the other men in the room; stern faces and suspicious eyes, made all the more ominous by their dark suits, a few of which were adorned with shiny bits of metal on their lapels. David knew these to be symbols of high office and understood this was an important event. Dr Chen was there too, reading something from the slate she always seemed to have with her, cradled to her chest like a sacred text. She glanced up when David entered the room and gave him what might have passed for a smile, to those who didn't know her better

"Have a seat, David," the man behind the chair said. David glanced up at Angelo who winked to suggest everything was OK. David walked to the chair and sat. There was a brief silence in which all eyes were on Angelo. After a moment the Mecha nurse got the message and excused himself from the room. David thought he saw some concern in Angelo's face as he turned to close the door, but could not be sure.

He was alone again; alone with these strange, grim looking people. They sat as one on the large couch that surrounded the chair, eyeing him from behind unreadable expressions. Finally, the first man spoke.

"My name is Greig, David. Field Commander Greig to most, but you can call me Jeff if you like. I see no reason to rest on formalities. We're just going to have a nice little chat, OK?"

"OK Jeff," David said and nodded his head. But he felt a growing tension as the man named Jeff cleared his through to start their 'nice little chat'.

"David," Jeff started, "I'm going to be frank."

"OK, Frank," David said, wondering why the man would have so many different names. The other men in the room laughed and the mood seemed to lighten. Even Dr. Chen's smile seemed genuine for the first time since he'd met her. The man named Greig or Jeff or Frank grunted and the room fell silent again.

"Very clever son, but Jeff will do," he continued. "There are some serious concerns we have to deal with. You were found in stolen government property, buried beneath the remains of a submerged amusement park. You were located when your emergency GPS suddenly came on." David nodded to confirm this information, which he was already fully aware of, and the man continued. "But what really bothers us, son, is that according to the copter's log, you'd been there for just under twenty months. That's almost two years."

Once again David nodded to show he understood. Jeff glanced around the room before he continued. "There's not enough reserve oxygen in a simple patrol copter to last two weeks, let alone two years, son. And even if there was, what would you have survived on? The emergency rations hadn't been touched and … well let's just say we didn't see evidence of any natural bodily functions. See? It's an impossible story. So tell me, when did you arrive in that copter?"

"We took it from Rouge City. I already told Dr. Chen and the other men about it. Joe was with me and then we went to The End Of The World and I saw Dr Hobby who tried to lie about the Blue Fairy, and then I jumped off the building and saw her and then they caught Joe and I went with Teddy to see the Blue Fairy …" David stopped and cast a dark look on his inquisitor. "Where's Teddy?" He asked, accusingly. The man glanced around with a shrug. Another man cleared his throat.

"Ahhh, he probably means the toy we found in the cab. It's ahhh…" the man cleared his throat again, but said no more. Jeff nodded and turned to David.

"We'll get hold of your toy for you, son. Just finish your story."

David did not understand what had passed between the men, but he hadn't liked it. He glared at them for a moment and then reluctantly continued. "So… then something fell on us and I asked The Blue Fairy to make me real and she wouldn't at first. Then she did." Silence followed this testimony. Everyone's eyes were on him, except Dr Chen, who was typing something into the keys on her slate. Jeff took a deep breath.

"OK. OK. We verified the rouge that disappeared with the patrol copter, so we concede that part of the tale. But the rest is absurd, David. I think you know that. Now, I can be patient to an extent, after all you're a boy and I know boys tend to…"

"A real boy!" David interrupted quickly. The tension inside him grew and he fidgeted in his seat.

"OK, a real boy," Jeff agreed with a impatient glance at the others. "And I suppose your Dad is Geppetto, right? Where might I find him?"

"I already told you this!" David blurted, irritated having to answer these questions again. The tension inside him was building towards critical mass. "My Mommy is named Monica and I want to go home to her. Why do you keep asking the same things?"

"Son, do you know how many Monica's there are out there? What's your last name? What's your address? Where did you go to school? How come neither your fingerprints nor DNA match anyone in our entire database?" The man who preferred to be called Jeff leaned forward and clasped his hands together. "No more games, son. Who really put you in that patrol copter and why?" he demanded.

It was all too much! David jumped from his chair angrily, clenching his jaws against the insufferable pressure inside. "I'm not your son! I've already answered your questions, there is no more to tell, and if you'll excuse me, I really have to pee now!" The men were taken aback by the outburst. They grumbled coarse whispers to one another, but decided to detain him no longer.

3.
Angelo was grim faced when he brought David his meal that night. The Mecha nurse lingered a moment, moving a few things around on the cart beside David's bed. But it was easy to tell he was pretending, trying to make himself look busy while he prepared to say something.

"You really believe your story, don't you?" he asked, finally.

""It's true," David insisted, but softly. Something about Angelo's tone said this conversation must be between them alone.

"It's crazy, David," Angelo said. "It's like… like a fairy tale." He said this with a dismissive tone, but he was gazing on David with a strange sort of wonder. He turned away and seemed lost in thought, then he faced David and there was new intensity in his eyes. "You are telling the truth, aren't you?" he asked.

David nodded his head. Angelo's skeptical expression changed to excited curiosity. "What's it like?" he asked.

David looked back, confused for a moment and then understood. "It's… it's…" But he realized that he didn't know how to explain. "It's good and bad. I mean, it's messy and it seems to hurt a lot, but then you forget about the hurt and there's smells and other things. The food is good, I guess." David thought hard, trying to think of a way of describing the new presence he felt; the way he seemed to be more 'here' than before. But after a minute he just shrugged. "It's hard to compare because… well, I can't really remember a lot about before. It's like…" he sought for a word. "It's like a dream."

Angelo seemed a little disappointed. "I can't dream," he said sadly.

"Neither could I," David replied, understanding.

"And you can now?" Angelo asked.

David screwed up his face as he thought, and then nodded. "I think so," he said. "At least I can sleep now, and that's not bad. I like that." There was a moment where the two locked each other's eyes and then Angelo came and sat on the bed beside the boy.

"Listen," he whispered, "they don't know what to make of you. They think you are some kind of clone, or part of some kind of strange plot. I know it sounds stupid but …" he stopped there and considered something before he continued. "They don't understand you, David. They fear what they don't understand. And what they fear… they destroy."

"Destroy?" David whispered in shock. Fragmented memories flashed in David's mind, of shattered metal, electric fire and chanting crowds of Orga. "But I'm real!" he cried.

Angelo shook his head. "I don't mean literally, David. But I think they are planning to send you to a security center for illegal children. If they do that, and your story is true, then no one will ever claim you. You will never get out."

David sat up in his bed, his eyes wide and pleading, his mouth opened to yell. But Angelo shushed him. "Of course I would never let that happen! Here's what we'll do." The Mecha raised his head and seemed lost in thought for a time. Then he turned to David with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry. I am not programmed to develop such strategies. I'll have to get help in developing a plan for your escape." He rose and walked to the door. "I'll know by tomorrow's breakfast. Be ready," he said. Then he was gone leaving David alone in the antiseptic silence of his room.

"Mommy," he whispered into the stillness.

(cont...)