Chapter 3

When Ralph woke, his vision was perfect, and the light no longer bothered his eyes. But he still felt agitated and angry at everything. A nurse came in and replaced the torn sheet with a fresh one.

Thirsty, he requested, "Can I get some water?"

The nurse brought him a plastic cup of water. Swallowing the liquid, his stomach became sick, causing him almost to vomit. The nurse reported this to the doctor.

The doctor informed Ralph, "It may take a couple of days for your stomach to get used to having something in it. Just keep trying to drink water once in a while."

Drinking a little water every hour, his insides could finally accept the liquid. They gave him some apple juice, and he vomited it up. They did the same thing with the juice and water; he drank some fruity liquid each hour until it didn't bother him. They went for something a little more substantial: tomato soup. He could keep it down, but it still stirred his stomach.

With his insides upset all the time, this did not help with his agitation and anger, yelling at the physicians and nurses about anything whenever they entered his room.

"Why isn't anyone doing anything about the ******* green hair?"

"Why are they always ******* sticking me with needles?"

"Why is it so loud in this place? I can't rest when everyone is making so much ******* noise."

"What is that horrible ******smell?"

He used various colorful expletives with each loud statement.

Pam came in with little Alphy, thinking her husband would want to visit his son. At first, happy to see Alphy, he smiled. The baby started crying. The noise was too much for Ralph to handle. The shrill sound of the baby's cry went through his skull, seeming more intense than usual. It irritated him.

One of the nurses came in with a phlebotomy kit on a tray to take another blood sample. The First recognized the displayed kit, seized a plastic water bottle, and threw it at her, barely missing her and causing her to drop the tray.

"Get out of here; I don't want any more blood taken from me!" Picking up the items, she left.

Ralph's loud voice scared the baby, and he started crying louder. Pam took the baby and diaper bag and headed for the door.

He exclaimed, "Where do you think you are going? Come back here."

Pam said, "I'm not going to stay here with you, scaring the baby and yelling at everyone. I'll come back when you can calm down." And she left. This action angered him so much that he grabbed a plastic bowl and threw it against the wall.

Eric entered the hospital room just as the bowl flew by and smashed into the wall, exclaiming, "Well, you are in a fine mood today."

"I don't need any of your smart *** comments right now."

Eric said, "I came in to tell you I am pulling Suit. You cannot wear a super suit without control over your emotions. It is too dangerous for yourself and everyone. Pam gave it to me. You can have it back when Dr. Clayborn says it is safe." And he walked out of the room.

Speechless, he couldn't believe Eric pulled Suit out of commission. Enraged, he pounded the mattress several times, saying, "No! No! No!" with each punch. He put his hands over his face and started to cry.

Ralph couldn't understand why he was so angry and emotional about everything. Eric was correct; he couldn't control it. Performing the anger management deep breathing exercises to calm himself didn't work and made him furious with the idea of having to do them. He didn't want to be irritated all the time. He didn't want to be yelling at everyone over nonsensical things. He knew everyone was mad at him for his outbursts. Why was he doing this?

Not understanding depressed him, and he curled into a ball and cried. He yelled at Pam and scared the baby. Why did he do that? His emotions were spiraling out of control. It must be the ******* DNA changes again. He socked the pillow several times, furious with himself for these outrageous actions, and cried some more, confused and miserable. He stared out the window, depressed.

Bill wanted to come through and talk to him.

Ralph told Bill, "No, go away, Bill. I can't talk to you now. I can't meditate. I can't shut my emotions down. I can't do anything right. Everybody hates me." He rolled over with tears rolling down his cheeks and fell asleep.

When he woke the next day, Dr. Adams, Dr. Clayborn, and the green guy scientist stood beside the bed looking at him.

This displeased him, and he loudly exclaimed, "What do you guys want?"

Dr. Adams said, "We need to examine your testicles; we think we may understand why you have been angry and aggressive since you came out of hibernation."

"Okay, fine." He pulled the sheet aside.

He peered down at himself, his eyes wide with shock, not believing what was displayed between his legs. His enlarged testicles revealed the skin pulled tight across them. The doctor touched one to move it aside to examine both sides, and Ralph jumped and cried out. Being so sensitive, this tiny movement made him scream.

He raised his hand with fingers outstretched and claws exposed to rake at the physician, but Dr. Clayborn caught him by the wrist and stopped him. The green guy scientist nodded his head to both doctors.

Dr. Adams said, "Ralph, you are entering a green guy sex season."

The Hero gawked at them and said, "What are you talking about? I don't want to have sex."

Dr. Adams lightly ran his finger along Ralph's penis, and Ralph got an immediate erection, flushed red, inhaled in gasps, closed his eyes, and shivered with pleasure flowing through him. The physician covered him with the sheet. Ralph lay there, blinking and swallowing, not understanding what had happened.

Dr. Adams continued, "The green guys had seasons for sex. Many animals on Earth are the same way. These junk genes have activated the seasonal sexual hormones. Your anger, aggression, and emotional outbursts are caused by heightened hormones in your system. These will not diminish until you have sex and can release your sperm naturally."

"The amount of stimulation before orgasm and ejaculation is achieved may take much longer than an average human. The aliens require two females to achieve release. The first female is similar to a primer, getting the male to a higher state of arousal; the second female continues heightening the arousal state until orgasm and release; she receives the sperm in much larger amounts than humans produce, thus assuring impregnation."

Ralph listened, not believing what he was hearing and again becoming exasperated.

"So, you're telling me my sex life will change into something weird? I cannot believe this, another ******* DNA enhancement problem."

With Dr. Adams's suit translating, the green guy scientist said, "Mr. Hinkley, we can understand why you are upset. The DNA change was performed as a last-minute correction to attain the essential power to ensure the suits could perform and defeat the aliens. We did not have time to research further. We are working on correcting these problems. Once you release your sperm, your hormones will return to normal, and you will not be angry and excitable. You must perform the sex act, or you will die."

"If I don't have sex, I will die. You've got to be kidding, and I have to have it with two females?"

Dr. Adams said, "Pam will not be able to last as long as it may take without being injured before you reach an orgasm. I will speak with Pam about this." The clinicians and the green guy left the room.

Ralph lay there, furious but trying to discipline himself. A nurse came in with a small plate of scrambled eggs and a piece of toast.

She asked, "Do you want to try something more solid since you could manage the soup down yesterday?"

"Yeah, sure." Putting the plate down, she left the room, not wanting to be yelled at. He ate the food, and it was delicious. Hopefully, he could keep it down.

A queasiness started to rise, but it calmed down. He thought, "Good, at least something is going okay."

Later that afternoon, Pam returned to his room without Alphy.

Ralph told her, "I'm sorry about all the drama yesterday. Have you spoken with Dr. Adams?" She nodded.

He continued, "Can you believe this? It's all because of the… " He bit his lip and closed his eyes, trying to refrain from saying expletives. "…DNA enhancement."

"We have to have sex, or else you may die."

He nodded, "But the real kicker is there must be two females. The doctor said it would take me so long to have an orgasm and release that it could injure you. How are we going to do this? I don't want to bring in some hooker that we have no idea where she has been."

His wife stood there and thought about it. "I think I know someone who might be willing to do this. She has expressed her interest in you sexually. I will have to talk to her about this."

Ralph said, "But, Pam, how will you take this? Me with another woman. I don't want to be with another woman, but I guess I will have to be. I don't think there will be any foreplay, Dr. Adams just touched my penis, and I got an immediate erection, and the sensation was so incredible I shivered."

"I'll talk to Karen and see what she says."

"Karen Wilson?"

"Yes."

"If she says yes, you will have to swear her to some sort of non-disclosure or something."