Chapter 36: Chapter 35 – White Lie

When the next day came and Lizzy arrived at her office, Fizzy was already there, waiting for her.

“Did something happen?” She asked, yawning, holding a mug of steaming coffee. 

“You could say that.” He replied with a twitch on his face, as his left eye was trembling constantly, like giving off a secretive string of morse codes. “He didn’t finish his previous tasks. None of it.”

“Oh?” Lizzy smiled, raising her eyebrows, looking at her own table. “Is that the reason why my desk is so empty?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “For the first time in years, we have nothing to compile! But that does not mean he wasn’t doing anything.” He continued, picking up a rolled up paper, leaning against his leg. “Look at this!” He chuckled, unfurling it on the tabletop. 

“Wait…” Lizzy came closer, looking at it with incredulity in her eyes. “Is that… me?” She asked, looking at the warrior princess on it, standing in a heroic pose, with sword in hand, stepping on the defeated skull of an evil necromancer. Lizzy herself knew of the movie it was from but she was not truly versed in it, not like her daughter. 

“It is not you.” Fizzy chuckled. “I thought the same thing at first too! Then I asked him about it.” He tapped on his wrist as the office’s speakers replayed the audio of their conversation.

“Is it Professor Lizzy?”

“No.” Alpha answered. “It is Marin.”

“But…” Fizzy tried to say something but he fell silent.

“Marin is a clone of hers. She was made artificially, even if she used her own egg and let her grow in her own uterus. Her vat was simply organic, unlike mine. The fact remains; Marin is like me. Created by hands and not by a natural, biological reproduction.” 

“That…” Fizzy’s voice wanted to interject.

“So, as a grown up,” Alpha continued, unperturbed. “She should resemble her mother very closely. Only small changes should be visible on her, that for normal, human eyes would be indistinguishable. Like the way her eyebrows are arched, the way she moves her lips, the tip of her nose pointing at a slightly different angle. The little details.”

“Differences that you can see.” Fizzy’s voice asked him.

“Yes.”

“I recorded everything, you can listen to it in its full length. I already uploaded it to your terminal.” Fizzy said, stopping the audio recording. Watching Lizzy’s face change he was smiling. He already knew what her next question was going to be.

“How does he know about all this…” She whispered.

“I… don’t know yet. He wouldn’t answer me either. If I didn’t know him I would have assumed he let his thoughts slip. He was way too preoccupied with drawing your daughter and he just… answered me. Like someone who is rambling without thinking and annoyed that he is being interrupted. After I asked him the same question, you did now, he refused to give an answer.”

“...” Lizzy quickly fell silent, walking to her desk, watching the image as she sipped on her coffee. “It is not that he has no emotions… he just can’t show them. He doesn’t know how… I am starting to believe he knows much more than he lets us on!”

“You mean, he is lying to us?” Fizzy asked, flinching, his ticking eye picking up speed immediately. 

“Not… willingly. Probably. He simply looks out for himself. Like a human would do.” She smiled, tapping her finger on her mug. “What is he doing now?”

“Drawing.”

“Did he sleep?” Lizzy asked, looking into Fizzy’s eyes.

“I checked the recordings. He did not.”

“I am going to speak with him.” She said, putting down her coffee, not breaking eye contact with him. “I need you to help me out here!”

“Haahh…” He rubbed his eyes, trying to stop their intensifying tickings. “I got your back. I can make sure nobody else notices the recordings and live feeds are off for… 15 minutes. I can’t do more, it would be noticeable.”

“Thanks.” She patted his shoulder as she hurried out from her office.

“Sure! Just don’t forget me when somebody comes asking questions! Wait! I mean, DO forget about me! Okay?” He shouted after her but Lizzy just laughed, leaving him there.

…

….

…..

In the room of Alpha, he was kneeling on the carpet, biting onto his pencil, looking at a half-done image. It was only a sketch, depicting around 6 types of skeletons, all in different poses. He was trying to come up with some that resembled a real skeleton and the ones in the movie at the same time, having more evil-looking features and blue fire in their eyes. As he was thinking, the door opened and Lizzy walked in, watching him for a little, without saying anything.

“Alpha.” She sighed as she was walking closer, but to her surprise, he didn’t listen to her. He was not even turning his head towards her. It was the first time that he ignored her presence. “Alpha.” She repeated but no answer came. Not even when she sat down in front of him. “Alfy.” She said, remembering how her daughter called him. Finally, he blinked his violet eyes, raising his head.

“Yes?” He asked, looking into her eyes, slowly lowering the pencil from between his lips.

“Do you remember things before you were extracted from your artificial womb?” She asked directly. She put the fact that she was ignored, into the back of her mind for now. Her question didn’t make the slightest change in his expression but Lizzy caught the minute tremble in his eyes.

“...”

“Do not ignore me.” Lizzy said as he was refusing to answer. “I already know you do. You made a mistake… Alfy.”

“...”

“How do you know, how Marin was conceived?”

“The physical evidence is there.” He said, after a brief moment as he thought about it. 

“Yes but it wouldn’t be evident yet, not until she grows up. I have even more questions now!” She continued, never looking away from his eyes and forcing him to maintain eye contact. The moment he would turn his gaze away would be the best evidence for her that she was right. “You remember more than you told us about!”

“...”

“The microphones and cameras are off. Only I can hear you now.” She said, leaning forward, not even blinking her eyes. She knew that he was hiding things. He wasn’t lying but he wasn’t telling them either.

On the other hand, Alpha was troubled. He knew he had been sloppy and let his thoughts slip out, even as he knew that he was monitored, all the time. Yet somehow, yesterday he failed to reign in his thoughts. After hearing her say that the surveillance was off, he was honestly surprised. He raised his eyebrows a little, scanning her eyes and seeing that she was telling the truth, he slowly started to talk.

“I remember. Not all… around… 10… or 8 years back before getting out of it.” He nodded. “Voices. Expressions. Ideas.” He explained it slowly. “I also…” He opened his mouth, wanting to tell her about the things he sees that no others do, but in the end, he just couldn’t bring himself to do so. “I also feel… you.”

“Feel… us?” Lizzy asked, surprised, not really understanding what he was trying to say.

“I… feel you. Your thoughts. Feelings.” He explained it in a way that was true yet not the complete truth. He couldn’t read their thoughts per se, but seeing the changes in the colors of the strings that made them all up, he managed to realize which color meant which emotion. He could tell if what they said was a lie or the truth. He could see if they were happy, excited, sad or unsure. He once tried to touch those strings that were connected to someone but it was way too intense of an experience. He managed to see quick flashes of memories and emotions, flooding his consciousness. It was too intense for him to make any sense out of them so he never tried it after that one occasion.

“A telepathic gift!” Lizzy exclaimed and Alpha was not about to correct her. “Why didn’t you say it before?!”

“I don’t want to be… opened up.” He replied with honesty, finally lowering his eyes.

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His words shook Lizzy, who just grabbed onto him, pulling him into her embrace, hugging him close to her body. She was rocking back and forth with him, patting his back. It was a weird feeling for him, yet he just closed his eyes, hugging back.

“Nobody would hurt you! Don’t be afraid to tell us anything! We wouldn’t dare to put you through anything that would hurt you!”

He could see and feel that she was not lying about it. It… calmed him down, realizing how nervous he was in reality. Maybe… it wasn’t so bad that his thoughts slipped out.

…

….

…..

When Marin visited him the second time, she was floored by the pictures that he had finished already. 

“This is sooooo coooool! I am going to look like mom when I grow up? Double coooool!” She squealed, as she held up the papers with simple, black and white pencil sketches. “This is the best! When I step on the skull of my defeated arch rival! Can I keep them?”

“Sure.” He nodded as he drew them for her anyway. 

“You are the best!” She laughed, hugging him closely. “We should get you some colored pencils! Or something! This would look even better in color! I am going to tell mom, she can do something about it, I am sure of it!”

“Maybe.” He said, tilting his head to the right. “But I don’t know if she is going to have time for it.”

“Huh?” Marin looked at him, putting down the drawings. “Why? I know she works a lot but that is her job! Scientists always work hard!” She nodded at her own words, repeatedly, assuring herself with how right she was.

“I am going to have new tests that I need to do.” He explained calmly. 

In the end, Lizzy called up the rest of the scientists and she told them about his gift of ‘telepathic’ abilities. For now, they wouldn’t relay it to the higher ups and instead start conducting their own, secret tests to discover and map out as to what extent Alpha was capable of reading others. 

“Tests?” Marin asked, looking at him with a slight worry. “That is why you are here? Are you sick?”

“Sick?” Alpha asked with a surprise in his voice. “No, I don’t think so. I feel fine.”

“Hah! That is good, that is good! Being sick is horrible!” She sighed, relieved. “I suddenly thought you might be sick! That is why you are kept down here!”

“Then why would your mom bring you down to me?” He asked back.

“Ah… I did not think about that!” She giggled, sticking out her tongue. “Then… why are you here?”

“Because… I can do things others can't.” 

“Are you a wizard?” She asked quickly, with sparkling eyes.

“Um… no?” He replied but he was… unsure. The movies he watched would maybe describe him as one, especially after he realized he could interact with those many, colorful strings around him. Was this magic? Is this what people call… magic? Now he was not so sure. 

“You can tell me, I won’t tell anybody else!” She insisted but Alpha, after showing a small smile, just answered.

“No. I don’t think I am. I am just smart.”

“Braggart.” She countered with a flat look and tone.

“It is true.” He said, nodding towards the bookshelf. “Pick out a random folder and just tell me its title and a page number.”

“Hmf! Sure!” She stood up, walking to it, then picked out one she could reach. “Particle… osci..osocial… soci… uuuuuu! What is this word!? Why is it so… nasty?!”

“Particle oscillation; Matter-Antimatter interaction on an observable scale.” He said, not even looking at it.

“Yeah… that… hmf!” She pouted, flipping its pages but her eyes started to quickly spin in their sockets. “This is horrible! This is a book of horrors, Alfy! It is filled with… satanic incantations to summon the Lord of Skulls!”

“No, those are mathematical equations.” He replied as his smile was growing wider by the minute.

“If they are, why do they have letters in them?! There is not even a number in it! Alfy, this is not math, this is an evil blood ritual!” Marin yelped out with disgust in her voice. 

“Haaah… no they are not!” He sighed, quickly quoting one of the equations and solving it in a few words. 

“Sure!” She shouted, closing it and putting it back at the wrong place, but surprisingly, Alpha did not mind it at all. “I can’t understand it! So you may have very well simply said some mumbo-jumbo because I wouldn’t know about it! Hmf!” She crossed her arms, pouting, pretty unhappy with his chosen method.

“I can tell you what you were wearing when you first came here. Which foot you stepped on first when you walked in and how many times you blinked your eyes before speaking up.”

“Mmmmh?” She tilted her head left and right, letting her arms fall, placing them on her hips. She was standing before the kneeling Alpha with a slowly forming grin on her face. “What? You like me?”

“No.”

“Egh!” She faltered, not expecting such a quick refusal. “I don’t like you either! You are a dork!”

“I don’t know what it is to like someone. Or be a dork.” Alpha added.

“Hmf! I’m not talking to you!” She turned her head away, refusing to look at him.

Yet, that did not work either. Alpha was not someone who could follow a discussion like this. The ensuing silence irritated Marin more than him. He was puzzled, flabbergasted at what just happened and did not really understand why she was angry all of a sudden. Not that Marin herself knew it either. She just… Was. While they were stuck in their momentary silence, in an observation room, Lizzy was rubbing her head, watching the screen with the kids on it. She was not alone as the rest of the science team did the same.

“Were you like this?” Fizzy asked.

“No.” She said with a weird smile. “I was worse… But it seems some things from my personality did make it into her! She is an angel and a proper little lady when she is around me! She is well behaved and does what I ask her to do… but with him? Oh boy, she is starting to act like me when I was a kid!”

“Hah! I do not want to meet your younger self then!” He and some others laughed. “And did you see it?” Fizzy added after the chuckles died down.

“Yeah!” She nodded with a happy expression. “He smiled! See? I told you it is not too late!”

“Mhm. It is not. I just hope we can delay the brass from finding out about his extra gift. I don’t know how they would take that right now.” Fizzy said with a more somber tone. 

“That is why we need rock-solid data!” Lizzy said, looking around the rest. “We need to make sure they are not afraid of him later on. Or we risk something horrible…”