The Professor

The Greater East African Colony: 2084 AD

Department of Astrobiology (DoA), Sector C. 12: 45pm

He sat silently at his bench, motionless, and not a hair on his skin acknowledged the presence of the young lass hovering beside him. Aliya Kendi was a post-doctoral beauty that had but a scanty supply of flesh around her bones. She had been recently planted into the odd department by the CRP (Colony Recruitment Program), perhaps to do some cutting-edge research in her field of isomeric microbiomics – or so she thought – but chiefly, she knew, to be the pleasure-place of those that fancied little post-doctoral cakes over the voluptuous interns in sector C, such as such as the Professor.

In cold silence, the Professor – barely 21 years old, not unusual for a prodigy of his rank – peered at the magnificent object that he manipulated delicately in his hand. It was a curious thing, as formless as a dense cloud of smoke yet his fingers could grab hold. Or could they? She wondered. She placed a hand upon the Professor’s shoulder and leaned closer, giving it a long, piercing look. It seemed to be floating by some form of electrostatic levitation barely an inch beyond his touch. It displayed a strange polychromic effect as it rotated stochastically in the sunlight, folding into itself like the surface of a turbulent fluid. A blend of azure and byzantine would linger for a moment, and in the next, a brief profusion of the dull claret, then the sharp violet, on and on…every hue outpouring in seamless fluorescence. The air around it shimmered like the edge of a flame, and as it wobbled and turned, it discharged a faint sound that ceased when she withdrew her gaze from it. For a moment, she thought that it was…watching her, but the thought was quickly cast away to make room for another.

Aliya was filled with wonder as her mind scoured through dozens of ideas in rapid succession. It was clearly not a solid, as it had no defined edges or vertices, nor was it a liquid for despite the fluidity of its structure it effortlessly maintained its spheroid form – if you could call it a form. Overcome with curiosity, she leaned forward and reached for the magnificent object. Mechanically, without giving the damsel a mere glance, the Professor pulled the object away from her reach but did not break his gaze from it. It looked not unlike an alien creation and there seemed to be an intimacy between him and it.

The Professor was an unusual man in a place full of unusual men. His virtues were said to outnumber his sins, but it was whispered within the corridors of science that there were no sins that he had ever failed to commit. He carried himself as a human would when cast into a foreign world: walking alone, and only in corridors with the least amount of light, often only in the night, striking the concrete floors with a soundless heel so as to stir as little attention as possible as he wandered from one of his labs to another. There is a certain light, it was said, that came aglow in his eyes when he spoke about his most passionate pursuits. But as soon as he fell silent and returned to his quietude, a darkness would soon take its place, and it would seem that a grave misery lingered over him that had not abandoned him for many years.

She cast an eye about the room as if in search of prying eyes, but there was no one else in sight. This room was dull and desolate, unlike the buzzing high-tech labs that were typical of the institute. However, with hardly an article of interest besides an old telescope by the window that seemed to have been maintained with exceeding care, it looked not unworthy to have been the birthplace of many great ideas. Aliya brought her gaze back to him and then looked at the object. Before her, without question, were two of the most bizarre things that she had ever encountered, but right now, the object was much more interesting than the man that possessed it.

“Come on, darling, let me see,” she chirped, reaching for it again.

“Are you sure you want to touch it?”

“Umm, I don’t know,” she groaned, and slowly withdrew her hand. What is it?”

“What do you know, Aliya, about string-net liquids?” he whispered, and tossed the object firmly into the air. It rose from his palm with a slow reluctance like an object in a viscous fluid. It was the strangest moment of her life. The orb rose by hardly an inch per second, vibrating wildly and flooding the room with an uncanny, warm green hue. After briefly lingering in the air in ghostly suspension, it fell back into his palm much slower still, casting a dark yellowish light about them in its descent.

He finally turned to look at her and offered a broad smile. By some effect, the object had dispersed its colorful influences into the white of the Professor’s eyes, which now glowed in synchrony with the hues of the object, and the stochastic motions of the object followed the saccades of his eyes.

“Well, what do you know about them?”

“I know that they are not supposed to do that…your eyes…what the hell is that?”

“What are they supposed to do, then?” he probed, ignoring her questions, looking into her pearly eyes as the hues slowly faded from the sclera of his own. He was a handsome man, and was arrayed with as much charm as the devil himself.

“I…I…I don’t know, but I don’t like it.”

“Relax, Aliya. Watch this.”

He brought the object close to his lips and muttered silently, as if whispering a closely guarded secret to it. Suddenly, out from it poured a fragrant red mist that started filling the entire room. Paralyzed in fear, the girl froze behind him as the mist coalesced above them into a holographic projection of what seemed to be the 3 dimensional structure of the institute. In a split second after a second whisper, the projection morphed into a rotating helical Ebola virus – the official insignia of the institute. “Shit, man, what the hell?” came her terrified cry as she backed away from him, wondering what mischief the young genius had newly conspired. She recalled when a drop of his self-created hypermorphic lithobacteria chewed straight through ten concrete floors just a month ago, and a chill ran down her spine when the indelible image of Dr. Jane, writhing in agony with a hole in her leg, came to her mind. There were no casualties then, but she knew that she could be one right now.

“What is that, James? Where did you find it?” She barked, casting her eyes about in terror.

“He didn’t find me,” came a cold metallic voice from the self-aggregating mist, echoing across the expanse of the room. “I let him find me.”

The professor had now won an unholy grin on his face that struck even greater terror into her heart. If she could, she would have bolted for the door but her strength failed her. In a low thud, she collapsed to the floor and blacked out. The professor smiled and turned to the orb. “Now look at what you have done.” The orb dimmed into a dull electric blue, hissed and floated above the girl’s head. The professor placed a finger onto his left temple, activating his intradermal transceiver – the institution’s main communication device – and commanded, “Code 2 come in. Health services required. Sector C. DoA.” He stood up slowly from his metallic seat and walked up to the girl on the floor.

“Hmm, looks like you scared her to death,” he quipped, giving the orb a cunning look as he knelt down beside her. The orb dimmed even more into a transparent shimmer but floated close by, lingering not too far from him. He ran a gentle hand through Aliya’s hair and pressed his lips upon her cheek. Aliya, he thought, seemed to be the most fragile thing in the universe. Not long ago, she would have been seen matching across the corridors in quick strides, holding her chocolate chin high as if in constant opposition to the world as she engaged in affairs of some importance. Or, on occasion, he would spot her floating by his window on her pink, noiseless hovercraft, attending to an errand or returning from it with her head bent low, lost in the depths of her thoughts. But here, vulnerable and powerless, she was nothing but a sweet little girl.

Just as he withdrew his lips from her skin, an android rolled into the room and descended next to her. It gave the girl a brief look, extracted a syringe from the mechanization of its robotic arm and released a drop of an amber-colored liquid into her parted lips.

“She’ll awake in one minute, Professor James,” announced the android. “Do you need anything else?”

“Yes, please,” commanded the Professor, looking straight into the android’s retinal scanner. “Override standard protocols. Overwrite this event with trivial data. Delete these tasks from your logs.” The android beeped in acknowledgement, turned swiftly and rolled out of the room.

Seconds later, Aliya let out a groan and opened her eyes. The professor snapped his fingers, and the now transparent orb released a gray mist that assembled into a floating metallic platform. He wrapped his arms around the drowsy girl and with little effort, picked her up from the floor and placed her onto the gray platform. It was firm and steady, and shifted not under the light weight of the little girl.

“I’m sorry, Aliya, you hit your head pretty hard,” he whispered. Her face was dull but restful. She looked like had just been extracted from a long dream.

“Where am I?” she muttered, casting a tired eye about.

“Sector C, in my office at the DoA. You fainted.”

She sat up, looked at him with a slow smile and placed her soft palm on his cheek. He kissed it and held her warm hand against his skin.

“Oh, James. I had a nightmare.”

“It was not a nightmare,” he said, “but don’t worry, I’ve given you something to calm you down. You’ll be alright.” He returned her smile, turned around and walked up to large window at the end of the room. He placed his large palms against the cold pane like a man in a glass cage, and for a long moment, gazed at the dark, devilish clouds that had now obscured the sun. Aliya watched him in silence, oblivious of both the orb that lingered invisibly above her head, and of the strange platform upon which she had been placed.

“I need something, Aliya,” he professor began, without turning his back from her.

“Okay. A favor?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Tell me. Anything for you, my James.”

“Well, I need your body.”

A flash of raw desire lit her eyes, and a blood red tongue glazed her luscious lips as her mind wandered the wrong way.

“You know you don’t have to ask, darling,” she cooed. “Shut the damn door and take me.”

A grin cut across his face, but it was short lived. He had done it hundreds of times, in dozens of places, sometimes under the full glare of curious eyes, and wouldn’t mind doing it one last time. But not today. He brought a finger to his left temple, muttered a brief command, and the titanium door swung shut upon them. “That’s not what I mean, Aliya.”

“What?” she mumbled, “I’m confused, what do you mean?” She tried to slip off the platform to walk up to him, but a tentacle emerged from it and firmly clasped her wrists before her feet kissed the floor. James had still not turned around to face her.

“What’s this, James? What’s going on?” she whimpered, tugging on the threads that had wrapped around her wrists. The terror that had filled her heart not long ago had started to return. She tried to yank her arms free, but it was no use. Two tentacles emerged from the platform and wrapped around her legs, securing her as firmly as was possible without snapping her bones.

“Stay still, Aliya,” he ordered. “This is not going to hurt. Much.”

Just before she could release a scream, another tentacle emerged from the platform had snapped around her mouth. “No, no screaming, dear. You’ll only make it worse.”

Tears of terror welled in her eyes.

“You are going to be part of something great, Aliya,” growled the Professor as he turned around. His face bore both the excitement of a little boy and tranquility of a man executing a long contemplated crime. “You are going to be part of something beautiful.”

She shivered as the professor matched robotically towards her. She tried to wail, but not a sound could escape through the strange gag that covered her lips. He towered over her, watching her shake and squirm, twisting and trying to break free with the little strength that she could muster. But it was futile. Indeed, greater than the agony of dying is the fear of death.

“It’s such a loss,” he thought, “such a beautiful soul going to waste.” He ran his hand against her cheek and felt the warm wetness of her tears. She quivered at the touch and shut her eyes. It was useless to fight the inevitable.

“It’s time,” declared the Professor, and the orb emerged from its cloaking shimmer. Aliya looked at her lover with the hopelessness, her eyes begging for mercy, but it was futile.The orb glowed as bright as the setting sun, casting the rich shades of its fiery embers onto the cold, concrete walls. It flared wildly about the room, causing strong a gust of wind to blow about, then came to rest about an arm’s reach above her head.

“The only way you can survive on this planet,” the Professor continued, looking at the orb “is to live inside a host. Without it, you’ll be long destroyed before the others get here.”

He placed a hand upon Aliya’s chest and felt her racing heart. She was in horror, tachycardic but conscious. That was all that was required.

“Calibrate to 30 Hertz. Any higher and you’ll fry a human brain. Stay steady at 25 Watts as you go through the left optic nerve. Feel your way through, just as I showed you before.” As the orb injected itself into Aliya’s eye, she bit the strap around her mouth in deep agony and pulled them with all her strength. She bent her back sharply and jerked, contorting and convulsing as her skin began to glow a dark red. The professor looked upon her, indifferent and unstirred. “When you get to the visual cortex,” he continued, “follow the dorsal streams to the parietal lobe. The rest is straight forward: spread through the connectome and seize her mind. Remember, this is just a human brain, not a mechanical one. Don’t get too excited and kill it before you get in.” The platform shook violently, but not loud enough to mask her muffled screams from him. A moment later, the orb was gone and the room returned to its calm. Aliya’s ebony skin returned to its normal shade, and her body to the stillness of a sleeping child. She seemed to be at peace, like a god who had lain a sleep for thousands of years. Suddenly, she hissed and she opened her eyes.