8 Smokey future

A cold breeze blew over James's face and he woke with a start. He was in a large room with grey concrete walls, floor, and ceiling with a single window that stretched across one wall about three metres above the ground with many faces looking at James on the other side. Trying to stand up, he was held back by two chains connected to the wall and were connected to a solid metal straight jacket that prevented any movement of the upper body. A speaker crackled and a woman with a slight German accent spoke:

"I see you have awoken. Good. I will now ask you some questions. Speak truthfully or you will be zapped. Like this..." There was a click and then a surge of pain swept through James' body but it stopped almost instantly.

"I assume you get the idea. Now, my first question. What is your name?" asked the woman with great interest.

"My name is James Kendrickson." replied James with suspicion.

"Hmm, I shall thank you for your cooperation by telling you my name. I am doctor Felicity Richter. Anyway, my second question. What are you?" The question came as a surprise to James.

"I'm a human." replied James with confusion to as why that question had been asked.

"Incorrect." There was a click and a massive flow of electricity passed through James much bigger than the first and it went on for longer.

"I'll ask you again. What are you?" James hesitated before speaking.

"I...am...a...human"

"The scans of your body say otherwise. High concentrations of Iron, vitamin C, vitamin D, and many others were found as well as two foreign energy signatures were found. Not only that but from the time it took for my superiors to bring you from the crash site to here all your wounds had healed with out trace. Even now I'm putting enough electricity through your body it should have stopped your heart and cooked your insides. So I'll give you one last chance before I tell them to kill you. Your technically classed as a super weapon after that fight you had so killing you would be better than learning from you." James froze in fear but Josie started to speak.

"Tell them" she said, defeated "they might as well know. They might be able to help us."

"The night of the first meteorite, I was on my roof fixing my aerial..." James explained the whole story from his mind to blitz. The faces behind the glass looked at each other, spoke for a while and then turned back to James. There was a click and James braced himself for another jolt of electricity but instead the straight jacket whirred and split in half, releasing James.

"We have agreed to trust you but first, our boss would like to talk with you. Exit through the door on the left and he'll be waiting. Good luck."

A section of the wall moved inwards and a flood of six armoured and armed soldiers entered and quickly surrounded James. James looked up but the faces behind the glass had already disappeared. One of the soldiers prodded James in the back with his gun and he started to walk forwards through the door. On the other side was the same man James saw before at the landing site. Seeing him up close, James could he was a short, plump man with light brown, gelled hair swept back and a thick moustache that covered so much on his mouth you couldn't tell if he was moving his lips.

"Sorry for the inhumane treatment but after what you did we can't exactly trust you. Follow me, we have something to show you...two? Sorry, I don't exactly know how to address two people inside one body. Heh, lets get going shall we?" said the general. He was slightly nervous and probably felt bad for ordering his soldiers to shoot a child.

They walked down corridors that weren't very comfortable with rectangular lights every few feet to light them. Every time a scientist or other member of staff saw James while walking them either turned around and started walking in the other direction or pushed themselves into the wall to get as far as possible away. Obviously, word of James had spread quickly and now people feared him. After about 3 minutes they reached a large metal door with two guards stationed on both sides. The general walked up to the door, inserted a key card, and a had his eye scanned. There was a buzz and the door unlocked. They walked through and it was pitch black.

"When you talked about the first meteorite, I guess you know it wasn't actually a meteorite. But rather a ship carrying your friend." said the general. He turned and flicked a switch on the wall and row by row lights turned on. When they all turned on, both James and Josie were amazed. It was Josie's ship. Chunks were missing in different places and others were layed out on a plastic sheet with numbered cards next to them. James stepped forward but stopped when he heard the clicks of the guns behind him. He raised his hands in the air to show he wasn't gonna do anything.

"Men, put your weapons down. This boy isn't an enemy, he helped us." spoke the general. The soldiers lowered their weapons and stepped back. James resumed and walked up to the ship. It seemed like it was being rebuilt out of pieces from Gordal's ship.

"We've gotten close to finishing but the computer's language is unknown and we can't fully repair it without knowing where the pieces go. It's like doing a jigsaw but blindfolded and only a vage understanding of the finished picture. Do you think you could help us?" asked the general.

"What's in it for us if we do. For all we know you're going to use this technology as weapons for your army." questioned James as he turned around and looked the general dead in the eyes to show he wasn't joking.

"We want you to fix it so you can get in the way of that super weapon and stop it! We're not as selfish as it makes us look in the movies. And as for what's in it for you, we can pay you, give you a new life with your mother, or even find out how to separate you two. Hows that?"

"Give us a moment to talk, alone." said James. The general sighed and signalled for the guards to exit with him.

Once alone, Josie went ballistic in James' head.

"You can't seriously be thinking about taking this offer! They're going to use you! They probably have a bunker somewhere where they can hide and leave the rest of the planet to perish!" shouted Josie.

"What, like you did when you ran away?" said James in a low voice. This pierced through Josie and she fell to her knees. Tears formed in her eyes and she clenched her fists.

"DO YOU THINK I WANTED TO LEAVE THEM!? DO THINK I'M A MONSTER!? I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO TO SURVIVE AND STOP THE WAR FROM SPREADING! IF YOU THINK THAT'S BAD, YOU HAVEN'T SEEN WHAT I'VE SEEN! MY FAMILY WAS MURDERED IN FRONT OF ME WHEN I WAS ONLY SEVEN BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T WANT TO FIGHT! I TOOK THEIR PLACE AND TRAINED AS HARD AS I COULD! Do you think it was easy. I was bullied constantly because I was a hybrid. I was publicly shamed by teachers and students alike because I was the child of both a fire elemental and an enemy dark elemental." Josie was on here hands and knees crying until James appeared in front of her. He picked her up and hugged her tightly. Josie kept crying but they were tears of happiness as she hugged James back. They released each other and James stepped backwards.

"Why don't we go, as you said it, kick some alien ass?" said James and Josie chuckled. "And one other thing, this is for getting me off guard before." said James as he pulled Josie in and kissed her.