BIRTHRIGHT Book One: The First Key

Chapter 17

Hobbling down the compound's labyrinthine corridors, the Professor is still reeling from his instrument's readings. Checking and double-checking the results, his injured hip finally gives him cause to stop and take a breath.

'How is any of this possible?' the Professor can't help but think to himself 'This morning alien life was contained to my beliefs and theories, and now it's a scientific fact. This place is crawling with it.'

He has to get to the General.

But what if the General already knows? What if the Professor wasn't supposed to? What if his finding out creates a problem for the military? The Professor knows only too well how the military disposes of its problems.

And then an even more frightening thought crosses his mind: 'What if the General has been stringing him along all this time? What if he is really one of them? This entire base could be an alien installation!'

The Professor shakes his head, snapping his paranoia away.

'The General must have a dossier on Harris,' he realizes 'If I can somehow gain access to that, then I can gage what the General already knows. And a quick blood test on the General will clear up the other lingering questions.'

Rejuvenated by his new plan and clearheadedness, the Professor pushes off the corridor wall and steadies himself.

Hiding this limp won't be easy.

And explaining the fight he got into with Harris, and knocking out the General's daughter just isn't an option right now. But now the Professor needs a good excuse to pay the General a visit.

"I said 10 minutes, Kalkazopf." the General's voice abruptly barks over the walkie talkie on the Professor's belt. The sudden sound nearly gives him a heart attack. "It's been almost half an hour."

Oh damn. The report.

Fumbling with the walkie, trying not to drop his other instruments as he does, the Professor finally manages to find the talk button.

"I'm just looking for your office now." he replies in all truthfulness.

The General doesn't even bother with a response.

Knowing it's time to get a move on, the Professor begins limping down the hall, doing his best to even his gait to the way it was when he arrived.

But it's just not working. He can't walk at a normal speed without giving a telltale sign of his injury.

Slowing down to a casual stroll, the Professor finds this much easier. Although he's now giving himself a swagger more befitting of a rapper than a scientist.

It'll have to do.

The door is already open to the General's office when the Professor slowly walks up to it. Hesitantly swaggering inside, the Professor's arrival elicits a heavy sigh of disappointment from the General, who doesn't even bother to look up to greet his guest.

If the General's mood has improved since the Professor last saw him in the corridor, there's no sign so far.

"Sit" the General commands while still reading. "I hope you're about to impress me, doc."

The Professor winces slightly as he sinks into the chair across the desk from the General. Thankfully, he doesn't have the General's attention yet.

"I got more data from Alex in a minute than I could process in a lifetime." the Professor says as he pulls out some notes and lays them on the desk. He quickly switches his screen from a profile on Isaac to his profile of Alex.

"I imagine so." the General says, finally looking up at the Professor. "And if you consult your briefing materials, you'll find it's official name is Target 17. It would be best if you referred to it as such in your analysis and reports." his cool demeanor has a way of being nearly as frightening as his rage was. "What about its weaknesses."

As if the Professor wasn't rattled enough already, he begins frantically scrolling through the notes on his tablet trying to avoid references that include the name 'Alex'. "Yes, of course, his... its body runs about seven degrees centigrade hotter than a human's body, and it seems to feel pain as we do, although heals remarkably fast. From all the tests I've analyzed, there is no sign that the epidermis is more durable than a human's, though."

Tossing his glasses on the desk as he breathes another frustrated sigh, the General looks the Professor in the eye with a steely glare. "Check your briefing, Kalkazopf. We know all this. I need new information from you, not the same junk I've been reading all night. I need your recommendations on weaponry."

"None as yet" the Professor says as the General sighs, "but I'm working on a few plans to retro fit your--"

"Professor!" the General barks, sharply cutting off the Professor's rambling. Leaning back in his chair, he is getting more and more irritable as the night goes on, but is doing his best to remain calm. He breathes deeply. "I need plans, and I need them now. Show me how to kill it. I already have half a mind to confiscate your gear and figure it out for myself. Don't turn that into my best strategy."

The Professor is speechless. Barely three hours on the military payroll and he's already getting the kind of threats that turned his mother into the laughing stock of the entire scientific community. This is his chance to redeem her and make a name for himself in the process. The opportunity to study the most significant discovery in the history of life on Earth did not come to him by chance. He is the best there is at what he does, and he knows it. That's why they called me in. But the military-industrial complex may have gotten the best of one Kalkazopf, but he'll be damned if he doesn't learn from his mother's mistakes.

The Professor looks at the General with a smile, expertly masking the rage that flits through his mind.

"Dismissed." The General sighs, already looking back at his papers as if the Professor wasn't even in the room.