UNDERDOG • sci-fi story

𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐄

YEAR: 3025, During the Rise of Wronotia

"Alpha,"

He, in a thoughtful fashion, hums in acceptance of the person's presence in his office. He is staring out of the window, thinking about the voices he has been hearing. His telepathy has been picking up a strange frequency in the note behind his head. From his ancestors of PERIL, he has been taught to suppress the voices, the frequencies of the world, into the back of his head. So, why is he feeling this sensation? An odd sensation that there's something connecting to him.

"Alpha,"

A thoughtful fashion still, he hums.

"We have an urgent matter,"

"What?" His growl scares the member.

The member swallows their fear and clears their throat. "We found an abandoned child. The child has markings of the Wronotian," They speak hurriedly. "She's in great pain, Alpha. However, she has been calling for you,"

Furrowing his eyebrows, he turns around, looking at his member oddly. Through the eyes of the member, he can see what he means — the little girl is in the greatest pain she has ever felt, and he rushes out of the room, almost knocking the member down to the floor. He bee-lines through the crowd of other members of PERIL until he punches the button for sub-level ten. The elevator music doesn't help his curiosity as the vehicle descends as fast as it can. Unable to keep his patience in a manner, his eyes glow grey and the vehicle speeds until a hinting 'ding!'.

Once the door splits open, the frequency in his head grows stronger and he crouches to the ground, cupping his ears as he grunts in pain. A few scientists give aid to his side, scarcely speaking but he can understand what they're asking — is he okay? Is he alright?. He quickly barks as if he's an angry dog. "Where is the child?!" He suppresses the strong frequency as much as he can and the scientists remain silent as they bring him to a seal-tight chamber in the very corner of the room.

He can see the child is in pain, even without reading her mind. She is shivering despite the many blankets covering her. Her hair is sticky and wet as if she's been abandoned out there for longer than he had expected, and she is murmuring a word 'upstairs'. Alpha does not hesitate to be by the child's side. He places a hand against her forehead and winces upon removing it a split-second later. "She's burning up!" Alpha tells the scientists.

"But through thermo-registration, her body temperature is below a frozen block," The Head Scientist, Doctor Parker, tells Alpha with furrowed eyebrows. "It is impossible that she is heating up," He swings a monitor to the side and it shows her body temperature. "We have tried our best to bring her temperature back up to normal but there's nothing we can do! All the serums have worked with the others but this child is impossible! I don't think we can save her!"

"PERILS do not give up," Alpha pushes Doctor Parker aside and grabs out a serum in the hue of black, a concoction that is still an experiment. He pokes the needle of the syringe through and pulls it until an appropriate dosage. "Here, give this a try."

"Alpha, it is not ready and it can make the girl's condition worse!" Doctor Parker disobeys.

"I said try!" He shouts, his voice echoing.

Doctor Parker flares his nose. "No,"

"What did you say?" Alpha growls.

"You have your belief, I have my professional beliefs and for me to use an unapproved serum on a girl that could risk more damage, it is immoral," Doctor Parker barks back. "We have to—"

"Doctor!" One of the assistants calls out. "She's going into hypothermia!"

Doctor Parker is about to grab a knife from a cabinet but Alpha doesn't want this to happen. He forces the scientists out of the room, locking the doors, despite Doctor Parker able to open it back. The least he can take for it to reopen is an hour or so and that's fine to Alpha. He turns to the girl, who is breathing crispy air. He pulls up his sleeves, revealing the scars of his past and approaches the young girl. His fingertips are against her temples and although it burns like touching metal on high heat, he endures the pain.

"Calm," He speaks through her mind, finding a happy memory in her brain to create a room for her. As he finds himself inside her mind, he is standing in a padded cell that's filled with papers of a little girl and a figure that he doesn't know. He turns to the side, finding the same girl sitting on her bed, knees tucked against her chest and she is sobbing. Alpha approaches her slowly. "Kid," He calls her out and she chokes on a sob before looking up, seeing the eyes of Alpha. "Where is this?"

"Home..." The child sniffles her answer.

"Your... home?" Alpha's confused. "Where is your mother, father?"

"Mummy... upstairs, daddy... one," She sniffles.

"Upstairs?" Alpha recalls the look of the room, understanding that this is a psychiatric ward belonging to the Wronotian. 'Upstairs' can only mean that she is in the cancer centre. Alpha clenches his hands. "Did they do this?" He asks, pointing to her arm that has many things indescribable for a child to comprehend. "Did they hurt you?"

"Pain..." The child sobs.

Alpha blinks his eyes. "Are you feeling hot or cold?"

"Pain..."

"Hot or cold, kid?"

"...pain,"

Upon realising that he is almost using up his one hour and the doors are opening from the back of his mind, he feels small arms hugging him around his neck. "Save..." She whispers. "Save..." Alpha hugs her back and they connect with one another, sharing a bond that even Alpha's never had with a patient like this before. Before he knows it, the safe room is gone and he's returned to reality, where Doctor Parker has shoved Alpha against the cabinet. He is shouting bloody murder at Alpha for locking them out of the room.

"Save..." The kid whispers.

Doctor Parker and Alpha look together at the girl, as her body temperature is rising to a normal level and the crystallising breath she expels disappears. Her eyes slowly open, revealing red ires.

Everyone's still.