Dustin sat heavily in the taxi, as it drove through the dark streets. His mind still refused to accept that the past twenty years had been fake. There had been too much that was real. The pain and anguish just refused to settle on him. As the taxi pulled up to the curb, he noticed the blinking red light of a camera in the corner, recording him.
Thanking the driver, he climbed out and looked around. The memories of this place were faint, almost gone. His eyes caught another camera watching him, from the corner of the building. As he walked toward the entrance to his apartment building, he saw that the camera was moving in order to keep him in its sights. A nagging thought occurred to him, but he put it out of his mind as he entered the apartment.
Ignoring the camera that turned to watch him above the door down the hall, he walked up to the manager's office and knocked.
"Come in," came a muffled voice.
Opening the door, Dustin was caught off guard by the horrid stench that filled the room. The manager turned in his chair to look at Dustin, his eyes red rimmed and filmy. On the desk was an assortment of drug paraphernalia, that the guy was too far gone to even try to hide.
"Oh, yea, the prison guy. Your keys are over there on the hook. Let yourself out," he added as he turned back to his chemical recreation.
Dustin looked to his left and saw the little board with its classic tiny hooks. There was only one set of keys, so he grabbed them and saw the number 235 printed on them. Shutting the door firmly behind him, he made his way to the elevator, to see it was out of order. With a sigh, he turned to the stairs. A bum was sound asleep just inside the door, an empty bottle of rum laying next to him.
Pausing at his apartment door, he glanced to either side. Olivia had said her apartment was next to his. Did that mean on the side? Or across the hall? Did he want to wait until she got off work to find out? The camera at the end of the hall was watching him, so he inserted his key and pushed his door open.
It was just as his memories remembered it, bits and pieces of alien technology scattered over every spare space, except for near the kitchen door. It was strangely clean there, other than a thick layer of dust. He looked around quickly, for any blinking red lights, and relief shot through him.
Dustin made sure every window was locked and the curtains securely closed, before unplugging everything electronic in the apartment. He started to gather the bits and pieces into piles, determined that his memories of the past twenty years couldn't be wrong. What if he had lived the future?
The AI could be watching him, knowing that he knew about it from the program he had just woke up from. He was going to do things right this time!
With a PED half finished in his lap, a knock came to his door.
Grabbing his largest screwdriver, he rushed to the door and peaked out the view port.
Olivia was there, looking around, terrified.
Pulling the door open, he quickly pulled her into the room, and glanced at the camera. It was turned away from him, so she wasn't recorded coming into his room.
"How did you know?" she asked, anger and fear warring for control of her emotions.
"You killed him, didn't you?" he asked, moving back to the PED he had left on the floor. They didn't have much time. There would be people coming for them soon.
"It was instinct when he grabbed me. I couldn't stop myself," her voice was hurried, panicked.
"Help me get this stuff into these bags. We have to get out of here. They're going to be here soon!"
"Who?" she asked, helping him shove the alien pieces into the two backpacks he had found in his closet.
"The military, of course. There's about to be a war with the Josagn, if it hasn't already started."
Olivia looked at him for a moment, then went back to packing.
Strapping the unfinished PED to her arm, he pulled her sleeve back down over it.
"You are going to need that, when I get a chance to finish it. Let's get your hair changed. They aren't going to look for two people traveling together."
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"My mother is a drunk, but she has a lot of money. I'm going to collect my inheritance and then get us out of here, where they won't find us. If we get caught, we're going to be in some serious trouble."
She looked at him, as if he was crazy, and for a moment he wondered if he was.
"I don't know. Maybe I should turn myself in…"
Grabbing her shoulders, Dustin turned her to look at him.
"I lost you once, please don't make me lose you again." His voice cracked.
She scrunched her brow. "Maybe you did need that psych eval…"
"Look, I need to prove to you that I'm not making crap up." He turned and ran his hand through his hair, looking around for anything to help him convince her. Then he thought of something. Turning back, he held up his hand and she looked at it, out of reflex.
Dustin focused on the sensation of changing. He remembered it. It had been almost a reflex by the end. He didn't have the genetic information inside of him from the countless aliens of the galaxy, but he was Uz'En, and he didn't need the genetic information. He just had to know it was possible. They could change just from seeing something.
As she glanced at his face in suspicion and confusion, he strained at the change. Sweat beaded his brow. This had to work!
Olivia opened her mouth to say something, but before a word could escape her mouth, her eyes widened in shock as his hand began to change. His fingers thickened with dark scales and grew claws. A deadly toxin glistened on the tips, and Dustin grinned.