Scott cringed a bit at the idea of his new mother giving him ‘the talk’. He decided to chalk it up to one of those odd cultural quirks. They alien folk certainly -looked- human but at times they would act in a certain way that showed incredible ignornace- for what had to be a highly technological race.
After breakfast and a quick wash, he wondered what to do with his saturday. He wasn’t exactly the ‘hanging out’ type but for some reason he was feeling a bit more energetic. Scott looked at his phone and sent a message to Harry.
‘Hey dude how’s new space-mom? ;)’ He replied with a bit of a tongue and cheek oozing through the text message. Scott gave a little smile at that. ‘Out of this world’ He replied back. The truth was it was a bit more complicated then that. ‘Can we meet?’
Harry’s text message came frantically. ‘Oh dude! Please let me come to your house! I want to meet the aliens!!!!’
Scott cringed at that wondering just what Harry intended with his new ‘step sisters’. He was worried his friend was developing a bit of an obsession with them. He was always asking about what technology Scott had seen, or even to bring one of their alien foods or plants. At that point he decided to call Scott directly.
Scott accepted his call. “Hey dude,” He replied.
Harry looked excited at the prospect of meeting the aliens. Could he just talk to one of them? His bedroom was the literal example of a sci-fi nerd. There were posters of starships across a great many franchises. Anime, video games, films… he was an avid collector of such things. “Hey!” Harry said excitedly. He was still in bed, wrapped in the folds of his star-wars pyjamas- made to appropriate size. “So can I meet them!” He asked again. He was wide awake now. His hair was dark black and perhaps a bit long. He was quite handsome with clearly mixed racial features of asian decent based on his light brown skin. “I have loads of stuff I want to show them! They havn’t seen any of the latest stuff-”
“Whoa hold on,” Scott calmed his friend down. “Look, my step sisters just do their own thing.. my new mother is just working at the embassy. They have been here for a decade now, I think they’ve seen all the latest films- it just doesn’t interest them.”
Harry looked down at that. “Hm, yeah I know. I was what- six when they first came to Earth? I was so excited...” He thought back to that moment in wonder. It was probably what got him interested in the stars and why he wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up. Not that he could ever meet the.. physical demand so he has instead emersed himself in science and astronomy. Some of it real.. a lot of it fantasy. Even though the aliens had been around for so long (to him) Their technology was something he always wanted to see. “Could you bring something from them?” He asked quickly.
“Eh.. maybe. My dad did get a few wedding gifts.” He quietly thought about one or two odd contraptions. Odd boxes in various shapes. It was actually quite nice, the wedding seemed quite human despite the obvious alien nature of it all. He felt thrilled to take part in it. “I’m told most their stuff doesn’t work for Earthlings because of some kind of security code. Though they said since I’m now her child I could use some of it when ready,” he smiled at that thought- no doubt it would make Harry just a -bit jealous.
“OH WOW! You are the coolest guy I know,” Harry was just over the moon. “So what have you seen? A light saber? A spaceship? A holodeck?” Harry continued to press.
Scott laughed. “No nothing like that. Eh, they brought a microwave… except it cooks things in a second instead of minutes. That’s the limit of what they brought here. My father is still unpacking a few of the other gifts but.. I’m not touching alien technology until I know what it does.”
“Why do you have to be so cautious,” Harry said with a roll of his eyes. “No I guess you are right. So what’s the plan today?” Harry stumbled out of bed still sleepy. He stretched a bit.
Scott shrugged. “Well no real plans.. can I go to your house? I just need to.. get away from a few things.” He was already getting dressed. Weird.. his hair was all.. tangly. He rubbed at it a bit and straightened it with his hair.
“Sure! Actually that will be great. There’s something I got to show you. Why don’t you bring some of that alien food?”
Scott started to leave his home through the front door. “I’m going to go see Harry,” he called out.
There was a burst of surprise from the living room. “Oh are you sure?” Lalaxi asked in a moment of concern placing a finger on her cheek. “Well- I suppose there’s no harm,” she looked up in thought for a moment wondering why he would want to. It could be one of those strange ‘human customs’. Perhaps Scott felt a need to show his peers of the acceptance of joining into her family? She hoped he wouldn’t have to ‘present’ it in a gross fashion but she had heard human teenagers did odd things like that.
Lalaxi wondered what was expected… normally one would spend time to watch the passing of the old and journey into the new- though it was not unheard of, for a new child to wonder and walk the paths of their old lives… expeirencing the transformation as a flower blowing in the wind. “Yes, I suppose that would be appropriate,” Lalaxi said after what seemed an eternity. “Though I do hope you’ll be back by dinner? I just can’t wait to see you!”
Scott looked blankly at all this. “Well- I can’t wait to see you too?” he ventured cautiously.
At this Lalaxi floated down and gave scott such a big hug. It was surprising how strong she was! “Take care sweetie.”
Scott arrived at the simple suburban house not unlike his own. He was often a bit curious about Harry’s family… though he rarely spoke of his father. He had two brothers almost mirroring his two new sisters identically in terms of their age. Again though Harry didn’t talk a lot about them saying that they were with ‘his father’ while he stuck with his mother. The only clue he had was that Harry once said in hope for Scott that the culture wouldn’t be too ‘odd’ for his father.
‘Tradition is important’ Scott was told by his father. He loved Lalaxi.. he was actually very happy for him. Though he did often wonder about his own mother it was clear Lalaxi was trying so hard to be motherly.. even though she wasn’t really even human. That did speak well for her and Scott felt rather humbled by that thought. He was quite grown up by now and didn’t really -need- it but… it was nice to have her around.
He pressed the door bell and Harry opened it like a shot. “Hey dude!” He said. “Come on in.”
Scott stepped inside. “So how’s your mom doing?”
“She’s working at the supermarket. She has to.. work a lot. Even on saturdays now.” Harry said sheepishly. “So what did you bring?”
“Some of these leaves,” Scott replied bringing a bag of it. It was roasted and quite inert. Harry looked at it and took a sniff before taking a bite. “Hm.. tastes.. kind of like onion? Though meaty..” He looked at it curiously.
“Yeah goes well with hot sauce.” Scott smiled. He looked around the living room. Harry had quite the sci-fi hobby. He seemed really into just about every franchise that was set in the future. There was a boxed up telescope that looked to have just been delivered… “Yikes.. that looks expensive,” He said to Harry questioningly.
“Um- yeah. No- I didn’t borrow from Mom.”
“How did you get the money?” He asked curiously.
“Odd jobs now and then. I sometimes work the weekend now.” He sighed. “Oh look- this is what I wanted to show you. I found something… something really.. well.. something I know I shouldn’t have.” he started to take out a small object from his pocket.
Scott looked at it curiously. “Oh crap...” He gasped. It was a.. pretty ordinary looking box. There was a greyish metal around it and yet there was an odd perfection in the way the light reflected off the object. Neither metal nor plastic.. paper.. or anything found on Earth. Scott had seen these.. it was how the aliens packaged their technology. “Dude- this is serious. Alien technology? Where did you get it!”
“I just found it in the trash okay? It doesn’t do anything,” he picked up the box. It was the size of his hand and yes- completely inert. “I thought I could give it to you to give back to them.”
Scott sighed in relief. Harry wasn’t a bad person so yes.. he could believe it. Someone probably stole some alien tech.. found it didn’t work and carelessly threw it away. There was absolutely no mark on it yet he was pretty sure someone would have tried drilling or.. doing anythig they could to get into it. “Yeah okay… I’ll give this back to them.”
“… and then I could see the alien ship right?” Harry asked hopefully.
Scott groaned. Okay so -thats- why Harry didn’t go to the Embassy.. and probably why he was quite anxious to meet Scott’s sieblings. He wanted to show he was a ‘good’ human a bit more directly rather then just go to an office, hand it in and be.. forgotten. “I’ll let them know you found it and gave it to me okay?” Scott reached out to the box making contact with it.
As soon as Scott made contact with it, strange symbols lit on the edges. They turned from red to blue looking like odd alien writing in curious 45 degree angles along each corner of the box. “What the heck?!” Scott gasped. “Dude let go of it!”
“I- I can’t!” Harry had the box outstretched on his hand. His voice shaking. “I- Can’t move!” He groaned. “Help!” He was standing there unblinking as if his body had just.. stopped.
Scott tried to pull the box from his friend’s hand but it.. was stuck. Then something strange as the odd ‘box’ started to change. It looked like it had become a metal butterfly. Was it some kind of toy? Though why did it activate just now?
The object seemed to just.. glide itself along Harry’s skin, suddenly sliding itself up his arm… Harry could only just crane his head to see as it disapeared from his field of view. “W-What’s it doing- What’s happening!” The object seemed to nestle itself in his back somewhere between his shoulder blades. He felt an odd ‘stabbing’ sensation.. it didn’t hurt but.. something very strange was happening.
His arm- such as it was, didn’t feel normal. Touching it it felt … well.. it was still warm but that wramth was no longer the result of blood but of this strange texture of odd felt. He also felt himself… get somehow smaller.
“Oh crap- I need to call someone!” Scott thought if he called his mother they could probably help Harry. “Just- try to breathe!”
Easier said then done. Harry realised he was not breathing… he didn’t seem to need to? He felt himself go limp his arms.. downward as the strange tranformation took hold. The nanite machines- such as they were, going through their programing of converstion. Taking all the cells and converting them into analogious artificial systems. Space was taken by removal of organs.. lungs.. heart.. liver.. stomach.. all not required. A complex mechanical contraption was placed instead… His clothes started to hang lose on him as his body lost an entire foot in size.
His eyes changed.. flesh to glass.. his hair, strands of artificial threads that grew -very- long, going all the way down to his legs. The black sheen on them also changed becoming now a sky-blue colour. Strangely though his face became.. well.. fairer? It almost looked like a girl’s face…
the changes seemed to be done. Harry opened his eyes. “Hair was in his face and he pulled it away. “W-what hap-” his voice! It sounded.. almost robotic? There was an odd tinged nature to it. “Huh?” His clothes hung -very- loose… he was short too. Barely five feet tall… his torso seemed smaller and had an odd.. pinching at his waist that didn’t feel entirely natural. Something on his back moved with a strange ticking sound...
“Are you okay?” Scott asked his voice very worried.
“Uh.. yeah… I think.. I am..” he had to blink though. Something odd must have happened to his eyes. It looked a lot like Scott had.. pink hair?
Scott sighed in relief. He had no idea what happened but.. he wasn’t going to panic. “I’ll call mom… she can work this out..”
