Blood is streaming down my right arm while my right leg is shooting sparks with every step I take, but I have to keep running. I'm not going to let them catch me. Not again. I keep sprinting until I reach my father's laboratory. I close my right, brown eye as the scanner scans my copper, left eye. The floor descends into the ground and I collapse as soon as it stops. I crawl into the bathroom to clean and wrap my bloody arm. I drag myself to the tool cabinet to get a wrench and a blow torch. I tighten the bolts on my leg until it stops sparking and then weld my leg shut. I feel inside the pocket of my shorts to make sure the paper I stole was still in there. Luckily it is.
I run over to my father's invention desk, fling open one of the drawers and dump all of its contents on the ground. I feel around until I find a spot that's slightly raised. I push down on it and a little platform rises up. On the platform is a glass case containing a shiny, metal sphere with a touchpad on the front of it. This is the Cosmo-ambulex. It's a machine my father made long before I was born. I run to the other side of the room and begin to slide it along the wall. I hear a click as the wall caves in around the little gadget. The device starts to glow as the wall slides open. I look at the touchpad. The screen reads Origin: Planet Catandro, Andromeda Galaxy. Destination: Planet ___, ___Galaxy. I fill in the blanks with Earth and Milky Way. I step into the opening in the wall. I stand in the middle of a circle made by little holes in the floor. The wall closes as white laser beams shoot up from the holes one by one as a vortex opens in the ceiling. As soon as the last beam hits the ceiling I am transported out of my father's laboratory.
With the human half of my head searing with pain, I fall to the floor in a darkened room inside Area 51. My father made it come here because this is where humans keep other extraterrestrials. His closest friend was being held here after androids were banned. They couldn't come to earth in ships anymore because the government put up a barrier around the planet that blew up alien crafts on contact. Androids also can't be seen walking around or else they'll be shut down and torn apart. My father wanted to save his friend so he built a device that teleported him directly into Area 51.
I tiptoe out of the room and sprint down a deserted hallway. I'm only a few feet away from the exit when I hear a door slam.
"Hey, you there. Stop, STOP!" A husky male voice commands.
A bullet flies past me but I ignore it. An alarm blares as I burst through the exit door. I don't look back, but I know more people are coming after me because the number of bullets increase. I press a button on the left side of my torso causing small rockets to come out of my left hand and right foot. Since the boosters are only supporting half my body I'm flying crooked, but it's enough to get me away safely. I fly over a highway and follow it into town. Once I'm there I land in an alley and start walking. I'm getting a lot of weird stares but I keep my head down so they can't see my face. Unfortunately, I can't hide my bionic arm and leg. I duck into a little store that is deserted except for the nerdy looking clerk behind the counter.
"Excuse me? I'm going to need a long-sleeved shirt and pants please," I request.
The man looks glances up and immediately looks alarmed.
"My goodness! I thought they killed all your kind. Are you insane? You can't go walking around in the open like this." He sprints over to the window and pulls down the blinds.
"Why you're Apollo's girl aren't you?" He asks, examining me more closely.
"Well I do have a feminine physical appearance but technically I'm genderless. Apollo is my father though. Do you know him personally or just through media and the false information the government fed you?"
"I've met your father. Right after all mechanical life forms were banned your father held an underground meeting for all his kind and all human allies. I attended this meeting. Apollo is brilliant. I mean calling him a supercomputer would be an understatement," he gushes as he rummages through the clothing displays.
"Pleased to meet your acquaintance," I say politely.
He walks over to one of the circular racks and begins flipping through more clothes.
"The pleasure is all mine. Do you have a name?"
"My name is Xenobel."
He cocks his head to the side and throws me a funny glance.
"Zeh-Noble," He repeats slowly while I nod. "Well, my name is Elijah. Here this is perfect."
He tosses me a gray turtleneck, long black pants, and a grey athletic glove. I start to change my clothes, making sure to put the paper in my new pants pocket.
"You know, I used to be in love with an android," Elijah starts. "We had two beautiful children, but the government took them away. Of course, my girlfriend was sent back to Catandro. I would have married her if that anti-interspecies marriage law hadn't passed. All half human half droid children were sentenced to death. It's so sad and it's no better there. They hate humans in Catandro just as much as we hate robots here on Earth."
"Trust me I know. I just came from there and the government tried to murder me. Luckily I outran them or else I would be dead. I've been on the run all my life, alternating between Catandro and Earth. I lived with my parents on Earth for 5 years after I was born, but the government discovered us and split us up. My father programmed me with basic survival skills and instructions on how to use some of the gadgets he invented, including the one that got me here, before sending me to live in his lab in Catandro with his sister."
Elijah stares at me with a look of sympathy and there is an awkward silence.
"Did you want to cover your face? I think your bionic half will draw attention to yourself."
"Yes please," I reply.
He goes into a room in the back and returns with a grey Phantom of the Opera style mask that I cover the bionic side of my face with. I turn around and observe myself in the mirror before the embarrassing realization hits me.
"Uh-as I just explained I was just in Catandro, and - um you're not going to believe this but I have no money," I admit before staring at the floor to avoid seeing Elijah's reaction.
There's another silence but this one is longer. I peek at his face and see him studying me hard. He doesn't look angry at all. He appears to be very deep in thought. Finally, he speaks.
"You can have these for free because you remind me of my children. You stay safe Xenobel. I hope to see you again."
"Thank you so much. I really appreciate this and I hope to see you again too. Goodbye Elijah," I smile at him before exiting the store.
ns 172.71.254.222da2
and then Add to home screen.