Addicted In Cold Blood (42 page)

At that time, Xzion was half way completed with his assignment in an area in the
United States called Baltimore, Maryland. Ironically, Baltimore Maryland hosts the United States President in a city called Washington, D.C. There is a raging drug problem there, despite the large government presence. For whatever reason, the humans don’t seem to question the connection.” Aton paused to allow a few chuckles. “They even re-elected a man that was a known crack addict, as their mayor!”  More laughter exploded.

Aton puffed out his chest, placed his hands on his narrow hips and began to strut back and forth as he systematically worked the crowd in his favor. “In typical fashion, as we’ve been accustomed to in previous years, the Federal Bureau of Investigations of Earth became involved regarding our new worldwide presence. The CIA had also tried to interfere, but once Xzion was on
U.S. soil, the FBI took over. We expected them to, they are predictable, but what we didn’t expect was for them to send a female cop to find out Xzion’s whereabouts. Some of you may wonder why this matters. We as Zarkstormians treat the sexes the same, unlike some of our terrestrial counterparts. However, the FBI hooked into one of Xzion’s weaknesses, unbeknown to them, no doubt, they’d simply struck gold and landed on a kernel of kryptonite for our boy, here.”

He knew Xzion hated being called boy, and Aton smiled at him while he said it, antagonizing him, daring him—giving him a reason to lunge at him and be taken down like the Berlin Wall of the
Soviet Union.

Xzion honed his gaze on Aton, wanting nothing more than to tear the man from limb to limb.

Self-glorifying slug. You know damn well women aren’t a weakness for me...liar.

“Xzion was lonely,” Aton continued, giving him a small glance of understanding. “I was becoming suspicious of this, based on remote viewing that I was privy to at various times. I won’t disclose the details here, in this court of law. Some things shall remain private for the defendant.”

Like you’re doin’ me a favor! Yeah, I fucked a few Earthling women during the course of time, so fucking what? What did you expect me to do?!

“I saw no harm with him taking care of his basic needs. Though they are beneath us, and some of my constituents compared it to bestiality of sorts, I let this go, unwilling to judge him. I wasn’t in his shoes. I could only imagine the pressure one would be under. After all, on the surface, they
do
look like us. They served their purpose. Things quickly spiraled out of control, however. When the next woman appeared, the police officer sent by the FBI, I thought he would dispose of her. He’d never hesitated previously when someone threatened the mission. He
knew
what was at stake. Instead, Xzion made her his concubine.” Aton turned and pointed at Xzion, making a theatrical ceremony of the ordeal, turning him into a circus freak amongst his peers.

Loud gasps sounded from the audience.

“He impaired the mission, the operation!” Aton’s voice echoed throughout the auditorium.  “I had no idea, and I apologize to you all, that it had gone this far. He had disconnected my remote viewing, stating it needed to be repaired when in fact he’d cut the data transfer so that I wouldn’t see him and his new found weakness. I trusted this man!”

His finger shook as he kept pointing at Xzion.

“He told me he was fine but, instead, the officer was in his home, living with him, as a husband and wife would. He was literally sleeping with the enemy—the F.B.I’s lapdog.”

Xzion swallowed and caught his mother’s expression. He’d never seen it quite before and he resolved that it was a mixture of embarrassment and anger, though he never expected her to articulate that to him. Like all the others, she’d suppress the emotions, and declare them null and void. He looked back at Aton, who continued to rant and rave, throwing him under the spaceship for all to see and hear.

“We had no choice but to recover Xzion from Earth. His mission was not finished, he was approximately seventy-six percent complete. However, it was the farthest
any
of us have come to finishing Phase I. Hence, Phase II was unsuccessful. He’d tried to administer the human blood on himself and suffered an adverse reaction after a problem with synthesization, thus, we re-worked the formulas. To aid him, I had even sent him cadaver brains which we have brought back, untouched.” People began to murmur amongst themselves. Aton grabbed a laser light, and pointed to a chart that was now highlighted electronically on a wall.

“We ran an analysis on Xzion’s brain before he left and upon his return, and the results are astounding. Here, the left lobe, where intellect is supposed to thrive, is enflamed. This is the part of the human brain that controls...emotions. Ours, as Zarkstormians, is under-developed, which helps us to focus on what matters in life and not become distracted. Not only that, the part of the brain in a human being that is susceptible to drug abuse and addiction, is right here…”

Aton pointed his laser at the overhead chart. “Xzion’s brain is also inflamed, the circuits completely drowning in dopamine. He is addicted to something! His neurotransmitters are impaired. We checked his blood, urine and hair follicles and he came up clean, – so what this substance is, we are not sure. It was not detectable in our trial testing.”

Xzion held his head high. A trickle of sweat ran down the side of his face as he sneered at the people in the room. He shuffled his feet, abruptly, causing his chains to clank loudly.

“You will have to excuse him, people.” Aton glared at him. “He is still in active withdraw. When I found him, he was barely breathing. When he came to, he became extremely violent toward us, striking and punching. Two of our men are still in the sanatorium after he choked one until he blacked out, and collapsed the throat of the other. Xzion is now considered a menace, a danger to us and the mission.”

“The only danger is
you
, Aton!” Xzion had had enough. He was no longer going to stand there and let this spectacle continue at his expense.

Everyone’s eyes zoomed in on him.

Anger—unbelievable, thick, dark wrath—oozed from Xzion’s core.

“I did everything you told me! The hell with who got hurt in the process! You tell these people, so they can make a decision to lock me away forever, like a criminal... that I’m dangerous! I’m dangerous because I didn’t complete the mission? Yet I’m stronger than most of you and smarter, too. That doesn’t even make sense!”

“Silence! It is not your turn to speak, Xzion!”

“You tell these people that I can’t be trusted,” Xzion yelled louder, “and that I had an Earth woman in my home. I did! And I’m not apologetic! She was set up; she wasn’t the damn FBI’s lapdog! I thought you resided in the lap of the truth, but that’s bullshit! You grovel at the feet of a mistress of control and lies!”

Some people stood to their feet in disbelief, protesting loudly. The judge used his gavel to bring back order.

“Mr. Khrome, please remain silent while we finish these proceedings until you are told otherwise,” the judge announced in a her monotone voice.

“This is about me not being
your
lackey anymore, Aton. It is about me enjoying myself, and not being at your beckon call. I was still working, and I never questioned anything you asked me to do. I understand how important this is, but, I was learning things from this woman you could never understand! Things you could never teach me, that were far more valuable! These are people, just like us. They aren’t experiments!  They aren’t inferior! They aren’t walking blood transfusions!”

The gavel struck again. Aton crossed his arms and glared at Xzion. It was clear to see that if the two men were alone, they’d fight to the death.

“I can tell you what to test me for, I can tell you, but you still won’t find the drug because you don’t know what it is that I’m high on!”

“What is it?” Aton marched toward him, his cape swinging as he got in Xzion’s face. “She destroyed my best man! The key to our longevity!” His voice quaked in anger, and what sounded like…heartbreak. “What the hell did she do to you?!”

“She loved me...”

A hush came over the room, as well as many looks of confusion.

“That’s not a substance.”

“It is. You of all people should know this. We studied the human brain, and what happens when they are high on a mind altering drug. What happens when they are in love, in hate...all of it. Their brains change. It doesn’t make them inferior, it makes them alive. My deep attraction to her led to love, and she loved me in return. I’d never had that before, I’d never felt it, not even from my own mother.”

Xzion glanced at his mother in the audience. Their eyes met and he held that gaze with her until she turned away once again. This time, her dark, thick black hair shrouded her face completely.

“The woman left me. I went into withdraw and you found me. End of story! There is no great mystery here. That’s what the hell happened!”

“As she should have! She had enough sense, you didn’t. Xzion, I am begging you...” The desperation in Aton’s voice was clear as he marched toward him, and placed his hand on his shoulder. “Please, go through debriefing and reprogramming for the next three months. We can get you back on track if you agree to a probationary period. That’s what I was going to propose here in court. I wasn’t going to ask the judge to lock you up! We need you to get the—”

“That’s all you care about! Have you heard a word I’ve said here, Aton?!”

Xzion strained and broke free from the thickly knotted iron chains around his wrists, forcing many to stand and make their way out of the auditorium in fear as he yelled in agony and anger. He was now an enraged beast, capable of killing in a millisecond.

“Everyone relax!” Aton turned toward the audience and waved away the militia that had immediately begun to swoop closer. “You’ve been brainwashed,” Aton said, stunned, as he stepped away.

“No, I haven’t, Aton. My people are important to me, but I deserved a life as well. I could do both, but you wanted me all to yourself.  I’m convinced you never cared for me at all! I saw you like a father figure. All you cared about was making sure you got me to do what you needed me to do, the hell with my wellbeing. You’ve obviously looked at the recordings from my right lens before I stopped remote viewing and taping, and saw my activities. Couldn’t you see it? Couldn’t you see how unhappy I was, goddamn it?! I wanted to give it and feel it! Love! We lost it in our evolution.”

“Xzion, there is no excuse for you jeopardizing my life’s work!”

“
Your
life’s work? Is that what this is about? This is bigger than you, Aton!” Xzion screamed in exasperation, their eyes glued to one another. “I’m the only one of us with the MXZ gene. Did you ever stop and think that our ability to love and care were not weaknesses, but strengths? Anything that made us more human-like, you resented. It is in all of us, only repressed.”

“As it should have been! What use our emotions? We used to have them, and ended up in wars that lasted for years!”

“And what good is only having a brain without using our hearts?! I am not a robot! I’m a man! We’ve had these emotions all along. They are not dead, they are dormant! Things that don’t get used are pushed away, but they are still in us! We were great warriors at one time, the gene I still carry, because we needed to be, but also, because our emotions drove us to protect our families, because we loved them, Aton. Can’t you see? Maybe that is the reason why it has taken us over sixty years to get this all figured out. If we had approached it differently, really understood the problem, things may have happened much faster.”

“What are you talking about? More rubbish! Love has nothing to do with healing our minds.”

“You don’t know that, because you never tried and I don’t know how it may play into it, but this method hasn’t worked. I will always be a warrior, it’s in me, but my brain tells me every part of me is useful, Aton. I needed something, or better yet,
someone
, to bring it out, make me see my full potential. You always told me I was the best of the old and new world. Now,” he smiled sadly, “You look at me with disgust, Aton.” He pointed to his chest. “You’ve had me since the age of five. You think I failed. I didn’t, and...this freak show is over. I’ve done nothing wrong!”

Xzion picked up the heavy shackles and cast them across the room, breaking the atrium ceiling window. He held his hand up. “And don’t come near me, not one of you, with those heat guns! I’m fully alert now and I will kill many of you before you have the chance to even get me down on the fucking floor!” he said between gritted teeth.

Several people stood and began to argue amongst each other.

Aton raised his staff to Xzion, his hand trembling along with his lower lip. The army surrounded them and a hush came over the proceedings. Aton’s light eyes gleamed with moisture, his body on the verge of collapse.

“I have to get back there. I have to get back to her. She needs me.”

“Xzion, you’re making a mistake!” he heard his mother call out. He looked toward her. Her black eyes glowed. Her face remained calm, but her eyes, those damn eyes, told her heart’s truth.

He took a step back, the crowd of men closing in on him. “I must go back, Mother.” He smiled at his mom, his heart pounding in his chest. “She needs me, I know she does...”