The hotel room was dark and nearly cold enough to see traces of her breath. There wasn’t a crease on the beds. No left out bags or suitcases, only a peculiar slate gray device a small desk.

“We meet again,” a voice said.

Her eyes went wide. It was the voice. That strange, husky voice from when she died.

“Sso you’re the one,” she stammered.

“I am Aip, resident of planet Antera.”

Something moved from behind the bathroom door.

“It’s me,” he said. “I tried to transform into a human, but in doing so I only became injured. It will be a few days before I am in my regular body.”

She scratched her ear, unsure if she’d been hearing this voice out loud or all in her head.

“Do you see the terip?” he asked.

She looked back at the desk. “You mean the grey thing?”

“Yes,” he said. “Go to it.”

The device was frozen like ice and left an imprint where she had touched it.

“The terip creates whatever you want it to,” he said. “As long as it is a certain size. It can create clothing, money, food, though not as nutritionally good. Tap your finger five times.”

So she did, and a vial of bright orange liquid appeared on the terip's surface.

“Amazing.” She picked up the grainy glass bottle. “What is this?”

“Anterian Elixir. Go on. Make one for yourself.”

She tapped the terip again five times then brought their drinks back to the door.

“Come in,” he said. “It’s okay.”

The vial’s nearly slipped out of her hands when she turned the handle and saw him. The alien creature was nothing more than a pile of bloody, mangled body parts, glued haphazardly together by metallic blue skin.

She quickly set the vile beside him and shut the door, breathing in and out, trying to forget what she had just seen. “Listen,” she said. “My cat’s out there.”

“He will return.”

“But there’s a storm.”

“It’s only shadow wind.”

“Shadow wind?”

“A strong force, the color void”

She ran her hand through her new hair, more silky and weightless with a strange green tinge. I see new colors now…She bit her nails, surprised she still had them.

“Drink,” Aip said. “I feel you are weak.”

She picked up the vial, closed her eyes, and downed a few gulps. It was slimy but wasn’t bad. Actually, it was quite refreshing.

“So,” she said, feeling a little more at ease. “What planet are you from?”

“Antera. It is an abundant, peaceful world at the corner of this galaxy.”

“Well, if Antera’s so great, why do you care about this dump so much?"

"Strange,” he said. “No one has ever asked, and I never liked to tell."

"Why?"

“I was human once. I never forgot the experience, brief and terrible as it was.”

“You were reincarnated?”

“If that’s what you want to call it.”

“Is your family still here?”

“They have all died, mostly," he said. “The problem is, I left a bad imprint.”

“How bad?”

“Evil.”

Chills ran up her spine. Getting to know him, he seemed so kind, but now she wanted to bolt out of the room and never look back.

“I am not that man anymore," he said. "I am Aip. I mean you no harm. I would give my life and every life after to save this world.”

She held her bony knees against her chest. “What exactly are you trying to save Earth from?”

“There is no balance,” he said. “And there is no time. This world is getting to the brink of something terrible, something that human life could ever come back from if balance is not reached.”

She shuddered. “Why me?” she asked. “Why Ralph?”

“I searched the entire world before I found a magic community in the Caldron forest. That is where Ethelia, the great sorceress of Oracle Hollow, told me the prophecy of two lost souls of magic blood, and I wanted souls that could help me as much as I could help them.”

“I always knew there was something strange about those woods,” she said. “But a prophecy? How do you know that lost soul is me?”

“She told me your name,” he said. “Zoryana.”

Zoryana. The name was given to her at birth. How else would he know?

“Wait,” she said. “Ralph told me it was in my cards to die at 14. Is that true?”

“I’m afraid so,” Aip said. “You had a very rare, unknown heart condition. It may have had to do with your time in Chernobyl. The doctors never would’ve been able to figure out. Now as a hybrid, though your heart is weak, you are healed.”

She took another sip of the elixir. “Well, thanks then. I guess.”

“I cannot take any soul against their will, you know. You can leave anytime.”

“I think I’ll stay alive, thanks.”

“I’ve tried this before, you know,” he said. “There were three then. Three lost souls who couldn’t find their way. I gave them a body to form into, just as I gave you and the boy one, but they had all disappeared into the galaxy once I gift them their terips and spacecrafts. I fear that is what the boy will do. He reminds me too much of me when I was human. He doesn’t care. Do you?”

The word yes, ran to the tip of her tongue and stopped. It was hard to know for sure. In a lot of ways, the world had been nothing but cruel to her. She knew despair at too young an age. Emptiness. Hopelessness. Abandonment. Unimaginable suffering. She’d seen it all with her own eyes. If the world was ending, why not let it when there was an entire universe to explore?

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know if there’s anything in the world worth saving.”

She hoped he wasn’t too hurt, but he was. She could feel it. She could feel everything now, so much more intensely than before.

“It’s not too late to help this world,” he said.

“I mean, I’ll try,” she said, on the verge of tears. “I am in the prophecy, after all. But how, Aip? How do I help a world like this?”

“That I will tell you when we are both in better shape. I’m losing my energy. Before I regenerate, go back to the terip. Press three times.”

She pressed the cold slate three times and a mauve book appeared with no title. She opened it to yellowed, heavy scented pages. The Alien-Hybrid , the inside title began. 1976.

“I wrote it the last time I was here,” he said, his voice fading like a radio station losing its signal. “Read it. It will tell you everything you need to know about your new body.

She brought the book back to where she’d been sitting and began to read as her eyes adjusted to the deep blue shadows of the room.

The Alien-Hybrid

1976

In this book, we will discuss the Anterian alien and human specifically. No other alien species hybrid will be mentioned.

There is no way to translate what exactly an Alien-Hybrid is in any current human language. An Alien-Hybrid, otherwise known as a H/A, or halian, is not a mammal. Nor is he/she a reptile or amphibian. He/she is it is a repstar from a class known as Repstartransus, a very distant cousin of the tardigrade on Earth. The liquid that sustains an alien-hybrid is much like water, but is survivable in the vacuum of space. It is metallic in color and changes with age, stress levels, temperature and diet. This water that sustains the body is called atsyrl, or chromatic water.

Unlike humans, H/A can survive long periods without food, water, or even oxygen. The longest known H/A, lost in space for 500 years, had survived with very little traces of each.

That being said, alien-hybrids are not immortal, nor are they indestructible.

An alien-hybrid’s diet consists mostly of liquids. Solids may be taken with the materil, but we’ll get more on that later. Liquid diets of any plant material is sufficient, as well as direct sunlight (photosynthesis) and minerals in the water. Most foods can be easily made with the terip. At the end of this book, you may find a recipe list of printable meals. This goes for animals who may have turned into hybrids as well, as their diets vary.

I must also note, all that is mentioned in this book also applies to earthly hybrid mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

Digestion is very simple compared to humans. Defecating, urination, and flatulence is normal, but only in very small amounts. The size of a pea in a month is considered normal.

It may seem like the alien hybrid is indestructible, but it is not. There are many ways to die, some of which are listed below:

-Lack of sufficient oxygen, water, or food, (though the requirement is vastly less than humans.)

-Entering a black hole during spaceflight.

-Crash landings

-Extreme amounts of long term radiation exposure

-Extreme temperatures without a space cloak.

-Old age. Alien-hybrids live on average 150-200 years

She flipped through the pages until another sentence caught her eye.

Materil

Materil was created by Anterian by the name of Kipket in the Urgonka region. It made specifically for hybrids. Materil is used as a means of traveling and experiencing other planets. It is a bacteria-filled capsule taken by mouth that can materialize and solidify the body into whatever species it is designed for. In Anterian-hybrids, it lowers the water percentage of the body (from 90 to 60 percent) and constricts the pupils for 3 to 5 hours, making an A-H appear more of whatever the original species was. Unfortunately, the side effects of materil include drowsiness, fatigue, and a general sense of distress and unease. It is hard on the body and recommended no more than two a day, no more than once a week.

That’s how Ralph looked so normal. Better than normal, really. She wondered where he went off to. And Pumpkin. Where was he?

She shut the book, shaken and tired. She could feel that her brain had changed, lacking its usual circadian clock.

She opened the book again to search for an answer. Turns out, Alien-hybrids have a very different 'regenerating' schedule. They sleep in increments, depending on how their energy levels, illnesses, and long they've been up. With eyes that see well in the dark, it wasn't surprising to find she was now nocturnal. Long naps in the sun are the preferred way to rest.

In the back of the book, she found recipes for the terip. 1 3 second tap and 4 taps for materil. She then found a recipe for new clothing and for a small cap to cover the gem in her forehead. She figured Ralph must've used it since she didn't see a gem in his forehead if he had one.

The new clothes, a basic t-shirt, sweater, and pants, fit and the cap was easy to put on, but she hesitated on the materil. Maybe she'd need it later.

The world was still dark and silent.

No one will notice me.

She grabbed a card key and went back to the rooftop. The shadow wind wasn't so bad, or maybe she had just gotten used to it.

She went back to where she first woke. The puddle was now gone, and tiny shards of her clothes scattered about along with tufts of orange fur.

She called Pumpkin’s name and looked around the dark cement ground, inside vents and crevices, and a million things he could hide behind, but he was nowhere to be found.

Near the edge of the building was her old phone. The screen was cracked and crusted over with metallic slime, but it still worked. She texted her mom, Gwen, and Luca, telling them they'd never believe what's going on. That she'd have to explain in person the next time she saw them. More importantly, she told them she was okay.

She shut the phone, feeling tense.

At least for now.

Pumpkin was nowhere to be found.

She went back to the hotel room as the sky revealed the break of dawn. Thankfully she hadn't run into anyone. Even if she did, she bet she could pass for a crazy teenager coming back from a party.

She knocked on the bathroom door. "Aip?" There was no response but could feel he was okay, just resting still.

The gem, she later learned from the book, the harbor of telepathic abilities.

She read more of the book until she turned off like a switch. It was so abrupt. When she woke, it was night again, like a bink. She felt energized even after sleeping on the floor.

"Zoe." It was Aip. "Another elixir. Please."

She made two again, one for him, one for herself. "Does this thing ever run out of ink?"

"It runs on cosmic light, collecting microscopic traces to multiply and create. No, it does not."

She smiled. "Cool."

Aip was still hard to look at. But there was more of that metallic blue to him now. The body parts were less noticeable, and the blob that he had become as a whole had shrunk.

"What exactly happened to you?"

"I tried a spell to turn my body into a human, though the sorceress warned me against it. There is no known transformative spell that can successfully transform a hybrid. Or that boy, for that matter."

"Ralph?"

"He was very disturbed by the sight of me and refused to believe that he cannot live a normal human life. But he’ll be back once all the materil wears off. Which reminds me, you should make one yourself. Get the hang of it. I see you already found the cap."

She wondered how he could see at all. His eyes lost somewhere in the blob

“I can sense he may be in some trouble,” he said. “Would you go look for him?”

"Sure. I just take one, right?"

"With an elixir. You will be fine."

"What about you?”

“All I need is one more day.”

One more day? More like one more year.

She turned back to the book and found the recipe for the materil.

"Make sure the boy is up here before midnight."

"Why midnight?"

"Because that is when you meet the ruler of the world."

She nearly dropped her elixir.

Ruler of the world?

“What about the chip?” she asked. “Can't that bring him back here? Pumpkin too?”

"There was only one device and he has it. He isn’t far. Don’t worry.”

She took a materil in front of the mirror, waited until her reflection looked a little more normal, then left the room. The narrow hallways with patterns and designs were dizzying.

Where do I go first? What would I even say to him? Her entire body always had a way of freezing up whenever he was around. The last time she felt that way was around her crush at school. Now she couldn’t even remember his name or what he looked like. Not after meeting Ralph.

The elevator doors opened.

Hey, Ralph, she thought, rehearsing what she'd say to him in her head. Aip said we're going to meet the ruler of the world. I bet you'd want to meet him. Maybe he's looking for someone to take his place.

Yeah. That would work. Had to.

The doors opened to bright, marble floors that nearly blinded her at first. Live jazz played from the cafe. There were people everywhere she looked. She avoided all eye contact and walked at a steady pace. Not too fast. Not too slow. Any minute she imaged the materil fading prematurely, exposing her big, dark alien eyes and the strange hue to her alien skin. Or worse, the cap would pop off and bright colors would shoot from the gem.

A dark, empty corner looked all too tempting. She stood behind it, taking deep breaths. It was hard being alone in a big unfamiliar city, filled with strangers and people she didn't know and a body she was still learning about.

A thump came from the lobby as if something or someone had fallen.

She peeked over the wall. It was Ralph! What a nightmare. He had fallen flat on his face, and a child was laughing at him.

Zoe gathered what strength and wits she could and ran over to them. “He’s fine,” she said. “Just forgot to take his insulin."

The dad turned to his son. "Don't laugh at people with diabetes.”

The boy scratched his head. "What’s dieabeads?"

Zoe helped him up. He was all dead weight and could barely stand. She wasn’t sure how she'd get him all the way to the elevator.

The elixir. She still had some left in her sweater pocket. She pulled off the cork and brought it to his lips, nearly blue. His whole body had a purplish, bruised hinge. His eyes were bigger, the dark iris eating up the green. He looked like a corpse.

"Hurry,” she whispered. "We need to get out of here!"

After a few sips, he stood a little straighter and was able to stand on his own. There was no need to convince him to get back to the room.

"How many materils did you take?" She asked.

"Not enough.” He wiped his mouth and smirked. “So you're okay with this?” he said. “This foreign, alien body? With being an outcast?

What could she say? She was always an outcast. Alien or human. She wasn't exactly conventionally smart or beautiful the way he was. Or conventional in any way for society really.

People who passed them by were starting to give them strange looks. Just then, a bright orange cat appeared down the hall.

"Pumpkin!"

He was by a lit water fountain, pawing at the water. She figured he must've gotten in from the vents somehow.

"You go get your cat,” Sorci said. “I'll be upstairs.”

"We're supposed to meet the ruler of the world at midnight,” she blurted.

"Where?

"I...I don't know. Aip told me."

A rush of people swarmed between them.

Sorci lowered his head and stepped into the elevator.

When she turned back to Pumpkin, he was gone.

Not again.

She looked all around the fountain, in Garbage cans and down other halls. One hall, in particular, was exceptionally fancy, with long, red Persian carpets and crystal chandeliers. In the search for Pumpkin, she was distracted by all the medieval, cryptic paintings.

At the end of the was another lobby that led to an auditorium. There was a sign that read, Harpo eugenic group.

She didn't want to seem out of place. a young teenager in sweats among adults in suits and dresses. It looked like a meeting they were gathering for. Just as she turned her back, she noticed a familiar face.

No, she thought. Couldn’t be.