Cameron navigated the crowded hallways and made his way toward the bike racks. While most of the other kids had team sports or glee club or student council or some other after-school activity, he knew he had to be home as soon as possible. He had promised Roen he’d help with the new guests. Besides, he was intrigued by that girl. He had never met a host his age before.
Oh dear.
“I’m just curious.”
About what? There are dozens of girls your age at school you can be curious about. Why a Genjix, of all people?
“Because…” He stopped in his tracks. “Because she might understand what it’s like. These other kids don’t. They couldn’t.”
Mutual attraction through shared alien experiences. How positively romantic.
Cameron left the building and proceeded toward the bicycle racks next to the stadium. He wandered down the hill and noticed the football players lining up one by one, working on blocking drills and rushing techniques. He watched with an expert eye as the players’ hands slashed at arms, knocking each other off balance. The pulling and pushing; it was all very t’ai chi. Cameron caught himself reflexively mimicking their actions and improvising on how he would have done it instead. He was just as big as these linemen, but just by seeing them move, he knew he could take them. Well, most of them.
“Having thoughts about trying out this year?” Coach Wannsik walked up next to him carrying a pile of orange cones. “You know, we could use another guy on defense.”
Cameron blushed. “Thanks, but I don’t have the time. I have chores to do at home.”
“He thinks he’s too good for us, coach,” one of the players coming up from behind snickered. “Has to protect that smart-ass brain of his.”
“It’s a good thing you don’t have anything to protect,” Cameron shot back.
Well done. Point to you.
“Stow it, Bill.” The coach turned back to Cameron. “You too, Cameron. Think about it. You know, colleges love students who are balanced academically and athletically. If you like, I can chat with your parents at the parent/teacher meeting.”
Cameron hurried off before he had to make another promise he couldn’t keep. The last thing he needed was to rope his parents into another meeting. As he unlocked his bike, he noticed several of the varsity guys pointing at him. As always, once those guys knew they had his attention, the catcalls came and the taunting got worse. Cameron turned his back to them.
“I could kick the crap out of all of them.”
It would not even be close.
“All at the same time I bet. I don’t care if they’re football players.”
You could do it without even breaking a sweat. In fact, if you sweat, I would be disappointed because it would mean it took you too long.
“Maybe even with one hand behind my back. Maybe with no hands.”
Yes. You will head-butt them to death.
Cameron was treated to a montage of every one of Tao’s previous hosts who had ever head-butted something, from several instances when he was a Triceratops, to the hundreds of times in Cro-Magnon hosts, to during the Roman Empire’s Golden Age when one of his hosts was a bare-knuckle brawler, all the way to the one time Roen head-butted a wall by accident and broke his nose.
Cameron laughed. “Man, are you sure Roen is actually my dad?”
To be fair, he was undercover in Mongolia and they brush their teeth early in the morning with vodka. He was playing a drinking game with a local mobster he was trying to pull intel from and he lost.
Cameron thought about his father as he rode his bike back to the farmhouse. He didn’t know much about Roen’s time as a host; his dad didn’t like to talk about it. Cameron knew losing Tao was painful for him and digging up those old memories hurt, so he didn’t ask. Still, he wondered. Knowing the life expectancy for the line of work they did, Cameron would rather learn Roen’s story now, before it was too late.
As he fell into his pedaling cadence, his warm-up for his three upcoming workouts, his mind wandered to the girl. He knew she was Genjix, but at their age, did it matter? Of course it did. Cameron had been spoon-fed stories of the Genjix ever since he was a kid. He’d bet she had been told the same about the Prophus.
I know you wish to meet her. I approve of that, but be careful. She is pretty and a Genjix host, a deadly combination for any teenager. I get inklings of her being an Adonis Vessel as well, or at least one in training.
To be honest, Cameron didn’t notice her looks. He had fixated more on the fact that she was like him. That meant she might understand things he couldn’t talk to anyone else about. Also, from the few glimpses he did get at Redwood National Park, she looked a mess, sort of like how his dog Eva used to look after she had romped through the stream near their home. He couldn’t blame the girl for being a little messy. She had been on the lam and had just pulled through a firefight.
Half an hour later, he saw the farmhouse in the distance. While the other kids were at football practice, Hsing Yi Quan was on his agenda today, then t’ai chi, then SWAT maneuvers, and then strength training. After dinner, weapons. Then his daily early morning free-running sessions with Mom, and then Ba Gua Zhang. Then back to school.
Cameron sighed. It sounded a lot more glamorous than it actually was. Somehow, playing football seemed so much more appealing. Oh well, Tao had always told him that a host carried heavy burdens. Cameron just wished he could shrug the responsibilities off once in a while and act his age. Roen appeared as he wheeled his bike into the garage.
“There you are, son,” Roen grinned. “We’re going to need to push your Chinese buzz-saw fighting” (Roen’s nickname for Hsing Yi) “back an hour. I need you to help me out with our guests. We’re still screwing some thumbs down and getting some answers. It’ll be fun.”
Cameron flashed his dad a weak smile. “Sure. I’ll be right there.”
5 Kremlin’s Heir
The Conflict Doctrine is the foundation of all Genjix philosophies on Earth. Conflict breeds innovation. Innovation is what will take the Quasing home. That was our original intent. Though our primary objective has now changed, the principles of that foundation remain true and still apply.
I have been at the heart of the doctrine’s inception and shall remain so until it comes to fruition.
Zoras
Today was a good day. A historical day, even.
Enzo, flanked on both sides by his entourage, took his time walking through the tall arches and rust-colored gates of the antique fortress, long the symbol of empires, and proceeded down the wide pathway, past the famed gigantic green Tsar Cannon, on his way to the church.
He could have met Vinnick at the Federation Council building in front of the entire Russian government, but instead, he had decided to show some manners. After all, no need to embarrass the old man in front of the humans. They were still Genjix, after all. His enemies and critics could say many things about him, but never that he was uncivilized. Besides, he enjoyed basking in history, and there were few grander, more historically significant places than the Church of the Disposition of the Robe nestled inside the Kremlin.
This country had seen its share of foreign invasions over the centuries. Their people tended to ensconce themselves with their own. Enzo would have to break them of this relationship with Vinnick, especially the high-ranking officials with whom Vinnick had long-established connections. The Russian politico class was in a frail state, and their allegiance could go either way. They recognized his power and influence as the accepted leader of not only the Chinese government, but the Genjix; yet they also considered him an outsider. Vinnick, while Genjix, was also Russian, and one of them.