Jaden opens his eyes and he is back inside his human body. His body isn’t floating, but he is standing in the middle of the rectangular area of water. His body feels cold, even though the water is warm. Cold feelings quickly move up and down his nervous system. He still isn’t breathing, but he can hear his heartbeat through the water. The sound of his heart echoes around the water surrounding him. The vision from his human eyes doesn’t feel the same. His 20/20 vision makes him feel as if his vision is bad. He can’t zoom in on Bellona through the water as she stands there looking at him. He automatically covers his private parts with his hand. Jaden doesn’t realize he isn’t breathing.
‘Jaden walk forward and out of the water,’ Bellona says telepathically.
‘Okay. Do you have any clothes? I’m completely naked here.’
‘It’s nothing I haven’t seen yet. Get used to being free and showing your true self. There is nothing to be ashamed of here.’
‘You sound like the voice in a flasher or streaker’s mind.’
Jaden takes two steps forward and his body emerges from the warm water environment that is suspended in midair.
‘Jaden you need to cough out the remaining liquid in your lungs.’
Jaden leans over and coughs up water. The water goes towards the floor, but changes direction and goes back into the rectangular pool of water.
‘How was I able to breathe with all of that inside of my lungs?’
‘The nanobots in your pores around your body were transferring the oxygen in the water directly into your bloodstream. Therefore, there wasn’t a reason for your lungs to do anything. There were microscopic tentacles going into your belly button that was providing oxygen, water, and food. How do you feel Jaden? You died, were brought back to life and now your body was repaired from you being completely frozen.’
Jaden clears his throat, takes a deep breath and stands up.
“Yeah, my body has been through a lot ever since I found your spaceship. So far I’ve been shot, drowned, drugged, body molecules vaporized, brain downloaded, chest cut almost open, suffocated, frozen and taken out of my body repeatedly. What is next for me? Assimilating me and putting me with the Borg?”
She chuckles.“How are you feeling?”
“I feel great, a little stiff, but okay.”
“Stretch your body in every direction, touch your toes, hands over your head and tell me how you feel,” she says.
Jaden does this and feels the aches all around his body.
“My joints feel stiff and my muscles feel a little sore as if I just came out of the gym. It feels strange being back in my original body again for some reason.”
“Your mind was getting used to being in another body and felt less strain using a nanoeye. It is sort of like giving your body a break.”
“I just noticed I have my clothes back on that I was wearing the day I found your ship,” Jaden asks, as he looks himself up and down.
He has on blue jeans and a NY Giants jersey. The jersey has a blue number 27 on both sides of it and the name Hampton above his chest.
“Hey! This is backwards,” he yells, “The player’s name goes on the back along with the tag in the shirt.”
Jaden pulls his arms from the sleeves and turns his jersey around.
“I apologize about that Jaden. I didn’t realize there was a right and wrong way.”
“It’s okay, how is it that I’m completely dry and my clothes are dry?”
“Well this special water doesn’t soak through materials and it returns back into the pool.”
“Okay, that’s cool. Now where is my Giants jacket and Jordan sneakers?”
“They are safe, cleaned and on your bed. Even the bullet hole was sewn up,” Bellona answers.
Jaden turns around and takes a few steps away. He unbuckles his belt, opens his pants, and looks inside.
“You Andromedians are the best dry cleaners; you even removed that shit stain out of my underwear,” Jaden says excitedly
“Shit stain? Your feces? Why would that be in your underwear?” Bellona asks then continues, “You humans should be toilet trained by your age.”
Jaden laughs, “When I was first shot by the UFO police, I slightly pissed myself. Then when I was drowning in the dark on your ship, I was scared shitless and I felt myself pooping before I passed out.”
“So you uploaded your remains on your clothes, because you were scared shitless? I’m sure your friends back home would find that funny, right Jaden?”
“Embarrassing for me and funny for them. I’m glad you are learning what is funny Bellona.”
“I’m sorry for that Jaden. But you won’t have that problem now; we removed most of the food particles and feces from your digestive system. The pool of water removes and vaporizes any remains.”
Bellona smiles and laughs.
“What is so funny?”
“I’m sorry Jaden; I was watching the video from our ship from when you were drowning and unconscious on our ship. As you can see from the 3D video here after your clothes were removed… two of your logs were floating in the water and bouncing off your head and chest.”
“Oh, so it’s so funny that you had to put it on the 3D video screen with the night vision? My turds doing an Under the Sea dance on a dead body is funny to you huh?”
Bellona continues to laugh, “Jaden, you asked what was so funny.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Jaden walks away from the screen and away from Bellona. He continues to stretch his legs and arms.
“Jaden, don’t be upset. I haven’t laughed this much since I was an organic life form. I’m learning to see the humor in things and especially in your culture.”
Jaden continues to walk away and stops in one place.
“I changed the video and it’s showing the insides of your body.”
The 3D screen is showing Jaden’s body, blood vessels, muscles and the nanobots moving in his bloodstream.
‘Your blood pressure and temperature are normal,’ Bellona says telepathically.
Jaden walks back. Checking his pocket and looking in his wallet.
“I’m not upset; I probably would have done the same thing if it was one of my friends.”
“I noticed that you are sensitive. I’ll use more caution. Jaden, are you checking your wallet to make sure your money is there?”
“Sorry, force of habit.”
“What are we going to do with your currency? Buy something in our galaxy?”
“No, but maybe the Darclonians took some to use it in a strip club back on Earth?” He jokes.
Bellona smiles.
“Okay, that wasn’t my best joke,” he says.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Why does everything inside of my body look animated?” He asks.
“This is a much better way of seeing things inside of complicated bodies or materials. Seeing the insides of your body the way it is will probably freak you out.”
“Bellona, I’m thinking that I’m hungry, but my stomach doesn’t feel like I am hungry. Why is this?” Jaden asks.
“Your digestive system is offline for the moment, including your stomach. Your body is currently on a photosynthesis and liquid diet. Artificial sunlight has been absorbed into your pores through the nanobots, into your bloodstream and converted over into energy. With a combination of some proteins, amino acids, carbohydrates, and an advanced metabolic process you won’t be hungry for a while.”
“Works for me. This is an interesting 3D x-ray here. Are those all the nanobots in my body?”
“Yes they are; they are analyzing your DNA, RNA, body structure, tissue, spinal cord, neuron transmissions, cell division and everything inside of you. They will give a report on what they find.”
“Wasn’t this done to me before, when I first got on your ship back on Earth?”
“Most of it was, but most of the data was stolen. Most of the analyzing done while you were on Earth was mostly for preparing your body for flight, space and optic-warp. The analyzing process now is for enhancing your human body to its maximum capability.”
“Any word on that transmission signal you were trying to intercept from the Darclonians?” Jaden asks.
“We did intercept the transmission and we are verifying on the other side of the micro black hole. Our long range telescope antennas on the outside of our Andromeda Galaxy will fully verify if any transmission made it into your galaxy.”
Marco appears in the room behind Bellona and walks forward, while Jaden has his back turned.
‘I see your body is back to its old self Jaden, how are you feeling?’ Marco asks.
Jaden looks around the room and notices Marco standing there.
“Hey, my blue rescuer alien Smurf friend,” Jaden pauses and talks telepathically, ‘Oh I apologize, I realize the preference for communicating here is through telepathic means. I’m fine, and doing well. It feels strange being back in my own body. I feel sluggish and weak,’ Jaden says without moving his mouth while he walks up to Marco and shakes his hand.
‘This…’
‘I figured it out in a half a second that shaking hands is customary in your culture,’ Marco says without much emotion in his face.
‘Wow you are fast, took the words right out of my mouth.’
‘The Smurfs was your favorite show when you were an early teenager.’
‘You’re good with quickly going through my brain’s memory,’ Jaden says with a surprised look on his face.
Bellona smiles and walks over to the 3D video of Jaden’s vitals and her face changes to a sad face.
‘Jaden guess what?’
‘What Marco?’
‘You were approved to go back home.’
‘Alright! Earth here I come!’ Jaden yells excitedly then continues, ‘That felt strange yelling telepathically, feels as if I was humming loud to myself.’
Marco continues to talk to Jaden.
Jaden stares off and daydreams to himself. He is imagining himself being back home on Earth and getting a special award for the furthest traveled human. He stands on a stage next to the President. The President of the United States hands him the award and Jaden takes the podium.
“Thank you sir. I would like to thank my mom, girlfriend, Pops and good friend James for supporting me and believing I would return to Earth. I would also like to thank my alien friends on the planet Xenos for returning me in one piece and giving us advances in technology. I would also like to thank my sexy friend Bellona for rescuing me. Would there be any questions?”
A reporter raises his hand, “Mr. Marino, how do you feel traveling over five million light-years?”
“I feel like five million bucks and I have boldly gone where no man went!”
The audience laughs and applauses.
“I also have the most space miles in space.”
Another reporter stands and asks a question, “How do you feel having your statue next to Lincoln’s in Washington?”
“I feel very honored and look forward to having my face on the Washington Monument as well.”
A smiling female stands up asking a question, “What are you going to do next, Mr. Marino?”
“I’m going to Disney World!” Jaden yells with his hand and award in the air. “Then I’m going to end world hunger, stop global warming, run for President, and end racism. . .”
‘Jaden, Jaden...Are you here with us?’ Bellona asks.
Jaden snaps out of his daydream.
‘Man that was intense. I felt like that was actually happening,’ Jaden says.
‘Your brain is using a higher percentage of itself. Everything is going to seem more real. You’ll also be able to remember more,’ Bellona says.
‘Jaden did you hear anything I was saying about going back home?’ Marco asks.
‘No,’ Jaden replies, ‘Sorry about that, I zone out sometimes.’
‘With time Jaden, you’ll be able to process and do more than one thing at once. Your mind is naturally capable of multi-tasking.’
‘Sounds good to me. I was just thinking about something. When I was rescued from Planet 455, on the video, I remember the blisters were shooting at Bellona when she was on the ground...’
The video of Bellona replays in the middle of the room, of her on the ground being shot at and then exploding.
‘I’ll explain Jaden; my energy was going down so I did what we call an atomic recharge. My body absorbed all the energy and matter of the weapons being fired at me. My energy particles united the enemies’’ weapons until I exploded out into space in all directions. My body’s particles united with direct non-filtered sunlight, then came back down at the speed of light on my targeted enemies. My nanoscanners directed which targets to hit when I came back down in hundreds of pieces. Then my body reunited together. That is a last resort weapon, which requires a lot of energy and can only be used once a battle.’
‘That is amazing. For some reason I just remember this incident from out of nowhere.’
‘It is okay, your memory will get more organized.’
‘Jaden, do you remember the D.E.K?’ Marco asks.
‘Yes, I do, remember the dark energy knight none of you could kill.’
‘That’s right; Bellona already explained that to you. That alien was amazing and scary. I’ve been in tens of thousands of battles and never saw something like that. It was like a walking black hole, which was in complete control of its dark energy around it,’ Marco says.
‘Bellona already told me about it.’
‘Oh, okay. Well did Bellona tell you that we hit it with a combined energy of ten atomic bombs?’
‘No man, that’s a lot of energy.’
‘Our nanoscanners and nanoeyes were sucked into the D.E.K and destroyed. We analyzed some of the scanners’ data and it is a walking micro black hole. The outside energy of its body is the singularity point. The singularity point is the center of a normal black hole where no matter can survive. It’s the crushing point where all matter is destroyed at the end of a black hole. However, this alien had an event horizon three feet around its body. An event horizon is a strong gravity field that pulls in light or matter towards the singularity point in regular black holes.
‘That’s crazy,’ Jaden says.
‘Jaden, you learned this in school already. We got this word from your vocabulary and matched it with our definitions. Why did you ask what a singularity was?’ Marco asks.
‘We college and high school students only remember thirty percent of what we learned in school. With all the cigarettes, weed smoking and drinking I’m surprised I remember my own name sometimes. Thanks for reminding me.’
‘We will significantly improve your memory. Anyway, Jaden that alien was very dangerous. We have no idea on how to destroy it yet. We are researching this info with other species and checking our databases.’
‘Where does the destroyed matter go once it passes the singularity point in this alien?’
‘We have no idea. We don’t even know what we are dealing with. Dark energy is very unstable and dangerous to control. There was so much concentrated in one area around the alien. In addition, It was very stable and in a controlled state. We sent some ships back to the planet, but the D.E.K was nowhere to be found,’ Marco says.
‘That’s too bad, that monster freaks me out,’ Jaden says.
The 3D screen changes and two aliens appear on it. Jaden walks closer to it as it gets his attention. Two aliens are standing towards each other as if they are about to fight, in a room that is a slightly dark. A sound is made as if something is about to start. One of the aliens is Bomani. His long striped skin is glowing. The other alien, named Noah, is all red and resembles a male with claws. They continue to face each other. Suddenly a clear energy shield appears over each of them. The camera angle changes.
‘Bellona, what is happening here?’ Jaden asks.
‘This is one of our competitions and games, which is a battle between two fighters. The game I was telling you about earlier. The room setup is computer controlled. They are allowed a certain amount of points to have any type of defensive and offensive weapons they want. Right now, they are absorbing as fast as they can all the shield ingredients in the room. Then they try to find holes in shields around each other’s body as they are doing now. They concentrate on each other’s weaknesses since each has to control their own shield speed and walking with it. The faster their R.P.M’s, the stronger their shields are. A host controls the direction and angles of the shield generation nanobots. The gravity of the room changes every 10-30 seconds. Therefore, each opponent has anti-gravity and pro-gravity nanos in their feet and around their body so they don’t fall. Once a game, an energy ball floats and bounces around giving who ever grabs it extra points to increase any of their weapons. The room is six feet deep and each side is twenty feet long. Four sides like a rectangular box. The front and rear wall transports an object to the other side. The sides are constantly changing depending on which side the gravity is on. The opponents are using an artificial body, but their original body feels the pain inflicted on each other,’ Bellona says.
‘This game sounds interesting. Does everyone usually start off with the same weapons?’
‘Everyone usually starts off with the shields, which take up most of the points. Once an opponent’s shield system is weak, the other can attack with shield penetrating weapons…’
Marco stands behind Jaden watching the 3D screen.
‘Bomani is what you humans call the champion for the past five years,’ Marco says.
‘Seems a little boring, two people looking at each other trying to destroy each other’s shield systems,’ Jaden says.
The gravity changes in the room and they are standing on the side of the right wall. Noah slides towards the ground, slightly losing his balance. Bomani keeps his ground and doesn’t move.
‘You see that Jaden, Noah lost his balance, so some of his concentration went off his shield to gravity adjusting,’ Bellona says.
‘But he slightly lost it, that wasn’t much,’ Jaden says.
‘In milliseconds it matters a lot. Now Bomani is charging his offensive weapons and so is Noah. Noah is charging too soon.’
The gravity changes again suddenly and they are on the ceiling fighting.
‘That’s cool; they are on the ceiling fighting. I mean staring at each other on the ceiling.’
‘For you it is a little boring, but if you knew how hard it is to keep your energy shield around your body and moving with it, you’ll know how hard this part is. Now it will get a little interesting for you Jaden.’
The 3D screen shows Bomani’s shield strength at eighty percent and Noah’s is at fifty-three percent. The room changes gravity again to directly the opposite, back towards the ground. Bomani lets the room gravity take him down and he falls towards the ground from the ceiling. He puts his hands together and creates a glowing sword as he pulls them apart. Bomani puts his right arm over his head as he falls head first towards the floor. He pushes himself off the ground and turns himself right side up. Noah shoots small orange projectiles at Bomani, which bounces off Bomani’s shield and continues to bounce around the room in different directions. Bomani jumps on the right wall as the gravity changes again for the room. The gravity is pulling towards the left wall. Noah walks on the left wall. Bomani pushes off the now ceiling as his opponent is still over him, standing on the ground.
‘The small two-inch purple energy balls are passing right through Noah and his shield,’ Jaden says.
‘Yes, they don’t affect the person who fired them,’ Marco says.
‘Cool, just like in Streetfighter.’
Bomani changes his gravity direction as his opponent is upside down over him. Bomani charges upwards with his sword in his left hand, as he is still midair. Noah takes a step back watching Bomani over him. Bomani comes down and flips right side up on the ceiling and cuts through the red opponent’s shield striking him. The red opponent blocks the sword hit with his right arm and pushes a shock wave of force at Bomani with his left. Bomani quickly falls backwards and goes through the forward wall and comes out the rear wall. Then his body lands flat on the pro-gravity side of the left wall.
‘Where did he disappear to?’
‘The forward wall and rear wall transports a player through to the opposite side.’
‘What did the red dude hit Bomani with?’ Jaden asks.
‘He hit him with a strong gravity disrupting force. We call it a gravity shock wave. It forces any object in the path of the shock wave to go in that direction as if it is falling towards the ground. The shock wave also doubles or triples the weight of the object causing more damage. That was a close attack.’
Noah’s total energy is down to eighteen percent as Bomani’s goes down to thirty-three percent. The gravity of the room changes to the ground. Bomani jumps up and falls towards the ground. Noah tries to regenerate his shield strength as he is still on the ceiling. Bomani jumps up towards him and his opponent does the same. Noah fires another gravity shock wave. Bomani’s shield absorbs most of the blast, causing his body to spin in 360° vertical circles in the middle of the room. Bomani waves his left hand in front of him. Bomani and his opponent quickly fall towards the ceiling and Bomani quickly swipes his opponent with his sword, finishing him off.
‘How did it end so quickly?’
‘Bomani used his remaining gravity balancing energy around his body, and used it around his opponent also; causing both of them to fall towards the ceiling. Bomani increased the pro-gravity force around his opponent, pinning him against the ceiling. Then he finished him off. The gravity for the room changed towards the ceiling at the right time, increasing Bomani’s strength to pin Noah,’ Marco says.
‘That was cool. I want to give that a try,’ Jaden says.
‘Jaden, you are not ready to play in this type of video game,’ Marco says.
‘Come on Marco, I think Jaden is capable of competing,’ Bellona says.
‘He would need to be using a much higher percentage of his brain. He would also need to increase his multi-tasking skills to be able to control the gravity, shields and movement at once,’ Marco says.
Jaden looks at Bellona and Marco with a confused look.
‘I have confidence in Jaden,’ Bellona says.
‘He will need a lot of practice,’ Marco says.
‘He will need to practice regardless,’ Bellona says.
Jaden turns his head back and forth at Marco and Bellona as they talk like two parents arguing over their kid.
‘Why are you two arguing like my parents?’ Jaden asks, ‘Let me give it a try if I don’t do good, so be it.’
‘Marco thinks your brain is too primitive,’ Bellona says.
‘You said that Marco?’ Jaden asks.
‘Come Jaden, you would have heard me say something telepathically,’ Marco says defensively.
‘He sent it coded to me Jaden. Don’t worry about it; he just wants you to try the game out. This was his way of getting you to go for it,’ Bellona says coded directly to Jaden.
Marco wants to encourage Jaden to try the game out. Jaden laughs to himself at the fact that encoded telepathic messages can be sent. Bomani appears in the room with Jaden, Bellona and Marco. Marco walks over to Bomani.
‘Hello fellow Andromedians and human. Did you see me kick that alien’s ass?’ Bomani asks while walking in the room with a smile on his face.
‘He traveled 5023 light-years to get his ass kicked. He was talking so much crap in his language to other Andromedians. I showed him what I could do in only seventy-one seconds.’
‘Good job Bomani, we already knew you are the best,’ Marco says.
‘Bellona did you ever try?’ Jaden asks.
‘I was the champion for a while, but the game isn’t one of my main interests. I’m against unnecessary violence. I think it’s more for training and practice for the real world,’ Bellona says.
‘Bellona went all peaceful, spiritual, and loving the universe on everyone. I beat her a long time ago a few times,’ Bomani says.
‘That was thousands of years ago Bomani. The game isn’t really challenging anymore. We played each other hundreds of times,’ Bellona says.
‘I would be tired also after playing for all those years and that many times,’ Jaden says.
‘The rules and the game changes. The environments evolve and there are different difficulty levels. We used to fight with energy swords for hours, without any shields, over lava, strange planets, on supernovas and underwater,’ Bellona says.
‘That is amazing. It’s like a futuristic Mortal Kombat using real bodies. I’ve noticed I’ve been talking a lot faster. You guys have been talking faster and it’s fine now,’ Jaden says.
‘Your primitive mind has been adjusting well Jaden,’ Bellona says while winking at him.
‘So you are going back home tomorrow Jaden, good for you,’ Bomani says while walking to Jaden and shaking his hand.
‘You Andromedians really are good with learning a species’ culture fast,’ Jaden says.
‘Well we are very quick learners here. So you want to give the champ a shot in the old Gravity Fighting game?’ Bomani asks.
‘Yes, I do. I think I can take you down,’ Jaden says.
‘Jaden, you need some practice first,’ Bellona says.
‘He can learn while we play. I’ll give him a few minutes to warm up. I’ll even give him the energy bonus point ball,’ Bomani says with a cocky attitude.
‘I’ll need some private practice time to prepare Jaden first,’ Bellona says.
‘That’s fine with me,’ Bomani says.
‘Why you don’t play Marco?’ Jaden asks.
‘The game is too primitive for me. I like the real thing and things that explode,’ Marco says.
Marco and Bomani talk to each other.
Bellona turns to Jaden and looks directly in his blue eyes. Her small silver hands go over his shoulders. He feels her warmth going through his body.
‘Jaden you don’t have to do this. This type of training takes days, weeks and months for some species. Some minds aren’t capable of this type of multi-tasking. You could cause a seizure in your brain or put yourself in a coma.’
‘I’ll take it easy. Bellona, if I see a challenge and I think I can do it, I’m going to give it a try. It’s all about the confidence,’ Jaden says.
‘We will see you in the game later Jaden. I have confidence in you. I saw how you flew our spaceship back on Earth. Very impressive connecting with the EIS so fast. Not many species could fly like that and only using a small percentage of their brains. So I think you would do well in the game,’ Marco says with confidence.
‘See you soon Jaden. Bellona, good luck training your apprentice and new alien boyfriend,’ Bomani says while chuckling and then disappears with Marco.
‘Why did he say new boyfriend?’ Jaden asks.
‘Well, myself and Bomani were what you would call dating thousands of years ago. Now we are just good friends. I’m known for wanting to be more like a human species. We always used to challenge each other and we saved each other in many battles. Listen, Jaden we need to practice. Even if you weren’t playing the game against Bomani, you would still need the basic skills for controlling shield technology, gravity manipulating and multi-tasking,’ Bellona says.
“Okay, let’s do it!” Jaden yells aloud, and then continues, “Did you just give me an artificial cigarette?”
“Yes, your body and brain needed it. The nanobots in your brain pretty much determine when you need one now,” Bellona says.
“Thanks. It looks strange now, seeing your mouth moving and sound coming from where your body is at.”
“Yes, Jaden your mind is getting used to telepathic communication. However, maybe we should continue talking voice to voice, so you won’t be trying to talk to humans telepathically when you return to Earth.”
“That’s a good idea Bellona. What do I need to do to get start practicing for this fighting game?”
“Jaden you will need to get into a sleeping state. Take your clothes off…”
“I love it when a female tells me to take off my clothes.”
“As I was saying, I will need to adjust parts of your brain, so you will be using a higher percentage of it. The nanobots in your body and brain can help initialize parts of your brain that aren’t being used, enabling you to concentrate on multiple things at once and do things in the background kind of like a computer. But it requires practice, concentration and coordination.”
Jaden rem