Chameleon by Otto Gramm (new reading .TXT) 📕

– Opal. Very rare and very special one.

– What’s so special about it?

– It hides inside a rare beauty, which doesn’t need a facet, like a diamond. It just needs a proper clean.

– Is it hard?

– Opals are quite fragile. The one you’re holding is perhaps the most unique of all I’ve seen in my entire life. Its composition should reveal a colossal range of colors and patterns... But for now this all is hidden under rough layer of rock, which I have not dared to remove for a long time.

– Are you afraid to spoil it? – Alex returned the stone to the box.

– Hard to say. – Kyle carefully put the box in place and hid the cache. – To be honest, I do this not to improve the stones. They are perfect. I improve myself.

– I bet no employer has read your CV to the end.

– Maybe. – Kyle chuckled. Alex caught a strange irony in his voice.

– Maybe for this opal the time hasn’t come yet. – The guest gave a hem, as he glanced at the box in the niche.

A soft beep sounded from the far corner of the room.

– And your time has just come. – Kyle uttered.

He gestured to invite his quest to the second part of the room, hidden behind a tall and wide bookcase. Passing by, Alex saw there more boxes and caskets. Some had very expensive finishes and decorations with unfamiliar symbols. Guest’s curiosity again ran high.

– May I? – He asked, stopping.

– Sure. – Kyle went on.

In the boxes, Alex found herbs, pedantically laid out in sections.

– Hash?

– Tea.

– Aw! And what’s that iron box? – The guest asked, pointing to a massive casket made of metal, hidden away in the wall niche in the very depth of the cupboard.

There was no reply from captain, but Alex realized that he had already given up on him so he carefully took out the box. It was heavy. The oval shapes was adorned with an ornament of unusually fine work: the lush leaves of fern, made of blackened silver, entangled and braided the walls and the lid, hiding under themselves thin lines of light young shoots. Alex picked it up and examined the bottom, where the leaves grew from. There were strange signs of stripes and rings.

– Looks like some kind of cross between Celtic and Victorian symbols. – He said, returning the casket to the place.

– Don’t you want to look inside? – Kyle asked with a feigned surprise, as he pottered somewhere in the back of the room.

– I bet it’s... – Alex opened the lid. – ...empty. What was there?

– And what comes to your mind?

– You are a mine of information.

– All the folks here shared their opinions. I’m interested in your version.

– Did anyone say “drugs and guns”?

– Actually, these are all versions.

– What a poor imagination you have! – Alex again peered intently at the box. – I would say that this whole construction is like some mechanism.

– Warmer. – Captain walked over and ran his hand along the shiny surface.

– And how to open it?

– I have no idea. – Alex stared at him in amazement. – But you’ve sounded my version. There is some secret here, but I haven’t disclosed it yet.

– That’s the advantage of your long life – you can calmly put off your unresolved things in boxes and wait for them to be opened.

– Interesting definition. That casket stored a dagger.

– A dagger? – Kyle nodded. – And where is it?

– Lost. A long time ago.

By captain’s intonation and the slightly changeable mood, Alex realized that it was a very important thing.

– What kind of dagger it was? – He asked after a short pause.

– An ancient relic. – Kyle was short.

“Another cache!”

– What kind of talking do you have with me? – He said aloud, turning to captain.

– Sit down for now. – He went behind the massive glowing column in the corner of his room.

Alex silently glanced at the long corner sofa, arcing along the window and left wall, then looked over the huge lamp that rose from floor to ceiling... He clasped his hands on his chest and stepped closer. Behind a thin partition, thick as a soap bubble, two balls shone in a burning haze.

– Somehow, they remind me of the thing I recently observe quite often from my window. – He said uncertainly, coming to the column.

– Warmer. – Came out the voice of Kyle.

– This may sound too absurd, since it is hardly possible at all, but... they look like stars.

In response, there was a soft laugh. Then captain appeared.

– Hot! – He walked around the capsule, his fingertips touching the thin wall. Not without fear, Alex noticed a strange instrument in his hand. – You’re beholding three tiny copies of the great giants.

– I can see only two.

– The third one recently exploded into a supernova. You contemplate its remnants.

– Aw really? – Alex sent him a skeptical look. – Are you saying that your ship sustained its explosion?

– This transparent barrier did. It was created from the dust of the blue star, Santa Maria, the most powerful of all.

– Santa Maria? – Asked the guest.

– Yes. – Kyle hemmed. – Earlier, they were named simply according to their colors, but with the advent of the romantic seaman Diego, who insisted that all stars should have names, we began to call them differently.

– The others are Pinta and Niña?

– Almost. Pinta is the red one and Santa Clara is the yellow. That was the real name of caravel of Niña.

– And I thought Warren was odd one.

Kyle laughed again.

– What else are you hiding? Asteroids in the sleeves? Black holes under the bed?

– I don’t even have a bed. – Captain replied, still laughing.

– Sucked in by a singularity...

– If you are interested in searching for black holes, then try the loft. We lose things there all the time. So cleaning will entertain you.

– I don’t like to delve into others’ dirty laundry, if that’s your point. – Alex said in a low voice. Hearing heavy notes, Kyle stopped smiling. – I’m just trying to understand your life and... get used to it. For I don’t even know how normal people live. To me it’s all new and wildly: the stars in a capsule, your conversations are on equal terms, the awakening not from a loud siren and bright light... Sorry. – He smoothed his hair and turned away to the window.

Kyle kept silence for a minute, then slowly walked by and stood beside him, gazing into the black infinity.

– I understand how you feel, although I’m not an empath. You are trying to be like everyone else, but whatever you do, people still look at you like a monkey that has learned to perform usual human tricks. – Kyle looked him with the corner of his eye. Alex stood quietly, but his face yet showed signs of tension. – Don’t blame them for not going through your hell.

Alex glanced at the strange object in his hands. The fact that Kyle didn’t try to hide it, was a little calming. But only a little.

– What’s that for? – He asked, nodding down.

– Actually, this is the reason I called you.  – Kyle handed him a white flexible bracer and a small capsule with a clear liquid.

– What is that?

– Serum. It contains my blood, purified and enhanced by the energy of three stars. It is the answer to your question regarding the long life of my crew.

– Did they all take it? – Captain nodded in response. – So you’re the only immortal?

– Yes. Shad and Vivy are endowed with a long life too, but they must also take the serum from time to time.

– Is it a repeatable process? – Alex glanced at the ampoule with even greater mistrust.

– Earthlings do it once per ten terrestrial years. Others – less often.

– I don’t know, Cap. I have a full cocktail in me. Maybe you’d better figure out why I didn’t grow old in the laboratory.

– We’ve cleansed your blood. So trust me.

Alex gave a strained sigh, resigned to the will of captain. He sat in his chair and allowed to put on the bracer. After a thorough check, Kyle approached the ampoule with the serum and for a moment stopped, when he accidently caught the gaze of Alex. His gray eyes looked at captain as if he was entrusting his life... Yet there was something else behind this trust...

Fear.

Not the one they feel before an injection and nor a suspicion in an unfamiliar environment. It was the fear of an animal at bay. Fierce and untamed. Its roots went deeper than, probably, Alex himself could realize it. But Kyle knew that fear...

Feeling something wrong or maybe because of a long and awkward silence, Alex blinked and looked out the window.

Kyle’s lips tightened slightly when he inserted the ampoule into the pocket and pressed the start.

Alex tensed first, but then he felt a light and pleasant warmth from the cup and relaxed. This was much better than catheters and venflons. With a heavy sigh, he allowed the process to flow further.

Sharp squeak. Then was another one. But Alex already felt something was wrong. His right arm cramped, thousands of ice needles stung into his body. His solar plexus was tore by a spasm, a wild migraine flared up in his head.

– Take this shit off! – He groaned, writhing in agony.

The shelves were shaking, almost all of their contents was on the floor, electric charges ran over the shell of the capsule. Several ceramic statuettes exploded, scattering into thousands of fragments.

All Alex’s body trembled convulsively, his clothes got wet. The pain, incredibly strong and unbearable, took possession of him, depriving him of reason and... suddenly receded.

With a gasp, he opened his eyes. Kyle stood above him, holding his hands near the guest’s head and looking at him peacefully.

“You may not be afraid of anything anymore,” soft voice sounded in his mind. “Everything is over. I’ve blocked your impulses.”

– What... shit... did you give me? – Alex exhaled the phrase in parts.

– This is a special formula that won’t let your body grow old. – Kyle uttered. – It will forge you for space flights, you will be able to survive in many alien and toxic to people atmospheres, immunity will grow stronger, reaction will accelerate, endurance and strength will increase. Diseases, even chronic ones, will pass; and if you had scars, they would be healed. Most of the anomalies after life in the laboratories will also go away with time. The need for food and water and even for sleep will decrease several times. Hair and nails will continue to grow, though more slowly. Obviously, I didn’t consider something, since your body gave such a reaction, but spasms are passing now, a few more minutes and I will remove the block.

– You’re lying! – Alex said quietly, looking at Kyle from below.

– Ask the others, they will confirm. – He calmly responded.

– You considered everything! You knew I’d have this reaction!

Captain pressed him to the chair, so that he did not twitch and gave the process to be completed.

– And you broke my collection of Bastet servants.

– What?!

Kyle turned his head to the right, toward the library. Alex immediately changed countenance, seeing the complete devastation in recently perfectly cleaned cap’s room. Ancient volumes with scorched pages were lying on the floor, on the table there were pieces of papyrus and fragments of ceramics, several boxes had flown off from the bookcase and hit the beautiful blue patterns of forged relief, leaving cobwebs of white cracks.

– Did I... – Alex babbled, trying to find the right words that didn’t want to come to his mind. – Did I... make this?!

– That was a grant collection. – With one sharp move of