"The artificial island near the south pole was besieged by waves, and the stormy wind carved through the metal landing strip with ice crystals. The single-person air courier's engines struggled against the storm as the pilot executed the landing. It seemed as if he had stepped out of his coat, practically shedding the small aircraft and stood firm on the artificial surface. The icy wind caught his body but couldn’t lift him; he held his ground. A half-smile flashed across his grim face as the little air courier secured itself before the wind could blow it off the surface. A yellow light flashed on the gray concrete building's wall, signaling the gate opening. He headed towards the entrance, assessing the terrain, searching for potential dangers. Yet, he was he who had approved the construction, and it was his job duty to conduct a quarterly inspection of the secret it contained. His footsteps resonated on the metal floor, and the storm’s howling instantly ceased as the gate closed behind him. Security lights came on, appearing bright after the outside dimness. However, beyond the row of lights, another light flickered, swiftly scanning him. His rock-gray eyes twitched at the sight of the free-roaming phenomenon. Until now, the light had never left the immediate vicinity of the omega.
He took years to realize that the omega and the light phenomenon were two separate entities, and the latter was just as intelligent, thus entitled to the intelligent life forms' rights of the Milky Way. If anyone besides him and the president knew about the secret discovered six years ago after a peculiar night spent celebrating humanity's admission into the Milky Way alliance with the president. Among the variety of alien beings at the celebration, he was protecting the president. Yet, something diverted him from his duty.
To this day, he couldn’t decide what happened, but the experience left a lasting mark on the world, a sweet little baby playing the next day in the congress center’s grand hall under the fancy sign welcoming the friendly meeting between humanity and Milky Way species.
He voluntarily took up the anomaly’s custody, to destroy it if necessary. Unfortunately, the president was a woman, and despite all possible risks, the little one received presidential protection. According to Margaret de Liu, the boy was humanity was gifted, and it was their duty to take care of it, and with that momentum, she handed the baby over to him, who immediately fell asleep in his arms. The president shed tears of moved emotion, never imagining her stern bodyguard to be a man of feeling, and if she didn’t already have three husbands, she’d promptly offer marriage and they raise the sweet little tyke as a big family.
As an earthist, he opposed the excessive openness towards alien races, but 84% of humans voted for joining the Milky Way alliance because the “aliens,” despite all their unusual traits, wanted to help humanity facing extinction.
New fields of science emerged, space biology, space mechanics, space psychology, and with borrowed spaceships, space exploration became possible until humanity could develop its own travel solutions.
Author’s note: Due to different physical and mental constitutions, mitigating the effects of space travel required unique solutions.
In his youth, he was a space explorer, surveying habitable planets for humans as part of a security officers’ team in a borrowed vessel from the Echeno species. He learned for life not every bil (proven intelligent life form) was a friendly fairy, rather he saying “atoms on the baddies.” Unfortunately, he had to keep his observations to himself because the dreadful incident, which he narrated differently as the sole survivor, didn’t fit into the happy overall picture. The Trekkies’ sweetest dreams came true by the end of the 23rd century.
Indeed, the present was idyllic, and the omega was the icing on the cake, as searching for a cuter pup would have been in vain. Yes, he even checked the outer terrains’ database for any similarity.
The investigation results clearly showed the omega was human with distinguishable paternal genes, but the maternal DNA strand was indecipherable. That is, they found the organic keys which, however, kept changing. Despite the anomaly observed in the omega’s bodily cells, it was a sweet little child. Too adorable, really.
The light flashed again, and this time, rapid footsteps accompanied it. The omega, in a white pajama, ran towards him, blonde hair fluttering, and blue eyes reflecting the innocent happiness characteristic of children. The light, now taking a definite shape, resembled a glowing angel girl following the omega. As if they were siblings. Twins born at the same time. Another mystery with no acceptable explanation.
The six-year-old form of the boy halted before him, saluted while trembling all over, trying to remain formal and not ask for a hug. Anyone else would have melted and immediately picked him up to fulfill every wish with a song. But he was hardened by the hell of planet 137 and resisted the senseless urge.
“If you try to escape, it’s minus twenty Celsius outside with hurricane-force winds and ten-meter-high waves. You’d die instantly.”
“Then teach me swimming another time. Shall we watch Merlin and Willy’s adventures together?”
“I’ll watch from the monitor. Too much work.”
“Let’s sing the magic song together! Please! While I accompany you. Too bad you’re always in a hurry. There are so many toys here, why don’t you stay?”
“I’m doing my job.”
“By looking after me?”
“In a way, yes.”
“When will you take me with you? Just like Merlin taught Willy magic and they lived through fabulous adventures together.”
“The magic is already here.”
“You mean the Light! It thinks you’re not really grumpy, just scared of something, just like me. There are monsters in the dark, but they can’t see me because Light hides me. If I were with you, I wouldn’t be afraid at all.”
“You remind me of another little boy who fantasized about space adventures. The world is dangerous, full of monsters as you say. But you’re safe here, and if anything threatened you, I’d be the first to know.”
“Because you built me the bunker.”
He hummed in agreement, the child’s naivety playing into his hands.
“If you always do as I tell you, I’ll take you with me. But not today, you’re still too small.”
“When will I be big enough?”
“When you reach my shoulder and complete all modules of your training plan.”
“And you haven’t done anything suspicious that could endanger Earth,” he added in his thoughts.
A golden light flashed before his face. And he saw a peculiar scene, the omega rapidly fluttering its eyelashes while the light apparition blinked. They communicated in a unique variant of Morse code. This was new, another sign of the extraordinary relationship between the omega and the phenomenon.
“What were you talking about?” - He managed to ask in the most natural tone. “Routine and years,” he thought to himself.
“Light thinks you’re hiding something. That’s so exciting! I can keep secrets. Will you tell me?”
He was telling the truth.
“I’m working on a big plan that will ensure humanity's safety. But you can’t help in this yet.”
“When I’m big, right?”
“Yes, then we’ll work together.”
“Why are you sad?”
“Too much work. And I’m already late. Better sing your little song!”
“It’s my birthday. Can I have a request?”
“If it’s feasible, tell me.”
“Call me Merwil.”
“Merlin, the wizard rabbit, and Willy, the magician’s apprentice combined.”
“Yes, … sir!”
He saw such joy and hope in the omega’s seemingly childlike eyes that his knees buckled, wanting to bend down to embrace him. A servo motor hitch sobered him up. The mechanical augmentations to his severely damaged body reminded him not to make the mistake of falling for appearances again. However, he knew he could permanently win over the omega, which could also prove useful if he made minor concessions to him.
“I’ll enter it into your file. From today, you are officially Merwil. Okay, okay. Too much light. I can’t see anything. Let’s practice working together. How does that song go? The melody is familiar. I hum, and you sing, Merwil.”
He felt a slight pain inside. A twinge at the connection point between his organic and mechanical parts in the chest area. That’s what he attributed the discomfort to. Those blue eyes were filled with trust, hope, and joy, in a very human childlike manner. And child looked up at him. While he looked down into the abyss, where monsters moved, into which he once descended and was forever changed because the hoped-for miracle was a lie. He learned from it. Now it will be different, and he will use the omega for humanity's benefit. Surprisingly, it was easy. Deceiving a child in a controlled environment was fairy-tale simple. Indeed, he carefully built and arranged the “bunker,” a clever trap for the omega, or Merwil."
Simply enjoy the little I show you from my infinite imagination.
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