Cuckoo's Egg

by jinnis

Alexis knew he was special from the first day in ground school. And if he wouldn't have come prepared, he would have learned it fast by the wide-eyed glances the others gave him when he walked into the room, clutching the stiff fingers of his mother's hand. In some faces, he could read open disgust. His dad had told him there might be weird reactions, and that it was best to not let them affect him. But they did. And as soon as the teacher finished the introduction and his mother left, the name-calling started. In whispers, but his hearing was keen, and he understood well enough.

The young boy stared at his tormentors with burning cheeks, but he didn't cry. Couldn't cry, even if he felt like it. Instead, as soon as the teacher allowed them to stand up, he turned his back and walked away, setting one foot in front of the other like a stubborn machine until he reached the safety of his home.

His parents' support made all the difference. Without it, he would never have found the courage to return to school the next day. But he did.

For the weeks and months that followed, Alexis suffered. But as his dad had suggested, in due time, he won. The others learned to accept him, even paid him a grudging type of respect. At least some of his so-called peers did—others avoided him like the bubonic plague. Alexis ignored them, glad to be left alone.

Things changed when Charlotte turned up, bubbly, emotional, always cheery and smiling Charlotte. She was everything he wasn't, and she was everyone's bestie from the first day she moved to town. To Alexis' surprise, her circle of friends included him.

Charlotte was a brilliant student, even better than him. Not that his grades counted, something his classmates—and some of his teachers—never failed to rub in. After all, it was to be expected—an artificial brain of the newest generation would always beat a human in mathematics and all things science. Still, Charlotte outdid him sometimes, and, in contrast to him, she was also good at sports and a gifted poet, both subjects Alexis would never shine in.

Alexis admired her and would have done anything to please this girl.

Years passed, and they moved from one grade to the next. Alexis still hated school, but his parents were adamant he had to go. "You need to develop your intellect and interact with your peers."

Only he couldn't see them as his peers. Not when they saw him as an intruder, an android of the seventh generation, made to fit in with humans for suspicious reasons. A cuckoo's egg slipped into a group of innocent children to see how he would cope—a social experiment.

Charlotte explained to him why the human children—and their parents—found this creepy. He understood, halfway. Why would they fear he would try to replace one of them? Each of them was different, with different goals in life, goals Alexis couldn't relate to. Except perhaps becoming an astronaut. That would be nice, he thought. Leaving Earth with all the human jealousy and envy behind, one day, to reach for the stars.

When the teacher in fourth grade asked them what they wanted to become in life, his answer wasn't an astronaut, though.

Alexis listened to the others while he tried to find an adequate answer for himself.

"A pilot," Patrick said with gleaming eyes.

Betty rubbed her nose and sniffed. "A nurse."

"President." That was Ben, of course, who always needed the spotlight shining on him.

"A doctor like my dad," Charlotte offered, and no one doubted she would reach this goal.

And then it was Alexis' turn.

"Human," he said.

The teacher stared at him, speechless, and the others remained silent for a few moments until Ben laughed aloud and broke the spell.

Two weeks later, the sports coach took them ice skating on the frozen lake. Alexis didn't want to go. He hated class activities and the way Ben kept picking on him ever since that last incident. But most of all, he hated how Charlotte only had eyes for Ben, these days, who was a hockey player and one of the school's rising stars. Alexis had never tried skating before.

When the girl made fun of him, he reasoned with her. "With the climate change, winters will get warmer, soon ice skating will be a useless skill. So, why should I spend time to learn something I'll never need again?"

Charlotte shook her head. "Because it's fun. But forget it if you're too chicken."

With a shrug, she left him standing and joined the others. Alexis dropped his useless skates and turned away. Would the teacher even realise if he left and walked home? He glanced over his shoulder when a high-pitched scream tore through the air, followed by a splash. Out there on the lake, someone struggled to climb back onto the ice.

Charlotte skidded to a stop in front of Alexis and grabbed his hand to pull him with her. "Help him. You know you are the only one who can."

He fought to keep his footing on the slippery surface and sent her a desperate glance. "I'm afraid. The water is freezing, I don't know if I—"

"You are a machine, Alexis, you can get him out. They'll repair you afterwards. Ben, he'll die if you don't help him."

Alexis was tempted to say this served his tormentor right, but he knew his parents would be shocked if they knew he even thought things like this. Instead, he shook off Charlotte's grip and walked forward, one stubborn step after the other, to the place where the cracks in the ice began. There, he lowered himself onto the hard surface and slid towards the hole Ben struggled in on his stomach, trying to distribute his weight over as much surface as he could. Despite his effort, the ice cracked beneath him when he got closer.

"Faster, Alex, he is going down." The desperation in Charlotte's voice drove him on.

He pushed forward to the edge and reached out his hand. Ben caught on to it, a heavy weight that made the ice moan beneath him. He looked straight into the boy's wide blue eyes, trying to get a better grip—and felt Ben pulling off his mitt.

"No." He reached out and caught the other boy's collar. In this moment, the ice gave under him. The water was freezing. Alexis gasped for air and threw out his free arm onto the ice, trying to anchor himself and his heavy load to the crumbling rim. Someone pushed a branch out over the ice and he fumbled with numb fingers before he latched onto it with all his remaining strength.

Alexis knew there was no way he could pull himself or his load out of the water. This was it. He would die here.

His ears rang with a deafening noise before his conscience left him.

~ ~ ~

When Alexis opened his eyes, he looked into the worried faces of both his parents. "Alexis. What did you do? Are you aware you could have drowned?" His mother enclosed him in an awkward hug, taking care not to disrupt the infusion connected to his arm. He enjoyed the comfort of her chilly metal arms like nothing else in this world.

His dad ruffled his hair. "You gave us a fright there, son."

Unlike his mother, who was fourth generation, his father had been fitted with a humanoid appearance. His perfect fifth generation features showed a deep worry line, showing feelings in a way his mother wasn't capable of. Alexis still knew she was beyond herself by the faint clicking noise her voice box made. He remembered it from when he was small, almost a toddler, and drank a toxic fluid out of a bottle left within his reach by accident. Or when he came down with something that formed a nasty rash on his skin.

"Don't worry, Mom. They can always repair me, right?"

His parents exchanged glances. When his father took the parole, his features were as unreadable as his mom's. "Alexis, the doctors could help you, yes. But even if your intentions were noble, as I'm sure they were, you should never risk your life like this. You only have one."

"Yes Dad. But..." He trailed off, not sure how to put all his accumulated misery into words.

"What is it, my angel?" His mother bowed to press her cool forehead against his in her old ritual of affection.

"Nothing, Mom, I'm fine. Will be fine, I promise."

A woman in a doctor's coat entered the room and cleared her throat. Her curls and brown skin reminded him of Charlotte, and her smile was friendly. "Forgive me, but your son needs a lot of rest. You can be really proud of him, you know? Without his selfless commitment, that other kid would have drowned."

"I heard." His father nodded to the doctor. "Will Alexis recover?"

"Yes, but it will take a while. His body temperature was too low when the air rescue pulled him out of the lake. Hypothermia had set in. There's some tissue damage, and we had to use haemodialysis to warm his blood."

Alexis struggled to follow her words. Blood? Tissue damage? His mind was a whirlpool of questions, but before he could voice them, his heavy eyelids dropped. He fought to stay awake, convinced he was on the brink of an important discovery.

The doctor sent him a worried glance. "Time to sleep now, Alexis—you need a lot of rest." She ushered his parents out of the door. "We'll do our best to help your son recover. Shall I call you when he is awake?"

The kid never heard their answer.

~ ~ ~

Charlotte visited the next day. She looked pale, but perhaps this was just an effect of the harsh light in the hospital room. "Thanks for saving him, Alex. You are the best—my hero."

Alexis didn't know what he should say. The friendly doctor had informed him Ben would be released today while Alexis was in for at least another week of treatment. Despite being in the water longer, the other boy had suffered less. Something about more body fat and wearing a better insulation suit. Alexis felt still too sluggish to comprehend everything. It was nice of Charlotte to visit, though. He cleared his throat. "Thanks for coming, Charlie. How is Ben?"

"Fine, and he told me to thank you. He can go home now, and his mom allowed me to come and pick him up with her." She shrugged. "Why do they keep you in here? I mean—"

"Charlotte? We need to go." Alexis never found out what Charlotte meant. Ben's mother whisked her away before he had the time to ask her.

Under the door, she hesitated and turned back."Will you be okay, Alex?"

"Sure, you know me. Nothing can hurt me." His smile was weak and far from genuine. But the fake was good enough to console her. When the doctor came in, the girl waved him goodbye and left with a fresh spring in her step.

"Does she know it?" Alexis asked the doctor.

"What? That you will need two more weeks until we let you out of here?"

He tried to send the woman a scalding stare, with little success. "That I am... well, that I'm human, I think."

The doctor sighed and checked his vital board. "I didn't tell her. She seems to be a bright girl, so she should be able to figure this out by herself, shouldn't she?"

Alexis shrugged. He didn't know what to think anymore.

He had always seen himself as an android and nursed the unattainable dream to be human. Now he learned he was human, he realised he didn't like it—at all.