Waking up wrapped in some soft fabric that gave tranquility, and seeing some surrealistic performance being played on screens around, broadcasting what was happening outside, was frankly a very unexpected event.
Knowing exactly that, having died in an explosion, trying to run away from a broken nuclear power plant and burning in fire, you don't expect to end up in space, for God's sake! Damn Australia with its damn order! They had to destroy everything around and kill me when I just went out for a walk in the city.
Everything on the screens around was in different colors, and the speed of the flying transport seemed slow at first glance. I felt neither shaking nor pressure on my body, which felt strange. I would have believed that all this was nonsense, if only I hadn't seen a blue planet approaching. It seems this is...
The last thought didn't have time to flash through my mind, I either fell asleep or lost consciousness.
The next awakening was unpleasant, as if I had been dipped in boiling water. Before huge hands grabbed me, I felt as if my whole body was burning, and my lungs were bursting, and all I could do was open my mouth to ease this hellish pain. After that, I only remember a girl's face and darkness.
***
After nine years, I can confidently and precisely affirm in my head that all this is either some prolonged experiment by scientists who want to drive me crazy, or reincarnation is actually real.
In the first months of life, there were no such discoveries as other children had. The entire first month I cried a lot, or rather screamed; I don't exactly remember how much water and screams came out of me then. It was as if my body was being dipped in boiling water and slowly cooked with each return of consciousness from sleep. My consciousness needed rest, and the fussing with my small body meant nothing to me. Some doctors, screams, and manipulations all passed by my agonizing consciousness.
I tried not to go insane from the pain. And only after a whole month imprinted distinctly in my consciousness, everything passed as if by magic. I felt relief at that moment, and my body was like a feather. I had never felt so relaxed before. It would be nice to forget all this, but after this month, I never forgot anything. Absolute memory is a very burdensome thing when you remember what you want to forget. And doing it in a diaper was something else, and lying for hours was so torturous. Fortunately, it didn't last long, and by five months, standing on my strong little chubby legs, I was able to win from the blonde girl a personal toilet in the form of a potty. Yeah, if only she hadn't filmed me on an old-fashioned phone with an apple logo, my adoptive mother would have been priceless. Tori was a kind girl, wife, and loving mother to her husband and son. And although she had blonde hair, sometimes she did things that, to my shame, I would never do...
Only by nine years old did I realize my peculiarity. Life began to improve, at least they stopped bathing me, and I could finally feel like a normal person. And this seemed not only from my memories of my past life. Twenty-eight years of life cannot be fit into the head of a small infant; it's simply illogical. I couldn't influence this, but the fact that I never got sick was already an interesting sign. Memory, which also surprised not only me, was also a strange thing. Behind my back, I think I don't hear how parents and classmates called me a genius, although adults said it with pride, and children simply didn't understand the meaning of these words.
Brightburn as a whole was the kind of town where everyone knew each other and always noticed oddities. A small American town. So when everyone in class started getting sick with some disease, and I got nothing, despite my frail body, which seemed like it should easily get sick, you start to wonder what's happening. However, my adoptive parents, judging by their look, also noticed this.
Could it have been a dream that I flew to Earth on a spaceship? And I didn't look like these two adults who became parents to me. I just couldn't accept such an event that two young people younger than me would become my parents.
When you search, you always find, don't you? So, after crawling all over the farm while everyone was sick and the school was in quarantine, I found it. It happened at night when everything happened, and my adoptive parents had been asleep for a long time.
Proof that I hadn't imagined all this and these weren't my fantasies was right in front of me. An alien ship, a strange language, and speech from the ship, which I touched and didn't understand for a whole minute, and then in some magical way began to understand. And three, when some red radiation appeared, as if it scanned me. The entire basement was colored in this color.
"Genome activated." The impersonal voice didn't scare me. But the following words did. "The Empire has fallen, the directive to save the Empire is activated. Soldier. Task — conquer the world. Task — conquer the world. Task — conquer the world. Task — conquer the world. Task — conquer the world. Task — conquer the world. Task — conqu..."
"Conquer the world?" I interrupted this iron voice and simply closed the ship's doors that had opened like a flower bud. I'll figure out this stupid piece of metal later. My head hurt, but that was the only effect from these words. The month of cooking in an infant's body was more painful. "Is a ship going to order me what to do?"
Even in my past life, I was kicked out of the army for disobeying orders from superior officers. That bastard regretted for a long time that he decided to use me in the dark. And now some machine is going to give me orders. Pfft!
I returned to my room just as unnoticed by the sleeping Tori and Kyle and simply lay down in bed. My head started to hurt more, and I thought sleep would fix everything. Fortunately, I was right. And the next morning, chewing slightly burnt pancakes, I was enjoying life. And the fact that at noon I threw the lawn mower, which flew far beyond the horizon when I strongly pulled this hellish machine that wouldn't start, didn't surprise me at all. I was just in ****
***
First, there was stupor mixed with surprise. Not every day do you throw a thing weighing about twenty kilograms so far that it's no longer visible where it disappeared. Then there was fear, all kinds of thoughts crept into my head when I returned home, telling my father that I couldn't find the lawn mower, and went to my room. Pretending ignorance was the easiest thing, and they easily believed it. Trying not to touch anything, I locked myself in my room, saying that I was tired and would sleep, and began experiments.
Fear left, replaced by interest. First, taking a pencil from the desk, which I hadn't drawn with and generally didn't do anything with except homework, I squeezed it with two fingers in the middle. A moment and it broke like thin plastic. Yes, I could have done so myself at my age. After all, you don't lose army training, and I had a lot of bad power to break even such things. Except that this body, that is, me, was only nine years old. And against the background of large fat classmates, I was quite skinny. Looking around the children's room, which didn't hint that a child lived here, I approached the bed.
At first glance, it weighed too much for a child to lift. I remember Kyle, together with Noah, his brother, barely dragged this thing here. It was wide and specifically requested by me to sleep at full width. After all, I felt that there was some sort of duty feeling these two had towards me, and they fulfilled any of my whims. Although the bed was the only thing I asked for. I wanted to forget the past when there was only one narrow bed in the barracks.
So, squatting and taking the bed, without effort, like a pillow, I lifted it above my head.
And this is not a bell, but a whole spit in the face, which is impossible not to notice. Putting the bed down slowly so as not to break anything in it, I lay down and, looking at the ceiling, pondered.
Am I Superman? That was the first thought, but then thinking and taking into account all the inconsistencies, I realized that I must be the evil version of Superman, no matter how funny it sounds. Arriving at such a conclusion was simple enough, and thoughts became crystal clear, as if everything became clearer. Effect from new powers? Possibly.
The alien ship and the state of Kansas were the only similarities to Kal-El. The city is not right, parents are not the Kents, but the Breyers. Also, the ship, which generally shouldn't have ordered to conquer the planet for an unclear goal, is also a huge difference. Some Empire that has fallen, a Soldier in the form of me who should save it. How to save a fallen empire? According to the logic of the voice from the ship, I should conquer the world. Quite creepy, but fortunately, the only thing that happened after the words "Genome activated" was that I got powers. Super strength and... clear thoughts? Perhaps the brain began to work better, but it's not so easy to understand. I didn't notice other changes in myself, but possibly they will manifest later. After all, my comparison with Superman was just empty thoughts, and possibly flight, speed, and so on will never appear.
So, pondering this and that, trying to restrain the super strength, which with each minute became easier to control, the day passed, and I fell into a deep sleep. My adoptive parents didn't notice anything unusual, and I, as always, was a quiet and calm child who didn't cause problems for parents. Childhood turned out to be my favorite time. Just learn lessons, which were simple, as if for the backward, and eat a lot. No one had any comments about my upbringing, and everyone, especially me, who was not being jerked around by anyone, particularly liked such an attitude. Rest after several years of constant travel and orders was excellent, although it seemed to me that all this was unreal. But nine years, which I remembered every second, showed that this is reality.
The next morning, waking up in the air and falling on the bed from surprise, I couldn't help but smile.
Superman after all?
***
After making another attempt to fly, I simply plopped onto the ground, wiping my not-hurting butt from falling from a height of three meters. Still, the psyche is such a thing that it's hard to get used to not feeling anything from a fall. Another important fact: invulnerability was also in my set of powers. After all, the first thing that came to mind was to poke my finger with the tip of a knife, probably looked strange from the side, and matches, the heat of which I didn't feel, were interesting only for the first few seconds. Breaking the knife from the efforts I applied, I threw it out the window far into the forest, thus hiding the evidence, and couldn't contain joyful exclamations. After all, this is what kind of fantasy, damn it.
Tori, who ran in on my exclamations, showed me a smartphone with a children's game. She, exhaling, went back to watch a movie with Kyle. Yeah, of course, occupying a child so that he becomes interested in something with a phone, in my opinion, looked like a bad decision. Fortunately, conspiracy with this thing became even easier. Praise the great progress, they quickly left me alone with an order to play more quietly.
Showing a thumbs up, I buried myself in the phone, watched old shows that in my time had long ended, fell asleep, and the next day, saying that I would be at the tree where they made me a swing, I learned to fly. At least those were the plans in my head.
Having jumped once again and landed this time on my feet, I sighed disappointedly. Only when awakening from sleep could I fly, and now I was like an idiot who believes he's a bird. Eh...
Noticing the gaze with which my parents were looking at me, I approached them.
"Brandon, what were you doing?" And this silly name. Brandon? Who could come up with that?
"Just learning to fly," I said with a smile to Tori and innocently blinked my eyes.
Kyle scratched his head and simply waved to Tori so that she would deal with it herself. Some parent, of course, but it will be even easier to leave the parental home this way. Staying in this small town until adulthood is quite a thing, but I'll have to. And I had no plans to run away; after all, I wanted to go to university and get what I lacked in the past. On a legal basis.
Tori also wasn't very interested in my games and simply gave me the phone so that I would continue to play with it and not break anything with my jumps. That's exactly what she said. Not a very responsible girl left me alone in my room. Twirling in my hand the phone that was old by the standards of my time, I went to news sites. Nothing strange was noticed, and I continued my days in efforts to master my alien body that I had received.
***
For about two damn weeks, I still hadn't managed to master the power of flight. Bad emotions were in me like a sleeping volcano, fortunately, I understood that when trying to beat the wall to calm down, I would simply break this wooden wreck. So, exhaling, I just tried and tried again and again. Also, some power outages began to appear, which had never been in this house before. In a word, annoying. Parents didn't particularly notice my difficulties, and on the day when I felt something, like something pulling me up, I was interrupted with a shout "dinner." Oh, then I couldn't restrain myself and kicked the ground so that it shook. Fortunately, no one noticed my outburst. The cries of panic sounded like a heavenly song. It felt good.
An hour later, the news reported that an earthquake of magnitude 3-4 had occurred in our small town. I felt a little ashamed. It had been a long time since I felt like this, but now it was like a breakthrough. From now on, promising to be more careful with my powers so as not to harm anyone, I went to the barn at night to visit the ship. After all, these few weeks were enough for me to be sure: in case of threat, I can resist with extraterrestrial technologies. Although I myself was an alien in general. The irony of fate.
The stolen key from these doors quickly opened the basement, and I went down to once again face to face with the small ship, from which I felt something strange around my head. Some influence?
Touching the wall of the ship with my hand, it seemed to come alive and again started its barrel organ.
"Soldier. Task — conquer the world. Task — conquer the world. Task — conquer the world. Task — conq..." A strange language, which I understood, but it sounded like gibberish in general. Well, let's try.
"Shut up." A stream of words in large quantities escaped from my throat, and the capsule-ship, as if understanding me, shut up. Amazing. Now...
"What are you?" The question, the answer to which I needed first.
"Question is being processed." The machine voice answered me with the same gibberish, and the red light disappeared. So, those who can speak, you take seriously? Interesting. "Question processed. Answer: assistant for the mission. Rescue capsule, serial number..."
Then came words that were numbers and words at the same time. If not for my alien brain, I feel now I would be lying drooling, having heard all this. There were too many words in all this.
"Stop." I raised my hand reflexively, as I did in the past. "Ahem... So, who am I? What were you saving me from and how did the Empire fall? What is the directive?"
I bombarded the machine mind with questions. All this also interested me, as what I would do with this marvel of engineering depended on it. After all, I didn't intend to leave this in the barn in the future, and I wanted to understand everything.
"Question processed." After about ten seconds of silence, it answered. "Answer. You are the last survivor of the Ta-o-ranian race from the planet Ta-o-ra. The rescue was the work of the upper council, which sent capsules from the empire's spaceports. The Taora Empire fell under the onslaught of enemies from another universe. The last directive states that every living representative of the Taora race must revive the empire to repel the enemy. No matter who it will be. Scientist, Worker, or Soldier. Soldier, your task is to conquer this world, revive the empire's population through reproduction, and repel the enemy."
"Capsules?" I noticed, primarily because I wasn't the only one from Taora. At least, in the universe.
"Capsules in quantities unknown to me were sent from the empire's spaceport by the upper council. Scanning showed that you are the only representative of the Taora race within the nearest ten galaxies, Soldier. Soldier. Your-task..."
Great, I had just been glad to find someone similar to me, and it turned out that in the near future I wouldn't meet my alien compatriots. I didn't want to think about conquering this planet and opposing some enemies from another universe.
"What does Soldier mean?" Interrupting it, I immediately heard the capsule's answer.
"Soldier. A genome built on the basis of the strongest warriors, representatives of the Taora race. Created for war. A genome invented and created by scientists from the upper council to oppose the enemies of the Empire. Soldier, your task..."
Shutting the machine up once more, I pondered. All this was like some cheap science fiction in which I live. And the fact that by the irony of fate, a mercenary-killer was reborn after the explosion of a nuclear power plant into a Soldier alien was an amazing coincidence. I don't believe in such coincidences. I long ago unlearned to believe in anything.
Okay, I waved away my suspicions, since for now I can't change anything. It remained only to adapt, learn, and decide what to do. The future, which I outlined in the form of a university, high earnings, and a peaceful life, seems to have crumbled like a house of cards. Well, not the first time. And now I looked straight into the metal and asked the most important question for me.
"List all the powers of a Taoranian and what fuels them?"
***
Waiting for the moment when my parents would go to the supermarket for groceries and leave a nine-year-old child alone had to be long and torturous. Months passed before the opportunity appeared, and persistent promises to behave well helped. I didn't notice any concerns in the father's eyes, only the mother looked like a real but still inexperienced parent. Leaving a ten-year-old alone on a huge farm? Of course, Kyle, what could be smarter...
It was easier for me, and making my way through bushes and branches, I was able to quietly go far into the forest. Living near a forest on a farm was pure luck in my case. I wanted to make the first flight where no one would notice me. My strength grew every day, of course, but I wouldn't want to go on the run just because someone noticed a flying boy.
Finally, finding a small space where I could stand freely, I concentrated. The assistant told me that it should be similar to how animals fly. Instinctively and without thinking, I began to act. I just needed to feel...
The feeling of falling into the sky caught my small body and seemed to pull it upward. Into the sky. I spread my arms, and the world beneath me becomes smaller. The wind caresses my face, moving my hair, and the air around fills with freshness and freedom. My body seems to lose its weight, and I glide like a bird, without effort or tension. My gaze encompasses the expanse, mountains, rivers, the city — all this seems so close and so far at the same time. Each breath is filled with purity, and my heart beats to the rhythm of flight. Dreams and reality mix, and childish delight overwhelms me. This moment, when you're not just flying, but becoming part of the sky. As if the center of gravity of my body shifted and was not where it should have been. I decided in what position my body would be. As if I was where I needed to be. This feeling is like native and long lost. The assistant was right — everything is intuitively clear, like instincts in an animal. It was as if I found myself in a familiar environment, and even the branch that hit me in the eye during takeoff couldn't spoil my feelings. Landing softly, as if I had been doing it all my life, I couldn't help but grin. No tension and not even fear — as if I always knew how to do it. It was simply an explosion of emotions.
Landing softly, I again couldn't help but grin. Superman? Possibly.
***