Chapter 27: You Wish
"You wish," scoffed Jun Li at my idea that I could possibly have alien DNA. "That was one of the first things that the Sisalik tested you for when they abducted you. And, while you do have common genetic alleles with the Saalistaja, you are in no way anymore of an alien than you are simply because you are human."
I would have to admit that I was a bit disappointed in that.
"Mind you, they couldn’t figure out if the traits were co-dominant or heterozygous," said Jun Li as an afterthought, but I was no longer listening to him as I had an unexpected visitor at my door.
Walking down the long hallway to the end unit, I saw a tall, skinny man leaning against the wall beside my door. "Long time no see, neighbor," he said with a smile. He looked extremely relaxed with his arms crossed against his chest and his legs crossed at his ankles. "I was going to have you declared legally dead shortly. Where have you been?"
"I have been studying one of the indigenous tribes of the Amazon rainforest basin," I said with a shrug as if that was what I had been doing for almost six years and just lost track of time. "And it has only been a bit less than 6 years since I’ve been gone. You have to wait 7 years for someone to be declared legally dead."
I stood in front of the man whose name I didn’t even know and wondered what he was doing here. "I heard your voice in the hallway and thought I should go say hi," he said as if he could read my mind. When I raised an eyebrow in question, he let out a small chuckle. "Your face is very expressive."
"Hmmm," I hummed, not wanting to open my door while he was there in case he thought that I was inviting him in. On the other hand, I really wanted to go into my condo and see if it was what I remembered. Mind you, I am sure that the spiders have managed to move in and take over just fine without me being there to evict them.
"Now that you are back, did you want to grab dinner sometime? You can tell me all about the indigenous peoples that you have been with for all this time," he smiled at me again.
"I am really sorry," I said without any expression of sorrow on my face. "But I don’t even remember your name. And I am busy for the week that I am here."
"You are only here for a week?" he asked surprised.
"Yes. My grant has been renewed and I will be returning to the tribe to continue my studies," I said with a shrug. I was first and foremost a biological anthropologist so the excuses just rolled off of my tongue.
"But I thought that you were a forensic anthropologist," replied the man confused. He hasn’t even brought up the part where I said I didn’t know his name. And I didn’t even wonder how he knew my profession or where I lived. Probably should have.
"There are no degrees to becoming a forensic anthropologist, although there are individual courses you can take at a university. To become a forensic anthropologist, you must obtain a degree in biological anthropology first. Or did you really think that you could graduate with a degree in forensic dentistry or forensic accounting?"
The term forensic was ’scientific tests or techniques used in connection with the detection of crime’. And it could be added to just about any occupation or person that was able to help the police or any other agencies identify or solve crimes. I have even had the displeasure of working with a forensic podiatrist while being involved in a case for the regional police force.
Most biological anthropologists worked with primates and indigenous tribes as part of their primary field of study. Another fun fact; forensic anthropologists only work on bodies that have been identified as being dead for less than 50 years. Anything over that would be handed over to an archaeologist for study.
"Sorry," he said with a shrug not looking overly concerned. "Now, about that dinner. If you are only going to be here for a week then it is even more important that we manage to go out tonight to celebrate your return to civilization."
Ha! If he thought this was civilization, he had another thing coming if he ever found out that there were actual aliens out there. Compared to them, we were not much different from the ingenious tribes that lacked technological advancements.
"I am busy," I replied briskly. Short of telling him to fuck off, I wasn’t sure how else I should show him that I wasn’t interested.
He held up his hands in the typical surrender pose as if I was threatening physical bodily harm against him. I mean, I was not that far away, but still, it was a bit offensive. "Chill, just thought you would want to hang out," he said as he came to a standing position over top of me. I wasn’t sure if he thought that his height would be all that intimidating to me, but compared to lizards that were cutting me open, he looked like a chihuahua.
"I can assure you that I really don’t," I said as I put my thumb on the scanner and breathed a small sigh of relief when the door opened without a problem. Slipping inside my home, I slammed the door in his face and let out the breath that I was holding.
I might have been diagnosed with high-functioning psychopathy, but ever since I was abducted by aliens my emotions were becoming more and more... present.
I honestly didn’t know how I felt about that.
"Everything okay?" asked Jun Li through the earpiece as I walked into my living room and looked around.
"Fine, just a slight annoyance," I assure him as I took in the layers of dust. I should probably find a cleaning company to come in and help me get rid of all the dust. Especially if I wanted to take all the furniture and décor with me when I left. No point in bringing all that dust with me into space.
