502 The Professor called Alphfa Alston, An Interplanetary Information Exchange (1/2)

Day 162 - 11:22 AM - Conference Room, Great Island Military Base, Atlantic City High School, Great Island, Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States of America

Professor Alphfa Alston gave a ridiculous request. Not only, he wanted to leave the military out of his part of the meeting, but it would also be dangerous as there would be nothing to protect him if danger happened. Looking at the two escorts behind him, the two young soldiers behind Major McGuire appeared to be more reliable.

Mark looked at the two people on the other side of the table without expression. He waited for the response of Major McGuire and Captain Yorkshire.

And he was astonished.

”We will take our leave then.”

”If that is what you wanted.”

Both Major McGuire and Captain Yorkshire replied, respectively. But in any case, these sentences should not be their supposed reply at all. Even the soldiers behind them were surprised by their words.

But without minding those expressions, both the Major and the Captain left the room. The soldiers with them had no choice but to follow behind wearing strange emotions on their faces. It was except for one young soldier behind Major McGuire who was looking fiercely towards the scientist.

Professor Alston seemed to be amused seeing that young soldier but said nothing until the soldiers left the room.

”Mind control...”

Mark voiced out with uncertainty. He could not confirm if his assumptions were correct as he could not feel any fluctuation of magical energy from the professor. The only thing he knew was that the emotional thoughts of the two leaders got cut off as if they were executing some set of instructions after they replied.

”No, no. It's not Mind Control.” Professor Alston replied while waving both his palms at Mark. ”I just sent some brain wave signals which disrupted their thought process and made them execute some suggestions. It is more of hypnotism than mind control.”

Mark stared at Professor Alston in silence. On the other hand, the latter just smiled at this reaction.

”Well, now that there will be no nuisance, we can start asking each other some questions. But it seems like our first questions are the same, right?”

”What are you?”

Mark and Professor Alston voiced at the same time as if they both had a tacit understanding. The former was expressionless while the latter was smiling brightly. Nevertheless, they had the same thing that they wanted to know.

Since the start, Mark already had this question.

Back at the school grounds, when Mark set everything up to gain more advantage towards these soldiers, this young man came and almost disrupted everything. But that was not the issue. What the problem was that Mark never detected this Professor Alston, who appeared on the school grounds.

Even now, if Mark could not see Professor Alston, it felt like he was not there at all.

”You're not the real deal, aren't you?”

Mark voiced out, which seemed to have surprised the professor.

But then, the professor smiled even brighter.

”Brilliant! I never thought that you would notice that.”

Then, confirming Mark's assumption, the appearance of Professor Alston flashed as if an electronic projection turned off.

There, a robot with a humanoid shape wearing a scientist's robe sat while looking at Mark's direction.

It was a robot, or maybe, an android. No wonder now that it gave out a feeling of a person that was not alive. Even more dead than the Jumping Corpses Mark encountered before. The body, the professor was using, was not a living thing in the first place.

”Just who are you? I don't think that even the highest technology of Earth can already create something as high tech like this.”

Mark asked with a frown.

”Hey, hey. I already answered the question. It is my turn to ask.”

The robot started to move, mimicking the reactions of a human. It was very strange to see since its face was nothing but a blank metallic visor.

”That is not my question that you answered.”

Mark said with a frown. His first question was what Professor Alston was and not show the real appearance of this robot in front of him.

”Tch, alright. You got me.” Professor Alston replied in annoyance.

Then, the appearance of the robot flashed once more. This time, however, it was not the appearance of the young scientist.

Gray wrinkly hairless skin, large black beady eyes, a nose without a bridge, and a tiny mouth, that was what replaced the robot's appearance.

”A Greyling.”

Mark voiced out.

”Hey, that is rude.” Professor Alston reacted rather fiercely. ”Calling us Graylings is very derogatory! And even if many of us with almost similar species had the same color, we mostly belong to different planetary races. Bear that in your mind!”

Mark had a strange expression now. Who would have thought that a Grayling would be offended by being called a Grayling? Nevertheless, what Professor Alston said was not wrong. It was like calling people white or black even though they came from different countries and just had the same skin color.

Nevertheless, Professor Alston already answered Mark's question. He was not a human. And he also revealed it with sincerity. Mark could tell as the two escorts behind the professor had some surprising reactions.

They were not surprised that the professor was not human. The escorts were shocked that he revealed the truth just like that.

”Now, it is your turn to answer.”

Professor Alston's large black eyes blinked as he stared at Mark intently.

”What is there to answer. I'm human. At least, for the most part.”

Mark replied while shrugging his shoulders.

Sure enough, Professor Alston started intently at Mark as if he was scrutinizing something. In truth, he was scanning Mark's body.

Mark knew of it as he could feel a strange feeling enveloping his body. Nevertheless, he had no qualms about it. Even Mark himself was curious as to what he ended up becoming.

But then, the already wrinkled forehead of Professor Alston crumpled even more.

”What did it say?”

Mark asked.

Professor Alston seemed to be surprised that Mark would notice. Nevertheless, he was more focused on the result of the scan.