Glowing in the Sun 7

7 August, 12040.

The 35-degree heat radiated off the desert floor outside while inside the house remained a cool and comfortable temperature. Darren saw no AC system, nor was there any insulation as the thick rammed earth walls of the house laid bare all around.

As he looked out into the desert, there was nothing but sagebrush and yucca and other small shrubs at home in the scarce environment. Little critters roamed the floor, looking for shelter and what little they found to feed themselves and their young.

As an engineer, he was intrigued as he could tell the story of the house was built by reading the walls. The walls of the house boasted the same color as the desert sand, funneling out into the desert, enhancing the landscape like a frame around a photograph.

As he took a sip from his cup, someone came and stood behind him.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" said Tora.

Darren had almost forgotten how tall Tora was as she placed her chin on his shoulders. She was only a few centimeters taller than him at a perfect 180 centimeters.

"Lisa, the doctor's late wife, was also a professor of mine at the Academy. She was close to my father. Mom, dad, and I would all come here at times during military breaks. Lisa and Nathan wanted to retire here because they love the desert so much, but Lisa passed away before that could happen."

Darren smiled. "Well, since you treat it like you've lived here all your life, I'm sure you love it, too. No light pollution at night."

"You know me well." She patted his shoulders and said, "Come on. Nathan is waiting."

Darren followed Tora down the hallway. As the house was built to be able to withstand the harsh desert temperatures, the house had only one level, on an east-to-west axis to minimize exposure to the sun. The large glass windows and doors scattered in every room of the house allowed the light and air to filter through the house.

They had to pass from room to room to get from one side to the other side of the house. Instead of the main entrance, Darren and co. entered the house through the garage. From the garage, they moved to the guest bedroom wing. Following the hallway, they reached the large kitchen before entering the main living area that had glass doors opened on both sides into the desert.

Now, they were being funneled into the deepest part of the house, with the family bedrooms in the hallway leading to the main mahogany double doors.

Again, sunlight illuminated the house via the glass wall as Darren and Tora entered the office. The rustic furniture was arranged symmetrically, with two couches and armchairs on either side of a coffee table, with a centered desk at the back of the room.

"Nathan." Tora walked up to the older man bent down to kiss his cheek. She pulled back to look at Nathan. "You look good for your age."

"You still have a mouth on you," Nathan said. He looked at Miriam, who shrugged.

"She was already an adult when I got her. I tried," Miriam said as she sat on the couch.

"I was giving you a compliment," Tora replied as she went to sit next to her mother, with her back to the sunny window.

Jonathan turned to Darren. "You must be Darren. I've been looking forward to meeting you. I've heard a lot about you."

Darren approached Jonathan with his hand extended. "Good morning, Doctor McGee. I've been looking forward to meeting you, too. Although I haven't heard much about you." Darren shook Jonathan's hand before he backed away.

"Please, call me Nathan." Nathan motioned to the other chair beside him. "Have a seat."

The office door opened again, and Matthew came in with a breakfast cart. "Mornin' all."

After everyone served themselves, Nathan turned his attention back to Darren. "Although the reason we're all here is you, you seem to be the most clueless person in the room."

"No one told me anything," Darren replied.

"Then, I guess we should start." Nathan clapped once, and the room immediately darkened as windows tinted that no light entered from outside. Light fixtures in the ceiling lit up the room now, although dimmer, everyone could see one another.

"I will introduce myself: my name is Doctor Jonathan McGee. I am a hematologist and a geneticist on the Vetus gene and the Veteri subspecies." He motioned to Matthew, who sat on the other couch. "My son, Matthew, is an astrobiologist at NASA, studying human-alien hybrid Veteri DNA." The Nathan turned back to Darren. "Do you know what the Veteri is?"

"They super... humans with... powers..." Darren shook his head as he tried to find the words. "It's a term that describes people with extra-human abilities. They have a Vetus gene Mutation." He finished.

"When you entered the coma, Miriam and Tora witnessed your ability to levitate as you glowed a red light. They sent me a sample of your blood to analyze. It seems you exhibited the same abilities again yesterday."

Darren nodded. "Yeah. I was talking to Miriam on the balcony. I was looking at the sun, and I felt warm inside. When I looked, I had this red light around me, and I was floating in the air." In the corner of his eyes, Darren noticed that Tora sat up when he mentioned the sun.

"Well, it's obvious that you have the Vetus gene mutation, which is why you've been exhibiting these new abilities."

Darren shook his head. "Although I've seen it, it's still a little hard to grasp. When I was in college, I participated in Rouen's Discovery Program, and I was found not to have any Vetus mutation."

"You may not have had the ability while you were in college. Your ability only activated six months ago due to your life-threatening injury," Matthew said. He gulped down the tea before he raised his hand. A solid screen came up in the middle of the room in front of them from Matthew's hand.

"I'm also a Veteri. I can physically project anything I see." He pointed to the screen. "I've looked at your medical record, which isn't much since you seem to seldom visit the hospital. So when we look for people with a possible Vetus gene, we don't look at your DNA since we can't find the gene can be any strand of DNA on any chromosome. It depends on the person. Instead, we look for a protein, the VTS-HR protein, that only people with the Vetri abilities seem to exhibit."

Nathan continued. "Although most people with the Vetus gene start making the protein around adolescence, it is possible, although rare, for it to happen earlier in childhood or later in adulthood. Simply put, we don't understand the mutation. The gene can be inherited or acquired. For example, my wife and I do not have VTS-HR proteins, but our sons have developed abilities. Some children who inherit the Vetus gene from their parents sometimes exhibit their abilities in the womb. There are more questions than answers when it comes to Veteri individuals, like Matthew and yourself."

"So it's possible that my Vetus gene wasn't activated when I was in my teens," Darren replied. That was the overall summary of their explanation. It was the only thing he could grasp as to why he suddenly had these abilities.