Side Effects

Stephen and I walked out of school as I felt a bit embarrassed. It was the first time in my own school that i was humiliated. I could still remember the school nurse wrapping me with a towel and the jocks calling me a big baby. Just the thought made me shiver.

"Hey dude don't think to much about what happened today, instead I think you should be wondering how your hand caught fire", Stephen said.

Yeah he was right. What started the entire thing was that my hand was on fire. Come to think of it I didn't feel a thing as my hand was on fire mysteriously. Anyway I should just listen to the nurse and believe that it was Stephen's lighter that caused the fire. We stepped into the AST, cause it was the fastest way to get to Stephen's house.

"Can I tell you something", I asked him as I looked for my phone. Come to think of it I didn't leave the house this morning with my phone. Oh yeah that's right Samantha smashed my phone yesterday

"Ok, Is it about Samantha", he asked as he placed his phone on the pay pad.

"Well somehow", I told him as we stepped into the AST.

"Then I'm all ears", he said as he placed his legs on the accelerator.

The AST was one of the major breakthroughs in transportation mechanisms in Tech city. It was designed to work for people young and old, but not too young and old. It was spherical in shape, more like the ones in Jurassic Park. The glasses were tinted and you could input your destination in the AST's system software. The only thing controllable was the speed which was controlled by the accelerator like in most vehicles. It was also powered by the core like most other things in tech city.

"Yesterday Samantha and I went out", I told him.

"Woah, like a date?", he asked as he shifted his head towards mine.

"No not like a date, it was actually a bet", I replied pushing his head back.

"Ohh like a bet, tell me more", he said as he reduced the speed.

"Well it happened like this", I said feeling a big lump in my throat, "Samantha and I made a bet yesterday as to whether I was a Vertran, so I had to prove that to her by taking her to the power core station. When we got there we switched off our phones before entering inside and we lit a candle so we could see, but unfortunately I forgot to switch off that mode on your phone that turns it on when someone calls. So when my Dad called me the power core began to get unstable and before I was shocked with the radioactive surges emitting from the core I used the candle like a way to block it but then the fire on the candle began to react with the cores energy somehow and it seemed like the fire was all around me burning me but I wasn't dieing until suddenly it stopped, Samantha took me home and surprisingly I'm alive, somehow."

"Woah, dude that's big, did you ever think of the consequences Incase you were caught", he asked.

"To be honest, I did but you know me, I don't back out from a bet", I replied as I looked out the glassy ball we were in.

"Dude this is serious, now I'm starting to think that it wasn't my lighter that caused that fire", he said as he rubbed his chin.

"What do you mean", I asked as I turned to him.

"Try to connect the dots how would a technologically programmed lighter as mine cause a fire all of a sudden when it was built not to do so?", he asked as he tried to sound smart.

"You're right, but what are you insinuating, that I caused that fire", I said as I laughed a bit.

"I don't know, but we have to run some tests in my house", he replied as he sounded a bit like the Centra-Con scientists.

"Ok then", I replied just to play along with him.

We arrived at his house and he placed his hand on his security pad. We walked in and I greeted his dad, but he didn't respond cause he looked busy. Stephen's dad Mr Neels was a first class engineer at Centra-Con and a close friend of my dad's. It was from him that most of the inventions Centra-Con have built came from.

"Dad can I borrow the basement for now", Stephen asked

He nodded which meant he didn't want to be disturbed. We got to the basement and I saw an oddly looking thing. It was covered with a thin sheet with dust all over. Stephen removed the sheet and started switching on a few machines.

"Uhh what's that", I asked as I sat down on a very dusty chair.

"Well this is the Energy Bio-detector, it's used to detect intrisic energy levels in the body that are not meant to be there, processes it and determines what they are", he said as he plugged a few wires.

"Ok don't tell me you are using that on me, do you even know how to use it", I asked.

"Well my dad used to do this when I was little, it's been a long time since we used it though but I think I should remember the basics", he replied.

Then the machine beside me made a whirring sound that indicated it was turned on and it was time for my tests.

"Ok dude get in the capsule", he said typing a few things on the computer connected to the machine.

"Ok I just hope you know what you're doing", I asked sounding worried for my life.

"Trust me you are in safe hands", he said followed by the sound of the screws, that he was holding, falling on the floor, "It wasn't that important."

I got into the capsule and he closed it. I was having a strange feeling about it but anxious to see the result. Then flashing greenlights began to scan my body. I began to feel strange sensations in my head. I looked outside and saw Stephen quietly observing me and fiddling with a few switches. Then after about a few minutes of calm and intense vibrations. He opened the capsule and said the results were ready.

"Looking at the results I guess my predictions were right", he said looking intently at the paper.

"What does it say", I asked

"Well your accident yesterday caused an unusual flow of certain energy levels in your body that's higher than the normal in an average human body. Infact the energy levels in your body can't be contained by a normal person", he said as he looked at the results.

"Hmm that's bad", I said stepping out of the capsule.

"Well it's meant to be bad cause those energy currents are from the core, but it seems something else is protecting you from dieing and I suspect it's that fire",he said.

"Ok is that even possible, we both know and learnt that the power core's extreme radioactive power can't be contained", I said trying to picture what I just said.

"True true but they didn't test the power cores energy and fire in the body of a human", he said as he raised his eyebrows.

"Ok hold on you're moving too fast and I'm not able to keep up, what you're saying is that I have a bit of the energy contained in the power core and the fire which also nearly killed me yesterday is also in my body somehow protecting me from dieing?", I asked curiously.

"Well scientifically, the power core's energy currents reacted with the fire somehow producing a defense and offensive system against certain things", he said," Also we need to do a proper brain scan and find out whether it affected your brain."

I couldn't object. Something was wrong with me and it looked like it was a bad and a good thing. It was turning out to be weirder than what I expected before coming here and if worse meets worse, I bet the brain scan would affirm what we were assuming.

"Alright sit here and place this helmet on", he said as he gave me the brain helmet (I'm sure there's another tech word for that but I preferred calling it that).

"Ok, dude I'm having a bad feeling about this what if there's something wrong with me and I can't live a normal life", I asked sounding worried.

"It's ok, I believe the brain scan would allow us to understand what's truly happening to you and when we do we are going to see if you would actually have a normal life", he said reassuringly.

I placed the helmet on and Stephen turned it on. I began to feel weird electric pulses through my head and I saw flashing lights. It took about 15 minutes before the brain scan was complete. Stephen removed the helmet and showed me the scan. I noticed something that I know I hadn't learnt in biology. Something else attached to my Cerebrum and to my cerebellum. If this was anything I know it's an abnormality an extension created by my brain.

" Another lobe?"