As Johnny Spacer awoke one day from a terrible cloning incident he found himself transformed in his cryopod into a gigantic insect.
HETE shoved him unceremoniously out the door and sent him on his way.
"You're a Nath-El!" said the people he met on the streets. The bartenders. The people he completed jobs for.
"But I'm not a Nath-El," said Johnny, "I'm from Haven City. I'm a Human."
"Your HETE records say you're a Nath-El. Those records don't lie. You're a Nath-El."
Johnny knew that just yesterday he was physically different, but even so, he started to doubt himself just a little. His brain said he was a Human, and his memories. But his HETE records did, after all, say Nath-El. And everyone else said so, too.
"But I'm not a Nath-El!" Johnny insisted to the bouncer as he entered The Verge, when she called in his appearance to Jace.
"I'm NOT a Nath-El, stupid robot!" Johnny insisted to a welcome bot as he went to Krell. "Hello, Nath-El!" it chirped happily.
"I'm NOT a Nath-El. I'm Human. I'm from Haven City." Johnny insisted to himself as he looked in the mirror, looking very much like a Nath-El.
And of course, Johnny Spacer was right. He was not a Nath-El. He was a Human. He had always been a Human.
Johnny adapted to life as a Nath-El as best as he could. It didn't feel natural, but eventually, it felt a little better. Most days, he no longer jumped seeing himself in the mirror, but he did feel a constant, gnawing emptiness in his gut.
Then one day, just like that, HETE snapped their magical appendages, and viola! With just a little bit of rummaging around in his skull and the small matter of manipulating his very being, Johnny Spacer was back to normal.
Johnny Spacer was a bit disoriented, but he was VERY glad to be back to normal. Johnny Spacer had missed his fleshy, Human body, his fingers, his taste buds, his ears, his nose. It took a little getting used to, being Human again, but it was just like riding a hovercycle.
You never really forget how to be what you really are.
Johnny Spacer needed to celebrate. Avoiding Gravity because of recent events, he headed to Lamentations to have a glass of Araxihol, which is where he met me.
"Oh, look," he scoffed at me, downing his Araxihol and rolling his eyes. "It's that Human that pretends they're a Bushraki. Give it up, Keiko, HETE records don't lie."
