a nightstand near his bed. He took a long sip, but the tepid temperature of the water did little to quench his thirst. He winched himself out of bed and slowly made his way to his home office. He lazily plopped into his captain’s chair. The air in the cushions slowly, quietly hissed as it sought an escape. He reached toward his computer screen, hit the power button, and clicked on a web browser set to a news site. He began slowly scrolling through the various stories on the site.
A particular link caught his attention, and he clicked on it to access the site. It was a story that contained details regarding another murder in his city. He thought about the oddity that a story would start with the phrase another murder. He was interested and intrigued. He began to click away on the keyboard in a search for more detailed information. The sun started to show through the curtains, and an alarm on his phone sounded. The night had slipped past him.
He reluctantly shut off the screen and began to prepare for work. He headed to the kitchen, washed his hands, and began to make some coffee in a French press. He took a moment to select a piece of fruit from the fridge and rinse it. It was an apple, but not just an apple—his favorite, a Pink Lady. He paid particular attention to the act of drying it and sat it on a napkin on his counter.
Having prepped his morning snack, Sage went to his bedroom and opened his closet. There were casual shirts, dress shirts, and slacks. Everything was neatly organized and was neatly ironed. In the far right of the corner, there were two items not generally found side by side—a set of Marine Corps dress blues with sergeant stripes and the robe and tam of a doctor. He selected his clothing for the day: a white dress shirt and navy-blue pants. Next was a matching tie from a bundle that hung in the closet. He subconsciously aligned all his clothing items on his bed, being sure to smooth them with his hands. Sage smiled at his handiwork and to himself as he exited the bedroom and entered his moderately sized bathroom. He twisted the handle of the shower and let the sound of water hitting the shower floor and walls relax him. As a child, Sage did not find this sound relaxing; it was just noise. Now, he took pleasure in the uncomplicated activity of listening to the water run. He dropped to the ground to do a few push-ups.
Chapter 4
Sage stood at the sink in the kitchen and filled a portable cup with what most would have thought to be cream and sugar garnished with coffee. He grabbed the apple and the napkin and then headed for the door. There was a brief pause to look at a bike in his garage. It was rare that he rode it; he tended to favor jogging at this point in his life. Jogging was stress relieving; it prepared him, and it kept him in shape.
He turned toward his vehicle. It was a late-model mid-sized SUV that he found comfortable. Once inside, he secured himself with the seat belt. It clicked audibly; he tugged on the belt to adjust and snug the tension. Around the rearview mirror dangled a thin, simple gold chain. Attached to the chain was a capital letter V. He turned on the radio and switched it from a news channel to a station that played music. He listened to the light music as he made his way to the college where he worked. He paid little attention to the traffic and eventually found himself in the parking lot. He had gone right brain and did not remember much of the drive.
He put the car in park, opened his sunshades, and secured them in the windshield with the vehicle’s sun visors. The heat of the day was already building, and the thought of holding a hot steering wheel did not appeal to him. He grabbed his lanyard from the console, but the attached ID card had become wedged between the seat and console and had impeded his progress. He leaned into the vehicle to free it, being careful not to spill his creamy ambrosia. Once the card was free, he threw the lanyard over his neck and righted himself. He looked in the mirror and adjusted his tie. He drew his hand down the length of it, smoothing it. He left the vehicle and briskly walked to the security checkpoint where a guard in his late forties sat at a desk reading newspapers. Sage showed his badge and smiled at the guard. The guard beamed a smile back. The guard considered Sage a friend; Sage considered the guard an acquaintance.
“Good morning, Professor Weiss.”
“Good morning, Hal,” said Sage.
“Hey, Professor…did you hear about the new condos going in downtown?”
“No, I didn’t. Kind of out of it this week.”
“Man, one day—that’ll be me.” The guard pointed at the condos, then handed Sage the paper. “Here, take my copy,” said Hal.
“Thanks, Hal.” Sage grabbed the newspaper, folded it under his arm, and walked to his classroom. Once inside the room, he observed the students filing in. Some of the students greeted him, and he proffered greetings back to them.
Chapter 5
Sage began a lecture, but his words started to fade. He usually was focused, but today he was struggling to keep his focus. His game was off. Sage stood in front of the podium facing the class. He had begun to feel faint but did not want to elucidate to his students that he was not quite himself. He looked at his watch.
“Class, read chapters 20, 21, and 23. See you Thursday,” he said, uncharacteristically softly.
Murmurs and mumbles were heard as some students attempted to garner meaning behind the short class. Others seemed to be excited that the colloquium had ended early. Sage gathered his belongings and hurriedly headed back through the hall. He focused on the security checkpoint and then aimed for the parking lot like a bloodhound hot on the trail of an escaped prisoner’s scent.
“You all right, Professor?”
Not hearing the guard, Sage mumbled, “You too, Hal.”
Hal frowned, stared at Sage’s rapidly departing back, and returned to leafing through the other materials on his desk. Sage arrived at his vehicle, unlocked it, and entered. The heat permeated his clothing, and the seat was already warm. He shut the door, started the engine, and immediately pushed the maximum cool button on his air conditioner in an attempt to battle the early morning Phoenix sun. The engine purred, and the radio softly played. Sage drove off, headed for home.
Once home, Sage removed his shoes and loosened his tie. He sank into the couch and palmed the remote. After powering on the television, his hand leisurely flipped through a few channels until his eyelids grew heavy. He was short on sleep; his head bobbed, his lids became more burdensome, and he began to doze. He did not fight what his military counterparts referred to as the sleep monster. He let the beast win.
Chapter 6
Sage’s rest was light, and he vacillated between sleep and the occasional click of the channel button on the remote. The television had paused on a science channel as the sleep monster continued to best Sage. This was one of the few times Sage’s desire to always win was not overwhelming; he did not fight. On the television, a show about love, relationships, and sex played. Sage listened but gave the show less than a proper amount of attention. As the show continued, Sage heard something about sexual relations. This got his attention, and he opened one eye a bit more than the other and began to half-listen.
The show addressed a scenario regarding men and women and their relationships. It mentioned that when men and women were involved in couples, and they spent time apart that particular and peculiar biological things occurred. It went on to discuss that upon the man’s return to the woman or her rejoining him—his body generated an abnormal amount of sperm. Some of those sperm were designed for hunting and killing any foreign sperm that may be within the woman. This grabbed Sage’s attention; he slowly sat up and then increased the volume of the television. He listened attentively, and at the next commercial, he walked to his office and logged onto his computer. He quickly pulled up a web browser and began to research the term killer sperm. In his research, he started to find anomalies but realized that no one was really addressing the issue of killer sperm. Not many seemed to care.
Some of the articles located addressed the fact that killer sperm worked by utilizing enzymes to destroy foreign sperm and did not seem to possess the ability to impregnate a woman. But he focused on one particular point: the point that the sperm seemed to differ when the man traveled or the couple had