The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu Page B

Quasing could feel, he knew he would be in some right now. The music was so loud he couldn’t make out the tune, not that it mattered. Tao was not well versed with most of the musical genres of the past half century. Edward’s taste had centered on baroque, which irritated Tao no end. He had more than his fill of baroque music since, well, the baroque era. Musical choice, unfortunately, was never his. Therefore, he took special interest in the musical taste of new hosts, knowing he would be at their mercy for that lifetime.
    Getting rid of that alarm clock would be one of the first things he made Roen do after they had officially established contact. That thing just ground on Tao’s nerves. Worse yet, Sleeping Beauty here let it blare for up to half an hour sometimes before finally dragging himself out of bed to turn it off.
    Tao had bided his time and studied his new host now for nearly two weeks. He almost introduced himself during the attempted mugging, but thought better of it – since at that time, he didn’t know enough about Roen to properly make contact with him. Since then, he watched the man live his completely stifling life over and over again, one repetitive day at a time. It was so consistent that Roen even complained about the same things at the same times every day. As far as Tao was concerned, that Peter fellow sitting next to him at work was a saint for putting up with all this. Today would be different, though. Tao was going to start fixing his host and prepare him for what lay ahead.
    Roen stirred and turned over, pulling the blanket over his head, muttering something about the television and burying himself deeper under the covers. The radio continued for another twenty minutes before Roen finally did something about it. With an irritated hiss, he rolled out of bed and dragged himself to the desk. He slammed the snooze button and looked at the clock: 7.30am. “I got an hour,” he yawned. He lumbered back to bed and collapsed onto the mattress, burrowing a hole under the messy layer of blankets. Ten minutes later, the music came back as loud and annoying as ever.
    Tao couldn’t think of a more miserable way to start the day. Amazingly, it failed to stir his hibernating host. He waited for Roen to shut it off again, but the man did not stir. How did anyone sleep through this? Tao’s patience began to wear thin. While technically time was something he had an infinite supply of, he was not a very patient Quasing. At last, unable to stand the ruckus anymore, Tao ever so casually moved his semi-conscious host’s arm and pulled the blanket off his face. Roen rolled over, mumbled something incomprehensible, and pulled the blanket back over his face.
    Are you serious? Tao immediately regretted the outburst.
    Roen still didn’t move. He slept like a rock! This was not a good trait for a soldier. The man was like a hibernating bear and could probably sleep through a firefight. After another ten minutes, Tao had had enough. This wasn’t the best way to initiate first contact, but with this host, the sooner the better. Anything else just delayed the inevitable. Roen rolled to his other side, still sound asleep.
    Roen Tan!  
    “Five more minutes,” Roen whimpered.
    You are going to be late for work.  
    “Come on, just five more minutes.”
    Just who do you think you are talking to?  
    Roen was about to say something else, when he hesitated and opened his eyes. His eyes shifted back and forth and he crawled out of the mess of blankets inch by inch, looking under his pillow and checking under the bed for anything strange. With a perplexed look, he shut off the alarm, yawned, and walked to the bathroom where he splashed water on his face and brushed his teeth. Afterward, he patted his cheeks a few times and studied his reflection in the mirror.
    “Hey, what’s up? You want some of this?” Roen waved his hands over his head as if he was brandishing the bottles again. This was a daily routine he’d been