AWAKENING PART 2
Day 0; 0500 (Morning)
Focus: Scene
Mornings are cold in Cole’s Keep. The rolling mist from the northern hills enveloped the city in its prickly embrace, as the rays from the rising sun worked their way between the gaps of trees and shrubs.
Harvest season was nearing its end; the nearby towns and villages had safely filled their food storage with plenty of supplies to last three more seasons, a truly bountiful harvest. Like the towns and villages found within the Kingdom of Colesty, its capital, Cole’s Keep, had also benefited from a successful harvest; it’s citizens taking an extra hour of rest in the mornings as a reward for their hard work.
Inside one of several city squares within the Noble District stood a lofty mansion made of exotic hardwoods and stone. Its rooms, too many to count, while its occupants, not enough to fill one’s hands.
The mansion was Countess Saren’s private inn within the capital. Its halls and rooms served to house visiting merchants and emissaries that would come to gain an audience with the countess. However, today the countess was away from the city on business, so the mansion remained empty of guests, tended by only a small number of caretakers.
The condensation on the mansion's windows evaporated as the sun continued to rise, eclipsing the distant horizon and showering the city with a wash of brilliant yellow. It signalled the start of a new day, a new dawn. As the sun took its position as ruler of the day, its rays of light illuminated the vast halls of Countess Saren’s mansion.
Birds began to wake and sing their melodious songs as the sleepy city came to life. Their songs flew past the mansion’s west wing as an unknown phenomenon sparked into existence. The mansion’s second floor was engulfed by a translucent, azure bubble that seemed to drown anyone or anything entrapped by its allure. As time passed, the bubble warped and twisted, as if reality and time were being ripped and torn asunder.
In an instant, a spherical mass of flesh and blood appeared, centered around the focal point of the distortion. It expanded and contracted in a manner that seemed unworldly and dangerous. It grew in size until the visible layers it had compressed itself into began to unfold rapidly, like a flower blooming to life.
The grotesque lump of biology lowered itself onto the vacant bed underneath it, as the translucent, azure bubble that brought it into the world, popped out of existence. The formless mass of skin that now laid on top of the bed, ebbed and flowed as it sculpted itself into the shape of a man. As it wriggled itself to life, the foreign mass, no, the stranger from another world announced its existence with nothing more than a wheeze and a snore.
This ominous event, like 498 others like it, signalled the start of the next surge of Travellers.
◊◊◊◊◊◊
Day 0; 0502 (Morning)
Focus: Character Introduction
Man: *groans*
A tall, well-built man wrestled with himself as he laid on top of a large, soft bed. He reached out with his muscular hands to grab at thicker sheets of bedding to block the sun’s rays from attacking his sleepy eyes. The smell of mold and stagnant air wafted into his nose as merchants outside the mansion noisily prepared their stalls for the morning rush.
The man felt like he had been gut-punched and drugged. A likely outcome from a night of drinking and debauchery. His senses, which up to this point had been muted and suppressed, had started to creep back up to normalcy.
Not being able to contain his annoyance with the sun, he let out an audible, but lethargic cry.
Man: "Grrr...of all the times…"
Refusing to get up from his drunken stupor, he spent his next few moments in bed, hoping the daze of his laziness would overcome his senses -- to fall asleep once more. Tossing and turning to shoo away any and all things he found to be of annoyance only worked to speed up his wakeful state. It was a cycle that continued to linger until the man reached a brief, but sudden epiphany.
Shooting up from the bed like a lightning strike, the man found himself almost stuffing his head into the floor above. He sat up on the edge of the unfamiliar bed, wide awake and contemplating his next move. His attitude had morphed from lethargy to excitement in a matter of milliseconds.
A nasty smile crept up his face, making him seem more sinister than happy. With his brows raised and eyes dilated, he let out an uproarious laugh.
Man: "HA...HAHA...HAHAHA! The day has finally come!"
He continued to roar in delight until the swirling dust in the air invaded his lungs, forcing him into a coughing fit. He hacked up phlegm and spit as he stumbled across the room, moving to escape the cloud of dust. He reeled from whatever drugs remained in his system, as his unsteady feet moved sluggishly towards a nearby window.
Finding solace in reaching his destination, the man pried the window open before taking a desperate gasp of cool clean air. As he took a moment to recover, a light breeze entered the room, stirring up the remaining dust; it would have resumed its attack on the man, if it hadn’t been forced to exit the unused room through cracks in the doorway.
The room the man had found himself in was rather quaint; a relatively large, but suspiciously comfortable plain-looking bed was centered inside the room; a single cabinet to store clothing had been tucked away in the corner near the doorway; a chest for stowing valuables was nestled at the foot of the bed and sealed with a hefty lock; a small, but functional reading desk and work chair sat in the corner next to the large window, where the light of the sun would shine over the desk for the majority of the day. It was an ideal room for temporary guests that cared not for decadence -- a functional room.
It was a room the man named Joseph Miller now occupied, but cared little about.
◊◊◊◊◊◊
Joseph Miller was not the type of man to stare in wonder as he found himself inside an unfamiliar room, within an unfamiliar house inside an unfamiliar city. To him, this was an eventuality; a result of his hard work and mastery in blackmail. Finding himself in such a place was his reward.
He had been waiting for this day for almost a year. He had received word about Project Prometheus through the loose lips of his uncle, who willingly spewed out all forms of information while drunk. It was an occurrence so frequent that Joseph had derived financial wealth from his uncle’s drunken musings.
It was no secret that Joseph was a follower of Spencer’s: survival of the fittest, though he had no clue who Spencer was; survival of the fittest, a simple phrase and expression for life’s struggles. It was one which single-handedly molded Joseph’s character and outlook in life; the winner gets the spoils ; winners write the history books; winners fuck all the bitches -- a favorite maxim of Joseph’s.
It was this mentality that landed Joseph his spot as a test subject for Project Prometheus’ 1st Beta Phase.
In the past, Joseph had never been interested in aliens or life beyond Earth. In fact, he was the type of person to say: fuck the planet, environmentalists are pussies, while shotgunning a beer and throwing the crushed remnants of the can at the homeless. Instead, what he believed in were simple, hard truths. That’s why he believed in his uncle -- well, his uncle’s knowledge.
Joseph’s uncle was a wealthy entrepreneur who leveraged his technical and scholarly knowledge to elevate the profitability and market share of various startup companies that he owned or co-owned. Alongside several mundane tech patents which he would receive royalties from on a monthly basis, one could say Joseph’s uncle was ‘set-for-life’. It was a status that Joseph coveted deeply.
In order for Joseph’s plan to go swimmingly, he had to entertain his uncle by feeding his vices. This of course, came at the cost of Joseph’s own financial reserves. His uncle was a very heavy drinker and had become accustomed to top shelf whiskey, cigars, and girls. But the cost was worth it, even if it sucked Joseph dry.
Anything that came from his drunk uncle’s mouth was more often than not, confirmed as fact. His admittance to several affairs and illegitimate children sired with younger women; his talks of scientific breakthroughs and new technologies; his thoughts on the current stock market and where to invest for quick turnaround -- all of it was investigated by Joseph to validate his uncle’s claims. And with validation, came opportunity.
Joseph recorded every conversation he had with his uncle. The mountain of evidence he had collected was enough to sufficiently ruin the man. But Joseph needed to wait. He couldn’t get antsy and act prematurely, lest he lose all his leverage.
Finally, the day had come to confront his uncle with his findings. Joseph had made sure to create several contingencies; backup plans; scenarios to fall back onto if his blackmailing didn’t succeed. Fortunately for Joseph, his uncle quickly submitted to demands after seeing the evidence laid out in-front of him.
His uncle, for all his genius, was a moron when it came to women and life outside of his work. He had married into the family of a wealthy politician with very powerful friends. If evidence about his extramarital affairs were ever released to the public, he'd be ruined or worse, murdered.
So, Joseph worked him, squeezing out every last bit of information he could regarding Project Prometheus. Then he brokered a deal: in exchange for passage into the new world, Joseph would [1] give his uncle the collection of evidence he had procured and [2] destroy contingent copies. Of course, he kept a data stick of the evidence hidden inside a secret location -- if things worked out, his uncle had nothing to worry about, the data stick would be lost and forgotten, never to surface into the limelight; if things went wrong, his uncle’s life would be forfeit.
Once all necessary arrangements had been completed between him and his uncle, the only thing left for Joseph to do was wait until he was unknowingly taken by the Collectors -- a group of enforcers working for Project Prometheus to kidnap test subjects for the 1st Beta Phase.
◊◊◊◊◊◊
Condensation formed on the window as Joseph breathed a heavy sigh. He had been lost in thought, reminiscing over past ordeals when he was brought back to reality by the cold air biting at his skin. The chill caused his teeth to clack and his body to shiver as he watched a wet, opaque section of glass evaporate from the warmth of the sun.
He stood in silence as his brain processed the last few moments he remembered prior to arriving in the new world. [Apparently, this planet is called: Halios. How the fuck did those pencildicks figure that out?] Joseph mused inwardly as he let out another heavy sigh.
In the distance, the chatter of merchants and civilians grabbed Joseph’s attention. As he eyed the blurry figures from the window of his second story room, he couldn’t help but wonder how different Halios was compared to Earth. [What type of people are there in this world? Can they easily be swayed or manipulated? How shall I start my empire?] Joseph thought to himself as he watched the blurred figures skitter around like mice.
Eventually he grew bored of the sight, settling deep into thought. He needed to reaffirm his purpose for coming to the new world. It was embarrassing for him to admit the true reasons for wanting a new start in life, so he buried them under a veil of conceit.
He was convinced that his motives were more primal: to become a ruthless dictator. In truth, it was merely a form of pretense.
Time passed slowly as Joseph fell deeper into contemplation. [Who should I target? Why should I target them? What should I sell? How should I sell it? Where should I stay? Should I stay here? Who should I pretend to be?] His thoughts were a jumbled mess with no clear definition.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
It wasn’t until a question that gave rise to doubt, did his mind focus: [am I actually on Halios?]
Only ten minutes had elapsed since his arrival, five since he woke up, but already Joseph grew weary of his deal with his uncle. His eyes had seen no major differences between Halios and Earth; the sky was still blue; the sun was still yellow; the birds still sang their morning songs. So his doubts continued to grow.
He tried to calm himself, vigorously shaking his head until he felt nauseous. But he wasn’t a patient man. He immediately resumed his circular logic, pondering his predicament until his brooding caused his temper to flare up. [That fucking bastard! I’ll kill him!] Joseph screamed inside his head.
He was no longer of sound mind.
*BOOM*
Joseph pounded at the window sill with his monstrous fists, creating dents on the hardwood surface. He felt duped by his uncle; tricked into believing a fairy tale lie. His anger was boiling over and spilling into action.
He raised his fists once more, this time aiming to destroy the walls of the room. But he was stopped.
Mid-swing, Joseph managed to catch the sight of..it.
Just outside the window, making its way across the city square towards the merchant stalls, was a bipedal creature that was neither man nor beast. Unlike the blur of people in the distance, the...thing, was close enough for Joseph to see the individual tufts of fur on its tail as it swayed from side-to-side.
Joseph: “What the fu-”
Joseph’s barely audible soliloquy was interrupted as the closed door to his room slowly creaked open, causing dust to flow back in.
*CREAK*
Recent events happening within the mansion’s west wing had prompted the caretakers to take action and investigate. With the help of Joseph’s tantrum, a caretaker nearby was able to locate his position.
Naturally, Joseph’s gaze left the window and turned to face the origin of the sound.
Appearing behind the solid wooden door was a beautiful young girl in her mid-teens adorned with golden wavy hair, wearing an elegant blue frill dress. As her platinum blue eyes met with Joseph’s, her face crumpled into a frown, showing a mixture of surprise, fear, and disapproval of his existence.
In front of her stood a man, no, an intruder loitering inside one of the many guest rooms of her patron’s home. What could she, a little girl, do in this situation?
Panicked thoughts ran through the girl’s head as the two of them stared at one another in awkward silence. [Why did I go alone?! What should I do?! Should I call the guards?! How could I be so absentminded?! Stupid, stupid, stupid!] The girl thought to herself as she sized-up her potential opponent.
Seconds were eaten away as the two remained locked in inactivity. Dust that had meandered back into the room had now settled onto the floor, as the sounds of liveliness from the city square could be heard in the background.
Breaking the tension, a sudden but decisive lunge from Joseph caused the girl to scream in terror. Joseph quickly closed the distance between him and the girl, only to slip on the recently settled layer of dust coating the hardwood floor. He did his best to correct his balance, reaching towards the girl in an attempt to capture her, but he was too late. The girl had dashed away from the hulking man the moment he lost his footing.
Joseph: “Clever girl!”
Joseph muttered in amusement just before clumsily tumbling onto the floor, slamming into the hallway wall made of hardened stone. He grunted in frustration as pain trickled up his spine.
His vision blurred as darkness invaded his periphery, fighting for the right to claim his consciousness. His head bobbed up and down as he struggled to remain awake. But it was futile. Joseph blacked-out from the concussion he received from the fall.
Waking up to a pile of spit hanging from his gaping mouth, Joseph vindictively cursed the girl.
Joseph: "That wench! When I get my hands on the bitch, she'd wish she had submitted to me!"
The angry growl echoed down the long, narrow hallway as Joseph picked himself up off the ground. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he needed to start moving.
While inspecting his body for damages, he noticed that a clearly visible dent had formed on the sturdy hallway wall where he had collided. His face lit-up with excitement as he yelled out his favorite phrase.
Joseph: “HA! HAHA! I’M THE JUGGERNA...ack!”
Pain spread its way through Joseph’s upper body, quelling whatever plans he had in motion. The girl had gotten away in his hubris, now wasn’t the time to act like a child.
Joseph: “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Joseph.”
He whispered to himself as he massaged his shoulders and brushed dust away from his body.
Joseph peered down the hallway where the girl had run to, checking for potential obstacles. As he started moving, a grin rose from his lips; he prowled the narrow path, enthralled by all the possibilities that lie ahead.
Like a master stalker, Joseph hid himself in the darkest corners of the hallway. His path was illuminated by a single skylight that spanned the entirety of the hall; due to the time of day, the sun’s light only reached part of the hallway, obscuring the rest in darkness
His movements were slow, but it couldn't be helped; silence was required if he planned to capture the girl. As he continued to prowl, he recalled a piece of information he learned from his uncle: though there were signs of long-lived sentient beings on the planet, Halios was still underdeveloped by Earth’s standards; technology hadn’t advanced passed Earth’s age of kingdoms and empires.
This gave him an idea.
His plan was to inject himself into society as a scholar, bringing forth 'new discoveries' in technology, science, and medicine. He aimed to become influential, rich, and powerful, like his father. But to do that, he had to squelch the girl who had discovered him.
With that thought, Joseph's body seized, his mind engulfed by hedonistic fantasies. The very idea of punishing the young girl for misbehaving gave him extreme pleasure. He breathed heavy as impure thoughts flooded his mind.
Licking his lips, he slowly pushed his body up against the wall; he was near the end of the hallway, so he spent a few moments enjoying himself.
As Joseph was preoccupied, fantasizing over what he would do to the girl, an armored guard equipped with an iron spear and large wooden shield silently approached his location.
Like Joseph, the guard kept to the shadows.
Earlier, the guard approached a young girl who had been screaming for help. The girl informed him that an intruder was inside the mansion’s west wing; that the intruder was dangerous and unpredictable. He sent the young girl to get additional assistance from other guards stationed at the mansion’s gate, as he moved towards the direction of the disturbance.
Before rounding the corner of the hallway, the guard stopped to ready his spear; just as the girl had said, the intruder was located in the mansion’s west wing.
As this happened, Joseph, not being any wiser, continued to revel in his thoughts. He was unprepared for what would happen next.
Confirming Joseph’s location with his senses, the guard lunged forward and thrust his spear through the hardened stone wall. The power of the thrust broke through the thick corner wall, impaling Joseph in the process.
Joseph, not quite sure what had happened, jumped backwards, but not in time. The guard’s barbed spear pierced through his chest and latched onto his body. It took a moment for Joseph to realize this, but when he finally did, he wailed in agony as excruciating pain shot up the remaining parts of his spine
Joseph: "AAAAGHHH…" *gurgle* *gurgle*
His scream was cut short as blood flooded his lungs and muffled his voice. The guard, satisfied with the outcome of his attack, let go of his spear and calmly walked around the corner to face Joseph. He smiled as he leaned his shoulder against the cool wall, leisurely watching Joseph struggle.
Guard: "That is your reward for attacking the young miss. You dumb fool."
Foreign words assaulted Joseph's ears as his vision grew blurry. He, who was trained in several languages as a child, could not comprehend the words of the...thing that had attacked him.
[Pretender. Trying to be like us.] Joseph thought to himself as he sent a menacing glare at the bipedal...thing, wearing armor. But the guard maintained his smile, watching Joseph slowly bleed out; an act that infuriated Joseph to no end. After a few agonizing minutes, his vision darkened as his labored breathing ended with a whimper.
Joseph Miller, no, Subject 531 had died, not fifteen minutes after arriving on Halios.
◊◊◊◊◊◊
Day 0; 0610 (Morning)
Focus: Character Introduction
Man: “Damn it. We were too late.”
The man uttering words of dissatisfaction, leaned back in his mesh work chair as he stared up at the ceiling, pondering his next move. The last few hours of his job had been difficult.
As the team leader in charge of overseeing science team 7, he had many responsibilities to uphold.
Of the five scientists and five test subjects under his purview, one pairing stood out to him as a potential liability.
Bernard Miller and his assigned test subject, Subject 531, came back positive for being blood relatives.
Unfortunately for the team leader, TL7, his extensive background checks came at a cost: time. Since the checks had to be performed in secret, the information regarding familial ties between Bernard and 531, arrived too late; by the time he was able to read the findings, 531 had already force-transferred to Halios.
With 531 no longer on Earth, Bernard’s misconduct will likely be concealed and forgotten; filed away in some dusty, underground warehouse.
As TL7 leaned forward to rest his chin on his folded hands, one of his attendants calmly walked into his office to give their report.
Attendant: “Sir, Subject 531’s brain functions have ceased. Alpha and Pre-Alpha teams nearby have been sent to investigate…”
The attendant hesitated before continuing.
Attendant: “...this may only be conjecture, but...I was told by your science team that Subject 531 had likely been killed over an altercation of some kind. In fact, the man you told me to be wary of, Mr. Bernard Miller, was adamant about it. That is all I have to report at this moment, sir.”
Pursing his lips, TL7, closed his eyes in a moment of meditation before turning to his attendant.
TL7: “Is that so? Hmm...I would like you to bring Mr. Bernard Miller here. Him and I need to have a good ole one-on-one conversation. And make sure to get a few security guards stationed outside my door during our meeting. I don’t want Mr. Miller escaping my interrogation.”
Before sending his attendant away to perform the task, he made an inquiry.
TL7: “...sorry, but before you go. I was hoping you could key me into what happened right after the force-transfer procedure. I saw several team leaders rush over to one of the transfer rooms, but I was too busy sorting through these damn things to join them.”
He pointed at several piles of research papers, journals, and other documents scattered all over the ground of his meager office.
His attendant, seeing his exasperated look, replied calmly.
Attendant: “Of course, sir. As you may recall, there were several notifications regarding Subject 513 prior to the force-transfer. Not to be confused with Subject 531 -- 513’s mental collapse was a direct result of not receiving the SubSplit procedure. Because of this, the cocktail of stimulants, sedatives, and other drugs deteriorated his mind-”
TL7: “I see, so because his subconscious was not duplicated with the SubSplit procedure, his mind couldn’t handle what we gave him...forgive my interruption, please continue.”
After nodding in agreement, his attendant resumed.
Attendant: “That is correct, sir. After the force-transfer of the test subjects were completed, the team leader for science team 3 received a warning message on her monitor. It said that 513’s transfer procedure was halted due to premature ejection.”
“When she investigated 513’s transfer pod, she found no body. However, what she did find was a pile of grey dust that sat at the bottom of the pod. When she performed a biological analysis on the dust, it came back negative for organic material.”
“The other team leaders that you saw running over to the transfer room, were there to help look for clues as to where Subject 513 ran off to...though, I would be hard-pressed to believe a brain dead man could voluntarily escape a locked-down room on his own.”
TL7: “That dust, no...the ash is likely the cremated remains of 513.”
Attendant: “Sir?”
Seeing his attendant confused, TL7 elaborated.
TL7: “Were you aware that people from Earth had traveled to Halios prior to Project Prometheus? I am not talking about the Pre-Alpha teams that preceded our operation, but individuals that had mysteriously vanished throughout our history."
"The reason why we say we’re force-transferring test subjects is simply because that is exactly what we are doing: forcing a transfer. Our methods are not natural, at least in the sense of how Earthlings...no, Terrans, go from Earth to Halios. The natural way involves the annihilation of one’s body, which leaves inorganic material behind in the form of ash or fine, grey dust; in other words, cremated remains.”
“Anyway, we can talk more in-depth about this matter later. What I need you to do, right now, is to carry out the task I had given to you. That is all.”
Satisfied with the answer he was given, TL7's attendant immediately complied.
Attendant: “Understood, sir. I will return shortly with Mr. Bernard Miller and a few guards.”
Watching his attendant leave the office, TL7 once again, leaned back on his mesh work chair and stared at the white matte ceiling. [Things are going to get busier. Subject 531 and Subject 513, there’s a connection between those two...I wonder if Bernard is dyslexic.] TL7 silently thought to himself as he closed his eyes to meditate.
---Chapter End