Recovered Document (E1OO24)
We’ve been at war. Conquering planets, one by one. We haven’t stopped sending out explorers because we need minerals, resources- resources vital for human life. It’s the Earth year of 2164 and the human population has decreased to six billion survivors, and two billion are scattered across the universe in this shill point in history. But recently we have had a turn in events. We’ve befriended a new ally. The most powerful ally out there. And they’re willing to help us to survive these harsh times.
Section 1
(Human #1) Drew Skippari [chapter 1]
I look at the dead alien laying on the foreign ground and put my gun away. I seek the horizon and see the setting sun while my team looks for it as well. Skylar sighs “I wish we were home- I'm getting sick of this”.
“Well you decided to come on this mission”, I say rather angrily “If we hadn’t stopped because he ‘saw something’ then we wouldn’t be so far behind schedule. Lets just hope…”, I think to myself. I stand up from the kneeling position I was in and look at the ally.
“Ena zag sag”, waiting for the alien to respond
Replying with a smirk, “Ga, en es zag enop”
“And you guys are saying…”, comments Skylar
“We gotta go”, I say, “The Void is coming”
(Human #3) Audrey Fellow [chapter 1]
I realize my pacing and stop to stare at the time on the base’s ceiling. It was getting close- the time was 1315 and remembering somewhere out in the exotic jungle there are three people trying to find their way back. Back to base. Alive- and that means before the sun gets dark and The Void catches up. “Worrying probably doesn’t help”, I imagine to myself. “But it’s not like I can do anything else!”, as I look up and see only 3 fragments have passed since I checked last. Julianna gets off her bunk and comes over
“You worried about him?”
“Just a little.”, with a hint of sarcasm in my voice.
“They’ll get here we both know they will”
“You never know”, I reply with a little concern in my voice.
“They will- now stop worrying; it does you no good. Unless you’ve forgotten Skylar is out there with Drew and we both know they will personally drag each other back to base if they get hurt”.
“I guess you’re right”, I say rather delighted.
I look at the time, yet again and then say though the whispers “You know what I find amusing?”.
“hmmm?”, Julianna wonders aloud.
“At home I always wanted silence. Now we’re on another planet, off of Earth, and silence is just about the scariest thing. I just wanna go back to hearing the honking of trucks back in my New York apartment.”
With a little laugh she grins and says, “I think we’ve all thought that at one point”.
Once more I look up at the digital ceiling and breathe out,
“285 fragments until they’re declared dead”
(Human #1) Drew Skippari [chapter 2]
I start to sweat from the distressing thoughts going through my head as I look at the sunset ahead that’s touching the tips of the snowy mountain peaks.
“We aren’t gonna make it”, I solemnly say, as I sit on a large rock.
“Shut up and keep moving. If you want you and your negativity to be ripped apart here, be my guest but I’m gonna get back one way or another”, the irked adventurer ordered.
“We only have 273 fragments left and we have no clue how far away camp is”.
“Exactly! It could just be over the next mountain! You never know and we could’ve walked a few dozen meters if you hadn’t been whining so much! I'm going catch up if you wanna live.”. And the friend turned around and started walking up the summit.
The ally got the message and followed the warrior. Then my conscious told me to follow because we were being followed.
(Human #3) Audrey Fellow [chapter 2]
I’m constantly checking the base’s video footage of the entrance waiting for the three fighters to wander in, meanwhile its 1311 and they’re running out of time. I rest my head in my hands and hear a noise behind me so I quickly pull my gun out and swerve around just as I noticed it was my friend.
“Wow someone’s a little jumpy”, she says with a little fear in her voice
“Yea, well sorry that I’m not used to people sneaking up behind me when I’m tired”, I remarked as I put my weapon back in its holder.
“Sorry about that I was just gonna check if you were sleeping”.
“Well I’m not”, with a little aggravation in my voice.
“I kinda see that now, but you should really get some sleep, in your bed”.
“No I will be waiting when he gets back”.
“You try that”.
In my head I’m wondering whether or not I should smack her for saying that, but I ask, “How aren’t you worried about Skylar?”
“I am- a lot more than I show but I’m not gonna spend all my time worrying about him; whatever happens will happen, and worrying definitely doesn’t sway that”.
“Okay”, I say with remorse. “I guess I’ll try to sleep”, as my workmate walks out of the room.
(Human #1) Drew Skippari [chapter 3]
I check the time displayed on my wrist and it shows 1324, and suddenly Zephyr stops in his tracks and I stop Skylar.
“Dem selm enl”, the ally says as he tenses up.
After a little silence, I whisper “En sag” and quickly he replies, “Gas, en sal dela…”, after a little silence he continues, “Nel enermo”.
My human partner caught onto the whispering and softly says, “I still can’t understand you- explain”.
With a little alarm in my tone I answer, “Dusk has dawned upon us. And we have visitors”.
(Human #3) Audrey Fellow [chapter 3]
I feel a jolt of pain and jump as I notice my sweating. “Must’ve been a nightmare” And rub the button marks off of my forehead.
“You look in pain, like you just been beaten”, said an unknown voice in the shadowy corner of the room. I jump and aim my gun at the figure.
“Who are you?”, I say, seeming fully awake. After no answer I yell it louder
“WHO ARE YOU?!”, as the figure seems to disappear into the floor.
“SHOW YOURSELF!”, and I feel a warm breath down the back of my neck, so I circle around and expect to see something large, gross, and unknown. Instead a tall, muscular woman sat in the chair. I lower my gun and say, “What are you?”.
“I’m an ally”
“But you can speak English”, I wonder aloud.
“I was educated, dipshit”, she calmly says.
“Whatever why are you in the base?”
“I’m a new recruit- why else would I come to this boring hell hole?”
I grin and awkwardly say “Yeahh, that’s true”, as I look up another time to see how long I’ve slept and see the time- it’s 1205. The clock is ticking and they have 235 fragments to live.
“If they’re still alive”, I say in the back of my mind.
(Human #2) Skylar Holmes [chapter 1]
“We gotta go! We won’t survive The Void! We can just run back to headquarters!”
“Not if we’re being followed”, Drew angrily responds.
“Zephyr, Seld enle sag”, I hear my friend tell the alien.
“Gash. Enerp.”
“I still don’t understand. I hope you know that”, but before I can go on the warrior grasps my arm and pulls me away from the ally. And we start running from The Void. Away from The Void, and yet away from our only chance of survival.
Recovered Document (V1OO210)
After studies on The Void, the scientists and the inspectors have concluded that The Void is not just a shadow that attracts The Void Canines and other creatures, but The Void is an actual, living creature. That slowly damages earthly organisms that are under its influence. It has a constant speed and scientists have calculated an approximate size. There are multiple questions left unanswered, and to answer them scientists need eyes inside the animal called The Void.
Section 2
(Human #1) Drew Skippari [chapter 4]
So much running
I recognize my arm wrapped around a blur’s neck.
I hold my head straight so that I can see the faint object far in front of us- large, gray… Then my vision went as dark as The Void.
(Human #3) Skylar Holmes [chapter 2]
I finally wake up and notice the first thing I notice is that Zephyr is carrying me up the mountain. I look past him and see a bloody human, and at first he was unrecognizable. Until I figured it out. I ask the ally “What happened?”, then realize he doesn’t understand me. I push away from his arms so I could walk by myself and when I had I helplessly fell over, and I’m aware that I’m crippled once I see the gory bone on my legs. It was as if a dog were chewing on it. Zephyr picks me off the soft external ground and we head to the hills as The Void creeps at our feet.
My friend, bleeding from a multitude of places awakes from his deadly sleep and hazily asks, “Skylar, will we make it?”
“Definitely”, I confidentially say as he droops his head and says no more.
(Human #4) Julianna O’Keefe [chapter 1]
Walking by the security room I hear a deep breathing, so I have my hand on my gun ready to shoot as I trot in, but the only thing in there is a sleeping Audrey Fellow. I step in and quietly say, “Audrey”. She jumps up and aims at me.
“God! That’s the second time I’ve almost shot you! You gotta quit doing that!”
“Whateva, but look at the time. Its 64 fragments till The Void passes, and they aren’t here yet. I hate to say this, but I don’t think they will make it, since it’s almost here. I’m truly ss…”
“What??”, my friend says baffled.
I point at the screen, almost in tears, “Is that them?!” starting to sob I see Audrey look at the same footage and whisper to herself
“God help us” and we run down to the post entrance.
(Human #1) Drew Skippari [chapter 5]
Just about everything is a giant blur except the two figures to my left; I see an outline of a rather bloody Skylar Holmes and the fearless Zephyr holding me up. With the last of my energy I look forward and see the domain’s double doors, so I smile and let go. I lean one way, out of the foreign arms and fall into something soft.
(Human #3) Audrey Fellow [chapter 4]
In tears I meet the spirited soldiers one unconscious, one barely conscious, and an Extraterrestrial that was strong, yet somber. I catch my Drew as he falls from the ally’s grip. The ally quickly hits the emergency button on the wall to get the inspectors down here to help as he gains a free hand. I catch my unconscious man and Zephyr sits the other adventurer down next to Julianna O’Keefe and I ask between the sobs “What happened to them?”, and giving him no time to reply I ask the only other person that was there- Skylar do you know what happened to him? and as he opened his mouth to speak, but he crosses his eyes and falls over. As Julianna starts to cry and hugs her nearly dead partner, the inspectors show up and take the two injured men away.
(Human #2) Skylar Holmes [chapter 3]
I open my eyes and gasping for air as if I had just died. And in the background I can hear screams of the exotic language and the instructors are yelling, “He’s awake!”, “He’s awake!”. I put my hand between the blinding light and me and notice how heavy my hand had felt as I almost let it fall on my chest. After a while I realize my breathing has slowed to a regular rep and when I tried to sit up I could barely lift my chest off of the platform before the wires held me down. And that’s when inspectors and surgeons start pouring into the room and demand that I don’t get up, even when the wires attached to my body do that anyway. Shortly after the wires were removed I noticed my legs seem thicker and more sturdy as they touched the floor. I force myself to sit up with a groan and then all the sudden a man just appears in front of me when I look up and he says, “Can you try standing up for me?”
With a slight laugh I say “I just sat up!”
“Okay”, he says, “Then brace yourself and go slow”
I grunt a “Yes” and look at the ground as if this were my first step on the moon and I left the table and as my bare feet touched the cold, metal floor I helplessly fell and threw my hands in front of me to break the fall, but instead, to my surprise my hands ‘grayed’ and broke my fall. I picked my heavy body off the floor and could barely roll myself on top my back. When I looked to my left I noticed a dent, in the shape of a hand. Two of them then it hit me: My own hands dented the metal floor.
(Human #4) Julianna O’Keefe [chapter 2]
I run into the observation room and look at the screen that links the two
rooms, the only thing between the experiment and me. I lean over and ask the doctor “Will he be alright?”
“He’ll be fine. Should start physical and mental rehab right away, I don’t think he’s exactly stable yet”
“But he seems fine!”, I retaliate as Audrey enters the room, eyes a little red.
“What’s wrong?”, I meaningfully ask.
“Nothing!”, she says sounding annoyed with me asking that. After a gap in our conversation she says
“I mean I’m glad for you!”, she tries to say though her teeth. “Right now you’re with the strongest human on this planet! I mean why wouldn’t I be glad for you?!”
I put my arm on my best friend’s shoulder, look into her eyes and say, “He'll wake soon, I know it”, With a faded smile. She starts to tear up. “And if he doesn’t?”, as she turns to look at the screen of the footage from Drew’s infinity room.
(Human #3) Audrey Fellow [chapter 5]
I think to myself, “Why couldn’t my boyfriend wake up first? Why was HE the one who came back unconscious? Why didn’t Zephyr defend them?”, I look at the time in a worried state once more and see over a metafragment has passed since they were put in those rooms. All the sudden I jump to the voice I heard in the security room a few nights ago.
“You fear time, don’t you?”, said the demonic voice. And knowing I shouldn’t retaliate I respond,
“Yes quite often actually”
Snickering it says, “I don’t have to, you weak little mortal”.
“And you just do nothing? Is that it? You shape shifting freak.”, I harshly respond
As she teleports behind me into the shadows she whispers, “ I observe, pick friends from foes, stalk, kill; you know stuff like that- WAIT you don’t! HA!”
I know she could kill me in an instant and leave no trace if I retaliate, so I back off and start walking down to check on Drew.
“See you can’t retaliate cause your dead boyfriend’s not-“ Before the alien can finish the sentence I whip out both pistols and point them at her forehead.
“Stupid humans with your puny weapons- you can’t do anything” as she disappears into the floor I put my guns away and all the sudden I’ve been put in a headlock that I can’t get out of. Whispers and screams fill my head that make the hair on my neck stand up and through them all I hear the darkest, most cryptic voice,
“I am more powerful than your whole human race”, screams the monster in my head, “And I could snap you so easily”, she says as she tightening the grip around my neck. “You got that twig?”, the headlock is so tight I can’t speak so I try to nod my head and she disappears. In fear she might return I go back to the most popular place in the hospital- the observation room watching the new mutant named Skylar Holmes.
(Human #2) Skylar Holmes [chapter 4]
I lift myself off the hard ground and onto my knees then stare at dent left from my hands in the floor and then back at my gray hands.
“How?”, I ask myself aloud
The surgeon that greeted me upon my awaking answered yet again “I’ll explain when you’re ready. For now, lets try completing basics- like standing up.” When I attempted, it took nearly all my strength to lift my heavy body. By now the room had almost completely emptied- except me, the man, and the table I awoke on. Everything else was whiter than snow.
“Why do I feel as if I weigh a ton?”, I ask the scientist
“I’ll tell you that shortly”, he responds, “Now try walking forward.” I brace myself for the worst and step a little forward, not even a half step.
“BE A MAN!” he yells, joking in his mind and I lunge towards him ready to attack him tripping a little as I land.
“AGAIN!”
I jump uncontrollably at him hands ready to grab his neck and as I am a milifragment away away from touching him he vanishes and I go right through where his figure was standing, landing on my face, my arms going into the white ground up past my wrists.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!”, I yell aloud expecting something other than an echo. I stand up and look around, still not seeing anything to occupy myself.
(Human #5) Blevins [chapter 1]
I decide to appear behind the angered man and I do so silently until I speak, “Because of your outstanding improvements you’ve shown, I’m going to let you… experiment for a little. While I look at the results” I say with a slim grin and rotate around and vaporize back to the lab leaving the mutant in the plain white room to figure out what he can do. After condensing back in the lab, I notice everything that we tested so far was a success… but that’s only so far.
(Human #1) Drew Skippari [chapter 6]
With a gasp I realize I’m breathing fast and heavy. The first thing I hear is the roaring of inspectors saying, “He’s awake!” He’s awake!”, and every time I take a breath it feels as if I’m trapped under a boulder. I force myself to open my eyes to only see Blevins, the head or the surgeons.
“Good day captain! You’ve finally made it!”
When he moves his head out of the way, the light blinds me, and I give my eyes time to adjust before speaking, “How long was I out?”
“About four metafragments- you’re lucky, we thought you died in the process.”, He naturally and calmly says me, the man laying face up on the table.
“Can I ask the process of what exactly?”
“No” he says straightforward and after a small gap in our conversation he adds, “Well, I’m not going to be exact with it… because there are many complex answers to the various questions going through your head, some of which we can answer and others we can’t reply to yet.”
“So I’m the only one in this experiment? Don’t you need like a control group or something?” I wonder aloud
“No, we don’t need a control group for this experiment”, answered the surgeon, “But you are our second experiment”
“Where’s the first then?”, a little worried with about the upcoming answer.
“Experiment A is in the other infinity room” I finally look around, noticing nothing but plain white around me and laugh.
“And I designed these rooms, “I let out a little laugh, “I thought I would recognize it”, but I cut myself off and get back on the subject. “Who’s Experiment A? What happened to him?”
“The same thing that happened to you”, he answers, “The Void”
(Human #5) Blevins [chapter 2]
I’m trying to think of a logical, yet simple way to explain this to him.
“You were getting short on time, on an adventure back from the outside, and apparently you were being followed by another alien- one from The Void, and when you were laying on the ground bleeding out from injuries, your partner was defending your body when he was shot from above and later attacked by one of The Void Canines. You both are extremely lucky you had an ally with you. If he hadn’t been there, you both would be dead in fragments!” I realize how descriptive I let myself get so I start to end the horrid explanation. “Nevertheless, you made it back in one piece and now you’re what you are now.”
“What exactly is that” he asks me
“Right now… you consist of skin and stone. Nothing more.”
(Human #3) Audrey Fellow [chapter 6]
I hear the news from the observation room, and I take it hard. “Huh” I say in confusion. Julianna overhears me and comments
“Huh what? You didn’t think he would be special too or what?”
“No he was always special, I just didn’t think he would be made of stone. I’m just wondering why he hasn’t moved yet.” And as if on cue the head of the operators shows up and replies,
“He hasn’t tried to move yet, so he must be thinking. All the measurements and observations show he’s fully capable of moving.”
“Can you make him get up? I mean you made Skylar get up-“The quack cuts me off and says
“I did not ‘make him get up’, because that is essentially impossible. They have to decide whether or not they want to get up.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well Ms. Audrey Fellow he is currently made of compact rock and some metals. I’m no geologist, but I think compact rock and metals weigh a just a little more than the average ton.” He sarcastically says.
“So he could lay there forever long he wants?”
“Correct”
(Human #1) Drew Skippari [chapter 7]
After thinking about how my partner risked his life to save me, I try to sit up. It still feels as if I’m stuck under a boulder, but now I get why I feel as if I’m trapped in stone. Sitting up for the first time in metafragments, and feel as if I have to puke but can’t- It’s the worst feeling I’ve had in a while. All the sudden the whole night comes back into my memory, everything up to the point that I fell into my love’s arms. Then I remember how worried she must be so I strive to get up. I swing my legs to the side so that they hung off the side of the table. I was swinging them to learn how to use them better. I learn how to use my arms and my legs, and how much power they have until I think I understand my new body.
I think I know how to balance so I slide off the table, ready to take on anything, but as expected it was more than I could stand. My knees buckled and I fell on my hands and knees. I look up and then push myself up onto my feet very slowly, as if I were an active and sensitive bomb ready to activate. With caution I put my hands down and take full control. I take another look around, as if to see something new in the plain room, and to my surprise when I looked to where I landed, I noticed a few dents in the snow floor, and all of them shaped out as either my hands or knees. I thought about trying to walk and a voice in my head said, Go for it.
Recovered Document (E1T904)
I’m an Explorer. I was sent out with the four others in my group and we’ve found the secrets of living in this murderous environment. The Void is only an alien that has threatened human life on this planet and we took this under consideration. Four of us are now living far above the rest of the population on an island that The Void flies under. We located it when we were exploring and we found a temple in the distance, and when we got there, there was the ancient language carved into the side. I couldn’t read what it said but one of my partners, (E4) understood and told us. When he was reciting it, four of us that were standing in the circle on the stone floor teleported up onto the edge of the gorgeous island. The one man who was left behind was illiterate and could not teleport. We assumed he died once The Void swept over the temple. But if anyone finds this message, the temple is about .73 metrefragments NNW of the camp entrance. I’d tell you about the amazing foods and living up here, but I don’t want to spoil it. Make sure to bring reinforcements because the temple is heavily guarded by the worst of the worst.
Section 3
(Human #5) Blevins [chapter 3]
I watched in amazement as my second creation takes its first few step, growing stronger. Looking at the footage of the two infinity rooms, I notice the increasing anger in experiment B, or Skylar Holmes. “It seemed as if he was not properly stabilized by the surgeons, and that means he shouldn’t have passed inspections” I think as I observe experiment B finishing off the metal table that was left in his area. “His actions show extensive hostility, but his face shows remorse and have no explanation for this” I ponder on this for a span in my office until I get interrupted by Sanders. He walks in rather quickly, stops, and then acknowledges my presence with a “Hello doctor” after a dozen or so milifragments.
“Yes?” I rather awkwardly ask
“Sorry Blevins, I got distracted on this astonishing upshot; it’s quite amazing what these men have discharged in the past metafragments.”
After being disappointed on his lack of response I tell the young man “And all this means nothing to me unless you expound it to me”
He looks at me with a puzzled look on his face “Expound- Ahh yes that’s right. Well with these past results we’ve concluded that these men are both ready for training”
“It can not be true!” I say ignorantly “Experiment A woke less than a full metafragment ago and we must observe to be entirely certain that he’s ready!”
“Well, sir experiment B was and is currently becoming extremely impatient with us. We must absorb fear for the worst possible outcome”
“I guess he will be angered because I forbid anyone to progress on my experiment”
“Yes sir” The somewhat annoyed employee said as he hurried out of the lab.
(Human #2) Skylar Holmes [chapter 5]
I yell at the top of my lungs “GET ME OUT OF THIS BORING HELLHOLE!” and then listened as if I actually thought they would and then out of nowhere they did
“I’ve come to help prepare you for your upcoming training”
“YOU STUPID SON OF A” I say as I lunge at the surgeon and fall through him like the last. Without moving teleporting he says
“By now you should’ve realized that most things in this room are holograms by now.”
I ram my fist into the ground, yet again in frustration.
“Well then Mr. Hologram” I say with an attitude “When are we going to start?”
“Only once you promise not to talk about this when I’m not here” replied the doctor cautiously. I take next to no time to think about it and say “Agreed, or rather you have my word.”
“Good, and with this training you will get ahead of Experiment A, or your friend Drew. As if you aren’t already ahead”
“Why would you say that?” I ask honored and at the same time baffled.
“You see” says the surgeon “Because the more you practice with your new body, the more experienced you’ll be”
“No I get that, but why are you picking me and why do you think I’m already ahead?”
“Well, we told you that you were made of a metal, correct?”
“Yeah but isn’t Drew made of it as well?”
“No Experiment A is consists more of rock than the metals.” says the educated surgeon
“But why not make us both of metals? I mean wouldn’t it be best to make it out of what's stronger?” I question him
“Yes, but the way you guys were mutated, you can replenish your health and grow back your limbs with any materials you find that combat with what you're made of,” He stops speaking and when he realizes that I haven’t caught on yet he gives me an example. “Say you were attacked by a Void Canine or something else the void carries and your new leg gets ripped off. You can find a metal cave and once you get there your body automatically would repair your leg, if you were touching the metal” I catch on and say
“So that’s why they made him or rock- he could… repair himself almost anywhere then!”
“But you have endurance remember that- and don’t get jealous of him you have the power here.”
With a little bit of pride in my voice I reply, “I’m not jealous! I mean you even said it! I have the power!”
“Okay since we’ve passed this concept, I’m Sanders. You’ll start training with Blevins tomorrow.
(Human #1) Drew Skippari [chapter 8]
“I think I’ve gotten a hang of this,” I tell the surgeon
“Are you sure?” He asks in amusement
“Very” I reply to the man standing in front of me with a grin, “But before I leave for training is there anything else I should know about my new body?”
“Well, yes that’s a good thing you asked. If you ever get injured you must find rock. We implanted an Auto Restoration Center into your anatomy so that you can repair yourself when you take damage.”
“Okay” I answer the scientist somewhat awkwardly. “I think I got it.”
“Really? Nothing’s on your mind soldier?”
“No questions pertaining to this” I say confidently.
“He sees the trace of sorrow on my face and retorts, “You’ll get back to your normal life in a few frags, don’t worry.”
Showing no sadness I say “Thank you for selecting me for this”
“I hadn’t selected you for this experiment. You did when you were late to the compound and were battered by The Void” Blevins answered as he vanished.
(Human #3) Audrey Fellow [chapter 7]
I watch my darling from the observation room and wonder if I’ve even crossed his attention. “Don’t worry about our relationship” I think “I wouldn’t blame him because he obviously has other things on his mind” I see a piece of paper in the corner of the room and after waiting for an explorer to leave the room I slip back there and pick it off the floor. I open the torn sheet and mentally read it.
“They’re among us. They’ve found their way in,
and we can barely tell a difference
between them and us.
Don’t trust anyone.
They aren’t who you think they are.”
I flipped it around expecting to see more words but instead I see a small symbol of some sorts printed in the top left:
The tear cut off the rest so I was left wondering and as I was trying to interpret what it meant I backed up to where the chair was that I sat on earlier and I tried to take a seat, but I missed landing on my butt, but rather than sitting up I saw faint writing on the back of the card, and it looked as if the person who wrote this erased it. I held it up to the light and grasped as I read it.
(Human #5) Blevins [chapter 4]
After my little visit with Experiment A, I start heading back to my lab to record my observations, such as: dehydration, depression, and excessive twitching. I’m looking at my notes when out of the corner of my eye, I notice a person laying on the ground of the observation room holding a piece of paper to the ceiling. I slip in and say a little nervous “Hello?”
“Yes” As the person takes the paper and puts it away and stands up
“Are you okay” I ask a little freaked out
“Yes” Says the person I recognize as Audrey as she turns around “I just fell” as she brushed herself off
“And were reading?”
“Oh, um… yes” and she brushed past me and left before I could respond, and I watched the experiments for a few milifragments in the room and left. I walked down the Surgeon Hallway and was about to enter the records room when my associate, Sanders stopped me and he spit out,
“I think we should start training now”
“Excuse me?” I say rather offended that he, yet again, interrupted my thoughts with such a doltish question.
“Sorry, but I think we should start Experiment B’s training now. We can’t wait for Experiment A to catch up! He was too far behind and they wouldn’t have the same… experience as each other if we wait…”
“You know what, Sanders sure we can do that!” I say keeping a straight face
“Really?” He says with an astonished face I haven’t observed on him before this
“Yes, when its your experiment” I say with a grin and a chuckle as I brush past him into the records room to file my observations.
(Human #6) Sanders [chapter 1]
I try to keep myself on negative thoughts on how he manipulated me into his joke. Even if it was amusing. I continuously hear the echo of his last sentence as if it were put there “Yes, when its your experiment” I beamed and walked across the hall to the lounge. Sitting on the recliner I look up notice a red light on the ceiling, one similar to a laser that when I was growing up, fascinated me. I see how everyone else was there, in our lounge, already occupied, as if time had stopped. Just sitting there looking at a recent newspaper sent from Earth. That Earth- the disgusting ball of dirt and smoke we humans once called home. Its hard to believe that we were stupid enough to pollute the planet…” and as if begging for attention the laser caught my eye. I look around to see if the others were distracted. It seemed to be coming out of the couch. I leisurely get up and sit in another seat in the corner of the room, out of sight from humans, and closer to the red pixel on the ceiling. After detecting it was most likely harmless I scooted over to yet again another chain and a few people glimpsed up from their material. I sat and waited for men and women to stop obscenely observing me then I slowly turned around and looked atop the chair, surprised to see no laser. “It must be behind the chair” I say quietly to myself. As quietly and as cautiously as possible I move the chair forward and look behind it, as if I’m a kid again looking for treasures. I was sure it would be there but once more, I was disappointed. The only thing there was dust, a paper, and a few coins. I looked up for guidance but don’t see the miniscule mark above me. “Was it an illusion?” I think to myself in pity and disdain. I look back behind the chair and pick up the few coins, as any man would but something made me pick the paper up as well and without looking I put it in my pocket with the coins.
Recovered Document (Medical) (D1WOO26)
Planet: Concept
Base ID: MBC217
Name: Jarold Carson
Occupation: Surgeon
ID: S87WA20
Death Date: 2061.203.836 (July 22nd 2061 at 1:56PM)
Death Number: 207649
Location: Room 28 Wall “C” (26,9)
Cause of Death: Unknown
Attachments:
My death was not accidental. I was murdered. I was injected with what I think is Canine gas. Not right away, I must have consumed a weariness pill or something similar. I remember waking up with a red mark on my arm and laying on a table in an infinity room with a blinding light in my face and I heard a voice say, “Has it worked?” as I started to gain my sight back I groaned and heard a “SHIT!” and felt a sharp pain in my chest and then I woke up here, in the hospital, barely breathing. I can hardly write from the stiffness but someone must find my killer. If it helps I’m Jarold Carson. ID: S87WA20. And I’ll write one last time: Do NOT rid this note. This was NOT a mistake.
Section 4
(Human #4) Julianna O’Keefe [chapter 3]
I wake up and right after dressing I rush down to see my encaged boyfriend. I pass a few surgeons and inspectors walking to the other end of the building. I ignore it as much as I can until more began filing out I stop one and demand
“Where are you going?!”
He looks at me scared and desperate and quickly says “I’m going to the lav! Now let go of me!”
I see Blevins coming down from the surgeon wing and stand in front of him but he ignores me and keeps moving. I try not to run so I “power-walk” untill I'm just about next to him and I harshly say “Blevins! What the hell!”
“Excuse me?”
“You just walked past me back there and ignored me!” I say a little pissed
“I’m sorry, honey, I’m busy” the quack says as he starts to walk off yet again. I grab his shoulder and he jumps a little and exclaims,
“OW! I’m fragile!”
“Then answer me!”
“Okay, okay” He replies a little annoyed “But first lets get out of the mob” I pull him over to the “B” Rooms’ hallway and he says
“To sum all of this up, the experiments are being transported in a sleep out to the training base that was built for them”
“Why wasn’t I told this?!” I nearly yell at him.
“Are you a surgeon?”
“NO!” I actually yell at him.
“And you're not a patient so you don’t need to be informed. I’m sorry” and he turned to walk away I caught his shoulder again making him jerk in pain as he turned around.
“What?!” he says sounding extremely annoyed
“I’m going with you to see them” the smart doctor stood there for a little, most likely thinking about how he couldn’t persuade me to do otherwise and commented:
“If you must, lets go quickly- I don’t want to be late”
(Human #1) Drew Skippari [chapter 9]
I wake up for the first time in what seemed to be metafragments and try getting up but I’m stopped by my weight, like the first time I woke up in this body. I sit up with a slight moan and see real humans for the first time, or at least in my new rock body. I look to my left and see my friend, my partner wandering around in this… hole encased by glass walls and people
“Skylar!” I yell and he turns around
“Drew! We’re out! it feels so good to feel the moist ground under my feet! Common! Get up!” He walks over and helps me get up.
“How are you? I haven’t seen you in- I don’t know how long!” we both laugh a little and he says
“Thank god we’re out of there! I thought I would’ve died in there!”
“Well it’s good you didn’t!” I say with a smile “Now what are we here for?”
“Training probably- I mean think about it did you think they’d keep us in that stupid room?”
“Actually, yes since it was programmed for training”
“Well then…” he says confused as he looks around. After a small silence, a man walks in with a clipboard and after writing on it; he hands it off to his assistant and then looks at me
“Blevins!” I say with a smile “How are you?” I say holding my hand out to him for a handshake.
“Sorry, but until you know how to control-” But he was cut off when he teleported just before a fist hit his face. I look over to see a furious friend standing there with his fists clenched. Dumbfound I say nothing and stand there staring at Skylar as he screams
“YOU PUT ME IN THAT GODDAMNED ROOM! WHERE ARE YOU?!” as he leaves the assistant standing there in fear and runs around the arena looking for Blevins. I whisper to the surgeon’s assistant,
“What’s happening to him?”
“He’s temporarily blaming Blevins for putting him in the Infinity Room. Simply expressing his anger.” The person says normally
“Oh… Okay” I say a little worried about how normally they just said that and watching my friend, I logically think about the number of places the man could be hiding in this next to flat room- somewhere around zero.
“So we are training?” I ask the assistant standing in front of me
“Yes, once Blevins comes back to conduct it.”
“And that’s…?”
“When he wants to, which is going to be once Experiment B has calmed.” I scan the terrain for him and find him sitting against a wall.
“So, soon?”
“Maybe” he says respectively.
(Human #2) Skylar Holmes [chapter 6]
I can’t believe that bitch can come back and just expect me to like him
I think as I notice Sanders and Drew staring at me
“WHAT?!” I yell at them.
“You must calm down” the assistant tells me.
“That guy made me sit in a boring white room until THAT son of a bitch could operate!” As I point at Drew, “You know- no offense”
“None taken” he says expressionless
“And now, he let you out!” Sanders explains to me. “Now let it go or he might put you back in there”
I think to myself “He has a good point”, but I say aloud “Okay, tell him to get his ass in here so we can do this.” and as I finish the sentence the surgeon steps out from behind Sanders and says “Okay, let’s do this.” He says with a smirk.
(Human #4) Julianna O’Keefe [chapter 4]
I look in confusion as the man I know as Sanders walks out of the training arena.
“Was that Skylar?” I say in disgust
“Yes, it is. Are you concerned about his abusive features?”
“YES!” I declare in front of the surgeon
“No need to get uptight here, we’re fixing it”
“How could you possibly be fixing a personality issue?” I question the apparent genius.
“Are you saying he was always like that, ma'am?”
“Okay. One- don’t say ma'am. When you say that I think my mother is behind me. Call me Julian. And two no he was never like that!”
“Okay, Julian, and we have a programmer that we placed in his mind during surgery so that we could replace memories that he lost.”
“So you can just delete anything I would want you to delete?” I say trying to keep from grinning
“No, we will not accept any “requests” from people that want them for personal reasons. That is used solely for experimental reasons.”
“Well what if I’m experimenting about our personal lives?” I question him. He laughs and replies
“Julian, I think we’re done here.”
(Human #2) Sally Park [chapter 1]
I chipped away another line marking the 31st metafragment of staying on the newly found island. I yell “Wake up! Metafragment 31! Let’s go get materials!” and we hear the echo off of the cold, stone walls of the cave that we have lived in for the past metafragments.
“What’s the date?” my brother asks me
“I have no clue! I usually ask you that- you’re the genius here.”
“I’d be stupid to deny that- Cat get up we aren’t gonna wait for you” He says
“Okay, FINE” Catherine says obviously annoyed
“If you were more like Isaac…” Nick says until Cat cuts him off
“…I’d be a guy… Not to mention I’d be-”
“ENOUGH” I demand, “If I wanted nagging I would’ve brought a bunch of kids- now let’s go!”
“Have fun Isaac” my brother, Nick says as he puts his gear on.
“I will- and be safe out there” the cripple says
“What could POSSIBLY happen?” he says with a laugh buckling himself in and arming himself with weapons.
“Enough talking” I end the conversation and say “Let’s go- now”
“If we must”
We cautiously walk outside the newly built and insecure compound and once we split up and climb the small peaks that reminded me of trees from home, on Earth before we left. We meet up and I ask the two other explorers that were present “any news?”
“No ma’am” my partner says
“No sir” replies my brother, and he does it so naturally I’ve learned to ignore it.
“Well to start off: Water- we need to refill the bags and bring them back. So let’s take the normal route. It’s not far from here so we should be back in time to find sap to collect and then we can start a fire to cook…” I instruct
“Sal, you know we’re going to have to go back down there,” reminds Cat
“I’m very aware of that and until we have to let’s stay up here.”
“Back to the water” Nick says “I don’t really want Isaac suffering if he hurt himself while we’re gone. We need to stay alive.” And without another word the scientist and the two explorers headed out; into the luscious forest.
(Human #6) Sanders [chapter 2]
I wake up and just on like every tenth metafragment; I get ready for the wash. I get my clothes, go through the pockets and I then throw them in the chute to go down to the lower deck, where all the under-civilization lives. “I could never live like they do down there- filthy and disgusting,” I think to myself as I go through my pockets. “All that dirt, and dust; the only good thing about being down there is that they get free stuff from people that don’t check their garments.” I think back to Earth and how I would never do that as a child and laugh. After pulling a bunch of stuff out of the pockets, I would automatically throw it on a pile, just as always. Just like every tenth. I throw the last pair of pants down the chute and look at the small pile of treasures that lie before me. I instantly seem to pick up the small piece of parchment that I found emitting a red light from behind a chair. I pick it up and unfold it. It shows:
They’re among us. They’ve found their way in,
and we can barely tell a difference
between them and us.
Don’t trust anyone.
They aren’t who you think they are.
No one must see this.
Keep it away from others eyes and you will remain safe
If you fail to do so, my friend,
death will be certain
You’re closest companions could be the death of you.
But have faith
For we are many
~The Struggle
After reading that I take a second to process that all. I’ve seen this before… “The Struggle” I can’t remember where though. I scan the front for more I go to the back and I see something in the top corner. I see it and it all comes back to me. It hits me like a bullet and I fall.
I fall.
And as if I were frozen in the moment I stop, but before I could wonder why, I closed my eyes and think “I should catch up on some sleep.”
(Human #2) Skylar Holmes [chapter 7]
“What are we even doing here?!” I yell
My friend responds just like the doctor would have, “I think we’re waiting for you to calm down”
“ SHUT UP I’M FINE” and after I realize I’m yelling I confess
“I’m sorry okay- I’ve waited longer than you and now we’re just sitting in a stupid room.” and then I hear the doctors familiar voice behind me,
“Fine then out you go to training” with no explanation we look at each other and once our eyes meet I notice that we aren’t in that room anymore. Once he realized that we were out in the wilderness his ears got red and he yelled “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?! NOW WE ARE GOING TO DIE OUT HERE!”
“WHAT DID I DO?!” I yell back as he charges at me and yells “YOU STUPID SON OF-” as he tackles me onto the ground and almost instantly, I throw him off of me with strength I didn’t know I had and he flew- in air- more than three metrefrags and smashed into a peak and for a few milifragments it seemed as if he were paralyzed until he looks up at me with a desperate look on his face and he says,
“Okay I’m sorry”
“Okay now first we need to find where we are”
“No” interrupts my friend who still hasn’t moved “The first thing to do here is get me out of this”
“Fair enough” I laugh out and when I pull him out of the rock structure that points at the sky, he falls. And lays limp on the ground.
(Human#1) Drew Skippari [chapter 10]
I look around a watch as my friend flips me on my back and says “Drew?! Can you feel your legs?”
“I can’t even feel my arms!” I say and Skylar stands up and runs his hand over his hair in distress.
“Oh my god oh my god oh my god” he repeats and then all the sudden a hologram of the doctor, Blevins appears out of nowhere and I see it immediately and it takes Skylar a few milifragments to realize the man’s standing there, ready to speak,
“Drew you’re going to be fine” he tells me calmly, “Skylar, I need you to move Drew over to the peak and have him lean up against it” and the scientist watches as the distressed man does as he says, “Now Drew, you gotta listen to me now. I’m going to tell you what to think and if you do this…” he trails off. “Okay”, he tells me “Think to yourself “repair and then the parts that need to be repaired, you got that?”
I try to nod my head but can’t so I do what he says and think to myself “Help me god… repair… leg muscles… repair bones and I feel a tingle in my legs. Then all the sudden I feel sharp pains and let out a yell and in a couple milifragments, the pain just disappears. I just stare down at my body and look at the hologram and then at my friend.
“Did it work?” rather engulfed in the situation.
“Umm… I don’t know” I respond kind of worried since I haven’t moved yet. “But come here” I tell the Skylar.
“Before you move” the surgeon says, “I need you to get ready- The Void is coming, and remember, ‘repair then the body part- the more you do it the faster it will work...as long as you’re touching what you’re made of-” and the hologram recedes from view without warning. The I realize that we’re going to be stuck in the wilderness. Alone. With The Void and nothing to protect us.
(Human #5) Blevins [chapter 5]
I get pulled out of the holographic imagizer and it takes a little for my eyes to start adjusting to the light of the room. I hear the echo of someone saying the simple words “Get him” and as the effects start wearing off, the figures start to coming into view. Then something is put over my eyes as the multiple people slam me into the ground; or at least I think. Once the holographic imagizer’s effects wear off I yell at them “PUT ME DOWN THIS IS AN INFRACTION OF THE FUNCTIONING RULE VII OF SECTION FORTY-TWO-” and I get cut off by a blow to the head.
Recovered Document (Medical) (D2GA20)
Planet: Concept
Base ID: MBC217
Name: Martin Palacio
ID: F98S5P
Occupation: Farmer [UNC]
Death Date: 20.203.836 (February 15th 2061)
Death Number: 207649
Location: Room 15 Wall “A” (30,4)
Cause of Death: Internal Bleeding
Attachments: Subject was beaten to death by a group what he called The Struggle. This man is the only subject that has mentioned The Struggle in megafragments. The group supposedly disappeared in the year 2133 when the leader was murdered by an ally named Zephyr. The group seemed to disperse afterwards, and the group left no tracks behind to prove their existence. Until today.
Section 5
(Human #4) Julianna O’Keefe [chapter 5]
I rush into the observation room, just as I have the last few days and plop down in the same chair, ready to watch the two screens at with Audrey sitting on my right and Sanders on my right, and as if on cue, Audrey walks in, but instead of sitting down asks what I’m doing here. “Same thing we always do”, I say rather annoyed that she’s forgotten, “come in this freezing room and watch our boyfriends stay alive” and to my surprise she keeps standing and brings to my attention that Sanders isn’t here,
“Sanders is always here before both of us, haven’t you noticed that?”, she communicates. Then I look towards where he normally would sit and recognize his absence.
“Where is he then?” I question, baffled.
“You didn’t here? An old terrorist group called “The Struggle” kidnapped Blevins last night, Audrey says and seeing the scared look on my face she quickly fills in the silence. “But don’t worry, Drew… and Skylar won’t be in peril”, she remarks assuringly.
“They’re out there all alone without Blevins directing them-” she cuts me off to inform me,
“No, no, no, that’s why Sanders isn’t watching the feed… He’s taken over the experiment.”
(Human #7) Isaac Charles (Chapter 1)
I lay on the floor of the cave, since it has been my bed since we got here. This mysterious island has so many unexplored corners that I have not seen; I’ve only looked at the information gathered by Nick. I’ve scanned it time and time again, as if I would find something new, but, as expected, I haven’t noticed a single thing that’s different from the last time I’ve looked at it. After staring at the ceiling, thinking of what I could’ve done differently, I gather up my strength to sit up and see what direction the explorers headed off to today. I groan as I slowly get up and look at the “Today’s Goals” list and number 2 on the agenda was adventure past the falls. I gaze into space pondering what they could possibly look like. And all the sudden I felt like a cripple visualizing what it would be like to walk. Looking back at the plans for today, I recognize the first as something they do almost daily; get water. Under “adventure past the falls” I noticed “Look around base for the undiscovered”. I look at the time yet again and see that it’s just past 720 yet. “Where could they be?” I ask myself. “They get back with the water around 540 on a normal day.” but yet again when he woke up earlier, it didn’t feel like today was going to be a normal day.
(Human #2) Sally Park [chapter 1]
I stop in my tracks and pull out my gun, ready for anything to jump out of the rustling jungle and protect my brother who is walking ahead of me, in search of more minerals to study. He sees how I tensed up and cautiously asks,
“Sal what is it?”
“Nothing,” I quickly respond, “Just keep on doing what you’re doing, and take your time, it’s probably only Cat coming back to find us.” Once the rustling became louder I realized that couldn’t be her, “It’s coming from two places at once,” I think, with my senses tingling I tell Nick, “Wrap it up, I might need you as backup.”
“Okay, just let me finish updating this one file… and take this sample along…” As the susurrations get louder and closer they seem to go around us and then abruptly they stopped. I exclaim, quite worried, and gun drawn at where one of the sounds seemed to stop, “Nick hurry up!”
“I am!” but all the sudden a gray creature with a multitude of limbs launches out of the jungle and pummels Nicolas and as it starts to hold my brother down, I pull the trigger hoping that it doesn’t use nick as a shield to the bullet and as planned it goes right into the center of the organism throwing it off of the human, I back up still alert because another is still out there. I help my brother up with my free hand and brush him off, barely taking my eyes off of the plants that surround us that the alien could be hiding in. “Get your gun, genius.” I tell him, even though he’s still stunned from what just attacked him. Then something like whispers started up behind us. Squealing whispers that made me lose concentration on what we were doing. “Stay on target!” I say aloud to remind myself as well as brother. The hisses filled my head and then they seemed to surround me- surround us.
(Human #1) Drew Skippari (Chapter 10)
So tired… I think to myself knowing it’s been over a metafragment since I’ve slept. “We need to find shelter for when The Void passes,” I tell my friend.
“I was thinking the same thing”, he pauses and then continues when he sees the tired look on my face, “We should most likely get some sleep while we’re at it”
“Yea, but right now shelter is our number one priority. It should be a cave or something that we can block the entrance to I think to myself. Then Skylar interrupts my thought process.
“Do you know the time?”
“Not the exact time but judging where the light is, probably around 1080” I say, a little unsure.
“Sounds about right to me”, he comments with a laugh.
“Couldn’t we just make a cave?” Skylar says
“Umm I’m not sure what you mean”
“Like live underground or something”
“We could just ask Blevins… or Sanders now, if we can do something like that.”
“You think we should try?” I offer, “After all, I did do it last time”
“Okay then” Skylar says and dramatically yells, “OH WONDERFUL SANDERS I SUMMON YOU TO US!”
Quietly, Sanders condenses behind my friend and trying to hide a smile scares him when the surgeon says, “Wonderful way to ‘summon me’, I enjoyed it quite a bit. How can I help the two of you?”
“Is there a way we can live underground?” Skylar repeats my question.
“I’m sure there is a way; I just need to search the files for the solution and let you know if I find anything”, he informs us. After feeling silent, I comment and express my gratitude with the simple “Thanks a lot Sanders” as the hologram of him vanishes. After the man left for a few seconds and we felt all alone, I whisper to my metal friend, “ Do you think he’ll find him in time?” as if Sanders might be listening.
After he chuckles he replies with the innocent “Hope so”
“I wonder what all we can do with these new bodies”, I ponder aloud, again as if my mind were directly connected to my mouth.
“Well, I don’t know if you noticed, but Sanders had to search through files… multiple files. And the way he said search made it feel like there were a lot”
“Ingenious” I remark sarcastically but then go on, “How impressive would it be if we could throw fire… or control elements… or shape shift!” then I realize how much of a child I have become when I hold out my hands and think to myself, “make fire” and I open my eyes. Not surprised, I see and feel nothing happening.
“That would be pretty cool”, Skylar states the obvious yet again, “But hey! At least we can already heal ourselves! Well you know… its easier for you to do since rock is just about everywhere on this dreaded planet”
“Not to mention we have incredible amounts of strength”, I add in trying to avoid another emotional conversation with him. Then with a laugh he says,
“I think we should test out how hard we can punch- on some peaks”, he suggests.
“Okay you go first” I tell him
“You know what they say- age before beauty”
“Well in these bodies you’re older,” I snap back, a little annoyed he said that. To end the soon to be awkward conversation, he simply replies with a “fine” and approached the skinny rock that points towards the sky. After looking at me and then back at his target, he winds up and with a quick motion; stone shards and splinters of rock fly everywhere as if the stone were an explosive. “Okay, my turn, step aside”, I say with incalculable confidence. “Here we go”, I throw back my stone fist and throw it forward as a sudden voice frightens me and I drop it in fear. “I found the file!” I hear Sanders abnormally yells in some new voice that has a hint of accomplishment in it, then he continues, “It turns out Blevins programmed the material that would normally be bone in a human body to reform into something else of the same overall weight, as long as you’ve come in contact with it physically or visually”
“So we can’t do much with this right?” my friend goes on, “I mean there’s not a lot of stuff with the EXACT same weight”
“Skylar,” the scientist says, “Think logically about this-” and quickly I find the answer and cut him off “We could just adjust the density… couldn’t we?” I ask them both
“Absolutely,” he replies, “If the weight is close to how much you normally weigh, then you two were programmed to auto correct the density, which affects the weight.”
Ingenious I comment in my head as I look and in the distance see the edge of The Void starting to rise out of the horizon.
(Human #6) Blevins [Chapter 6]
I look up through the blood that dripped into my eyes after I took a beating and I look at the blurred figure standing before me “Why are they holding me against my will?” I question them in my mind and then speak out, “Who are you to be holding me here?”
After a long silence, one spoke up,
“You are the center of the operation, without you it should fail.”
“Who informed you about the experiment?”
“No one needed too,” sad the raspy voice.
“Why should this trial effect you?” after an absence in his voice I look up to confirm the figure was still there I ask the first question I asked when I regained my consciousness with a bit more temper than I could afford, “Who do you think you are? Holding the head of the Concept Compound without an acceptable reason?”
Within the next milifragments I felt as if needles were being poked into my skin- millions of needles. Then an explosion of wails and shrieks filled my head “THERE ARE REASONS YOU SHOULD DIE. DO NOT QUESTION THE POWER I HAVE”
Then everything went away and I looked up to see I was alone. Alone in a room with no exit.
(Human #2) Skylar Holmes [Chapter 8]
I’m still a little mesmerized by how much power my fists can do
So much power I think rather demonically to myself but then when I notice what I’m thinking I quickly stop daydreaming and get back to the program when Sanders sudden speech startles me.
“I found the file” and Drew jumps as his concentration is broken and I speak out as he finishes explaining that we can only form into objects with the same weight as we are now. A little confused and disappointed I say,
“So we can’t do much with this right? I mean there’s not a lot of stuff with the exact same weight...” and I wait for the man’s response.
“Skylar, think logically about this” he says
“I am you dumbass” I think “How else could I think?!” and then Drew speaks,
“We could just adjust the density,” and then he pauses to question himself, “Couldn’t we?”
Aloud I say a quiet “Ohh” but in my head I’m wondering why I couldn’t have thought of that. “Absolutely,” Sanders says, “If the weight is close to how much you normally weigh, then you two were programmed to auto correct the density, which affects the weight.” Then after a long, rather awkward silence, the hologram adds on, “Oh yea, you can only turn into something you have visually or physically come in contact with”
“What the hell does that mean?” I think to myself and as if the man heard me he informs us, “ So whatever you’ve seen, you can turn into a metal… or stone version of that as long as it weighs as much as u do now.”
“Yea that makes sense” my stone partner interrupts, but we’ve known each other long enough to realize that he thinks the opposite
“What’s the thing we have to think?” I ask so my companion doesn’t have to. Sander replies after looking at what he was holding.
“The directive is the following”, then he pause and went on, “Command, form, object, then the object you want to become”
“Seems simple enough” I suggest quickly.
“Then you can go first, Mr. Holmes”, the scientist suggests. In my mind I’m thinking
“I never liked you”, but my mouth simply says, “So be it”
I ponder and then “Command… form… object…” my mind suddenly goes blank and I think of a simple object, “cube”
I hear some sort of grinding and I feel fine until I know it’s my metallic bones meshing against each other, forming the ‘simple’ cube. Instinctively I close my eyes to keep from yelling in horror of what I might see. I hear in what seemed to be a distant voice, “that’s sick!” and another replied with information for me, “It may take a while for your senses to adapt to being in separate forms, but once it is everything will be clearer. I open my eyes and all I see is hazy figures standing out among the rigid landscape on the planet we call Concept.
(Human #1) Drew Skippari (Chapter 11)
Command… form... object… peak I tell myself and after a small pause, my body starts to process the command when I hear a crunching sound. I clench my jaw and close my eyes as I try this for my first time; I kept concentrated on what a peak looks like on this planet. tall, like a little mountain that I used to observe from my own home back on earth… home… and I let my mind wander until I realized that all the grinding of stone against stone stopped. Then a hushed voice seemed to echo in my mind.
“Try opening your eyes…”
When I tried, nothing happened. It was as if I lost my sight. I started to panic, thinking I did something wrong when that voice said,
“Okay, I didn’t think it would be that easy.” Then it went on and instantly I found out it was Sanders, “To get back to your regular form, think command-form-human-and then your name while mentally visualizing what you look like. I obeyed and after a slim gap between my words and the crackling I wondered if I could turn into Skylar, but now was not the time for joking around. I opened my eyes as soon as possible to see a somewhat disturbing sight- my body was halfway molded into my human body and from the waist down, I was still a peak. I watched as the rocky pillar I was balancing on split into two beams and then into my legs. I was then completely transformed and now, stunned at how it happened, stood and stared.
Silence flooded my world as multiple questions exploded in my mind. Skylar from my concentration… or lack of.
“So what are we gonna do now?” he asked, and after looking around for the hologram of the lead scientist, responded,
“I’m not quite sure” then looked up at the sky, at one sun we both recognized at bloomer and the other which is named maiorem, which means larger sun in Latin. I decide to start walking in the direction of Bloomer.
“Woah where are you going?”
“I’m walking”, I reply
“To where?”
“Base”
“And you know where it is?”
I look at him with no expression then comment, “I thought you took basic tracking skills”
Then with a confused look on his face, he denied and then went on, “I only needed to take defensive arts, not traveling skills.”
“Tracking skills” I corrected him. I realized how far behind he was because he stopped walking behind me.
“You coming?”
“Oh sorry” and he quickly caught up since he always had been faster than me. After a few seconds of jogging together he asked again, “So” then a pause, “Where are we going?”
“Really…” I felt like he never listened to a thing I said, “I JUST told you. A whole sec–” and I was cut off by a scream not far behind us.
“It sounds like a young girl” I state the obvious, and Skylar keeps walking.
“Okay then” he stops and turns towards me, “We better get a move on before whatever happened to her happens to us.”
(Human #8) Brenda Bruno [Chapter 1]
I find myself running. Running away yet again. Every other step seems to be me tripping. I maneuver quickly around the stone structure and flatten myself against it, as if the hunter couldn’t be able to see me then.
I wonder where everyone else is… I wonder if they’ve gotten away
I think back to the Void Vanguard and how it raided invade the camp. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up just thinking about the dried, bloody face and screeches coming from its mouth as it sucked the life out of my passed group.
Most people would say safety in numbers, I think to myself while listening for some distant noise of the vanguard, but not in this case.
Everyone knows you don’t try to escape these curses in groups. They act like computers, calculating the easiest way to kill the most people in the least amount of time, all in an instant. All the sudden I fall and cover my ears and my vision starts to give out as if a sound grenade went off and I scream from the pain as I fall over, knowing someone managed to get ahold of one of the battle chargers and shot the lookout from The Void, I felt so much pain and yet so much relief. I just lay there on the ground holding my head, waiting for my vision to come back as well as for my ears to stop ringing. The face of the Void Vanguard still haunted me whenever I blinked. Then, after looking around, I realized how lost I was. Everything looks the same… everywhere there were peaks, a few bushes and small patches of a foreign moss that acted similarly to the grass that once covered Earth, when it was functional.
I can’t go back to the base… there are most likely reinforcements coming shortly and then the scouts might find me. I looked around again, hoping to find some answer in the jungle. With no response from the environment, I look at the sky and see the smaller sun in the sky, as it always is, and start heading that direction, since that was the general direction that we were heading. Following the half hour walk in the humid and dusty wilderness, I hear people out in the distance. It sounds like two guys I used to know… “Maybe…” I tell myself aloud as I walk towards the sound. I see two men standing there and then the one looks directly at me until I squash myself against the nearby rock and breathe heavily.
I think he saw me I think until I get the courage to look around the object and see the other one- the larger one- walking away and then I notice the smaller one’s expression- he looked and acted scared.
They can’t be allies, can they?, I ask myself, I’ve never thought one could be scared… then I noticed my mind trailing off like it always is.
I better follow them. Not too close though. Don’t want them knowing I’m here. And then I hear a crack behind me and naturally pull out my seether swords and whisper,
“Who’s there?” and no answer so I repeat the tiniest bit louder, thinking they might not have hear me, “Who’s there?!” and again, nothing but the two lost males that I’ve been following, but even they are rather distant, so I make myself believe that it was only my imagination or a rock falling… something natural maybe. I turn around to see how far away they’ve traveled and I can barely make them out between the trees, so I run after with little to no care in the world.
[Human #8] Sally Park (Chapter 2)
I notice the black spots in my vision and my hearing is still ringing from the alien attack. I start to sob when my wounds start to hurt, yet again as they bleed out. Dehydration isn’t helping I think Neither is Nick I continue my thought as I check to see him, bleeding from his side A few broken bones, hopefully nothing too severe. I trip again- Almost there… and my brother moans in pain as i pull on his arm when I stumble on an unseen stone “Sorry” and when the mouth of the cave that my group took shelter in emerged into view, I yelled through the pain. “HELP! CATHERINE!” then I started losing the fight as my chest got heavier and we limped into the cavern and one partner came running out to relieve me of some of the pain.
“Oh my god!” she cried out, making the ringing in my ears worse “What happened?!”
I grabbed my side and wanted to speak but couldn’t. I simply sat against the wall and with the rest of the strength I could muster, I pointed at my brother and she got the idea. I watched as she got the medical kit and drug him close to Isaac and started working on him. I hope he survives…
(Human #6) Sanders [Chapter 3]
Yet again the alarm rings to remind me that my working time is about to start. get up out of bed I tell myself and with a moan i decide to get up. After walking to the shower, and rinsing the suds out of my short hair, I remember how well I’m living compared to the rest of the people living in this base. Only a few people have showers, and most of them are explorers and a few surgeons. Yet I don’t really take care of what I have… I look around the mess I call mine and then get dressed and open the curtains to see the bright sky out in the distance as it generally is when I get up for my shift. After recalling the old planet that I used to live on with my family, I, yet again, laugh at how messed up this one is as I get dressed with the drab clothes that I have been required to wear since Blevins was stolen and I was promoted to head surgeon. Black shirt, black jeans, and a white lab coat over it. As my arms slide through the white sleeves of the coat I wonder why someone decided it should be white, since white is so easily dirtied up. I slip on the dark shoes that reminded me of something I would have worn to a formal dance in my senior high days and walk out the door, down the hall and down the stairs and make my way through the tiled hallway to what is now my laboratory and look through yesterdays previous notes.
73/500-year 2 (2164)
Sanders
There is still no sign of Blevins, but we have concluded that “The Struggle” has reformed.
Experiment “A” and Experiment “B” are both healthy with no malfunctions or injuries. They have been off base for nearly three megafragments and have been taught how to transform, repair, and have some control of their strength. They still have a considerable amount to learn and will be taught. The Void should pass over them in less than two metafragments. They should survive with the training and knowledge they’ve acquired, but we will have no connection to them while it passes overhead because there will be no interdependence to there. I can only hope for the best.
Terminated Document(TWBS2)
The Struggle has always been thought of as a terrorist group living secretly in the Concept Base, but they are just overly educated and concerned people I believe. I assure you they do not mean us any harm, they are just misunderstood. They only do what will profit the future. They are few, but they are strong. Not what’s best for the present time. People against them just need a new perspective on things.
Section 6
Brenda Bruno (chapter 2)
I trip again as I try to keep up with the two men I’ve been following since I heard them after my base was attacked by the vanguard. Should I let them know I’m here? I debate in my mind as I see them look a little lost then in the sky above me and I could only imagine what they were looking for. After all, the lookouts came and attacked usually less than a metafragment before The Void passes. That was nearly half a metafragment ago. If they are allies they could save me, or at least keep me alive, but they could also kill me on the spot I tell myself and with the feeling of someone watching me, I screamed and ran towards them “HELP!” and to my surprise their reaction was to stand there, staring. When I got to them the taller one finally decided to talk, as the other one got in a fighting stance,
“Who are you, Where are you from, How did you find us-” I cut him off to inform him on something that they most likely already knew, but didn’t care about,
“You know it’s going to pass shortly, right?”
“Yes”, the short and jumpy one answered curtly.
“Now answer my questions” the other demanded, very untrustingly
“Later now we have to get a move on, it’s on our tails” and with no emotion, they looked at each other.
“Help me. Please”
Julianna O’Keefe [chapter 6]
“I’m just so worried about him, you know?” I tell the random surgeon that suddenly became my best friend in the past fragment that I’ve gotten to know him while we walk down the corridor. He looks at me with a face that tells me that he doesn’t care as much as I do and then breaks off into a separate room, leaving me alone with my thoughts until I hear Sanders out in the distance, down the hall.
“Sanders?” and then there was a delay but an answer, no less.
“Umm hello?” I started walking in the direction of the voice, which was a right at the end of the hall and we almost collide at the corner. Then he speaks before I get a chance to
“Hello Ms O’Keefe, where is your friend?”
“She’s working” I quickly respond so that I can ask what I have been repetitively asking for what seems to be forever since Drew and Skylar left.
“How are they? What’s happened to them? You haven’t had time to talk… or rather I haven’t seen you… and I’m so worried-” Then he cuts me off to answer and comment on what I just said.
“They are fine, no injuries, healthy, and in good condition-” and this time I try interrupting.
“What’s hap-”
‘May I finish my sentence Ms. O’Keefe?”
Hypocrite I think but instead I stay silent and the head surgeon goes on,
“Although they are in good condition and healthy, The Void should be about to pass them as we speak and a new, unexpected variable has came up that will affect whether or not they survive.”
“Variable?” I ask, baffled
“Yes, an unexpected variable. They found a girl in the forest and knowing those two men, they will want to save her. If those two try to fight The Void, they will die.”
“Tell them not to. Tell them that! Please!”
“I would if I could but now it’s too late. The Void always blocks detection and signal connection, you know that”
“So there’s nothing you can do?” I whine
“No. Nothing”
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Character List
(Ally)(Alien)Zephyr_Ally who was with Skylar and Drew on their last adventure and brings the two injured warriors back to base alive.
(Ally)(Alien)Aisling_Ally who tries to remain unseen and was recently assigned to the base.
(Defensive Expert 1) (Female) Brenda Bruno_Found in jungle by the two experiments while they were prepping for surviving The Void.
(Explorer)(Female) Catherine Zilta_An uneducated adventurer who found out the secrets of living on this foreign planet, and is living on an unexplored part of the planet. with two other explorers and a scientist.
(Explorer)(Female) Sally Park_An explorer who’s stuck on the floating island, above The Void’s reach. She acts like the leader of the group.
(Explorer)(Male) Isaac Charles_An explorer in the group who was attacked by the temple found on Concept and was injured badly.
(Civilization)(Female) Audrey Fellow_One of the many people who live in the compound, but vitally the girlfriend of the hero, Drew Skippari.
(Civilization)(Female) Julianna O’Keefe_Audrey’s best friend who lives in the compound with her boyfriend Skylar Holmes.
(Explorer)(Male) Drew Skippari_The explorer’s leader who gets caught in The Void and gets back to base barely alive.
(Explorer)(Male) Skylar Holmes_Drew’s best friend as well as his right hand man. Eventually he, just like Drew gets back to base barely alive and he as well is mutated.
(Surgeon)(Male) Blevins_The head surgeon who conducts the mutations on the two injured warriors.
(Surgeon)(Male) Sanders_An assistant surgeon who helps and seems to be Blevin’s second self.
(Scientist 1)(Male) Nicolas Park_Sally Park’s older brother who went with them on the trip as a translator and scientific logger.
Under-Civilization (UNC)_The men and women, as well as children that live under the Upper-Civilization (UPC). The under-civilization is responsible for the lower-class jobs such as farming, washing, and recycling. They also aren’t exactly treated as the upper is, but rather like slaves that do the dirty work.
Upper-Civilization (UPC)_The men and women who live on the third level of the headquarters and are responsible for what is thought of to be more important jobs such as exploring, scientist, surgeons, and guards
©2014 Caleb Ketterer all rights reserved
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