The Experiment
Cyberoptic
Join Date: 2003-08-12 Member: 19573Members
Join Date: 2003-08-12 Member: 19573Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Another NS fanfic</div> This is my contribution to the general attempt to alleviate boredom.
<b>The Experiment:</b> <u>Chapter 1</u>
The beeping sound of an incoming message echoed through Commander Quinn's mind, merging with the sounds of his dreams for a small moment, but as the pitch of the alert increased, her dream faded slowly and she opened her eyes.
For a moment she stood in her bed, looking at the ceiling, unable to recognize it, unable to remember who was she or where she she was. Time ceased to exist and an eternity seemed to pass while her mind slowly awoke from the slumber that remained after her sleep. She wondered, as she did every day, why the body always wakes up faster than the mind.
She turned her head to the small telecom unit on the table beside her bed, and tried to read the small letters, but something was wrong, she couldn't make out their edges, all characters lost in a blurry haze. Cursing herself for her idiocy, Quinn picked up her glasses and set them over her eyes, making the world become a more definite place. Then she proceeded to read the message that had just arrived.
<b>To:</b><i>Commander Gabriela Quinn</i>
<b>From:</b><i>General Charles Bradford</i>
<b>Subject:</b>Scheduled meeting.
<i>Dear Gaby:
I hope you're doing fine from your last sortie against the Kharaa, and that you have fully recovered from your wounds, I know that your body doesn't tolerate nanites very well.
I'd like to remind you that we have a meeting scheduled for today, at 06:00 hours, standard base time. That is, exactly, TWO hours after this message arrives to you, so you have plenty of time to get yourself prepared and to do all those things women have to do. And, please, this time be punctual. See you at the meeting.
Regards
Charles.
P.D.: I still owe you a dinner, maybe tonight? Let me know.
</i>
<b>End of message </b>
Gabriela removed her glasses and rubbed her sleepy eyes. She had nearly forgotten about the meeting. What did the direction board wanted now? Well, whatever it was, it most certainly could wait while she took a shower.
She let the hot water run though all her body while her mind hovered over other matters. The scars in her body still ached slightly, and Gabriela rubbed them softly, absently. Her last fight with the Kharaa had gone well, at least as well as these things could go. But at near the end things, the Kharaa, in a desperate attempt to regain some lost ground, had breached the defenses of the main hold of the marines and started to rip everything apart. Gabriela directed the nearest soldiers to the base, but she knew that they would not reach it in enough time. So she did what a soldier would do on such circumstances: put up a good fight. As a commander she didn’t carry any other weapons than the standard fit: Lmg, pistol and knife. But her past experiences with the Kharaa had taught her to leave a shotgun by the side of the Comm Chair, although it seemed a waste of valuable resources, at times like these it paid off.
She couldn’t recall much of the fight, except for the adrenalin rushing through her veins and the pain of the wounds. But by the time the squad arrived and decimated the rest of the skulks, she was bleeding from a number of wounds in several parts or her body. Unfortunately, her metabolism was a strange one: nanites wouldn’t work as efficiently as in other persons, making the healing process much more slower than in the general case. The result was that wounds healed, but not completely, so most of the time she preferred to let nature do de rest.
Gabriela finished bathing, and stole a glance at the clock. God! She had only ten minutes left! Dressing herself as fast as she could, she picked up the palm notebook and ran to the meeting room, reaching it barely in time.
As she entered the meeting, she saw most of the direction board and some of the scientists from the Research and Development division of the TSA.
She took a seat near General Charles and looked the people in the meeting. She was left breathless to find a… teenager? What on space was a teenager doing there? She started to say something, but General Charles whispered hastily in her ear.
“Don’t ask questions now”.
One of the scientists stood up and walked towards the front of the room.
“Good morning gentleman and lady. We will begin our meeting by addressing the most important issue.
As you might know, our attempts of understanding the nature of the Kharaa has been unsuccessful, as well as our attempts at capturing live specimen. The head of the TSA believes that understanding these xenoforms would give us a noticeable advantage, allowing us to vastly improve our efficiency at dealing with the threat.
Due to the obvious difficulties of taking a group of scientists into an infested ship, we have come with a new approach to solve this problem.
Years ago, the terran government had an experiment meant to provide them with exceptionally powerful weapons of war. Such experiment was kept under the utmost secrecy for security reasons, and more importantly, because most of the experimentation done was and is still illegal. These experiments tried to waken the psychic potential of the human mind, but after several failed results, was closed and relegated to oblivion.”
“And how exactly does that affect us?” asked General Charles.
“Very simple. We managed to track down the experiment due to secret sources, and after some time, we found out that the experiment had not been as unsuccessful and the terran government thought. From the thirteen subjects of which the experiment was implemented on, four died within days. Six suffered from tremendous mental instability, rendering them completely insane. Two others showed no secondary effects, but the tests done to them demonstrated that no change whatsoever had occurred. And the last one escaped. We tracked the last subject and brought it here. Although our test aren’t as complete as those made by the terran government, we believe that the subject has latent psychic abilities.”
The men of the direction board looked at themselves and then looked at both the General Charles and the Commander Quinn.
“We have been supporting this project from the very beginning, and now we collect the fruits of our perseverance. We will take a small break of twenty minutes. Meeting adjourned.” Said one of the directors.
Gabriela and General Charles left the room and headed for the cafeteria.
“Very well Charles, mind telling me what’s this all about?”
“I honestly don’t know, Gaby. The eggheads are more frantic than a dog on caffeine, the direction board is suddenly giving budget for weapons… Something big is going on, but I don’t know what.”
"Ok, I can believe that if I try. But what was doing a teenager in the meeting?" Gabriela asked.
"He's not a teenager, believe it or not. I don't know him, but the wrinkles in his eyes and face say he's not exactly young. As for what he was doing there, I tried to ask but the eggheads gave me the usual don't-ask-questions-now-we'll-explain-later crap."
"Great." muttered Gabriela.
This is the first chapter, hope you like it so far.
<b>The Experiment:</b> <u>Chapter 1</u>
The beeping sound of an incoming message echoed through Commander Quinn's mind, merging with the sounds of his dreams for a small moment, but as the pitch of the alert increased, her dream faded slowly and she opened her eyes.
For a moment she stood in her bed, looking at the ceiling, unable to recognize it, unable to remember who was she or where she she was. Time ceased to exist and an eternity seemed to pass while her mind slowly awoke from the slumber that remained after her sleep. She wondered, as she did every day, why the body always wakes up faster than the mind.
She turned her head to the small telecom unit on the table beside her bed, and tried to read the small letters, but something was wrong, she couldn't make out their edges, all characters lost in a blurry haze. Cursing herself for her idiocy, Quinn picked up her glasses and set them over her eyes, making the world become a more definite place. Then she proceeded to read the message that had just arrived.
<b>To:</b><i>Commander Gabriela Quinn</i>
<b>From:</b><i>General Charles Bradford</i>
<b>Subject:</b>Scheduled meeting.
<i>Dear Gaby:
I hope you're doing fine from your last sortie against the Kharaa, and that you have fully recovered from your wounds, I know that your body doesn't tolerate nanites very well.
I'd like to remind you that we have a meeting scheduled for today, at 06:00 hours, standard base time. That is, exactly, TWO hours after this message arrives to you, so you have plenty of time to get yourself prepared and to do all those things women have to do. And, please, this time be punctual. See you at the meeting.
Regards
Charles.
P.D.: I still owe you a dinner, maybe tonight? Let me know.
</i>
<b>End of message </b>
Gabriela removed her glasses and rubbed her sleepy eyes. She had nearly forgotten about the meeting. What did the direction board wanted now? Well, whatever it was, it most certainly could wait while she took a shower.
She let the hot water run though all her body while her mind hovered over other matters. The scars in her body still ached slightly, and Gabriela rubbed them softly, absently. Her last fight with the Kharaa had gone well, at least as well as these things could go. But at near the end things, the Kharaa, in a desperate attempt to regain some lost ground, had breached the defenses of the main hold of the marines and started to rip everything apart. Gabriela directed the nearest soldiers to the base, but she knew that they would not reach it in enough time. So she did what a soldier would do on such circumstances: put up a good fight. As a commander she didn’t carry any other weapons than the standard fit: Lmg, pistol and knife. But her past experiences with the Kharaa had taught her to leave a shotgun by the side of the Comm Chair, although it seemed a waste of valuable resources, at times like these it paid off.
She couldn’t recall much of the fight, except for the adrenalin rushing through her veins and the pain of the wounds. But by the time the squad arrived and decimated the rest of the skulks, she was bleeding from a number of wounds in several parts or her body. Unfortunately, her metabolism was a strange one: nanites wouldn’t work as efficiently as in other persons, making the healing process much more slower than in the general case. The result was that wounds healed, but not completely, so most of the time she preferred to let nature do de rest.
Gabriela finished bathing, and stole a glance at the clock. God! She had only ten minutes left! Dressing herself as fast as she could, she picked up the palm notebook and ran to the meeting room, reaching it barely in time.
As she entered the meeting, she saw most of the direction board and some of the scientists from the Research and Development division of the TSA.
She took a seat near General Charles and looked the people in the meeting. She was left breathless to find a… teenager? What on space was a teenager doing there? She started to say something, but General Charles whispered hastily in her ear.
“Don’t ask questions now”.
One of the scientists stood up and walked towards the front of the room.
“Good morning gentleman and lady. We will begin our meeting by addressing the most important issue.
As you might know, our attempts of understanding the nature of the Kharaa has been unsuccessful, as well as our attempts at capturing live specimen. The head of the TSA believes that understanding these xenoforms would give us a noticeable advantage, allowing us to vastly improve our efficiency at dealing with the threat.
Due to the obvious difficulties of taking a group of scientists into an infested ship, we have come with a new approach to solve this problem.
Years ago, the terran government had an experiment meant to provide them with exceptionally powerful weapons of war. Such experiment was kept under the utmost secrecy for security reasons, and more importantly, because most of the experimentation done was and is still illegal. These experiments tried to waken the psychic potential of the human mind, but after several failed results, was closed and relegated to oblivion.”
“And how exactly does that affect us?” asked General Charles.
“Very simple. We managed to track down the experiment due to secret sources, and after some time, we found out that the experiment had not been as unsuccessful and the terran government thought. From the thirteen subjects of which the experiment was implemented on, four died within days. Six suffered from tremendous mental instability, rendering them completely insane. Two others showed no secondary effects, but the tests done to them demonstrated that no change whatsoever had occurred. And the last one escaped. We tracked the last subject and brought it here. Although our test aren’t as complete as those made by the terran government, we believe that the subject has latent psychic abilities.”
The men of the direction board looked at themselves and then looked at both the General Charles and the Commander Quinn.
“We have been supporting this project from the very beginning, and now we collect the fruits of our perseverance. We will take a small break of twenty minutes. Meeting adjourned.” Said one of the directors.
Gabriela and General Charles left the room and headed for the cafeteria.
“Very well Charles, mind telling me what’s this all about?”
“I honestly don’t know, Gaby. The eggheads are more frantic than a dog on caffeine, the direction board is suddenly giving budget for weapons… Something big is going on, but I don’t know what.”
"Ok, I can believe that if I try. But what was doing a teenager in the meeting?" Gabriela asked.
"He's not a teenager, believe it or not. I don't know him, but the wrinkles in his eyes and face say he's not exactly young. As for what he was doing there, I tried to ask but the eggheads gave me the usual don't-ask-questions-now-we'll-explain-later crap."
"Great." muttered Gabriela.
This is the first chapter, hope you like it so far.
Comments
P.S.... I usually print out a couple of Fan Fics while I'm bored...
<u>Chapter 2:</u>
Khaan felt the presence of the high council reverberate through the vast chamber. Their minds paid him an honorary silence as he approached the center of the chamber.
Khaan reached the center and, as was the custom of the ancient ritual, he opened his own mind, letting it merge with the countless minds of his brethren, removing his sense of self for a brief moment and passing his recent memories to the collective awareness of the race.
As he returned to his own former state of awareness, the elders of the high council looked at him expectantly.
“Khaan, leader of warriors, we bid you a warm welcome and praise your deeds. We sense much doubt in your mind, do you seek our advice?” Asked the high council.
“Yes, elders. I am troubled. Dark times have fallen once again to our race. The fluid-of-life we need to preserve our memories is running out, and I fear we will have to move soon and seek a new home amongst the stars.”
“Yes, it has happened before, and once again we feel the bite of urgency in the minds of our brethren. We feel also that the meager reserves we have found upon the silvery rocks that crawl through space are not enough.”
“No, elders, they seem to be not enough, also I’m troubled that the race that fights so desperately to preserve them may need the fluid-of-life even more than we do. I do not wish to become the death-bringer for such young race.” Stated Khaan.
“Indeed, we do not want that for you, either. But for the moment we must continue to draw upon their reserves, as there is no other choice. We have felt this urgency and so we have sent our scouts to investigate other planets. But you have said before that this young race seems to be producing the fluid-of-life rather than harvesting it. Is it possible to learn from them such secret so we may survive?”
“I do not know, elders, but I will do my best to find out.”
“Then we bid you farewell, Khaan. May the minds of our brethren bring you strength”
Khaan respectfully left the chamber, his mind and body making the preparations for his travel to the outpost.
He was worried, because of the fierce defense of the young race of their silvery rocks. Was it because, like his own brethren, they needed the fluid-of-life to live? or maybe because it was simply their territory?. Khaan did not have any answers to these cuestions, but it was his duty to preserve the continuity of his race, and he would do such duty as well as he could, for there was no other choice but extinction.