Gundinium
#5 of Incomplete Stories.
CH 1
The year is 2346. Earth civilisation has been redefined. In the year 2114 a site was uncovered in what used to be called new mexico. Eighty-six thousand miles deep, an interdimensional storage space was uncovered. From within technological, medical and advanced mind sciences were uncovered. Detailed diagrams depicting humans, or what looked like humans, going through transformations into beastial races. The government of the time decided to try a few experiments. They chose soldiers with the characteristics they desired and used a procedure that mixed their dna, strained of impurities. This allowed genetic manipulation of embryos to occur. The first procedure produced a lapine morph. The second a vulpine, the third was the mistake. They mixed human genes with that of a scorpion's. To be precise, that of Quinquestriatus, more commonly known as the Death Stalker Scorpion. Human technicians were repulsed by the features of the creature that formed within the tube. One scientist added a last minute change to its D.N.A makeup before initialisation. He increased brain functions and decreased empathy, effectively creating a monster that would do as it liked without any regard for anyone or anything it didn't want. It was seventeen years before anyone found out what he had done, and by then it was far too late. The morph, called Chick because of the sound he made when he clicked his claws together, learned his way around the inner structures of the place. He watched, learned, then finally took action. On the seventeenth day of the fourth month of year 2226 Chick released gasses into the ventilation systems, silently killing the thousands of technical and scientific staff within the grounds of the structure. He closed the doors, sealing the site for two years. When the doors opened again, there was nothing to be seen of Chick. The few morphs that had been created with Chick were sent to a testing facility to ascertain their involvement with Chick.
* * * * *
The giant screen paused, following an unspoken command by the human infront of it. The female turned around to view the others within the room. Her eyes surveyed the young faces of her male and female pupils.
"Now, can anyone tell me as to why the morph known as Chick did this?" The young humans of her classroom looked to each other in confusion. All but one that is. Kahn stared out the fabricated classroom window, his mind wandering about the realistic landscape.
"Classman Kahn, do you wish to tell us why?" The teacher asked as she slowly sat down upon her gravity repelling chair. Kahn blinked, then looked up.
"Sorry miss?" He asked sheepishly. The others in the classroom laughed, causing a faint blush to colour his cheeks.
The teacher frowned. "I asked if you would like to tell us why the morph called Chick did these things. As you weren't paying attention, I thought it only likely that you would know the answer." She smiled inside. Let's see how you do now.
Kahn blinked, his eyes glazing for a moment before he answered in a steady, quiet voice. "He did this because he was following his own motives. The trial for Doctor Onslow Menecas on the twenty-third of June in twenty two twenty nine, indicated that he had personally rewritten the morph's code before gestation. Doctor Onslow insisted that he had done nothing wrong. That he had only increased his prize posession's chance at living. In so doing he created a thinking creature that was as close to evil as we know." Kahn gave a soft sigh, before turning back to look out the fake window. The silence within the classroom was deafening.
One of the young females in the class turned back to her teacher. "Is that true Miss Cala?"
The young woman seated in her chair blinked, then nodded. "Yes it's true Stacy. I don't, however, expect any of you to know that answer. I didn't even expect Kahn to know it." She looked to the young man staring out of the class window. "However, it appears that Kahn has been using a link to go delving into restricted files." Kahn looked up at that, a cross look upon his face.
"I don't break the law Miss Cala. And I don't have a Neuro Chip. Since I don't have one, and I refuse to break the law under any circumstances, then the information I have came from a public source." He flitted his eyes up to the bell a moment before it chimed, telling everyone that cared to listen that class was over. An old human custom that had survived for centuries. He picked up his data pad from the desk and headed out. He paused at the door, waiting for the rest of the class to leave. "Just so you know, there's a bug in the window program. It cycles ever two point nine seconds, I'll fix it for you tomorrow." He turned and left.
Miss Cala, a woman twenty nine years of age, sat in her grav chair. She closed her eyes, and sent a silent message along private channels to her superior. The message that was sent, was a name. Kahn Dahk. A light winked, indicating both message sent, and message received. She opened her eyes, leaning back in her chair. Now Mr Kahn, we shall see if you truely have what it takes.
Outside the classroom, Kahn's friends caught up with him. Stacy laid an arm over his shoulders that he quickly shrugged off. A hurt expression crossed Stacy's face before she hid it with a smile. "You know Kahn, you shouldn't show off like that. There's a rumour going around that anyone showing a lot of promise will be abducted from the station, never to be seen again!" She flickered her fingers in his face, trying to give a spooky impression.
Kahn smirked. "Come on Stacy, who would be dumb enough to try and abduct me? Look at me." Kahn stepped backwards, dropping his hands from chest height, and letting them fall to his sides. This showed a very slim body under the matt black and gold trim of Space Academy zero one nine's upper classman. Stacy's eyes roved his body for a moment, before she looked back into his eyes.
"Well, I for one wouldn't think twice about abducting you." She grinned mischeiviously, then leaned in as if to kiss Kahn. Kahn back peddled quickly, right into Kiron's chest. Kiron's broad hands came down upon Kahn's shoulders, easily able to crush if they wanted.
"Now Stace," Came Kiron's laughing voice. "You know you shouldn't tease Kahn. Especially seeing as you know he's mine." The large hands, attatched to even larger arms snaked down Kahn's chest, and pulled him up against Kiron's broad chest. Kahn raised one hand, then quicklly stabbed a pressure point with Kiron's muscled frame. Kiron squawked and released Kahn, a hand going to his ribs. Kahn took the distraction, and used it to jump away from Kiron's grasp.
"Hey, that's not fair. I'm stronger than you, I shouldn't have to put up with you digging into me when I finally get a hold of you."
Stacy gave a high laugh. "I bet if he really 'dug' into you, you wouldn't mind so much would you Kiron?" She gave a thrust when she said dug, leaving both Kahn and Kiron no doubt as to what she meant. Kahn's ears flushed, while Kiron's face reddened considerably. Kahn chuckled nervously.
"You know Kiron wouldn't Stacy, but I also know that you would if you could." Stacy blushed, rubbing her chin.
"True. I would do you in a heartbeat, but you're way too shy for my liking. Become more of an exhibitionist and we might have some fun." She grinned at the two obviously embarrassed males in front of her. They stopped infront of the grav lifts. Stacy and Kiron waved goodbye to Kahn as they enterred a lift together, heading for the cafeteria. Kahn nodded to them, and moved on, slowly walking the corridors of the school area. He paused at another grav lift. Looking around to make sure he wasn't being observed, he opened up the wrist com upon his left wrist. He keyed in a few commands, then closed it back up. The unit blinked blue a few times before returning to its normal silver - white colour. Kahn held his left wrist up to the closed doors of the grav lift. The doors opened and he quickly went inside as the doors shut behind him.
'Destination please.' Requested a cool robotic voice.
"Robot Labs, observation platform." The temporary sensation of solid floor underneath Kahn's shoes gave way to nothing as the field dissipated. The platform of solid air he had been standing upon disappeared and Kahn dropped. Kahn's heart lept into his throat as it always did during an uncontrolled fall. As always when he used this lift, his fall slowed a few levels before his feet touched invisible ground.
'Robot labs observation platform. Enjoy your stay." Came the oddly creepy voice.
Kahn decided not to offer his usual reply as this was a restricted area with voice analysis software running from the moment the lift spoke. He stepped from the lift, glancing left and right to be sure of his safety. He quickly moved from the lift, keeping to the shadows. Third junction, left hand side, jump the trip wire, dive under the camera, avoid the motion sensors, walk past the heat sensors, carefully walk up to the railing.
Kahn did what he was good at, thinking. He looked over at the gargantuan suit that had been stolen from Earth. He wondered for the umpteenth time what they had done to get it. The morphs guarded the technology from the site jealously. Ever since the were prosecuted by purists and religious humans. Some sided with the morphs, and were in kind rejected by humanity. Kahn watched, ducking into the shadows, as two technicians came by.
"Did you hear? They've figured out its original operating system."
"Yeah, to think it was the original language of who ever built that thing on earth."
"I heard they were going to test it next week. Did you know that they picked Magrad as the Pilot?"
"That asshole? Couldn't they have picked someone better?"
"I know, he's barely an adult, but apparently he's the one that got a ninety-five percent score on the MS game"
"That could have been luck you know."
"Yeah, but who's going to argue with the captain? I'll agree that unless someone better comes along, he'll be the best pilot for it."
The brown haired technician smirked at a thought. "Did you hear who got the lowest score?"
The rusty haired technician faced him quizically. "Lowest score? Why would I care about that? I already know that the lowest score was fifteen perce...." He broke off as the other started laughing.
"No ..... No ..... The lowest score, was by a kid named Kahn. He was completely hopeless. He didn't even get point zero one percent. Even with the lowest level setting he couldn't handle it. No tactical descisions at all. He was a laughing stock. And what's worse, he actually looked like he was trying." The man couldn't hold it anymore, and laughed long and loud.
Kahn clenched his right hand into a tight fist as he listened to them joke about his performance. It was true that he had been trying, but not the way they meant. He had been trying his hardest to lose while seeming to try and win. He'd both won and lost.
The rusty haired technician yelped in shock, jumping away from the suit.
"What? Don't tell me you rubbed it the wrong way again." He smirked. The armour of the thing was so finely crafted that if rubbed the wrong way, it cut straight through standard hazard gear.
The rust haired technician rubbed his ass. "It's not funny Mikal. That bolt hurt."
Mikal frowned. "Bolt? What are you talking about? There aren't any bolts on this thing, even you with your thick glasses should be able to see that Frederick."
Frederick glared at Mikal. "I meant a bolt of electricity." Frederick raised a hand as Mikal opened his mouth. "And don't you be giving me shit about it being my imagination and that it's unpowered. There's a hole in my gear." Frederick turned around, part of his pants leg clutched in his grip.
Mikal whistled. "I wonder how you managed to hide that from me. I could've sworn that it wasn't there before."
Frederick lost his patience. "That's because it wasn't there before you dipshit." Mikal's face became angry, and his lips parted to give way to a long list of obscenities, when the suit's gears ground together.
All three froze at the sound. Three pairs of eyes looked to the suit. Its normal dull grey colour had given way to an impossibly deep black with tinted blue stripes upon its frame. Kahn, the only one who truly understood, left immediately. It took the humans a moment longer to understand, even then they were almost too late. Mikal ran to the door under the observation platform and hit the red alert button.
"This is technicians Mikal and Frederick. The suit is activating. I repeat. The suit is Activating. There is no pilot in the cockpit, this is not a drill. Full lockdown is advised.."
Kahn sped past, his acute hearing only barely picking up that much before he was out of range. no time for subtlety. He sprinted past the heat sensor, allowing it to register a spike before he was past it. The motion sensors tracked him doing two hundred kilometre's per hour. Kahn zipped past the camera, leaving a blur upon the camera's records. He barely jumped the tripwire before landing infront of the grav lift. He rapped upon the closed doors, waiting as they slowly opened. As he was about to enter through the lift doors, they snapped shut. If it weren't for his reflexes he would have been cut in half by the camoflaged spikes in the door.
Shit. think. think think think think thinkthinkthinkthinkthinkthink. Kahn's hearing picked up the sounds of heavy boots striking metal. Humans were running in his direction. No choice. Kahn opened his wrist com, flicked a minute switch within it, then closed it. "Security overide Alpha-Centauri-Calipso-Beta-niner-niner-zero-one." The grav lift doors slipped open, the automatic locks on them reset. Kahn enterred the lift.
'Good afternoon Captain Sestrali. Where would you like to go today?'
"Crew quarters subsection B. I'm in a hurry!"
The doors shut upon the faces of several mean looking humans. Air rushed past Kahn as he shot upwards, stopping at the crew quarters moments later. "Erase log of current use. Lock doors untill oh nine hundred tomorrow morning."
'Certainly Captain Sestrali.'
Kahn jumped from the lift, speeding down the deserted corridors untill he reached his assigned rooms. He spoke his access code, then quickly enterred as the doors opened. He closed his eyes and leaned his back against the closed doors, breathing slightly heavily as his heart raced at twice its normal speed. He opened his eyes quickly as a mechanical scrape announced another presence. His eyes focused upon the vaguely cat like form of his chosen guide.
"I see you visited it again." Said the vaguely jealous voice of the robotic feline as it stretched upon his bunk bed.
Kahn walked the few short steps to the bed and flopped upon it, mindful of the cat. "I was almost caught. The stupid thing activated itself. I'm kinda on edge right now." The cat moved to its master's head and used its metalic tongue to gently lick at his hot forehead, purring as it did so.
"At least you weren't caught." Kahn stiffened. The cat snarled, batting at him with a paw. "You idiot. Your parents would kill you if they knew you'd thrown away your only chance because you wanted to go see a damn junk heap." Kahn looked up into the feral emerald eyes of his guardian.
"I had to use an overide." The cat glared a bit more, before becoming curious.
"Which one did you use?"
"Captain Sestrali's accb nine nine zero one code."
The cat hissed in vexation. "Couldn't you have chosen something less damaging?"
"No. It was a red alert scenario, there were armed men closing in. I had no choice. If I hadn't used it, and erased the log. Then I wouldn't be here right now, and you would probably be being dismantled and scoured for information right now." The cat twitched at that little bit of information. It moved away a little bit from him, then curled up on the bed.
"While I do thank you for reprogramming me the way you did. I must confess that I hate you for it sometimes. Giving me free will and empathy was possibly the cruelest thing you could have ever done. But in so doing, you gave me great knowledge. You gave me the intelligence to think for once. If they come, and I'm dismantled, I'll still ............ love you .." The cat shut itself down, leaving a very unhappy Kahn to try and sleep the night away.
* * * * *
04:00 Bridge time
Captain Sestrali reviewed the images again. Her eyes flicked from console to console. One showed statistics on the young man. Another was a recording of his skills, or apparent lack thereof, within the MS Simulator. Attendance records, Social habits, dietary intake. No Psych results. Why is that? Her eyes flicked over to the recording. She watched with intense concentration to his every movement. She paid close attention to the overhead shot of his arms. She sent a command, and the screen slowed accordingly. His arms twitch before he aims. Sestrali rested her chin upon her hands, fingers laced, trying to work it out. She looked to the holo screen displaying his grades. All C's. But if Cala is to be believed, he spotted the fault in the viewing program, and offered to fix it. Who is this young man? Sestrali moved her gaze to the information captured by the monitors in the observation area. If it were to be believed, and by the frozen image on the camera it was, he traversed the entire length of the observation platform without being caught before today. Not only that, he did it in seconds. Why? What made him leave in such a hurry? She moved her gaze to the bottom right screen. She watched as the suit classified as GX ~ 3 activated its armour and tried to move. She puzzled momentarily about a possible connection to the suit's colouring, and his running, but shrugged it off as she yawned and wiped at her weary eyes.
Captain Sestrali leaned backwards and stretched her tired and cramped arms. "Lieutenant, get a psych evaluator, a reflexologist and a neurologist in to view this young man's performance in the MS simulator. I'll talk to them at oh nine hundred to hear their conclusions." Captain Sestrali yawned widely, then slowly got up from her chair. She paused before exiting the room, as something from the lift flitted accross her mind. "And change my code." She huffed, then left to get some much needed rest. Who are you..?
CH 2
Kahn woke up. His eyes slitted only enough to allow light. Something had woken him up. A shadow moved accross his vision, causing him to tense his muscles in readiness. The shadow moved closer, bending down. Kahn gave a snarl, and jumped the intruder. He made a minor miscalculation and his head hit the top of his bunk bed, causing him to see stars as he fell upon the unusually soft form of the intruder. Kahn's lips brushed those of his intruder's, kissing the soft shadow. The pain in his head subsided, and Kahn lept back from the sound kiss, his tongue darting out to taste what was left from the kiss against his will.
"Lights" The ceiling blinked on. Illuminating the room with harsh brilliance. Kahn blinked at the person under him. He quickly took his left hand from Stacy's chest, already trying to stammer appologies. Stacy waved him off.
"I didn't know you were that type Kahn." She grinned, spreading her legs underneath her school dress uniform, giving Kahn a peek at what she was wearing. Kahn turned around so fast he could have been a spinning top. "Aww the shy little Kahn. What's wrong? You were a lot more forward just a moment ago." She smiled and raised her arm. Kahn looked, then helped her up, carefull to avoid too much contact with her.
"A moment ago I thought you were about to kidnap me." Kahn yanked, pulling up Stacy with an ease that was inhuman. Kahn lightly dusted Stacy's clothing, the tight fitting fabric leaving nothing to the imagination. He ignored Stacy's intake of breath as his hands brushed against her barely covered nipples.