Just for the first chapter, my note is going before the story; this won't happen again but I just wanted to explain a little thing. The first chapter does not contain the Torchwood team, and I'm sorry about that, but I swear they will be here next chapter and the story does not revolve around my OCs at all. They're mostly just there to move the plot along because I wouldn't have a plot without them. I needed to set something up, though, so please...don't be put off by this. Okay! Thanks for reading already, and I really really hope you enjoy this. I've worked for weeks on it and it's finished now, so I won't neglect publishing it. One or two chapters every three days or so is probably going to be how it happens.
Prepare for some whump, some feels, some funny moments, plenty of Janto, and a complicated story that just sort of happened. Well, no, I had a bit of help. Anyway...allons-y! I love you. ~Clare
14 November, 2996
In Orbit around the Earth
It was the year 2996. Deep in the heart of a top-secret laboratory that floated in space, a close knit team of four people were trying to calm their nerves.
A petite young woman with light brown hair pulled back into a high ponytail was tapping her fingers in a quick, deliberate pattern onto the sterile white countertop.
"Lakia, would you stop that?!" the other woman in the group, dark-skinned and tall, asked.
Lakia gave a start. She glanced at her fingers. Apparently, she hadn't noticed she was doing it. "Sorry, Sel. Sorry."
"Selenite, don't be too hard on her," a man who was sitting cross-legged on a table murmured. "She's just nervous."
"We're all nervous," Selenite retorted. "Doesn't mean we all need to make some infernal din with our fingernails!"
The last person in the room, a red-haired man leaning up against the same table the other man was sitting on top of, sighed. "She wasn't being that loud," he said quietly.
Lakia was staring down at the floor ashamedly. "Sorry!"
"Don't worry about it," the first man told her gently. "Believe me, I'd be doing something like that too, if I wasn't so exhausted. Flicker and I didn't get any sleep last night." The second man nodded his affirmation.
"Why didn't you sleep?" Selenite said.
"Too anxious," Flicker told her. "I tried, but I had nightmares."
"What about?" Lakia said.
Flicker shook his head. "I can't remember exactly. Midde said I said something before I woke up, but…"
Midde, the other man, cut in. "He said, 'Oh, God, they're changing.'"
Selenite frowned. "Well, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Flicker glared at her defensively. "It was just a dream!" Midde reached over from his position on top of the table and put his hand on Flicker's shoulder.
"Hey...calm down," he said. Flicker muttered something. "Yeah, I know."
Just then, the door opened. All four people jumped slightly. A woman in a white lab coat walked in, followed by a older man wearing a professional looking suit and tie.
"Are we ready?" the man demanded.
The four, all at once, replied, "Not really."
"Just think, though!" he continued as if they had not spoken. "You are MAKING HISTORY!"
"Well, we're breaking it," Selenite muttered sarcastically. "But, you know, same thing."
Midde rolled his eyes. "Oh, be more dramatic, why don't you?"
"Okay. Here's drama," Selenite responded quickly. "We're all going to die."
The woman in the lab coat cleared her throat. "Might I remind you all that you signed up for this? You volunteered. And the time for backing out is over. Everything has been prepared for. The device is in place. If you would just follow Dr. Rosner and I…"
Selenite crossed her arms and stalked off after the two scientists. Lakia followed more slowly, while Midde slipped off the table and walked out just behind the two women with Flicker. They walked for a while in silence before reaching their destination: Lab Number 1.
They were quickly ushered inside. A smooth silver capsule was placed in the center of the large room, a long desktop full of computer monitors and complicated buttons placed along the length of one wall. They were told exactly how to settle themselves inside the capsule, and soon the four were sitting inside; Selenite and Lakia in front, Flicker and Midde in back.
The door slid shut, sealing without a trace of a seam. It was completely dark inside the capsule. The voice of the man, Dr. Rosner, came through a speaker somewhere in the tiny ship. "Good luck, and God be with you."
"Can we please have light?" Flicker whimpered. A soft silver glow began to emanate from the curved ceiling, and he sighed gratefully. "Thank…"
A mechanical voice interrupted. "Departure will begin in 10 seconds… 9… 8… 7… 6…"
Lakia was trembling. "We're going to be ripped apart," she mouthed at Selenite, whose sarcastic and brusque exterior seemed gone for the moment as she reached over and grabbed Lakia's hand for support.
"...3… 2… 1… 0."
A sharp jolt threw all four passengers to the left; Lakia crashed into Selenite, who crashed into the wall, and Midde caught himself with his hand and braced Flicker with the other. "Whoa!" he cried as they were violently tossed the other way. Then the ship started to vibrate. Flicker felt as if his teeth were going to chatter so hard he would bite his own tongue off. Somehow, his hand found Midde's and he held on tightly.
The silver light changed. It pulsed blue, then red, then settled into a blinding white, flashing between brightness and pure black. Flicker looked ahead into the front row of seats, at Selenite, who had just twisted around to face them. The light disappeared, and reappeared, and Flicker screamed when his eyes readjusted.
Something was happening to her face.
Flicker suddenly was terrified as he saw her skin turn transparent, and her skull glow underneath, glow with a terrible, terrible green light. "They're changing!" he yelled. "Oh, God, they're changing!"
