PROLOGUE
The rebreather hissed as Kiyomori exhaled a long-overdue breath. Across the room from this ancient, withered husk of a man, draped in nanotech and tubes, a window afforded a clear view of a grisly scene: Control Group A was nearly finished annihilating Control Group B. What appeared to be serpent men (they were humans mere minutes ago) stood impatient, defiant, unchallenged as the last of the other group, comprised of humans, fell into bloody heaps. The serpent men looked around, eyes (and tongues) darting, clawed fingers dripping blood and gore.
Kiyomori drummed his fingers on the armrest of his hovering throne, its boosters noiselessly and gently carrying him closer to the window. "So far, so good. This will do nicely if it works as planned, though I would have preferred an airborne version to this blood borne one. Perhaps it is time for a field test." He turned the throne and gazed out of a nearby port hole, staring into the vastness of space, broken by the massive bulk of Earth below. "Dong Xiao, launch the probe!"
"Yes, my lord!" Xiao proceeded to press a few buttons at her control station. She had long black hair well past her shoulders and an attractive face, save for an unsightly reddish mole above her right eyebrow. Her expression seemed perpetually devious, even (especially) when she was relaxed. Her commands input, a small light above her console briefly glowed green. From elsewhere inside the structure, a probe launched from space station Taira no Roku, which itself was just outside Earth's orbit. "It is done, my lord. Any further instructions?"
"Yes, dispose of these...test subjects. All of them." Kiyomori then hovered his throne over to his command console and paged the news feed. The top headlines of the day's news (May 15, 2065) continued to concern the Zenith dispute. The US, in its arrogance, had dared to claim the moon as its 51st state, naming it Zenith. That had been about a month ago, and the ensuing global maelstrom hadn't quite lost its momentum. The US had lost many allies over the years, but was still a military superpower, despite being on the verge of economic collapse. Kiyomori's cybernetically-enhanced eyes flicked over more news feeds, then stopped. One article mentioned a world summit talk to be held on Friday, May 22, one week from today. Kiyomori temporarily suspended the rebreather to let out a laugh, which in turn caused a brief coughing fit. "Xiao, suit up and pack your supplies. Bring battle gear too."
"Yes, my lord. Where am I headed?"
"Kongming Labs."
Dong Xiao grinned. "Ah, Project Ancestor?"
Kiyomori turned his throne to face her, again suspending the rebreather to show his grin as well. "Yes, you have a nimble mind. We could use your father." With that, Xiao bowed and hurried off to her rooms, passing by the long window of the test chamber, which now showed an even grislier scene of flattened chunks (human and serpent alike) in pools of blood, still in the process of draining. Kiyomori stroked his beard as the rebreather realigned. "Zhuo should compliment my plans nicely." Smiling, he closed his eyes and gripped his prayer bead necklace. "Third time's a charm, lord Orochi, though not quite how you would have expected."