Hello! Welcome to Grace's Road! I have more than this prologue, but I don't want to put everything up at once. This can also be seen on deviantart. I promise canon characters in three more chapters, but this story is about my OC Beta-56. She is not in the prologue, but you'll meet her soon enough. Thanks for reading and stopping by! Now, on with the show!
"I want the results to that experiment stat!" he said to his employee as they passed in the hallway.
"Yes, sir, right away, sir," and turned heel back to the lab.
"How conclusive were the results?" he asked, following the scientist back to the stark white lab. Scraps of metal, wires and silicon processing chips lay scattered across lab tables and the ground. Walking around them, however, was an easy task, as they were not blocking the aisles. Although stark white, the room was dim and felt more like a mechanic's shop than a laboratory.
Walking over to the so-called experiment, the scientist fiddled with the device in front of him. The other man stood behind him, rocking back and forth on his heels and crossing his arms impatiently while waiting for his answer.
"Complete," he answered with a push of a button. Fans began revolving and a few quiet motors could be heard.
"No wa-" the man was cut off by the scientist's hand in front of him to silence him. Lights on the device switched on. Metal began to move atop the table. Slow at first, and then with growing speed, a small, humanoid figure, no more than two feet tall, stood before the two men. The scientist had an almost ecstatic look in his eyes as his mouth hung open with excitement. The other man, however, looked shocked as the figure moved towards them. Startled by the sight before him, the man moved backwards.
"No, no, it's okay. Alpha won't harm us," the scientist turned towards the frightened man.
"Alpha?" he asked with an annoyed tone towards the man who had turned back to the figure on the table.
"Sure! He's the first of his kind, right? It's only fitting," he defended. He then bent down to his creation. "Alpha, this is our boss, Brendan White. He gave me the means to build you. We listen to his orders, okay?" he spoke slowly, but more as if to a child than some kind of AI program. Alpha, however, nodded and turned his attention to Brendan.
"Nice to meet you, Master Brendan," Alpha held out a small humanoid hand for Brendan to shake. When Alpha spoke, the sound seemed robotic, but not monotone. The syllables were slightly forced, as if he wanted to pronounce them properly and slowly, but there were rises and falls of voice pitch in natural, human places. Brendan hesitantly took Alpha's hand slowly and shook.
"Just Brendan is fine," he looked to Alpha, confused. Alpha merely shook his head.
"No, you are the boss, as Master Chase has said. Master Chase put manners and graciousness into my protocols on purpose," Alpha let go of Brendan's hand as he explained that bit of his programming. The lights, which Brendan assumed were Alpha's "eyes," dimmed, but Alpha had spoken of Chase as if he were grateful for how Chase programmed him.
Keeping his focus on Alpha, Brendan leaned towards his employee and said, "Is he supposed to dim those lights and sound like that?"
"Of course," Chase said matter-of-factly. Chase gazed upon Alpha with pride.
"Masters Chase and Brendan, I can hear your conversation," Alpha's lights brightened significantly, fully aware. "These lights that you are talking about, Master Brendan," Alpha paused momentarily to point to them, "are my optics, and yes, my vocal processing is supposed to sound more natural than an AI program. I am not an AI program, correct Master Brendan?"
Brendan let his jaw fall as the figure before him crushed his intelligence. Chase turned to him, chuckling.
"It's okay, Brendan, he did that to me, too," Chase turned back to Alpha. "Want to show Brendan what you can do?" Chase asked him excitedly. Alpha immediately moved towards Chase in an excited manner. He nodded quickly.
"Alright!" Chase he his hands out to grab Alpha. Alpha let Chase pick him up off the table.
"I thought you just got him to work?" Brendan finally voiced. Too happy to let Brendan's annoyance slow him down, Chase smiled as he put Alpha on the floor.
"Yeah, I did. I wanted Alpha to be able to pull out all the stops as well before I presented him to you," Chase looked down to Alpha. He was already walking towards the entrance to the lab. Brendan merely let Chase and Alpha lead him out of the lab. About halfway down the hall, Alpha turned around and looked up at Chase.
"Master Chase, we are going to the shooting range, correct?" Alpha wanted verification that he was going in the right direction. When Chase nodded, he turned back around and kept walking.
"Good job, Chase. You figured it out," Brendan walked up beside Chase. From a few paces ahead, he heard a scoff.
"I am not an 'it,' Master Brendan," Alpha clenched his hands, but kept walking down the hall. He had thought Brendan had meant him when Brendan had meant something else entirely. Chase waved a hand at Brendan in a "don't worry about it manner." Silence fell upon the three. Upon arrival, the only sound was the door opening.
Targets several hundred yards down a long field appeared. The walls floor and ceiling here were covered in wood, cotton, polyfill, and on top, hard, recycled rubber. Some of these fillers could been seen because of clumsy hands, not programmed ones. Behind the normal fillings, concrete showed through from behind the targets. This damage did not come from experienced hands. Looking down the range and up to Chase, Alpha asked for silent permission. Chase held up a finger as a waiting sign.
"It'd be better if we were in here," Chase turned to Brendan and they went into a small soundproof room with an unbreakable "glass" window. After closing the door behind them, Chase went to the window and gave Alpha a thumbs up. Alpha nodded once and turned towards the target. Holding out both his arms, they began to change shape. Metal hissed and bent but not in a breaking manner. Brendan and Chase watched as his forearms shifted into small, powerful laser guns.
"Woah," was all Brendan could say. He and Chase watched as Alpha aimed and fired down the range. He shot a total of five shots and then turned towards the window, allowing his arms to return to their humanoid form. Before leaving the room, Chase pressed a button and the target at the end of the field that Alpha had shot at came forward. Leaving the room, Chase knelt next to Alpha and watched the target come up the range.
"Let's see how you did!" Chase had no doubt in his mind that there would be five holes very close to the bullseye. As the target pulled in front of them, Chase smiled and Alpha hummed in approval. There, on the target, were precise holes where his laser had fired. All were very close to dead center.
"Awesome!" Chase held up a hand and Alpha high-fived him. Brendan could only stare in mild shock and awe.
"He's officially dangerous," Brendan eventually said as he watched Chase and Alpha celebrate. Alpha turned to Brendan as he heard the words.
"Thank you, Master Brendan," Alpha bowed politely. Then, turning to Chase, he said, "May I have some energy? I am running low."
Chase nodded, "Go ahead. We'll catch up, okay?" Alpha nodded and walked out of the range and back down the hall. In the mean time, Brendan turned to Chase as he stood.
"Billions," was all he had to say. Chase nodded in agreement.
"I'm so glad we took this government challenge. Who would have thought we could figure out how to simulate their technology?"