Prologue
Central City, North America
1990 A.D.
The expanse of the cavernous parking garage stretched into an almost infinite blackness. It was only dimly illuminated by the brilliant shine of the many city lights that lit up the night, like stars in the darkness of outer space. A lone figure wearing all black and donning a hooded trench coat, walked silently on the outer rim of the many leveled parking garage, overlooking the rest of the busy city below. His stride is urgent as well as consistent, until he is stopped dead in is tracks by a distorted voice as frightening as it is cold.
"Your late!" shouted the mechanical like voice from out of the darkness.
The hooded figure casually turns around to face the direction in which the voice is coming "I had to make sure I wasn't followed. I presume you have my merchandise."
"That depends, do you have my payment?" asks the voice.
The hooded figure reaches into his trench coat and pulls out a moderate size stuffed manila envelope. He than tosses the package onto the ground a few feet into of him into a small patch of light shining in through the open overhang. This forces the man with the mechanical voice to step forward a bit, but only his leg can be seen emerging into the light as he retrieves the envelope from the ground. The rest of his body remains in stark and eerie shadow.
The man opens the envelope up and begins to dig through it's contents "Yes, very nice indeed."
"Now my merchandise if you please." says the hooded figure, he himself remaining to be hidden by the shadows, his hood obscuring most of facial features.
The man with the machine like voice holds up a glinting metallic card like object and shines it into the direction of the hooded figure "Not quite yet, I require some information first."
The hooded figure sighs lowly and again reaches into his trench coat, this time to retrieve a nine millimeter Beretta handgun. His quickly cocks the slide back and points it straight at the shadowy man "Now I don't count myself as the most patient of men."
A momentary pause ensues before the shadow man cackles slightly "Not the wisest of moves my friend. We are in ear shot of the sector police headquarters, in addition to the fact that I would never meet in this kind of situation unless I had backup."
The hooded figure slowly lowers his weapon as he realizes the truth of the shadow man's words "You got your payment, what more do you want!"
"The reason you are so interested in the Icarus prototype in the first place. Indeed the only reason I agreed to this is because I myself have more than an abiding interest in the subject. No so much the vehicle itself but it's three latter occupants." says the shadow man.
"I take it you mean the three upright walking, intelligent and speaking chimpanzees, respectively known as Cornelius, Zira and Milo. " says the hooded figure.
The shadow man smirks "Precisely, it's a well known fact that the apes were in the very space craft originally piloted by Colonel Taylor and his three crewman, before they inexplicably vanished into the void of outer space. The chimps claim they came out of the future in which mankind had been reduced to a Neanderthal like state, subjugated and dominated by a simian civilization. Tell me my hooded friend, your inquiries into the Icarus, wouldn't have anything to do with the scenario I just described?"
"Let's just say a portion of my investigation will center around the talking apes' testimony . The knowledge they could potentially provide me with could be invaluable." says the hooded figure.
"Those ape abominations are dead!" shouts the shadow man.
"Yes, thanks to a paranoid madman who had the nerve to call himself a scientist." says the hooded figure.
"Dr. Hasslein was a patriot and a fighter for the survival of the human race!" says the shadow man.
"If you say so…" says the hooded figure.
"You would call the potential extinction of mankind as maddened paranoia? Now there are even rumors that the infant child of the two apes somehow survived Hasslein's attack. Do you know what that could mean for the human race?" asks the shadow man.
"That is not my concern. I don't give a damn about a surviving chimpanzee infant, a possible ape apocalypse or even the extinction of the human race. Believe it or not, this gets far more personal for me. Now if you please…" says the hooded figure.
The shadow man clenches his fist, but reluctantly tosses the figure the small metallic card. The hooded figure catches it and holds it up to his viewing field.
"I'll assume it's in perfect working order."
"The fraudulent code will give you exactly ten minutes of clearance to gain access to the prototype. After which the encryption grids will authenticate the code and red alerts will be sounded. You'll find the Icarus under heavy guard at the old Army silo on the outskirts of the city, hangar 197c." says the shadow man.
The hooded figure narrows his eyes a bit from under his hood, and places the metallic card inside his trench coat. He than turns swiftly and begins to walk in the opposite direction, eventually disappearing into the shadows. The shadow man slowly steps into the light and smiles sinisterly. He adjusts a small computer like device on his belt that allowed him to alter his voice.
"Nice doing business with you…" he says as his full facial features come into view, to reveal the visage of Governor Jason Breck.