{This is Part One in the Amun series that I have written. I am re-posting this story with chapters and a few other edits so it has a bit easier read and higher quality! Hope you all enjoy! And if this is your first read of this series, let me know what you think!}
Xenomorph: Being Human
Chapter One: the Beginning
The air was fresh, clean and cool this morning, just the way he liked it. It was his little slice of heaven from the busy life of the city that he resides in. No cars, no construction noises, no confined spaces, no nothing. Just green trees, the rocks of the mountain, and the clean air, everything that he needed to relax on a Sunday morning. He took a deep breath in and closed his eyes, letting the soft wind tickle his sweaty body as a sort of a embracing hug. Natures little way of telling him that everything was ok, that he would have a great day. Not that his life was dull in anyway, but just that it would be better today. From the cliff that he now sat, he could see out for quite the distance, perhaps twenty five kilometers or so to the next mountain across the valley.
"Maybe I will do you next time." He thought in his head, smiling to himself. It was rather late in the afternoon and was time to start heading down the conquered peak. It would take him a good three hours to get back down. A fair amount quicker than it took him to get to the top now that he had cut his own trail. It was the way he liked it, taking the path not used and calling it his own. Now that he had carved his finger print into the side of the rock though, someone else would find it soon enough. It was why he had climbed so many peaks in this area, because too many people had found his small hiding places everywhere else. He didn't like it at all. There was something about having a place that he knew no one would go to that made him happy, somewhere that he could truly call his own. As he made his was down the rock face, he was reminded more and more of his city life and what he would have to put up with at work the next day.
"Probably just fixing up everyone else's crap that they decided not to get done last week. Same old, same old." Working for the cities health labs as an assistant was satisfying work, but it seemed to be holding him back in so many ways. Every time he applied for a promotion or raise he was shut down, even with his extensive training and education. He was never the top of his class, but his professors had noticed that he had a very creative way to solving complex problems as well as a true interest in microbiology. He had even created a very unique blood enhancer using oxygen attracting proteins to increase the effectiveness of a red blood cell by over one hundred percent. Thankfully he had done everything correct to secure his work and copy right the process, which he then sold for a very handsome sum of money to the military. He was offered a job with the city with a promise that he would be able to continue his work, but no such promise had been kept.
As it stood, he was nothing more than a simple lab monkey, doing the simple tasks that the higher ups never felt like doing. He was pretty sure that he was being kept down because he would he be too expensive to fund. He would love to quit, but he wanted to wait until he had another job secured before jumping off the diving board.
Arriving at his jeep, he stripped out of his sweaty cloths and changed into some more comfortable clothing. Being in a rather remote location, he did so without fear of being seen by some family that just happened to be walking by. Jumping into the driver side he started the engine and made his way back to reality. The drive back would take him about three hours to get to the city limits, so he decided to turn on some music to make the time pass by.
"I think some liquid drum and bass is needed."Throwing in a silver color CD he cranked up his audio, letting the smooth melody take over the inside of his jeep. After a few minutes down the road, a sporty little red car flew past him in the same direction, catching him by surprise. The sound of the engine cut through his music and startled him.
"Damn buddy, slow the hell down, the world and going to end any time soon." Speaking softly to himself, he halted all concern after that. It was not but a few moments after that he noticed the car had slowed right down, and now he was going to be the one to pass it soon. He came right up behind it and stayed there, worried that this driver was going to do something stupid. But all he noticed was that they were getting slower and slower. Shaking his head, throwing on his signal light, he moved into the next lane and attempted to pass them. As he did, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that they had sped up to stay right beside him. Looking over and expecting to see some pissed of punk, but who he locked eyes within the driver seat was only a bit of a surprise. It was a rather attractive blond, with her ever more attractive friend. When she noticed him looking at her she smiled, he returned the favour. He saw her friend lean down in her seat in attempt to look at him as well, creating a smile on her face as well. He kept looking back at them from the road, they were both rather beautiful woman. Locking speeds, the blond rolled down her window, he did the same to his passenger side and turned down his music. He could hear well enough over the wind and had actually learned to read lips rather well as a child.
"Hay cutie!" Was all she said, while still trying to look at the road ahead of her.
"Afternoon beautiful and gorgeous friend!"
"What's your name?"
"Amun, Yours?"
"Amun? That's a funny name!" She laughed as she tried to keep one eye on the road.
"It's the name of an Egyptian God who created all. I blame my parents for wanting me to be bullied as a child." Both of them laughed which made him smile. He always had a way of making people laugh though, everyone had always told him that he had great humour and charm when he was around people.
"I don't believe that considering your size."
This had been true, Amun was not a small person, but not much of him was fat. He had taken great care of himself after being bullied and the results were easy to see. Standing at six feet tall and weighing a muscular two hundred and ten pounds, he was rather attractive. Or so he had been told. Somehow he had been single most of his life and his friends had never understood why. Even after he has attempted to explain how being cheated on by every girl he has ever been with has destroyed all his trust in dating.
"Thank you!" He yelled so the two could hear. "May I ask your name?"
The blonds expression turned a bit strange as she kept one eye on the road and one on him.
"Are you gay?" She asked.
Amun could only laugh. "Far from actually, why would you say that?"
"You are too nice. It's weird." She yelled.
"Perhaps it is due to the fact I am thinking with the proper head." His remark brought a laugh from the two girls. "But no, I am not gay, just nice."
"Well would you like to be nice and take us out for a drink sometime?" She asked with anticipation in her eyes. "It's hard to find a nice guy these days."
"I think I could do that." As much as Amun did not like to date, he did enjoy nights out with good company, so why not give it a chance. "But I still have yet to get your name."
The blond smiled and turned to her friends to ask something that Amun could not hear. "Mine is Christina, this is my friend Mika."
"It is very nice to meet you Christina and Mika. Do you have a phone handy?" He watched as Mika reached into her bag and produced a cell phone. He continued to fire off his number as she tapped away at her phone, adding him to her contact. Mika leaned forward passed Christina to ask Amun.
"What is your name again?"
"Amun, a-m-u-n. Should be the only one in the phone book!" Again his dry humour made the two smile.
"Well then, God of Egypt, we'll catch you around." Christina said with a wink, then took off with a roar of their engine. Amun shook his head. it was a rare thing for an attractive woman to take an interest in him, usually there was a catch. An angry ex-boyfriend, money troubles or they were just looking for a one night stand. All of which Amun hated, but he would entertain the thought of this ending well. After the little red sports car was out of site, he turned up his stereo and had a rather nice cruise back to the city.
The next day, Amun was off to work after his usual morning routine of coffee and breakfast. Traffic had been light this morning, so it was a short trip into the tower where he worked. A few card scans, retinal scan and a decontamination chamber later, he was back to work. To the other part of his life that was enjoyable. Today should be rather exciting, for Amun was supposed to be receiving a special shipment from their other lab. A shipment of formulas that were being tested that, if succeeded, would allow for DNA to be reformatted and changed! Something that excited Amun to no end, maybe it was the thought of being able to use it himself so he could gain some excitement in his life.
Sitting down at his lab station, he would first have to get caught up in other areas before he could play with this new super juice. Emails after emails that never seem to end! Answering them would take up his time while he waited for the shipment. While he was neck deep in the digital screen of his computer, he had not even noticed his co-worker approach him from behind until it was to late.
"Amun.." The soft whisper in his ear gave him quite the shock as he jumped and turned to see Charles standing there laughing.
"My god man, you scared the crap out of me!"
Charles looked around at the floor near Amun's chair. "Really? Cause I don't see anything on the floor. Guess I'll have to try harder next time."
"Funny, next time I may have to spill a vile on your head while I am at it." The two laughed with one another. They were rather good friends in the office as well as outside of it. Charles was the one person in the office that shared Amun's love for science and all things weird and small. Although, Amun's intelligence was a few steps above Charles, he never let that tarnish the friendship they had.
"As long as it's not that stuff you have coming in today! I would rather not have my DNA scrambled like eggs and then put back together….hopefully in the right was."
"Aww come on Charles, I could turn you into a cute little bunny with big floppy ears! Think of all the women you could get with a face like that."
"Humm…you are right, do it." The two laughed.
"I am guessing that you know about this shipment because of quarantine yea?"
"Are you kidding! The entire building had been notified about this! You should see the protocols being put in place with this stuff. No information is to leave the building about it. Only authorized personal can touch, or even set eyes on the stuff….You lucky bastard."
"Yea, I get all the fun jobs. Especially when it could kill me." Amun's comment left Charles with wide eyes. "Do not lie, I know you have heard the stories as well as I. Some poor guy at the research lab had some of it dropped on his suit and it ate through it and killed him. Thank god they solved that problem fast. But still, solving the Ph levels of the liquid does not make it any less deadly. And Charles?"
"Yea Amun?"
"If I die…tell…tell my pet snake I love her!" The fake crying and bad joke brought a light hearted laugh back into the environment. It was how Amun dealt with most problems, with his humor, and taking it one step at a time.
"I'll tell her, but on one condition, that I get to keep her when you die. That girl of yours is a beauty!"
Amun smiled with pride. The reptile, named Jessie, was an imported albino king cobra that had been a request of his to a General in the military. He had done some very interesting side work for them and was allowed compensation. However, when offered a large sum of money, Amun turned it down. He made enough money with his current job to get by just fine. No, he had more exotic tastes in mind. So he had requested the rare snake and a few months later it was delivered to his front door by some suits in a black car. He had not cared who or where he had gotten it from, it was just something he had always wanted. And when you have a general asking you what you want, you take advantage.
"Well just be careful, she had been de-fanged, but still loves to give a nibble every now and then."
"O I know, whenever I come over for beers and you are in the other room, we make out pretty hard, me and Jessie-bell."
"You dare! My best friend!" Amun said with a gasp, playing along with the joke. "How could my Jessie do this to me! Was it her ivory skin? Or maybe it was her blood red eyes that won over my best friend? Tell me so I may know!" With his over dramatic voice and a bit of arm flailing, Amun now had the attention of a few other workers in the lab.
"Alright, alright! You win…." Charles leaned towards Amun and whispered. "But it was her neck flaps."
With a deep gasp, and a hand placed to his chest, Amun brought the joke to a close. It was perhaps time to actually get to work.
The day rolled by slowly and steady as Amun answered e-mails, made a few phone calls and continued a bit of his work in the lab. While stopping for lunch around noon, he was pleasantly surprised to receive a text message from a number that he did not recognize. It read; Hay there, would tonight be a good night to have a drink with a god? From Christina.
Amun had to smile, he was rather glad that she had send him the message, it showed him that she was genially interested in his company. Plus he did not want to seem like a desperate male seeking intercourse. He was not that kind of guy. So he responded in kind.
Hello there Christina! I think tonight would be a great night to grab a drink! My plotting of world domination ends at 4. Do you know the little hideaway called the Oak Tree? There at say 5:30?
The response was almost instantaneous: I'll be there, look for the woman in the red dress.
And with that, his day had been made. His night included a nice visit with a beautiful woman, and he should be receiving his new formulas from the lab any minute now. Inhaling the remainder of his food, he moved quickly back to the lab where he was greeted by a large package on his desk. The man in the uniform waiting for him was rather intimidating. But because of the content of the package, Amun was not surprised, something as deadly and as important as this needed protection of the highest degree. As Amun approached the rather large man, he held out a clip bored and pen.
"Mr. Khain." He asked. "I need you identification and employee number."
"EM-01-023." Amun pulled his swipe card from his coat pocket. "And my ID card."
The security guard took his cared and handed the clip bored to Amun, then pulled out a small device and gave Amun's card a swipe. While the man was checking his identity, Amun took the chance to look over the clip board. It was the basic receiving of package for from the company with information about what was in the box. Biohazard warning, MSDS, WHIMIS information, the right to company privacy of any information regarding the package. The usual jazz. Putting his signature in a few locations, as well as his ID number, he traded the clip board with the security guard for his swipe card.
"Thank you Mr. Khain. Take care." And with that, the man left.
"Well…I've had less of a farewell from them before. Now my pretty, let's see what I can do with you." He scooped up the box and made his way to the quarantine area of the lab which was basically a glass box within another glass box. He didn't mind the extra protection in the lab, it meant that everyone got to go home at the end of the day in the event that anything went wrong. So, placing the box in a locker on the outside of the glass wall, Amun moved to another locker to produce a bio-protection suit for himself. It took him a while to get all the proper PPE in place, including the air filtration system on his back. He had another scientist in the lab double check all the seals and safety gear once more before he went inside his glass playground. Taking the container from the sealed compartment on the wall, Amun took it over to the large table in the center of the room. The table was pure white with nothing else on top and had been designed to be used only to hold materials. The counter space that lined the entire interior of the glass lab was where all the fun tools were. Anything and everything that Amun would need to run his experiments. Microscopes, spectrometers, beam laser and much more were all right at hand. For Amun it was like being in a chocolate shop, which was one of his favourite places to be.
Amun carefully unlocked the hard container and proceeded to open and remove the protective packaging from around yet another, smaller, hard case. The smaller case was sealed with tape and a number code lock. After using a scalpel to cut the seal, he punched in the code that he had received this morning via e-mail. Once unlocked, a smile over took his face as he was greeted with the tops of two vials filled with an orange liquid. There was also a data pad within the container, sealed inside a plastic bag. He took out the pad, cut the plastic bag off, and powered it up. The screen flashed on to a login screen where Amun entered his own personal company information. It was accepted. With only one file on the data pad, Amun had a feeling he knew what was in it. And as he predicted, nothing but a giant list of instructions on what he was allowed to do, and what he was not. Typical, they never let him have any fun with new formulas. Shrugging it off, he would do as they wanted, he really didn't feel like pissing anyone off today. So he read the instructions in silence and proceeded to work. Turning back to the vials in the container, he removed one.
"Hello my pretties, long trip?" He quietly said to no one. "Let us see what we can do with you."
He closed and re-locked the smaller case, leaving it on the center table with the second vile inside. As instructed. Taking his vile over to the outer counter, he wanted to use the chemical analyser first to see what he was dealing with. After a short while, and a massive list of chemical names, he was happy to say that they all matched up with what should be there…all but one.
"Interesting…what are you my friend?" He asked as he went back over the list to double check. Yet again, he came up with one extra chemical that the analyser could only classify as 'unknown'.
This bugged Amun.
It was never like his company to have something out of place like this, to have something as big as an unknown chemical inside a formula that he was about to play with was beyond dangerous.
He did not like it at all.
Amun brought his gaze up and away from his computer, wanting to find someone to let him out of the glass lab. What he saw when he look up was a total shock. Five men in black suits, armed to the teeth with assault rifles and side arms. Now Amun knew something was very, VERY wrong! He did his best not to show that he was beyond scared, but his hands began to shake. So he turned to the one thing that calmed him down, humor.
"Evening gents, I didn't know we were playing paintball in the office today." He said through his mask which was hooked up to a speaker on the outside of the lab. "Or did I miss the sticky note on the fridge this morning?"
The five men did not react in the least, just stood their starting at him with dead eyes. Amun looked passed the five mercenaries to the lab space behind noticing that there was no one else around.
"Why are you here? Where are the rest of the scientists?" He waited for a response that never came. Fear started to take over, something was very, very wrong. Looking at the men, Amun attempted to gather any information that he could. Because he knew the room, perhaps even the floor had been evacuated silently, that whatever was about to go down had to do with him. He would have been taken out as well if it was not. From the number of armed men he guessed that someone powerful had a secret agenda that needed to be fulfilled. And then there was the chemical he now held in his hands, the fact that there was an unknown chemical in the formula, coupled with his new friends, he had a feeling it had to do with the vile.
So, despite his fear, he wanted to test a theory. He looked over towards one machine that was in the far corner of the room. The white box was about the size of a suit case with a digital display on the outside and a large lid on the top. Amun knew exactly what this machine was and was betting that the mercenaries had no clue what it was. Either way, Amun knew he was screwed, so taking the vile that was in his hands he moved quickly over to the machine. He did not hear any screams to halt, not any movement from the men outside the glass wall. He did not care. He threw the vile into the machine and hit the button labelled "Incinerate". He heard the machine lock its lid and begin to fire up. The bright flash of light that came through the small window helped to dampen Amun's fear a small amount. With a smile on his face, he turned to look back at the armed men with the feeling of victory. However, that feeling was gone in an instant as the five men had not moved a muscle. Had Amun been wrong? Was this not about the formula that he had just destroyed? A voice cut off his train of thought.
"Well done Mr. Khain. You were right to destroy the vile of formula." Amun heard a loud click come from the container that had been delivered to him this afternoon. "It is too bad that you listened to the instructions that came with them." From behind the five mercenaries came a small man in a suit, someone that Amun did not recognize either. From the look of the man Amun could tell that he was a man who was accustomed to being in charge. Someone who would kill to get what he wanted. The man was small, with a bald head, and stood around two heads below the smallest of the armed men in. Amun decided not to hold back and see how badly he could piss this man off.
"Why not, I'll probably be dead in ten minutes anyway."
"And you must be Oddjob, where be your hat short stack?" Amun smiled as the man visually tensed in discuss at the remark. Obviously he was not use to someone insulting him and such things were not taken lightly.
"We will see if you are so sharp after your dose."
"O pumpkin, you should not have! What did you get me? A shot of rum, perhaps whisky, or maybe even a shot of love? Grrrrrowl!"Even one of the mercenaries popped a smile at that one. The small man was not happy. His hands moved into his coat pocket and produced a small cylinder with a red top. Amun knew it was some kind of trigger that he knew was going to hurt. But it was the man's comment from before that shot into his train of thought.
"Followed the instructions…it was all chemistry except to comment to leave the…"
Amun bolted towards the table and snatched the box that contained the last remaining vile of formula. With it in hand, he then leapt towards the only place the box would fit and possible not cause him harm, the transfer shelf on the outside wall of the lab. Amun had his hand on the key pad attempting to punch in the code before the small man had time to figure out what he was up to. It was too late, despite his speed, he was not fast enough. The box in his arms popped open with a click and an explosion of gas came blasting out into the room. Amun knew he was in trouble because the smoke was the same color as the formula. He dropped the box in shock but then remained calm. He knew his suit was designed to handle this sort of containment breach. As long as his suit held its seal, he would be able to survive.
"Unless…"
"That was a wasted effort, you do realize I am in a full Hazmat suit yes?" Amun proclaimed to his audience. "We do take precautions before our experiments you know."
"O we are well aware of this …which is why I have this." His hand went to another pocket and produced another trigger. "I hope this hurts." He pushed the red top and Amun's eyes went wide as a whirling sound from his air filtration system stopped…and then began to reverse. They had tampered with the fan's on his suit!
"You slimy little piece of…"Amun took a deep breath of clean air before any of the formula got too deep into his suit. He now only had a short time to figure out a way to survive. But how! He was trapped in a glass box with only one way out. A box that was designed with so many safety protocols that nothing could get in or out.
"Oxygen! There should be an oxygen line in here somewhere!"He looked along the counter tops and behind some of the equipment, even throwing a few rather expensive machines to the floor. He did not care; he really did not feel like dyeing today and would do whatever it took. Moving one microscope to the side, he was relieved to see three gas lines coming out from the wall, one of which was labelled oxygen. He did not have much time, left, he could feel the need for air fast approaching. His body jerking from time to time wanting him to take a breath made Amun move a bit faster. Tearing off his helmet as quickly as he could, he extended the gas line from the wall, put the tip into his mouth, and opened the valve. As he attempted to draw his salvation into his lungs, fear came over him as nothing came from the line! There was no gas flow at all. He looked to the flow meter to see that the gauge was not moving at all.
"What the hell! The lines are always on in here except when…"He turned to look outside the lab to where the emergence stop valve was on the wall. To his anger, one of the mercenaries was standing there, hand on the now closed valve. As darkness started to take Amun's vision, he had just enough time to flip his audience the bird before everything went black.
