The D1 Effect Chapter 11- The Oceans of Blood
As told by Chief of N&E on the Utopia, Fred Reinhound (Jaguar)
No, it could not have been possible, could it? The yeerks were sentient, or at least we thought. They at least should have feelings, even if they were our enemies. Through us back to the exact time and place of the Hiroshima bombing, right at ground zero? No, that was not possible, for any race. Unless the race was purely hate-filled and evil, which seemed impossible; even the Scythes engineered their biological weapons to cause little pain and a fairly quick death. This, this was the realization of the true evil in the galaxy. A force none of us could begin to comprehend.
I looked hard and firm into the young girl's eyes. Her brown eyes simply told the message that "I'm not kidding, we got to get the hell out of here!"
"Jaguar, how much do you know about radiation?" Condor asked me, still in shock from what Cassie said.
No, I had no clue whatsoever to why he was asking me that. It is required to pass through Cy-Col to take at least one advanced science class and mine was NOT nuclear radiation, much less any type. It was a field of biological enhancement, where we experimented with different types of cyborg implants and the effects of their usage on different animals.
"No, you know that I had Cyber-Bio, if anyone here, you'd know exactly what to do, and I suggest you to suggest it soon."
"Just wondering. I did major in Nuke-Radiation, but I wanted to see what else you had."
"Are you guys nuts?" The blonde-haired girl, I think her name was Rachel, said. "Not only are we about to go nuclear, but you guys are casually chatting about it!!!"
"You know very well that we can't make it."
"Do I give a damn? Better to go down fighting, and that's all there is to it," she persisted.
"We have several more, how would you say it, subtle ways of surviving, Rachel, believe me," Condor added.
I leaned over to whisper to him, "We do?"
"I do, well, sort of. Kind of hard to explain, but it involves the Plunonium 473 mixing with the atomic elements. At Joiren, we barely had enough radiation to morph, but here, at the right time when all hell breaks loose, we could be trapped in a Quantum bubble that would shield us temporarily for the radiation."
"How long?" asked Cassie.
"Long enough, maybe a total of 5 hours. We still have the radiation suits, but they will only be good AFTER the bomb explodes."
"Sounds like a plan to me, Condor," I said.
"It'd better work, or we will die." There was a pause there for no apparent reason, then Rachel spoke.
"Yes it'd better work," Rachel said, "cause I'm not about to give up the fight."
********************
As told by Animorph Cassie [CLASSIFIED: Any attempts at overriding the system will be subject to a court of law.]
It was the doomsday for all the people around me, and they didn't even know it. ** All these innocents, all these normal people like you and me will be permanently scarred. No one will come out of this city in any way in tact. **
Captain J-, I mean, Condor started spilling out a whole lot of ratios and scientific jargon that it started to make my head throb with physical pain. I mean, in a way I admired him, but those 2 minutes were a living hell with his constant babble.
Fortunately for my poor head and Rachel's, he figured out enough to put us in an exact spot in order to absorb the impact and instantly awaken 5 hours later, or so he said, around a 1,000 feet from our starting point. It was too much, like the prospects of surviving a nuclear blast 50 feet away from ground zero, which it was. I couldn't believe what the horrors of war can do to our civilization.
"In roughly 10 seconds, a 100 pound bomb will fall from out of the skies dropped from the B-25 bomber, the Enola Gay. We are about to experience the begging of the end of mankind's reign as a civilized community. This is Captain John M. Leeroy of the destroyer Nirvana, out," Condor spoke. As I saluted his speech, almost as a reflex, the townspeople of Hiroshima stared up at the blazing sun, and saw through the glare at the Enola Gay bomber.
** Hey, I saw that once when we went to DC at the National Air and Space museum! Never thought to have seen it flying. **
** Especially over Hiroshima on August 8th, 1945. **
** And dropping the most powerful bomb ever created over our heads. **
The impact happened so quickly and so violently, that I had no clue what happened. The only thing I ever remembered was being thrust quickly into the deepest and dreamless sleep I had ever experienced.
Well, I never truly have been in a dreamless sleep.
THAT was a fantasy.
***************************
My head throbbed as I slowly started to wake up from the state of sleep that Condor had somewhat explained. Every part of my body ached and my vertebrae seemed to be splitting into several more bones. It wasn't exactly what you would call a very pleasant experience.
Opening my eyelids expecting for the worst, I saw Jaguar and Rachel standing over me with Condor pacing back and forth behind them, looking worried.
"Hi, guys," I spoke softly, then yawned. I sat up.
"Hi, Cas, glad you woke up, thought that Condor would exploded with grief and anger. Jeez," Rachel said.
"Do you know why?" Jaguar asked. Duh, no. He continued, "We have about 5 minutes to get out of this bubble with every inhabitant conscious, or we are dead. Don't ask me why, ask the radiation expert over there," he thumbed to the ever worrying Condor.
Condor obviously started to realize that I was awake, and then practically jumped for joy. He raced to the other end of the silvery, opaque bubble that we were in, grabbed several "radiation suits" that I have no clue where he got them, and then started handing them out to Jaguar, Rachel and me.
"Yes! Now, just 5 more hours, and we have conquered the next step, perfect. Put these on," He ordered, starting to slip on one of the brown and green, skin-tight suits.
Slipping on mine, and putting on the helmet, I was suddenly aware of about 50 more things that simply were too complicated for me to understand. I guess one or two of the translucent displays were, I don't know, maybe radar or something, but honestly, I had no clue. So I just ignored that and looked at Condor for instructions.
"Standby, on my mark, walk through the bubble where I walk, got it?" Condor's voice echoed through my head by radio. Just like in the movies, except for the fact that it was a lot crisper and cleaner. We all nodded.
"Now!" He ordered, and walked past the bubble's walls so we could not see them. It was my turn. Walking quickly into the silvery walls of the bubble, I was thrust forward back into the city that we had been in 5 hours ago. But, my eyes did not tell those lies my brain told them.
My first thought was massacre. So were the rest of the thoughts I had from that point on. The Grim Reaper could not have matched the utter annihilation that the one bomb posed at the city of Hiroshima.
Dead bodies littered the streets like roadkill. Moaning children stuck under heaps of rubble, attempting many futile and desperate escapes. Severed limbs lay there simply as grisly reminders to what happened the 5 hours before. Great fires sprang up everywhere that I could see, causing even more panic among the living people in the city. Blood was everywhere, and it seemed to turn the city instantly into the most horrific graveyard ever thought of. It just went to show that even the most twisted minds of horror stories cannot match the twisted reality that the human race inflicts on itself.
We simply stared in utter horror for what seemed like an entire day, but in reality, probably 30 minutes. The sirens blaring, the screaming people engulfed in flames, the mothers wailing over their lost children, the absolute agony of the inhabitants of the town of Hiroshima. It was not reality, for reality could not be so utterly evil. But it was. And my race was doing this on its own, to its own.
I started to think, how evil exactly where the yeerks? Or at least, compared to us? The humans of my day were, in a way, more of a threat to the race's existence than the yeerks. I simply could not start to comprehend the true nature of the human psyche, so we just stood there, awestruck by the horrors of the bomb.
As we stood there, the sun almost started turning a dark, crimson color that simply told us that we were in the house of the devil. The blood red sun of Japan... I was petrified with terror and grief.
After what seemed an eternity, Condor said, "So, we have survived the bomb, now what will you do? Make us stare in horror at this, degrading our minds? You evil bastards."
A voice suddenly filled our heads, "Who is evil, your race did this to itself, you know."
"This was nearly 5 centuries ago, you filth!!! A civilization can easily change in that time! Die!"
The yeerk was not intimidated. "A civilization can. Yours cannot."
Condor was infuriated. That is putting it mildly. "I will kill you, you deranged slugs! You will all die!"
"We shall see, human, we shall see."
And that left us to stare in horror still at the grisly scene in front of us for the remaining 5 hours that we had left. An unknown force had prevented me from moving at all, not even closing my eyes to shield them from the terror.
** Let it stop, for god's sake, let it all stop..."
A/N: Okay, after that rather charming note, I have a tiny quiz for you for no reason whatsoever. Here it goes:
What was Incinerator's original name?
A) Blade
B) Gremlin
C) Doom
D) Crusader
I'll give you the answer at the beginning of chapter 12.
As told by Chief of N&E on the Utopia, Fred Reinhound (Jaguar)
No, it could not have been possible, could it? The yeerks were sentient, or at least we thought. They at least should have feelings, even if they were our enemies. Through us back to the exact time and place of the Hiroshima bombing, right at ground zero? No, that was not possible, for any race. Unless the race was purely hate-filled and evil, which seemed impossible; even the Scythes engineered their biological weapons to cause little pain and a fairly quick death. This, this was the realization of the true evil in the galaxy. A force none of us could begin to comprehend.
I looked hard and firm into the young girl's eyes. Her brown eyes simply told the message that "I'm not kidding, we got to get the hell out of here!"
"Jaguar, how much do you know about radiation?" Condor asked me, still in shock from what Cassie said.
No, I had no clue whatsoever to why he was asking me that. It is required to pass through Cy-Col to take at least one advanced science class and mine was NOT nuclear radiation, much less any type. It was a field of biological enhancement, where we experimented with different types of cyborg implants and the effects of their usage on different animals.
"No, you know that I had Cyber-Bio, if anyone here, you'd know exactly what to do, and I suggest you to suggest it soon."
"Just wondering. I did major in Nuke-Radiation, but I wanted to see what else you had."
"Are you guys nuts?" The blonde-haired girl, I think her name was Rachel, said. "Not only are we about to go nuclear, but you guys are casually chatting about it!!!"
"You know very well that we can't make it."
"Do I give a damn? Better to go down fighting, and that's all there is to it," she persisted.
"We have several more, how would you say it, subtle ways of surviving, Rachel, believe me," Condor added.
I leaned over to whisper to him, "We do?"
"I do, well, sort of. Kind of hard to explain, but it involves the Plunonium 473 mixing with the atomic elements. At Joiren, we barely had enough radiation to morph, but here, at the right time when all hell breaks loose, we could be trapped in a Quantum bubble that would shield us temporarily for the radiation."
"How long?" asked Cassie.
"Long enough, maybe a total of 5 hours. We still have the radiation suits, but they will only be good AFTER the bomb explodes."
"Sounds like a plan to me, Condor," I said.
"It'd better work, or we will die." There was a pause there for no apparent reason, then Rachel spoke.
"Yes it'd better work," Rachel said, "cause I'm not about to give up the fight."
********************
As told by Animorph Cassie [CLASSIFIED: Any attempts at overriding the system will be subject to a court of law.]
It was the doomsday for all the people around me, and they didn't even know it. ** All these innocents, all these normal people like you and me will be permanently scarred. No one will come out of this city in any way in tact. **
Captain J-, I mean, Condor started spilling out a whole lot of ratios and scientific jargon that it started to make my head throb with physical pain. I mean, in a way I admired him, but those 2 minutes were a living hell with his constant babble.
Fortunately for my poor head and Rachel's, he figured out enough to put us in an exact spot in order to absorb the impact and instantly awaken 5 hours later, or so he said, around a 1,000 feet from our starting point. It was too much, like the prospects of surviving a nuclear blast 50 feet away from ground zero, which it was. I couldn't believe what the horrors of war can do to our civilization.
"In roughly 10 seconds, a 100 pound bomb will fall from out of the skies dropped from the B-25 bomber, the Enola Gay. We are about to experience the begging of the end of mankind's reign as a civilized community. This is Captain John M. Leeroy of the destroyer Nirvana, out," Condor spoke. As I saluted his speech, almost as a reflex, the townspeople of Hiroshima stared up at the blazing sun, and saw through the glare at the Enola Gay bomber.
** Hey, I saw that once when we went to DC at the National Air and Space museum! Never thought to have seen it flying. **
** Especially over Hiroshima on August 8th, 1945. **
** And dropping the most powerful bomb ever created over our heads. **
The impact happened so quickly and so violently, that I had no clue what happened. The only thing I ever remembered was being thrust quickly into the deepest and dreamless sleep I had ever experienced.
Well, I never truly have been in a dreamless sleep.
THAT was a fantasy.
***************************
My head throbbed as I slowly started to wake up from the state of sleep that Condor had somewhat explained. Every part of my body ached and my vertebrae seemed to be splitting into several more bones. It wasn't exactly what you would call a very pleasant experience.
Opening my eyelids expecting for the worst, I saw Jaguar and Rachel standing over me with Condor pacing back and forth behind them, looking worried.
"Hi, guys," I spoke softly, then yawned. I sat up.
"Hi, Cas, glad you woke up, thought that Condor would exploded with grief and anger. Jeez," Rachel said.
"Do you know why?" Jaguar asked. Duh, no. He continued, "We have about 5 minutes to get out of this bubble with every inhabitant conscious, or we are dead. Don't ask me why, ask the radiation expert over there," he thumbed to the ever worrying Condor.
Condor obviously started to realize that I was awake, and then practically jumped for joy. He raced to the other end of the silvery, opaque bubble that we were in, grabbed several "radiation suits" that I have no clue where he got them, and then started handing them out to Jaguar, Rachel and me.
"Yes! Now, just 5 more hours, and we have conquered the next step, perfect. Put these on," He ordered, starting to slip on one of the brown and green, skin-tight suits.
Slipping on mine, and putting on the helmet, I was suddenly aware of about 50 more things that simply were too complicated for me to understand. I guess one or two of the translucent displays were, I don't know, maybe radar or something, but honestly, I had no clue. So I just ignored that and looked at Condor for instructions.
"Standby, on my mark, walk through the bubble where I walk, got it?" Condor's voice echoed through my head by radio. Just like in the movies, except for the fact that it was a lot crisper and cleaner. We all nodded.
"Now!" He ordered, and walked past the bubble's walls so we could not see them. It was my turn. Walking quickly into the silvery walls of the bubble, I was thrust forward back into the city that we had been in 5 hours ago. But, my eyes did not tell those lies my brain told them.
My first thought was massacre. So were the rest of the thoughts I had from that point on. The Grim Reaper could not have matched the utter annihilation that the one bomb posed at the city of Hiroshima.
Dead bodies littered the streets like roadkill. Moaning children stuck under heaps of rubble, attempting many futile and desperate escapes. Severed limbs lay there simply as grisly reminders to what happened the 5 hours before. Great fires sprang up everywhere that I could see, causing even more panic among the living people in the city. Blood was everywhere, and it seemed to turn the city instantly into the most horrific graveyard ever thought of. It just went to show that even the most twisted minds of horror stories cannot match the twisted reality that the human race inflicts on itself.
We simply stared in utter horror for what seemed like an entire day, but in reality, probably 30 minutes. The sirens blaring, the screaming people engulfed in flames, the mothers wailing over their lost children, the absolute agony of the inhabitants of the town of Hiroshima. It was not reality, for reality could not be so utterly evil. But it was. And my race was doing this on its own, to its own.
I started to think, how evil exactly where the yeerks? Or at least, compared to us? The humans of my day were, in a way, more of a threat to the race's existence than the yeerks. I simply could not start to comprehend the true nature of the human psyche, so we just stood there, awestruck by the horrors of the bomb.
As we stood there, the sun almost started turning a dark, crimson color that simply told us that we were in the house of the devil. The blood red sun of Japan... I was petrified with terror and grief.
After what seemed an eternity, Condor said, "So, we have survived the bomb, now what will you do? Make us stare in horror at this, degrading our minds? You evil bastards."
A voice suddenly filled our heads, "Who is evil, your race did this to itself, you know."
"This was nearly 5 centuries ago, you filth!!! A civilization can easily change in that time! Die!"
The yeerk was not intimidated. "A civilization can. Yours cannot."
Condor was infuriated. That is putting it mildly. "I will kill you, you deranged slugs! You will all die!"
"We shall see, human, we shall see."
And that left us to stare in horror still at the grisly scene in front of us for the remaining 5 hours that we had left. An unknown force had prevented me from moving at all, not even closing my eyes to shield them from the terror.
** Let it stop, for god's sake, let it all stop..."
A/N: Okay, after that rather charming note, I have a tiny quiz for you for no reason whatsoever. Here it goes:
What was Incinerator's original name?
A) Blade
B) Gremlin
C) Doom
D) Crusader
I'll give you the answer at the beginning of chapter 12.