I just finished watchin Shaun of the Dead... But That was AFTER I compiled this chapter...
That was an awesome movie.
On the Origins of Sasha: For Science
On Board the Crashed Protossian Stargate
The ship seemed to be running on a very small reservoir of power. Although the gravity generators were still fully functional, none of the ship lights were working. Bree had to manually open any automatic doors they came across.
Eventually the group came to an atrium- a "welcome to our ship" sort of room. It was coated so thoroughly in dead bodies that the floor could not be seen. The bodies had all once belonged to humans- scientists and researchers, to be exact. None of them had decayed; instead, they had all just sort of wasted away. They were in such pristine condition that expressions of agony and terror could still be discerned upon their faces. There was no blood around them, even though many of the victims had been disemboweled or ripped apart. The faded colors of their uniforms indicated that they had once belonged to the UED.
"Lovely," Danial muttered. "Valk, these look like UED. Any idea what the hell happened here?" He turned to look at her, and waited patiently as Bree brought her into the room.
"Mmm. The mystery grows and grows. As you know, the UED were only on Aiur for a short period of time; when they were at their peak. They- and you- were here to subdue the new Overmind and enslave the zerg to their will. It is not surprising that one of their science vessels should be here."
Danial frowned, but it made sense. He checked his scanner again for anything out of the ordinary. He flicked through sound, motion, and infrared settings. The only thing they could detect was that this particular room was extremely cold. "Disappointing. I-" And then, suddenly, his scanners picked up something. It was a sound; very soft and issuing from down a hallway.
"So should we head back?" came Bree's voice from behind him.
"Hold on- I'm detecting something. Everyone be quiet." Both women immediately looked at him. The mechanic did not bother turning up her SCV's scanner volume. She didn't want to hear whatever Danial was picking up.
He carefully adjusted his scanner's precision and volume. What he heard sent a liquid chill down his spine. Issuing softly from his suit's speakers was the sound of the laughter of several children. It was not mocking laughter, but real and innocent. "… Down that way," he said after a moment, and he pointed his rifle towards a hallway. He proceeded to step carefully through the atrium, trying to step on as few bodies as possible. When he reached the hallway, he had to sort of squeeze through. Science vessels were not made to accommodate armored marines. He hesitated only a moment, to ensure that Bree and Valk were following, before following the laughter.
It led him on, always vague and indistinct. Left, left, right, left, right, right, forward… At last they reached a door that was slightly ajar, and from that point they heard no more laughter. The marine eyed the door and then looked back at Bree's SCV.
"I think this is the room we're looking for."
"This is messed up," the mechanic said darkly.
"Very."
"Whatever happened here just isn't right." In the short time that he had known her, Danial had never seen Bree so unnerved. The mechanic did not like the science vessel at all. She was even being careful not to touch anything. He eyed her a moment, and then carefully positioned his rifle into the half open door and attempted to push the door open.
There was a furious whirring sound as a massive drill fell halfway through the door. It was colossal in scale- more like ship building equipment than like anything that should be found in a science vessel. The pointed bit stopped but an inch in front of his visor, whirring furiously and giving off sparks.
"Shit!" he gasped, jerking backwards. Of course, he could not move far in the cramped walkway, and his armor made a hollow clang as it thudded against the wall behind him. To his surprise, the little girl immediately perked up and looked around curiously. Her eyes never once went to the drill, but instead concentrated on the ground around him. Still trying to catch his breath, Danial looked around and then checked his scanners.
Normally, if he were viewing a living creature- like Bree, it would show up as a figure of red. Instead, he saw small, vague figures of the darkest blues and purples on his scanner. He easily recognized childish shapes flitting around him and disappearing; he could even hear their soft laughter. Quite suddenly, the drill was pushed back. The bit rose up and then fell backwards through the door, in the opposite direction from Danial. It landed with a harsh clang. The whirring of its motors persisted for just a moment; then there was the sound of an electrical shock, and the whirring halted.
The group was silent for a long moment. At last, Danial took in a deep breath, and opened the door the rest of the way with his rifle. He mentally prepared himself for whatever he might find, and shone his headlamp into the room. The room, of course, contained a laboratory. Ahead of him were all kinds of computers, and various tables laden with test equipment. He could just barely make out a hallway branching off from the side of the room.
"… I'm going in," he said after a long moment, and he stepped into the room and looked around. There was no power hooked up to the computer terminals. They stared out at him like a hundred angry black voids. As he could see nothing that would cause a busload of laughing children to lead him to this particular room, he carefully made his way to the side hallway. As he neared it, he looked behind him to make sure that Bree was still following. She was. He turned back around, and shone his light down into the depths of the hallway. All along the walls were stasis cells. At least forty of them. Each was tucked into its own little compartment, and they had long ago lost all power. Anything within them was probably dead.
Things were no longer so silent. There was an oppressive ambience to the air. Somewhere in the distance was a light dripping noise. He had the very distinct impression that he was in the exact position from which horror movie side kicks often disappeared from in movies. He took in a deep and steadying breath, and then slowly walked over to one of the cells. He oriented his lights so that they were shinning into the cell, and then peered inside to see if he could see anything.
He came face to face with the blank white eyes of a small human child. The marine jerked backwards with a curse word. After a moment, he moved forward again to get a better look. The child was female. She was positioned as if she had died while pawing at the side of the tank. Her fingers and toes had been transformed into thick claws, and she sported a tail.
"The hell have these scientists been doing?" he whispered, and then he looked over at the little white protoss girl. She was staring at the tank. He grimaced and wrapped his arm further around her. After a moment of looking at the stasis cell, he turned and moved to the next cell. Within was another human child- again female. That one was curled in the fetal position. She had been divided in half- straight down the middle, and a profile of her insides was visible. In the next tank was another little girl. She was horribly deformed, with organs on the outside of her, and vicious teeth and bones sticking out at weird angles. In the forth tank there was a little protoss girl with an extra arm growing out of her back and a fanged mouth split across her face.
The atrocities continued from tank to tank. They were filled with protoss and human children- mostly female. Some of them were whole and unmarred. Most were hybridized. Some sported stitches, mechanical implants, or cuts. Some tanks simply contained body parts. At the end of the hallway was another door, from which he could detect a heat source. By the time he reached it, he was thoroughly "creeped-out" from what he had seen. He looked behind him to see that Valk was also looking into all the cyro-cells, but with a more critical eye than he had.
"I'm going to open this door," he announced. "There is a heat source on the other side."
"If anything evil eats you," Bree piped up, "just remember: I told you so."
"Thanks," he remarked dryly. He turned back to the door and then slung his rifle over his shoulder. He clicked a button on his gauntlet, and a combat knife popped out of the wrist. In case something was standing just beyond that door, he wanted to be prepared for close combat. "Let's see what's behind door number two…"
When he opened the door however, there was no one there. The room contained another lab, this time with operating tables. It seemed unnaturally dark, as if the shadows were muffling his various lights and trying to smother them all together. He grunted and put away his combat knife, opting instead for his second side-arm. When he had the weapon ready, he took a careful step into the room, in the direction of the only operating table he could clearly make out. His light flooded over the table. He was not immediately freaked out by what he saw. He'd wet his pants enough times that day.
There was a child strapped into the medical table. The little thing's chest cavity had been opened up and partially dissected. Little zerg wings were spread out about it. It was clearly dead. The child's eyes were open and staring forevermore at the ceiling above it. It had neither wasted away, nor decayed.
The lights flickered, and then suddenly came on, as bright as daylight. On the walls, all along the length and breadth of the large room- even on the ceiling and on the floor- were finger-paintings in blood. They were childish finger-paintings, and featured subjects such as flowers and horses. There was the occasional boxy cottage with a stick-figure tree nearby and a smiling sun in the air. There were even little bloody handprints everywhere. His scanners indicated that all the blood was warm. It registered as somewhere around 80 degrees Fahrenheit- just warm enough to be freshly spilt. When he looked down at the child's body he discovered that it was warm as well.
"Valk? Bree? Make sure your weapons are loaded!" he called behind them. He remained focused on his scanners, and then blinked as he noticed something strange. The blood and the body were both getting warmer.
"I'm not going in there if I can help it!" Bree called. "And I think you should come out!"
"Agreed," Danial hissed. He slowly started to back his way out of the room, and then stopped as his eyes alighted upon something new. Huddling in the far corner of the room was something with a viable heat signature- something warm enough to be alive. He aimed his weapon at it immediately, and sqinted his eyes to get a better look. It was pitch black and slimy. "Wait… I got something."
"Danial, come on! We know this place is messed up, let's just go back!"
"Hold on a sec… Just let me check this out."
"Danial!"
He moved closer, his weapon still aimed at the creature. Once he got closer, he could tell that it was rocking back and forward. Even without his scanner, he could hear it humming a little nursery tune in a tiny, weak voice.
He kept his gun pointed at the thing, and hesitated over what to do. Finally, just asked the only thing that came to mind: "… Are you alright?"
It kept humming and rocking. The little song was growing louder. Ever few seconds, it gave a tiny sob. The little girl in his arms sudden stiffened
"I said, are you alright?" he asked again, raising his voice a bit. Something was up. He glanced at the girl he was holding, and noted that she was staring at the black, slimy creature.
He heard the dripping noise again, and then more dripping. He whipped his head around to discern the source of the noise. Now seriously freaked out, he could manage nothing more than, "The heck?" The various finger paintings had started to bleed. The body on the medical table had turned its head, and was not staring sightlessly at him. "Shit. Time to go," he grunted as he started to back out of the room.
The little girl in his arms was still looking at the black creature. When he began to back up, she stretched her arm out towards it, as if reaching for the slimy thing. Danial looked at her, and then attempted to set her down on the ground. Rather than complying, the little girl refused to let go. She merely looked at him, and then back at the black creature, never lowering her arm.
"You gotta be kidding me, kid…"
And then suddenly, he noticed something. The way her arm was stretched out, it was right in front of his chest plate light. Again, he saw the light shining off of the wall in front of him, with no shadow from her arm.
No shadow. None of any kind. Danial looked from her, to the shadow, to the pure-black creature huddling in the corner. "Oh shit." The little girl looked at him once more, and then again looked to the black creature. More blood dripped down from the walls. They were almost entirely red now. "… Right, then… Here… Here we go."
Danial breathed once in, and once out, and then slowly approached the black creature, until the thing was at his feet. It whimpered and looked up at him. Its face was protossian, but horribly disfigured. Teeth were growing out of its cheek, and half of its face was swollen and distorted beyond recognition. One brow sank down over its eye, and that same side of its face sported a horrible rash. It appeared to be dead, and its skin was gray and filthy.
"Its okay," he said slowly in response to its whimper. "Its okay, I'm not going to hurt you." To accent his point, he carefully lowered his side arm, and set it gently upon the ground.
It shifted, and he was able to see it more clearly. It had dorsal spines- the "wings" that Kerrigan sported. Its tiny, deformed hands had powerful, raptor-like claws. Most notable, its eyes were entirely black. Slowly, Danial knelt down beside the creature. He knew full well that what he was doing was dangerous, but the peculiar color of the black creature's eyes spurred him on.
"It's alright," he murmured.
The little girl in his arms strained forward, reaching towards the black creature. It shivered in response, and then moved a bit, turning fully towards them. There were sores all along its body that oozed blood, and it was covered in spikes and blades. After a moment, it slowly reached forward one of its deformed arms.
Carefully, Danial moved the little girl closer to the creature.
Their hands touched. And then, slowly, the black creature's hand seemed to melt, and slowly drift along the girl's arm. The black creature shuddered and then just sort of dissolved into a bloody mist that spread out along the wall. It took the exact shape of the little girl's shadow.
The marine breathed a slight sigh of relief, and then looked at the girl in his arms. It did not surprise him so much that her face was split wide by a zerg-like mouth. Nor that she had wings, claws, and a tail. After a moment, those features faded, and she returned to her normal appearance. Seemingly content, she leaned her cheek back against his shoulder, and closed her eyes.
Danial nodded and then stood up and looked around the room. The walls were bleeding heavily, and the body was gone. He nodded again and then made a quick exit, leaving his side arm behind and heading back into the stasis cell portion of the lab. Much to his surprise, Bree and Valk were not there. When he checked his HUD, he realized that both were outside of the science vessel. Almost immediately, they called for him over his communicator link.
"Danial! Get out here! There's zerg everywhere!"
One disaster after another. He swore and then started moving through the Science Vessel as quickly as he could, denting up the narrow hallways with his shoulders. Blood washed behind him, following him at his exact pace. It followed him all the way to the exit, and then stopped. He stepped out of the entry hatch, reoriented himself after the gravity changed, and then looked behind him at the science vessel.
When he looked back, the hatch was closed.
YARG! Review or I shall not update!
