Chapters coming quicker, as promised. Loosecat56 alerted me to the fact that I have been slacking in putting the characters into character so I tried really hard to make Epsilon seem like his formal, technical and cold self. Huge thank you to everyone who has been reviewing! You k now who you are! I haven't been able to PM this week because im abroad and mostly without internet. Not kidding, I'm uploading this from a bar where my family is watching a football match XD. But seriously, thanks. This story has hit 1000 views and 30 reviews much faster than my last story did. I'm pretty sure I'm starting to improve. Enjoy the chapter and review if you want! ^_^
It was cold. Really cold. Frigid even. He could feel the chilling brushing over his face. It seeped under his closed eyelids that were shut over his eyes. His eyeballs twitching and spinning under the thin layer of skin. Characteristics all too similar to a wide awake mind trying to command a numb unresponsive body. Despite this, he could feel that he was lying down, strapped to a hard, cold table. smacked his lips, licking them in order to try and gain some feeling back. It felt like he was sweeping his tongue against dry ice. Instead he tried at another attempt to bring himself to consciousness so that he could perhaps take note of his surroundings. He tried a natural bodily impulse. Breathing. He took in a long stream of air through his flaring nostrils. The smell that came in wasn't any more reassuring. Strong chemicals. An unnatural aroma. The sort of thing that you would imagine a hospital or dental surgery to smell of. But stronger. Much stronger. The air itself was thin. Probably as a result of the cold. Beyond the chemicals there was a blank. Either there was nothing in this room, or nothing in this room that he could recognise by senses. He was frightened and confused further when he began to hear distant footsteps that sounded to be from heavy boots and the sound of hoarse raspy voices that were as cold as the air. He tried to wriggle, but his legs and arms just wouldn't move as the voices grew closer. The dark brown colour he could see under his eyes suddenly turned bright red-orange as he felt an intense heat on his face. This mild shock was finally enough to open his eyes. Eyes which were immediately dazed with spots after looking directly into the light.
As the spots wore off, he noticed that he wasn't infact staring into the sun. He was looking into a huge examination lamp that was above him. Surrounding him were a range of strange shadowy men. His full eyesight had been impeded by the light but he could make out that they were a group of uniformed men leaning over him, holding clipboards and various instruments. It started before he could even contemplate what to do or say, cutting deeper as he kicked and screeched...
"Ummm hello, earth to Saturday!"
Zak's now hazy and greyed eyes fluttered open slowly, focusing on the figure on the other side of the small cell.
"Get up!" Zak groaned and tilted his head to look at the small figure looking through into the cell.
"Francis?" he croaked weakly.
"I've been wondering how long it was gonna be until you woke up," he said harshly at first but then started fumbling with his fingers nervously, "I thought that you'd...you know...died in there."
"You were worried about me?" Zak smirked.
Francis scowled, "I'm worried because Epsilon will have my head if you die on my watch."
"Don't bother in trying to deny it, you calling him Epsilon instead of father is proof of a change of heart," Zak replied.
Francis paused and then began pacing about "Why are you being so positive about this? Do you even know what might happen to you?"
"No?"
"You're Kur... my people want to find Kur's secrets," he paused "find out what makes him work. They believe you are the ultimate weapon of destruction. They want that power."
"My family won't be far behind," Zak snapped but coughed sharply after.
"Your family will never be able to find this base. Undetectable by radar and kept in secret from the world. Impossible to find without coordinates," Francis explained seemingly sincerely.
"Why do you even care Francis?" Zak sighed painfully.
"I don't 'care' about you. Though I assume you've forgotten how I loathe this place nearly as much as you do."
"It can't be that bad if Epsilon didn't punish you for planning to let me go."
"I have been punished. Epsilon has put a tracker on me! He now knows my every move. If I step out of line, he'll know about it." Francis clenched his fists, "and if I disobey him again. I'll be put to exile."
Zak was a little shocked. "Francis..."
"No, I shouldn't even be talking to you like this. They say I cant show personal feelings to anyone. Especially not an enemy."
"But we're not ene-"
"Shhh! Shut up!" he snapped, "and this conversation is not what I came here for!"
"Then why did you bother?"
Zak then heard the rattling and clunking of keys in a lock followed by a creak as the door was slowly opened and Francis stepped inside. Had he not been left weak and battered from the eight hours that he had previously been here, (The eight hours that had seemed like days) he would have ran straight past Francis in a bid for freedom. Now he just sat propped up in a corner, breathing shallowly. Francis made his approach, putting something down beside Zak and then stepping back. Zak looked at it and then back at Francis.
"drink," he said, pushing the basin closer with his foot.
He hadn't had food or drink since his kidnapping so he picked it up slowly, the water sloshing about in his shaky hands. He then put it to his dry lips and began to slowly sip it. It tasted of chemicals and artificial things like the air. The most 'delicious' water he had ever tasted. After a few gulps, he set it back down and wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his garments which he suddenly noticed weren't his Saturday clan colours. Infact, after further examination he determined that he was dressed all in pale green. Only wearing shorts and a thin shirt. No shoes or socks. There was a small fine print label on the collar of the shirt and he grabbed it with his pale fingers and brought it closer to his eyes. It read: SP28-b. He looked up at Francis."what does this mean?"
"It's your number. The grey men prefer to categorise everything of theirs. Prototypes, prisoners, experiments..."
"I'm not theirs. I do not belong to anyone."
"Well, that's not what it says in your file."
Zak looked angry but then turned to Francis "Why don't you go and see what else is in that file for me?"
"Excuse me?"
"Nobody would know."
"I think Epsilon would notice if my tracking signal mysteriously strayed off into the file archive!"
"Oh so its an archive. Don't you ever think about how much information is in there? How many people's secrets and weaknesses?"
Francis had already noticed that Zak was bribing him. "No, I don't."
"What about your file, have you seen that?"
"It is forbidden! If I was to even sneak a peek at my file, the consequences would be suicide!"
"Well you just keep thinking that Francis ... but one day, you might just think otherwise. You might realise that you do have a choice."
Not saying another word, Francis angrily stomped out of the cell and closed the door, locking it behind him. He mentally shook himself as he walked down the corridor, trying not to let Zak's words get to him, 'you do have a choice', who did Zak think he was to be able to dictate him like that? Deliberately getting him to think against the laws he had obeyed since he was a child. It was ludicrous! Infact Francis was so consumed in these words, he didn't notice that he had nearly walked into someone. About to shout a complaint, he realised who it was. He stood up straight and blanked his expression. "father."
"Ah Francis. How was your task regarding the prisoner?" Epsilon asked.
"Successful," he mumbled.
"Did you give him the water?"
"Yes father."
"Did you mix the sedative into it?"
"Of course father."
"Good. You may retire to your quarters, is it understood that you are not allowed to have any more interactions with the prisoner until my signal is given?
"Yes father," he sighed once more.
"Is something wrong? Are you perhaps under peak physical wellbeing?"
"No father, I am fine."
"good." And with that Epsilon was gone. In the direction of Zak's cell.
Francis dropped his shoulders in relief and sauntered away towards the opposite end of the huge base. Infact, this was one of three of his people's secret bases that were in isolation from the world. This particular one was located in the Gobi desert. Underground, buried in the sand. It was a series of underground passages, spread out over the area of a mile or so. Pretty much a maze if you didn't know your way around. That prevented the escape of most prisoners. Well, that and the fact that above ground there was hundreds of miles of cold barren desert in each direction. The sleeping quarters were on the north side of this base, near the file archive. The file archive That Francis found himself stopping outside for a moment. 'you do have a choice' these words were more unsettling to Francis than anything. They were burrowing into him, eating at his mind. Driving him crazy. He sighed and put a hand on the door. It wasn't like he couldn't go in. He'd seen Epsilon put the pin into the door lock enough to know it by heart. He put the pin in slowly and door slid open silently. Maybe just one peak? Knowing he would regret it later, he slipped inside. The faint blue lighting greeted him into the large room as the door shut behind him. He took one step and then stopped. As soon as Epsilon checked the tracker, he knew he'd be for it, but still, he'd come this far and he didn't want to turn back just yet. The old file archive used to be rows and rows of shelves storing paper documents that held crucial details of nearly evey man, woman and child in the world. Now that it was the 21st centaury, the grey men had invested in a super computer to keep the records. It was mounted on the wall opposite to the door, the giant monitor screens on standby. He crept over to it as silently as he could, pulled out the chair out and sat down. He quickly typed in his details along with a security check which included a hand and eye scan, praying it would accept him, he was pleased when the documents menu came onto the screen. He gave one last look back to the door. There was no going back now. The files were organised by surname so he clicked 'S' and then scrolled down a folder called "Sat" which opened up another series of folders. In "Sat" there was a variety of folders named after continuations of "Sat". Francis clicked on "Satur" as an add on and after a minute of scrolling found eight folders with the name "Saturday". He skimmed through the first two without recognising any names but came to the third one to find a "Drew Saturday" at the top of the folder. Other than a folder that said 'related files', there was two other names, one of which that said in bold red print "Zak Saturday" with ," SP28-b - KUR" in brackets.
He clicked on the file and it brought up a long document. Francis read through it eagerly. Most of the things on there were what he expected. The lack of control on Zak's part, his cryptid influencing ability, everything that that Francis had seen before. Yet there were some things that Francis had never seen before. A set of experiments dated for the following weeks and a list of journal entries from the days prior. Francis read the most recent one. "18:00 hours. SP28-b (KUR) given a 5g enhancer tablet. No progress as of yet. A further does of a 100ml DNA mixture is to be administered via blood stream at 22:00 hours. Results pending. Enhancer tablet? Francis thought that he'd been told that he had given a sedative to Zak. Why had his father lied? He scrolled down just a little more to find more empty graphs and tables, all for the results of this 'test'. Now he was more than a little intrigued. Trying to find out more information, he clicked out of Zak's file and clicked on 'related files' and scanned through the names. Dr Paul Cheecho, Dr Miranda Grey, Doyle Blackwell...all names he recognised. But there was one at the bottom, one he was absolutely stunned to see. It was his. His file. It read "Codename: Agent Francis." His fingers quivered as they hovered over the keyboard. His file. Sitting there unprotected, just waiting for him to read it. He knew that he should have been wondered why it had been in the related folder in first place but right now he was too tempted to read the file. He bit his lip and clicked on it slowly. However, as it opened, a stream of light slipped into the room.
"Francis?"
Francis quickly closed the tab, going back to Zak's file.
"Ah, I see you were brushing up in the knowledge of our prisoner. Though in future it might be better if you inquire about using the archive first," Epsilon said, striding up behind him. Francis breathed a long sigh of relief. "Francis?"
"Yes father?" he said almost obediently
"Come with me, there is something I wish to show you."
Francis hopped off the chair and followed alongside the tall man. After leaving the archive, he realised that Epsilon was leading him towards a part of the base he had never been permitted to enter. The east perimeter wing. The lighting was very dim in this sector, only dull red tinted wall lights provided enough light for Francis to see where he was going whilst adding to the eeriness of the situation. Francis began to notice that the walls were lined with cages and cells, each one was numbered, but they all seemed empty. Some looked like they had once been the confines of something and some were completely stripped down to the beams in the walls but none showed signs of life.
"I have decided to bring you in on this top secret project becuase I believe you have come of age to grasp an understanding of this field of work," Epsilon started, startling Francis. "Our people, lead by me, have been working on a long term project regarding the Saturday child and the threat of Kur. We want to do more than the Saturdays and the Secret Scientists are doing about the situation. In order to do that, we are fully examining Kur himself, from ancient times to present day." Epsilon continued to walk closer to the dead end in the near distance of the hall, Francis following slowly. "For example, previous examples of Kur have been bestowed in cryptids and because of this, we believe that Zak Saturday may be carrying dormant cryptid DNA and hormones. We plan on activating these with steroids and DNA samples." Francis' skin was just about crawling as they reached the end of the corridor. A huge empty cage lay there, more stronger and reinforced than the rest. With the letters SP28-b engraved into the top. For the first time in his life, Francis' eyes widened behind his glasses with both pity, surprise and a bit of horror.
"It could get very messy."
