Chapter 12: New Prisons
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Bogon, Endako Orbit. 10 December, 06:55 Standard Time
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"...and then you what? How stupid are you? These people are Megacorp security, not Ta'ree secret police!"
Rusko flinches under Angela's angry, piercing glare. The once proud lombax now feels an inch tall. Fortunately, before the incensed lombax woman can continue ranting, the door to the holding room opens. A Megacorp security robot dumps a short lombax in a plain blue Megacorp jumpsuit just inside the door, then sees Rusko and freezes in place.
Angela slaps her palm over her face and shakes her head, making her long hair swish behind her. "What now?"
A heavily synthesized voice scratches from the machine's speaker. "Logs indicate lombax prisoner, approximately 155 centimeters tall, light primary fur color, in standard Megacorp jumpsuit. Lombax in approximate matching description found approaching Inventory."
Angela sighs deeply. Great. First Rusko, now this, and I still need to transmit that report to Chairman Dorn and Fizzwidget. "Go down to maintenance." The machine turns away and leaves, closing the door behind it. Angela takes in a deep breath, and slowly releases it. "Sorry, Ratchet. I forgot that you need to be logged in."
"I'm fine." Ratchet turns to the other lombax in the holding room. Ratchet says, with a smile, "Hey. I'm Ratchet. I tried to go down to inventory. What're you in here for?"
Rusko sits down against a wall and looks away from Ratchet. A few seconds pass, and Rusko refuses to speak, though a quick glance betrays that he does acknowledge Ratchet's presence.
"Oooookay. Whatever." Ratchet crosses his arms in confusion and irritation at Rusko's behavior.
Angela rolls her eyes at Rusko's stubbornness. "Listen, Ratchet, I have a report to send to Worf Dorn, Chairman of Megacorp Security. Let's go. I'll log you in and then come get you in a few hours after I'm done working."
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Bogon, Endako Orbit. 10 December, 06:55 Standard Time
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"...no, that's fine. I read the report about Ratchet." Chairman Dorn grins with a hint of smugness. "After all, the Protopet Incident and your 'mystery thief' act is what caught my attention. You've been doing a damn fine job, by the way. Catching a saboteur on your first fleet escort, now there's an exciting first field assignment."
Dorn looks down and reaches for an e-pad just out of view of the camera. "I'll get to this report and check in with Fizzwidget. Keep on your toes, I have a special assignment I'm placing you on."
Cross nods. He had been threatening her with a 'special assignment' for three months, but so far she had been able to duck out of it. "Yes, sir. Security Chief Cross out." She taps a button and cuts the transmission. The Megacorp logo appears on the screen, but she's already stood up and heading for the door.
A few minutes later, Cross arrives at Inventory. The door opens and a trio of guards exit, each one pushing a cart with equipment packaged from Inventory. Cross waits for them to pass before she walks into the room.
"...so I give the plumber the Sewer Crystals I had collected on the way down. He takes them and takes a deep whiff before he says, 'Ahh, fresh from the bowels of a King Ameboid.' I'm trying desperately not to gag—" Ratchet abruptly ends his narrative to the human in charge of Inventory when he sees Cross, and a bright smile splits his excited expression. "Hey, Angela."
Cross is unable to keep a small smile from quirking up onto her face. "You said you wanted me to see something?"
The human hastily walks to the nearest table and picks up the bulky pad. "I keep on telling you, it doesn't work. Nothing happens." He carefully hands it to Angela, and she takes the heavy thing.
The moment Angela's hands grasp the heavy pad, the screen lights up and a menu for "Project Ta'ree" appears in plain text. She opens the first item, a physiological report on the Ta'ree. Though very human-like, the differences quickly strike out. Restructured, counter-standard collagen fibers allowing far greater flexibility, double myosin production in muscle tissue. Her eyes slowly widen in awe at the genetic work that must have been put into it. She goes back to the main menu and starts looking through the genetics, her eyes widening in wonder. The meticulous data, it makes her think of art instead of hard science. "This work is amazing—"
"Angela!" Ratchet's shout grabs her attention and she almost jumps. "This is . . . Maybe we should start at the same place I did on the station." He walks around next to Angela so he can see the screen, then clears his throat and directs a command at the pad. "What does 'Ta'ree' mean?"
Ta'ree: conjunction of "Ta" meaning "advanced, great, superior, above" and "Ree", a derivation of colloquial "Rehee" or "Reh'ee" meaning "humans, the sentient species of Terra III".
The inventory analyst stares in shock. It only works when the lombaxes use it!
Angela is not nearly so impressed. "What, that's it? It just prints text, it doesn't even have a holographic projector or speakers?"
Ratchet tosses an irritated glare at Angela, but redirects his attention to the pad. "What is project Ta'ree?"
When humans were discovered, they had a low compatibility with cybernetics. However, they also had a deeper connection to their seven senses.
"Seven senses? I've heard of 'the Sixth Sense', but I thought that was just a creepy movie." The pad ignores her, continuing its text printout:
Lomba launched a project to make them more compatible, stronger, faster, smarter, more in tune with their senses. The operation was named Project Ta'ree.
Before Angela can voice her disappointment at the 'primitive technology', Ratchet speaks another command to the pad. "Show me."
The data pad's screen flickers, blinking black, white, then black again. Ratchet sees a small red light flare at one corner, indicating 'working'. The old piece of equipment processes the request for a few seconds, then finishes linking the files. The screen flickers again, replaced by a grainy video of a primitive lombax ship approaching earth.
More short video clips play by, showing lomban ships abducting humans and forcing them into labs. It shows the abducted humans being tested on like lab rats. A few clips show lombax bureaucrats making grand plans with no idea what they were getting themselves into, and geneticists working with a frenzied glee on their unholy projects.
Angela lasts a few clips longer than Ratchet into the first horribly mutated results before she turns away looking sick. "Stop."
The pad freezes and takes a few seconds to process the request before returning to a black screen with a blinking amber underscore.
Angela takes a few seconds to breathe. She shakes her head, as if to clear the disturbing images from their head, but fails. She puts her hand on her stomach and tries to quell the feeling that her breakfast is trying to come back up. "Ratchet? What was that?"
"That was what I found on the abandoned space station, it's what I came to show you. Angela, is this real? Can this . . . ?" Ratchet trails off.
Angela opens a menu and starts looking through some more of the data, though this time with a much different attitude. None of it seems faked; all of the genetics looks right. A sudden idea crosses her head and she looks up. With quick, measured steps, she marches out of Inventory and towards the holding cell. Rusko was from Falnar Galaxy. He should know something about this if it's real. Ratchet follows, rather confused, with his own loping sort of jog.
A few minutes later, she arrives at the holding quarters. The guards open the door for her and she proceeds to Rusko's room. Rusko looks up at her with curiosity as to why she has come to see him again. He finds out when Angela shoves the pad at him. "You never mentioned anything about this when you talked about the Ta'ree."
Rusko stares away, refusing to make eye contact or take the pad. Angela drops it and the heavy object falls straight on his foot, making him shoot up with a snarl. He picks up the pad and barely takes enough time to read "Project Ta'ree" at the top before he tosses it back at Cross. The geneticist's gaze bores into him. If looks could kill, Rusko'd be in mortal peril. Finally, he shrugs, as if trying to shunt off the looks Cross is sending at him. "It's not exactly something we're proud of."
Ratchet balks. "You were a part of this?"
Rusko stands abruptly and snaps back, "It happened more than 1000 years ago!" Both Angela and Ratchet step back at the unexpected outburst, but Rusko continues. "The project was a mistake, but the Ta'ree use it day after day as an excuse to persecute us and shove us into gulags!"
"Gulags?"
Rusko makes a frustrated sound somehow like a cross between a roar and a sigh at Ratchet. Rusko had already explained it once. This has to be some sick prank. Everyone knew about them in Falnar. "Read my lips. Gu-lag: Death. Camp."
Fortunately for the three and the escalating tempers, the door slides open and a human in a slightly sloppy Megacorp security uniform walks in to interrupt the fighting. "Chief Cross? We're here for the saboteur, prisoner transfer to orbital prison AH-1701."
Before Angela can respond, a rather loud 'pop' and then click emanates from her shoulder radio. "Chief Cross, you have a message from administrator Dorn. For your ears only."
Angela sighs briefly. Can't say I'm not earning my pay. "All right. You two go." The lombax security chief points at the door. After a moment's hesitation, Ratchet and Rusko both walk out. Angela reaches to her radio and clicks it to two-way mode. "Cross here, go ahead."
She hears a chuckle on the other end. "Good morning, Chief Cross. I told you earlier that I'd have a new assignment for you. You've been assigned to the security detail protecting and testing Megacorp's latest and greatest creation. I'd tell you more, but the project is classified, so you'll have to come down. I'll have a personal assistant waiting for you, he'll give you the data. After you're done reading over it, memorize the important information like the times and places, then erase it."
"Understood. Cross out."