"I'm
sick of this place," Jake thought to himself.
He looked up at the stars
spinning over the horizon, and wondered how long it would be till he was
relieved from his post. He sat at the
controls of a tiny sensor station on the outlying border of the Minara Trade
School, or MTS. It was a colony for
students and instructors. Jake leaned
back in the leather chair, and scanned the displays.
"What
kills me is I'm not even here to look for anything, just to provide the computers
with human confirmation of anything drastic, like a Kilhunter invasion, or a
black hole forming a few klicks or something just as likely," he said out loud.
MTS was based on a small moon which orbited
a gas giant in the Minaran system. The
system had sixteen other planets, all barren and of little value, compounded by
the system's remoteness. It was the
perfect place for teaching colonization of harsh environments. The trade school created four mock-colonies
a year as senior projects and to give underclassmen hands-on environment. The instructors felt sims could never
substitute for the actual experience of coordinating hundreds construction
drones running on different operating systems, and at different levels of
operational functionality. Students
complained when pieces of equipment broke down or failed to talk to each other,
but the instructors insisted that one never had a full set of new drones
running the same software out in the field.
Suddenly Jake's
thoughts were interupted- "Jake McLaron, this is shuttle 11. We will be at your position momentarily for
the shift change."
"Acknowledged
eleven." Finally! It had seemed even longer than last
month. He was glad these assignments
were few and far between. Standing, he
leaned on the console and tried to pick out the shuttle's approach over the
horizon. Soon one of the stars grew
into the shuttle's angular sillouhette.
It swooped over the tiny observation post and doubled back to settle
down on top of it. Jake headed to the
back room and grabbed his pack. Up the
spiral staircase he passed through the airlock and was into the shuttles
cabin. Jake's replacement observer
stalked past him to the airlock.
"Long shift
Jake?" the pilot asked. Jake settled
into the co-pilot's chair.
"Yeah, they get
worse every time." Jake stowed his pack
in a compartment in the wall and pulled the restraints into place.
"Well, don't
think I like flying people back and forth from MTS Central to these cubicles
with life-support. Its boring. And its depressing. People are always so quiet on the way there,
like they're going to their execution or an exam or something."
"Pretty much,
man," Jake smiled. "Its rough in there.
There's not even a net relay in there.
The scanner console hogs all the bandwidth."
They sat in
silence for awhile, as the craters flashed by beneath them. A couple minutes later the glow of MTS
Central started to shine in the distance.
"Hey, by the way
Jake, did you know that guy who replaced you at that post?"
"I didn't really
see him, I was in such a hurry to get out of there."
"Well I'd never
seen him before. Kind of a little
strange. I tried to talk to him but he
just gave one word answers mostly, and stared straight ahead out at the
scenery."
"Weird," Jake
replied, but his thoughts were already back at Central. He had a structual analysis due at
1600.
"Miss… Smith.
You are here to teach the new class in colony security?"
"Yes, that's
right." She pulled a data pad out from
a jacket pocket and handed it to the attendant behind the check-in desk. "All the details are on this," she
added. The MTS Central lobby was large
for such an obscure school out in the middle of nowhere. It was brightly lit, and a large sign behind
the welcome desk read 'Welcome Visitors and Potential Students.' A map pointed visitors to the cafeteria,
baggage check and financial aid offices.
"It seems you
have special paperwork to exempt you from the normal baggage check procedures."
"That's right,"
Smith smiled.
"You certainly
have a great deal of luggage don't you."
The attendant eyed the numerous metal cases carried by anti-grav
drones.
"Yes well, its
mostly laboratory equipment for the classes I'll be teaching," she said.
"I see. Well, everything is in order. Do you know where your quarters are?"
"Yes."
"Well then. Have a nice day. Here is your instructor's pass, and your data pad."
"Thankyou. Come on guys," she said to the drones, which
replied in affirmative beeps as they floated down the hall after her with the
luggage in tow.
She was quite
tall and imposing in her black jacket and flight pants. Her shoes clicked on the shiny floor.
Students took notice of her, not just because of her appearance but because it
was a strange sight to see a woman with an instructor's pass. MTS teachers were traditionally men. But no one stopped her on her way, and
several minutes she was in a more deserted residential corridor. She found her apartment, and the door unlocked
automatically as the room's programming recognized her. The room was good-sized, with a bathroom off
to the left, a small bedroom to the right.
The living room featured a kitchenette and a full net console.
She was tired
from a long spaceflight, and it was
good to have a nice quiet room.
"Alright, time to unpack."
"Hey, who's the
chick?" Peterson asked. He leaned on
his desk in Jake's direction.
"Who?"
"Look at the
front of the class!" Peterson replied.
The whole classroom was filled, with about forty-five students
total. At the front of the room, a tall
blond was opening a briefcase and pulling out some data discs. She was dressed in a dark professional
business suit.
"Wow."
"You got that
right."
"But why would
they schedule us with a new class in the middle of a semester? And why is a girl teaching it? I thought there was some rule that all the
instructors have to be old men," Jake said with sarcasm.
"Guess not."
With her
teaching materials spread out neatly on the desk beside the lecturn, the
instructor began. "I'm glad you all
could be here today, I'm Ms. Smith, and I'll be teaching the new Colony Defense
Systems classes. I hope you will enjoy
learning as much as I enjoy teaching.
If you'll all open your data pads, I will transmit the first set of
notes and your sim assignments."
Jake got his pad
out of the pack next to his desk and it's screen flickered to life, displaying
schematics of laser batteries, escape pods, shield generators and more. The images flashed faster and faster until
the download was complete. His
excitement for the class grew; this was nothing like the boring architectual
classes or history studies. "This is
gonna rock," Peterson said nudging Jake.
"You got that
right," he replied happily. The
instructor seemed to be the opposite of every MTS tradition.
"Please open up
the first schematic, its an image of your standard residential dome. Forget everything you use right now for gate
construction, its completely worthless," she began with disgust. "Any half-bit pick pocket could break its
security measures. Here are the new
standards for outer doors." The thin
doors in the diagram were replaced with heavy blast gates with an emergency
seal function and electrocution countermeasures.
Peterson raised
his hand to Jake's surprise. In their
other classes questions were generally forbidden. "Ms Smith? Are you sure
the average consumer in the market is going to want their place to look like a
prison? And half of this stuff isn't
legal in Galactic Federation space anyway."
He smirked at Jake as if to say, Let's see how she handles this.
She smiled and
leaned on the lecturn. "What's your
name student?"
"It's Peterson,
sir. I mean Ma'am."
"Peterson. Of course I don't expect anyone to want most
of these defences. They certainly
wouldn't want to pay for them. But this
class is for all of you, the students.
How many of you plan to use what you learn here to build outposts and
other facilites for yourselves?" Nearly
every hand went up. "Well then, I'm
sure you'll want to have some of these options open to you." Not everyone seemed convinced, but somehow
it just didn't matter. The class
exeeded expectations. Ms. Smith just
had a certain charisma that connected with the students, even though the
majority of them were male. The three
hours of class time flew by in disscussions of everything from auto-tracking
lasers to the latest political upheavals in the core worlds. When Jake sat down at his desk in his
afternoon class, he felt the strict traditions of MTS prestige settle down on
him like a heavy blanket in summer. The
instructor walked in exactly on time, and opened his data pad just the same as
he had for the last year and a half.
The class was perfectly silent and attentive, all too aware of the
consequences of disrupting the lesson.
It was about the Telrusion rebellion of a hundred and thirty eight years
ago, and how the infinite wisdom of the Galactic Federation prevailed once
again. And how an ancestor of the
founder of MTS fought in the battles and was decorated on nine separate
occasions. It was misery. And Peterson wasn't even in the class to
commiserate with. It was rough.
"Ah, Ms.
Smith. Please have a seat," the council
leader said. She closed the
ridiculously tall doors behind her and took an empty seat that bore her name,
freshly printed. There were roughly
twenty-five instructors seated around the heavy wooded table. The walls of the large meeting hall were
also wood paneled, and several paintings of ancient founders hung on them. At the far wall behind the council leader's
chair, there was an expansive window which boasted an impressive view of the
moon's surface and the bright orange gas giant it orbited.
"Ms. Smith," the
concil leader continued. "I understand
that our MTS administrators in the core worlds contacted you as the most
appropriate candidate to replaced the deceased Instructor Gragg, but it escapes
me why they changed the course designation from 'Fudamentals of Advanced
Post-Calculus Algorithms' to this rather odd title, 'Colony Defense Systems.' We've never offered such courses in the
past."
"That is
correct," another administrator added.
"Did you meet with the administrators?
Could there perhaps have been some confusion in their haste to fill the
position? I do not seek to offend you,
Ms. Smith, but MTS has a strong tradition of male leadership, and your
appointment may signify a significant alteration of policy that we would like
to be familiar with in case-"
"I never met
with any administrative types," she intterupted. "I just received an offer over the net, and accepted. So here I am." The council was silent for a moment.
"Well then, it
seems you will be a part of our, ah, team for the forseeable future," the
council leader stated reluctantly. "On
to the next order of business."
Back in her
room, Ms. Smith went straight to the computer console. And called up long distance
commincation. After a few moments, the
MTS emblem was replaced with a 'ready to call' screen. "Time to check in," she thought to
herself. She input her personal
encryption software and loaded up of the dialer. Soon a worried image filled one of the display screens. It was a middle-aged man with a bit of grey
in his goatee. He was seated at a desk,
and the hum of background office chatter was noticeable.
"Samus! Do you have any leads? Do you still think the Parasite is there at
the trade school?" He asked
quickly. "Because if you're wrong, Dios
help us."
"Calm down there
Senator. You and your research programs
created this little problem. It's your
responsibility. And I'm not just doing
this out of the goodness of my heart you know," she replied firmly. If there was anything she hated, it was
people who couldn't clean up after themselves.
But it was a living. The Senator
sighed. He looked very tired.
"I'll arrange
for whatever compensation you want afterwards," he said. "Could you please just tell me if you've
found anything yet."
"Nothing so
far," she replied curtly, resting her chin on her elbows, looking perfectly
bored.
"What are we
paying you for?!" he exploded, standing to his feet. She was surprised by the sudden outburst, but decided it was just
a lack of sleep combined with senators' usual winning personalities. He leaned on the desk and brought his face
closer to the camera. "We're not
funding a private vaction for you Aran.
This man is dangerous, even more so than we thought. The Telrusion's latest lawsuit against the
Fedaration-"
"Your latest
grudge against people who stand up to the Federations really just doesn't
interest me, Senator."
"If you had let
me finish, bounty hunter, I would have told you that this isn't about saving
face in front of the Telrusions anymore.
Parasite is more than we thought it was."
"Explain." Up to this point, Samus was wavering between
amusment and boredom, but now a flicker of concern began to scrape at the back
of her mind. She'd been given enough
assignments to know when someone was trying to nice up to something.
"I don't think
I'm exactly the most qualified, since I don't quite understand it exactly. Here is Dr. Sangran though, he was the
director of the Parasite project."
Another display screen came to life and Dr. Sangran stepped up to the
camera.
"Ms. Smith? Can I speak with the bounty hunter?" he asked, clutching a data pad nervously.
"That's me," she
said impatiently, "Smith is my cover here."
"Of course, well
ah, let me get started then." He looked
down at his pad. "Basically, as I'm
sure you know, Parasite is one of a long history of super-soldier projects,
similar to the one that resulted in the development of expermental suits such
as your own." His fidgeting reluctance
only made her more worried. "Parasite
however focuses more on purely biological enhancements rather than
bio-mechanical systems. It re-works the
subject's physiology, but only to a point."
"Go on," she
coaxed, as she straightened her jacket unconciously.
"Well we were
able to recover some of Parasite's tissue from samples extracted from the, uh,
victims corpses after his escape.
Analysis shows that the mutations were already progressing far beyond
their intended target helixi. The
changes were meant to provide the soldier with various enhancments, such as
organ redundancy, self-regeneration and poison glands among other tidbits. But the genetic reconstruction process went
totally off the charts. The alteration
virulli got out of control, we've got a few partial bio scans from security
camears when he got away, and they indicate drastic changes as well as the
possibility that he may be able to infect others with the virulli that effect
the changes in his body."
"Excuse me
doctor, I don't me to interuppt, but I thought that was supposed to be
impossible," the senator cut in. "Weren't the virulli tailored to his
genetics only?"
"Actually, they
were even more specifically targeted to cetain body systems, but they managed
to adapt and affect his entire body, so theres no guarantee that his condition,
isn't contagious."
"So what's the
worst that could happen?" Samus asked
hopefully. "That we'd have more
super-soldiers on the loose?"
"Well, there's
that. We certainly don't know how this
condition would affect the mind of new infectees, whether or not their
intellect would be intact, or if they would just drop into some confused state. But a major concern is that this has the
potential to become a plague of sorts, the virulli may be lethal to those
humans whose DNA is incompatable, and theres no telling how it will affect
alien physiology," the doctor explained.
"Basically
Samus," the Senator said, "we have the potential for a major embarrassment for
the Galactic Federation, if not a full out cross-species plague. Find Parasite, wherever he is, and do
whatever it takes to end the threat. If
he is at MTS, don't let him leave! Our
agents are conducting a system by system search, but every passing day the
radius of his escape zone grows. We
can't let this one get away from us."
With a few final threats and harrassing words, the Senator ended the
communique. Among the parting insults,
the Senator had demanded to know why Samus thought Parasite was at MTS. Her answer was the same as before. The galaxy was too big to search on her own,
and besides, Federation scouts were out in force looking for him. She also knew that the Parasite subject was
a dropout from MTS, and was a nephew of one of the instructors. He had even grown up on the desolate
moon-base. His name was Stephen. In Samus' mind, Stephen had too many ties to
MTS not to return to it. In the eyes of
the Galactic Federation, Stephen was a horrid Frankenstein creation, a weapon planned to expand the regime's
supremacy. And now that weapon was
malfunctioning, and it was damaged piece of equipment that had to be cushed and
recycled. But she believed that if
there was anything left of his mind, then that was something she could
touch.
"In light of the
fact that this class was begun midway through the semester, it seems that we
will have to cut the lectures short, as much fun as they are, and move on to
direct experience," Samus announced. No one recognized her as the incredible
bounty hunter, because she'd always been careful to conceal her identity under
the helmet. In fact, half of the
populace probably thought Samus was a man.
Some grainy photos linking her to her suit had made it into news-nets, but
no one cared too much. After the
various run-ins with organized crime, metroids, and the military fiasco on
SR1138, the Federation clamped down hard and downplayed everything to the
media. Samus was known, but hardly a
celebrity. It was better that way for
business anyway. She was good at what
she did, but she always wanted to take her bounty alive when possible. It just wasn't worth the regrets to do
otherwise. No one pays that well. Most of all however, she hated politically
motivated jobs. She turned them all
down. It was one thing to blast
faceless horrors animated by the pulsating mass of flesh known as the mother
brain. Her psi-waves were strong enough
to reach out over great distances and mutate non-sentient life-forms to obey
her. She shuddered at the memory. That was an experience she hoped not to
repeat anytime soon. But she could
never bring herself to act on the pettitions she got all too often that began
'assasinate political dissident,' or 'capture anti-government activist leader
and return them to prison world Kelta for "disciplinary measures."
And yet here she
was, on a small moon, on the lookout for someone who became inconvenient
because of an accident of selfish science.
"Ms. Smith, are
you alright?" Peterson asked from his desk about halfway back in the room.
"Yes, I just
lost myself for a moment there," she
quickly pulled herself together and looked out at the forty students waiting
patiently. She smiled. Maybe she'd missed her calling. Not only was teaching fun, but it was
something of a power rush. All these
students just waiting to hang on one's words.
Maybe at a looser institution they wouldn't be so studious. So perhaps strict standards did have some
benefits, for the instructors anyway.
"Well, I took the liberty of rearranging MTS finances a little bit last
night, so it seems that you each have a budget for upgrading your rooms to the
security levels we've studied so far in class.
Today during our class time, and tonight after classes are over, I
expect you to plan out what secuirty measures you plan and obtain the supplies
from the student resources center, and I'll be making rounds to supervise
construction and review your schematics.
That's it for now, I'll see in a few hours." The class was overjoyed as they talked among themselves and began
to leave. "Oh, one more thing," Samus
called out. "The first thing I expect
you to do is disable the MTS Central's surveillance devices in your rooms. I know that was one of the first things I
did when I got here." Grins all
around. This was beautiful insanity and
empowerment to the students who had gone about their daily life at school
knowing that every moment was scrutinized by computers for signs of deviant
behavior. "Theres an attatched portion
to the lecture upload about surveillance circumention, so make good use
people. Have a great time!"
"Stephen
Doe?" the school counselor asked. "So I see you just recently enrolled in our
school. What seems to be the problem?" The couselor was an older man with thinning
grey hair, and he was bored out of his mind.
He had been an instructor for forty-eighty years, and had missed a place
on the MTS council by just a few votes, and was awarded with a consolation
retiree position of school counselor.
It was pitiful. But he made the
best of it, and endured whining students.
One thing he was pround of was his office. It was large, and the walls were covered with ancient books, all
collectors items from the coveted pre-digital era. His heavy wooden desk was reminscent of the décor of the
council's meeting room. So at times, he
felt as if he had his own private council; his own piece of the power. The only thorn in his side was the trickle
of complaining students that came through his doors.
"I, feel… strange,"
Stehpen said painfully slowly.
He stared straight out the window.
"Can you be more
specific," the counselor asked, careful
to hide most of his annoyance.
"I, was here,
long ago, but different, I…"
"The records
show this is the first time a Stephen Doe has attended this institution. Though I admit I do not comprehend why you
would try to start classes midway through a semester. Perhaps you should consider withdrawing and returning next fall
if you are experience difficulty adapting to the intensity of the learning
experience-"
"NO! I, learn to
control, I not," suddenly his speech was blurred gurgling sound that made the
couselor frown. But he soon regained
his speech. "Was here before, I will
learn. Pain of keep inside I keep, no
fail, no fallure!" Again his speech
disolved into confusing gutteral chokes before dropping off to silence. The councilor stared at him for a moment
with disgust, and decided the student must have some sort of mental handicap or
some such thing. Such people were not supposed
to be admitted to MTS.
He reached a
decision and pulled a data pad out of a desk drawer and began tapping
instructions into it. He glanced up
with disgust as Stephen's attention focused on a desk ornament, a glowing
Telrusian Ball mini-lamp. "Stephen, I'm
going to recommend to the council that you be removed from the school for this
semester, so you can re-apply this fall, perhaps when you will be better able
to meet the challenges of MTS. And I'm
also going to recommend that you be given a nurses appointment to check out
that upper-respiratory condition-"
"NO!! No fail!"
Stephen burst to his feet and flung his arms back. The councilor looked up, eyes wide with
surprise. Stephen's face contorted
horribly, and out of his stomach three fleshy cords burst through his student's
uniform and grabbed the councilors head.
Jerking him to his feet the cords whipped his head around sideways with
a distinct crackling sound that resounded with finality. Stephen stumbled out of the office and down
the hall, with greenish-yellow fluids seeping out of his torn shirt. He mumbled softly, "control, eha no fail,
they hurt…"
"How's it going
Jake?" Samus asked as she walked up to
his room with a couple of drones trailing behind her. They had a couple metal luggage crates in tow. The hallways were wide, and there was a lot
of equipment scattered across the shiny floor, marring its pristine
appeareance. Pieces of wire and open
toolboxes were strewn about on either side of the doorway's entrance.
"Pretty good,
Ms. Smith. We've already got the power
lines in place for the EMP shield and the autotrack cannons," he answered
happily. He rubbed his hands on his
work clothes, they were a little greasy from the manual work.
"Hey, teach!"
Peterson called stalking up to the doorway.
"Is this the
roomate?" Samus asked.
"Yeah,
unfortunately." Jake answered with a
grin. "He's a trouble-maker but I keep
him under control most of the time."
"I see." Samus smiled. Kids.
"Does it look ok
so far?" Peterson asked eagerly. She went to the doorway and examined the
power couplings.
"Yeah, it looks
ok so far. Ambitious though. But that's a good thing," she added. "Could I see the specs?"
"Here they are,"
Jake said, producing a data pad.
"Not bad. Redudant wiring, EMP shielding, plenty of
lasers, missile resistant doors. I
like." The truth of it was she was
concerned about parasite, and was thinking towards protecting the
students. It would be so much easier to
protect people if the dorms were turned into veritable bunkers. "But I don't think you'll need EMP shielding
too much here, I'd focus more on the armor and lasers. And maybe construct some sidearms."
"Will do,"
Peterson said with yet another smile.
He seemed to be indomitably happy whenever Ms. Smith was near.
"Ms. Smith, do
you mind if I asked what those crates and drones are for?" Jake asked as his curiosity got the best of
him.
"Oh, those. That's just some basic spare parts for
students so they don't have to go all the way back to the student resources
center for something trivial."
"I see."
"Well, it looks
like you boys have things under control, so I'm going to move on to the next
floor. Good job."
"Thanks!" They both said.
As she swept
away down the hall, Peterson stated thoughtfully, "This is so cool."
Samus was not
going to take any chances. She wanted
to believe Stephen was here at MTS somewhere, but she was starting to doubt her
reasoning. What kind of mission was
this anyway? She was enjoying the teaching,
but that was not the point. If Stephen
was as much of a danger as they thought he was, then she had to find him. She had a description, and had seen video of
him at the research facility. He was
tall with short dark hair and a narrow little face. She pulled her data pad out of her pocket and glanced at the
map. The next students' room to inspect
was just a little ways farther-
"What is that?"
she asked out loud as she knelt down to a closer look at a doorframe. The drones beeped in curious tones. A thin greenish-red liquid was seeping out
from under the door. She put her hand
over it, the stuff was warm. Suddenly
the door burst open, and Stephen towered over her, horribly disfigured. His face looked like it was split in half
diagonally with some sort of tendrils growing out of it, and his stomach oozed
the thick congealed liquid. His right
arm wasn't even recognizable, it had formed into something resembling the leg
of a praying mantis, and strange stalky limbs stuck out from his back and sides
at strange angles.
"Can't contain,"
it and roared. She looked up in shock, and caught a quick view of the room
behind him. It was covered with strange
green growths and spore-plants, but she didn't see much because Stephen swept
his mantis arm down hard and knocked her out of the way. He stumbled away at surprising speed, and
his shrieks sounded less and less human. The words were no longer even remotely
intelligable. Samus rolled and got back
to her feet. She hungrily grabbed for
the nearest box and tore it open, and pulled out a shining red helmet with a
wide black visor on the front. "Time to
suit up," she said aggresively. But
inside it broke her heart to know she was going to have to kill a human being,
or what used to be one.
She set the
helmet aside and kicked off her shoes.
She pulled boots out of a crate and slipped into them. If she'd had a mirror she would have laughed
at how funny it looked to wear just the boots without the rest of the suit,
they were so large compared to her skinny ankles. The leg pieces fit over her pants and locked into place. It tickled as they pressurized and came on
line. The torso and shoulder pieces fit
over her clothes as well and locked into place. Finnally she put her hand into
the gun arm and fingered the familiar controls. Just as she was about to tap her suit's computer wirelessly into
the MTS Central computers a thought struck her: Why didn't the security alarms go off? Surveillance was omnipresent at MTS, alarms should have gone off
the second anything out of place occurred.
She eyed the door to Stephens room and put on the suit's helmet. The heads-up display analyzed the door with
a heat scan. It was hot. She tapped the open-door control, and it
grated open. Inside she got a long look
at the life pulsating inside. Pieces of
human bodies were woven into a macbre web of flesh and greenish veins. A few people must have been people who
wandered into the room, she guessed. It
was horrifying, but she had learned to control her repulsion, or at least delay
it. Then her eye caught what she was
looking for. The tendrils converged on
the rooms computer console, and bured themselves in its electronics. So Stephen was in charge of the computers
now it seemed. Sudden anger flared up
in Samus, but not at Stephen. Her grip
tightened on the fire controls of her gun arm as she thought of the arrogant
scientists and politicians for conducting experiments that could turn people
into this. With ease she called up the
plasma beam configuration for her gun arm and the circuits fell into
place. Servos clicked and the gun's
telescoping muzzle widened. She could
feel the power surge in the shoulder reactors, as strong as her anger, until
the pure energy coursed through the suit's microscopic pathways and burst out
in brilliant flares. The explosions
echoed down the hall and light flashed out the doorway. Smoke trailed out the door as Samus emerged,
and dashed down the hallway to find Parasite before anyone else got hurt.
"MTS Central
online, performing reboot scans," the colony's public address system
announced. The corridor distance
flashed by as Samus ran.
"Come on," she
thought. "Hurry up!" She needed
Central's surveillance systems to find Parasite without searching the whole
complex floor by floor. Suddenly the
alarm klaxons blared.
"All students
please return immediately to your rooms, a security breach is in progress," the
computer announced. "Please remain
calm." It added almost as an afterthought.
"Excellent," she
thought. The students would be safest
in they're rooms. She tried again to
tap into Central's compters and quickly gained access. The computer reported a few civil
disturbances and a fire in Stephen Doe's room, but the biggest flag it set up
was in the main lobby where a 'level 5 security breach' was in progress.
"That's him,"
she thought and made for the nearest elevator.
"Jake, what are
you doing? The computers are
down." Peterson said. "Help me with this cable." Jake was feverishly working at their room's
computer console trying to coax some information out of it as to what was going
on. The alarm still rang
obnoxiously.
"The computers
came back on just now."
"Well you won't
find out anything until they want us to find out. That's how it works here.
Lets just keep working on the security project. There's nothing better to do. Its probably just a drill anyway."
"That's how
things used to work. But I've been
getting extra hacking downloads from Ms. Smith."
"Oh, I see, so
you're the big hacker now."
"Not really, but
I should be able to get past the student firewall at least."
"Show me,"
Peterson said. He set the cable wiring
aside and looked over Jake's shoulder.
"There, I'm in!"
Jake said triumphantly. "Look, its no
drill. There's some people out of their
rooms, and a fire, and something bigs going down in the lobby."
"Crazy!"
Peterson's eyes glowed. "Now what are
you doing?"
"I'm running a
location check on the students roster, just to make sure everyone's ok."
"Good
idea." The search ran for a couple seconds,
then the results came. Not everyone was
in their room, but everyone's life signs were stable, except for Peterson and Jake.
Peterson
grinned. "It looks like we're the first
ones to block out surveillance so far."
"Oh yeah, we are
good." Jake basked in his success.
"Do you wanna
run the staff roster too?" Peterson
asked.
"Yeah, might as
well. Let's start with Ms. Smith." But the computer couldn't find her
anywhere. Of course her aparment was a
dead zone for the sensors.
"Maybe she's just
in her room," Peterson said.
"Let's go
check," Jake said unconvincingly.
"What? But what if she's actually there? Won't you feel dumb."
"Wait, her
apartment is in the on the other side of the wing from the dorms, there's no
way she would have gone back in the time between when she was here and when the
alarm went off."
"Well we have to
find her," Jake said with conern.
"Could we really
do any good? It looks like theres a
fire or something."
"Well, I'll try
to access the vid-links and see whats really happening in the lobby." Jake went to work on the code. But as Jake was studying one display,
Peterson checked the roster status-list and cursed out of shock-
"Look at the
roster! Peoples vitals are dropping
off, mostly sercurity though-"
"I'm into the
cams now!" Jake exclaimed, and a fuzzy image of the lobby fizzed in and out,
until the chaos into focus. There was a
towering figure at least fifteen feet tall with several arms with sharp claws
and pincers at the ends. It's face was
unrecognizable, with bloodshot eyes pointing off in odd directions, with a huge
gaping mouth full of dripping teeth. It
moved about with agility as a dozen security guards fired rifles at it. Some were crouching behind the welcome desk,
while others were out in the open.
"They're using
riot amunition, they don't even have real charges!" Jake said angrily. "We've gotta do something."
"We've got the
laser gear, and I bet some other people in the class have munitions too."
"We could get
some live ammo from the cache and get it to the security people too," Jake said.
"Good
call." Jake said as his heart beat up
fast, spinning with fear and planning what to take. Peterson got the gear together and Jake kept an eye on the
computer displays. After a few minutes
they were out the door and headed to the nearest classmates rooms to get some
backup.
Samus' heart
pounded in her ears as she dashed down the hallway, nearly a blur. It was always the same no matter how many
times she met conflict. The rush of
danger was addictive. But at the same
time there was always a fear of danger.
Or at least a painful respect for the possibility of failure. Fatal failure. She slowed down as the heads-up display map indicated her
proximity to the "disturbance." She
walked up calmly to the last door, and gun arm dialated open once again. One final step would take her in range of
the door's sensor, and she would be in the thick of it-
The door
exploded outward at her, the force of it sending her over backwards. She rolled easily with the blast and ended
up back on her feet, with her left hand bracing her gun arm. Smoke swept through the doorway, and
dripping metal residue slipped down the doorframe as the doors crumpled. She stifled her surprise and stalked up to
the door way. Through the door she saw
security personnel cowering behind overturned desks and crates sporadically
firing their riot guns at the towering hulk that was once Stephen. It shrieked as the riot blasts richocheted
off it's side. It was resembling an insect
more and more with sharp serrated claws at the end of its limbs. Several bodys lay around the lobby, with
puncture wounds, apparently from the claws.
Suddenly it
turned its head in her direction and shrieked loudly. It turned towards her and spread its arms wide. Green tendrils with bony spears at the end
flung out of its stomach in an effort to impale her. Instantly she dove to the right and morphed into a ball to roll
out of the way. She burst out of the
ball and crouched behind a desk next to a shocked security officer.
"What are you?"
he asked, warily pointing his gun in her direction, as if it could damage
her.
"A friend." She
answered reassuringly.
A burst of acid
spit flew over the desk and exploded, taking out a chunk of the wall above
them. Shaken, the security officer
said, "Glad for any help. We're pinned
down. All we carry normally is crowd
control weaponry. Who'd expect a mutant
freak at a place like this?"
"Funny isnt it?"
She thought to herself. She aimed over
the desk, and fired a few plasma bursts.
It had no affect. Parasite
roared and started towards them. The
security officer started to panic.
Crouching behind the desk again, Samus looked up at the ceiling and
grimaced. It was a transparisteel dome
that gave a wide view of the stars. It
was a nice touch to the lobby, made it feel quite open. But she was afraid to use missles—if she hit
the dome, the security people would die from the decompression. She had to risk it. Jumping up on the desk, she switched to missles
and was about to fire when another burst of acidic spit came flying at
her. She jumped aside, and it hit the
desk, blasting it to pieces and melting the remains of the wood and the
security officer. For a moment she
looked about, and realized the security team had already taken about fifty
percent casualties. Again she felt
anger boiling up against the Federation experiments.
She carefully
aimed at Parasite, even though it was raging towards her, with its stomach
tendrils reaching for her. And she
fired. Two missile hit its shoulder,
and embedded themselves in it. A
millisecond later they exploded, sending its arm flying across the room with
green juices arcing behind it. It
screamed horribly but kept coming. She
fired again and again, and the blasts lit up the room with their flares. Soon what was left of parasite was nothing more than twitching pieces strewn
about the room.
Finally silence
fell over the room. The surviving
security officers began to come out of hiding, stunned by it all. At first they didn't notice the dull
whistling sound. But Samus quickly
realized what was happening.
"Get
out!" She shouted in an amplified voice.
"Theres a stress fracture in the dome, something must have hit it!" Some of the security officers looked up and
saw the wideing crack in the east side of the lobby, and started to stumble
towards the exits, but a few were too dazed.
One of them was stubbornly firing rounds into a piece of Parsite's leg.
She quickly
ushered the confused to the doors just as the hissing turned into a woosh. But she manged to get them all out before
the ravenous vacuum claimed all of the oxygen.
The alarms continued to blare, and the computer issued a warning as the
emergency doors began to close to seal off the lobby. She ducked under one just before it closed, and ran right into
six or seven of her students! They had
backpacks full of gear and carried various homemade weapons pieced together
from their security projects. Lasers,
stun-guns, electrocution nodes and other odds and ends made up their
arsenal. Jake and Peterson were at the
lead, each toting a repeater mini laser turret that they had modified to run
off a portable power source. She was
ready to burst with pride, but at the same time was glad they hadn't got there
in time and gotten hurt.
Then she
realized they were staring at her with no small amount of apprhension.
"Jake, is that
what we saw on the surveillance feed?" Peterson asked softly.
"I think
so." Jake replied. "Stay back," He said to the others. "Who are you?" Jake asked the menacing bio-suit. It was intimidating. It
stood about seven feet high, and the metal of its gun arm shined. The faint whirring and clicking of servos
was audible with every movement. Its
armor was thick, and the strength of its mechanisms were evident by its bulging
mechanical 'muscles.' The suit was the
emobodiment of barely restrained power, ready to lash out at a moments
notice. And the dark visor reveal
nothing of its occupant. Suddenly,
there was a hiss of released pressurization, and the suit's left reached up and
removed the helmet to reveal-
"Ms.
Smith!" A girl behind Jake burst out.
"Actually, my
name is Samus." The bounty hunter
smiled. "I see you all are putting your
education to good work."
"We had the best
of teachers," Peterson answered
smoothly as he performed a mock-bow.
After a few
moments of chatter, Samus said "well lets head down to the comunications center
and see if we can sort out this mess."
The students agreed.
"If you don't
mind my asking, where did you get that suit?" Jake asked.
Back in
Stephen's room, the ruined flesh which Samus had sprayed across the room with
plasma blasts was starting to bubble.
Ever so slowly, it coagulated and began to reform tendrils and veins,
pulsing with life. They reached for the
ruined computer console and hugrily sought the hardline connection to the
colony's computer core. And they found
it.
"Well, I
generally make a habit of keeping a low profile, but I think I can trust you
people," Samus said. The students hung
on every word. "I'm actually a bounty
hunter. I ah, hunt stuff."
"What kind of
stuff?" Melissa asked. She was the
quiet type.
"To be honest,
mostly squishy stuff that likes to eat people and disrupt galactic trade,"
Samus joked.
"That's so
great," Peterson said. "Nothing ever happened here before you
came. This is great." Just then alarms shut off, and the lights
died. Also the background hum of life
support vents was gone.
One
of the two girls with them let out a scream.
"Lets
not panic people, just stay calm," Samus said carefully. Her mind was racing, trying to imagine what
caused the outage.
In
the lobby a single groan pierced the silence.
Or rather, it would have if sound traveled in a vaccuum.
The
convulsing pieces of Parasite were pulling back together as its rage fueled its
re-embodiement. One of the security
officers eyes flickered open. The veins
on his forehead stuck out. They flowed
with green blood, Parasite blood. One
by one, the infected officers rose despite the vacuum, despite the gaping
wounds they had suffered. Their
bloodshot eyes burned with Parasites malice towards those who had done this to
him… every living being would
pay.
"Senator,
MTS Central is not responding to hails,"
the communications officer reported from his station. The nervous Senator scratched at his greying
goatee. The bridge of the battlecruiser
Triumph was bustling with activity.
There were scans to run and gigs of data to crunch. The Senator stood next to Captain Shelley,
who was seated securely in the command chair.
"We
have destroy the colony immediately,"
the Senator said worridely. "The
risk of a plague is to great."
"No,
I'll give them a few hours. There's no
reason to assume that the disease is even infectious," Captain Shelley replied. "Your scientists assured me the virus was
tailored to the subject's genetics.
It's nothing to worry about."
The
Senator thought to himself angrily, "They didn't tell you how bad it might
be because I orderd them not to!"
"All
right Captain," the Senator said aloud.
"A few more minutes."
Samus
and her group of students arrived at the communications room a half hour later
without incident, though it was extremely.
The only light they had was a few glow beams and Samus' grappling hook
set on standby. Jake, who was obsessed
with the suit by that point, couldn't imagine that the suit didn't have built
in lights. She explained that she
relied purely on nightvision technologies.
Any light on the suit would make her more a target and less a
hunter.
The
air was starting to get a little stale, but they picked up some environmental
suits from a supply locker along the way.
They had passed a few workers who were also suited up, but they ignored
the students because they were desperately trying to find the source of the
massive systems failures.
They
lasered the door open, and found some communications perssonel inside who
incredibly glad to see them. They had
been stuck inside. The doors wouldn't
budge. For some reason the emergency
release functions wouldn't work. Jake
wouldn't have wanted to be in their place, waiting in complete darkness as the
air grew stale, not knowing if they were going to be entombed.
The
communications personnel left to find some environmental suits.
"All
right, Peterson, see if you can get some of these systems to run off the power
supply for your laser," Samus directed.
"Will
do." He said. A few moments later, they
got a handful of consoles online. They
were disconnected from the computer core, but they manage to pick up a hail
from orbit. One of the displays came to
life with a fuzzy image.
It
was the bridge of a battlecruiser.
"Senator!" Samus said out of
surprise. "You came here?"
The
image flickered. The Senator walked
closer to the camera. "How bad is it
Aran?" He asked.
"It's
under control. Security took heavy
casualties, and main computers are down, but the threat was neutralized," she
said in a business-like manner.
"Its
under control is it?" He asked,
brimming with tension. "Our scans are
picking up heat bursts throughout the colony indicative of small arms fire. The dome of the main lobby caved in, imaging
picked up massive damage." He
paused. "We have no choice but to purge
the colony."
"What?!"
One of the students exclaimed.
"You're
going to fire on MTS?" Samus asked
calmly.
"It's
a tradgedy, but we have no choice," The
Senator replied.
"Calm
down Senator," Captain Shelley
interjected. "I'm in charge of vessel,
and I have no intention of firing on anyone until I know exactly what's goin on
here." Samus was about to say
something, but the transmission was lost in static. She knew that she had to get off MTS. But what about the students? They wouldn't all fit on her ship.
"How
many ships are here at MTS?" Samus
asked.
Parasite
was whole again. And it was
incorporating the computer core into its conciousness. Soon it would have access to all MTS
systems…. And it did. In it's minds eye
it saw everything at once, every corridor.
And it laughed inside. The panic
and chaos of people searching in the dark for environmental suits and emergency
supplies. And it heard everything. It heard the troublesome red and yellow suit
talking with several youths about escape—in fact, escape was a common theme it
heard echoing throughout the halls. It turned
its leering face up to the stars beyond the shattered dome. Its disfigured grin boasted razor sharp
teeth that dripped thirstily.
It
closed its eyes, and made contact with the infected humans. It was time to move.
"There's
the construction pods, a couple shuttles.
And I guess a few long range ships, plus any visitors' ships." Jake said.
"Is
there more than one landing zone?"
Samus asked. The students still
found talking to her was a little disconcerting when she had the helmet
on.
"No," Peterson said. "Theres just one docking area."
"Alright,
I'm going to take you all there and make sure you all get on a ship and get out
of here. I'll go back and look for
other people who might be trapped before I leave in my own ship." Samus said.
With
a little convincing, the students agreed to her plan. She had to insist that she could take care of herself. They got to the docking zone alright, but on
the way, they saw several people crumpled with vicious green-encrusted wound. Samus had a bad feeling that Parasite was not
as easily defeated as she thought. The
seven or so students with her found a long range shuttle and soon were safely
away. She watched the craft rise off
the deck and was surprised at a sudden feeling of motherly instinct. She would have done anything to protect
them, and was glad to see them safely away.
Suddenly she was gripped with fear:
what if the Senator's ship detected them? If the Senator had his way-
"Captain
Shelley, that was a direct order!
Destroy that shuttle, it could be loaded with infected subjects!" The Senator demanded. His face was red and his hands were clenched
as he stared lasers at the man seated in the captain's chair.
"Senator,
those are Federation citizens. I can't
fire on an unarmed shuttle without reason,"
the captain said calmly. The
bridge was very quiet. Only the hum of
computers could be heard. The flight
and tactical officers edged their eyes as far back as they dared to glimpse the
conflict.
"You
military types are all alike. You leave
me no choice." The Senator pulled a
comm pin from his belt and activated it.
"Commander Darren, report to the bridge with a squad of my guards and
relieve Captain Shelley of his command."
Captain
Shelley stood to his feet. "You can't
do this, you have no authority-"
The
bridge doors opened, and four armed guards strode in with pulse rifles at the
ready. Commander Daren walked up to the
Captain, brandishing a sidearm.
"You
stand relieved Captain Shelley." Daren
kept the pistol trained on the Captain as the guards grabbed him by the elbows
and swept him towards the exit. Shelley
was strangely silent.
"No!"
was all one of the pilots got out before a quick shot from Daren crumpled him
to the deck. Daren's eyes narrowed as
the Senator ordered him to destroy the shuttle.
"With
pleasure." He brushed a crewer out of
the way and manned the weapons' controls himself. "They're already out of range, Senator," he spat.
Samus
stayed outside on the docking zone long enough to watch the shuttle warp out of
the system, with the help of the helmets telescopic vision. Satisfied, she turned back to the airlock
doors. She had already worked out in
her mind the fastest way to sweep through MTS and get people to the remaining
spacecraft. But just as she got to the
airlock doors, they were forced apart by green tendrils. She rolled to the side just as acid flew
past, and landed on one of the construction pods. Former security officers in early stages of mutation stalked
out. Their bloodshot eyes found her and
they fired tendrils and poison at her.
She opened up with a spray of missiles and grimaced as two of them blew
apart in a geyser of green pseudoplasm.
The scientists were for real when they talked about a total
reconfiguration of internal organs!
She
took cover behind another construction pod and fired at the creatures coming
out of the airlock. She hit several of
them, but the others were able to elude her.
Then she realized that they weren't attacking her anymore. They were spitting acid from their reformed
saliva-glands on to the ships on the tarmac!
It burned through a ship's hull instantly and quickly disabled it. She realized Parasite didn't want anyone to
escape.
She armed the
Ice-Beam, since Parasite could reform if she simply splattered it across the
wall. She also linked it with Spazer to
give it more of a punch. She went after
as many of the zombies as she could, but more kept pouring out of the airlock
and laid waste to the few remaining ships.
Her ship was safe, at the first sign of danger she'd sent it to nest
several kilometers away from MTS just in case.
Also, the
parasite zombies weren't just security officers- they were other professors,
students, janitors, all kinds. And she
realized that Stephen must be in there converting them all. Were there even any left at all who weren't
infected? She ran inside and switched
back to Plasma Beam. Suddenly she didn't
care anymore. She had to save whoever
she could and get away before every MTSer was zombified. She dashed down the hallway and took a
shortcut through the aquatics lab. Vast
aquariums full of alien life were the only walls of the classroom she
entered. She raced to the rooms exit,
and was blasted back by a kick from Stephen, or Parasite, or whatever it
was. It now towered a good twenty feet
and was as massive as an ogre. It
screamed, its gaping teeth hungry for vengeance. It clutched a few unconcious students in each hand, but tossed
them aside. It smashed through the tiny
doorway headed straight for Samus. She
leapt back and armed super missiles.
She fired, and it flew towards the beast. It grinned and its and flashed up and slapped the missile aside
without detonating it! The missile
shrieked off course and exploded into the aquarium wall. The glass erupted outward as water flooded
the room and kept pouring out.
Samus stayed
calm, even as the rush of water slammed her up against the other aquarium. She activated the gravity suit, and her armor
faded to a bluish hue. Her feet landed
solidly on the ground again despite being underwater. Parasite shrieked, and bubbles of air flew from its mouth towards
the high ceiling. It struggled to make
forward strides, and blinked heavily as it flailed about.
Samus armed the
grapple and fired it up to the ceiling.
She swung through the water and landed on a ledge behind Parasite. Arming the Ice-Beam again, she fired off
several blasts at Parasite. It froze
the back of its neck, but it shook its head and shattered away the ice. In its flailing about it also shattered the
other aquarium wall, and fish rushed out into the open.
Samus couldn't
believe how fast her life leapt from normalcy to a surreal freak show. But such was the life of a deep-space bounty
hunter. She smiled as she remembered
what the hyper-beam had felt like. It
had burned out most of her suits systems after just a few minutes use, but she'd
give just about anything to have it now.
But at the moment it was back at a Federation research lab. She armed the Plasma-Beam again and took
aim, but just then the entire complex was rocked to its foundation, and she was
thrown off of her ledge. The water was
down to halfway from the ceiling as it rushed out the doors.
The colony shook
again, and she realized the cruiser must be firing on it! That left her only seconds to get out… She
dashed past the enraged Parasite and was a blur as she headed for the nearest
airlock. Several infected humans tried
to stop her, but she hit them first with Plasma blasts. Except for halls where she got up enough
speed just to ram them.
Her ship heeded
her call, and was there waiting by the time she got out the airlock. It hovered calmly, and she leapt up and
raced to the hatch. She was in and at
the controls in moments. The ship
pulled away just as an orbital barrage pummeled her former position. Rear cams caught dramatic visions of
merciless laser bursts raining down on MTS structures. The spires and habitation modules collapsed
in on themselves, and flames licked up at the stars until they were
extinguished by vacuum.
The computer
informed her the battlecruiser "Triumphant" was seeking a target lock on
her.
She tried to
control her anger and focus on evasive flying.
All the students and MTS personnel had perished for nothing. Only a handful of her students had escaped. And the Federation was directly to blame
for it. Perhaps it was time for
change.
Her ship jolted
as a glancing hit struck it, but the shields held. Soon the stars steaked into lines and were replaced by the swirl
of warp space. She was safe for the
moment. And she hoped the students who
escaped would be alright. Hopefully
they would have the good sense to stay far away from where the Senator's agents
could find them.
She leaned back
in the pilot's chair and removed her helmet.
She stared at the ships beautiful controls and ran a hand along the
console's edge. "No matter what
happens, I'll always have you," she found herself saying out loud. She smiled bitterly. "I am a strange excuse for a human being."
Back in orbit,
high above the ruins of MTS Central, the Triumphant broke orbit and warped back
towards the core worlds. However, among
the ruins, a singular concious reformed itself. And wished it hadn't destroyed every last spacecraft.