Two weeks later…

Jessy Summers walked through the forest, sighing softly as he admired the beauty of the trees. His father was still a bit miffed at him for not joining the school's Basketball team. Yes, he was quick and agile, and would probably have done very well in that particular sport, but unlike his father, Jessy had no particular interest in sports. It was a bone of contention between them, sometimes, but they were both able to find enough common ground to overlook it most of the time.

Today was not one of those days, though. Jessy had gotten into a bit of an argument with his father over him not being in the team. Well, maybe 'argument' was too strong a word. Jessy was really too even-tempered to get into a real argument, it had been more like a friendly disagreement. But still, Jessy was happy to get out of the house, if only for a little while.

It was near dusk, but under the canopy of leaves, it might as well have been late evening. Jessy liked the night more that he did the daytime, but only when he wasn't sketching, then he preferred to work out in the sun.

But it was swiftly getting too dark for even him to see, so Jessy decided to head back home. Dad would have probably forgotten about the Basketball team by now anyway. As he made his way back through the darkened forest, Jessy tripped over a root. Regaining his footing, Jessy looked around.

There didn't seem to be any roots that stuck up out of the ground far enough for anyone to trip over, much less someone who had been walking in these woods for as long as Jessy had been. His dad was a very outdoorsy type, and that was one thing that the two of them had in common.

Jessy looked around again, making sure this time that there was nothing to trip over in his current path. He took seven more steps, before his legs were abruptly yanked out from under him. He didn't manage to catch himself so quickly this time, and Jessy slammed into the ground chest-first. As he lay there, Jessy wondered how he could have missed seeing another root. It wasn't that dark yet, and he had given his eyes ample time to adjust to the decreasing level of light.

Getting back to his feet again, and brushing off the leaves and small twigs that had stuck to his clothes, Jessy made sure to thoroughly check the ground where he was walking. He did not want another accident like that to happen again. Starting to walk again, Jessy's left heel came down on something that was most definitely not the ground.

This time Jessy landed on his back. Fed up with tripping every few steps, Jessy got to his feet and headed off in a different direction. This new path was at an almost perfect right angle to his previous one, and for awhile it seemed as if he had made the right move by switching directions. But then, after about twenty minutes, Jessy's right leg was pulled out from under him.

As he tried to get back up, Jessy found that his ankle was still caught, by something that looked a lot like a hunter's snare. He wondered just what one of those was doing here, of all places. Jessy was pretty sure that trapping was banned in the national forest.

He didn't have any more time to contemplate the oddity of a hunter's trap, as the ground under him gave way without the slightest bit of warning. Jessy didn't have time for anything but a surprised yelp, before he was roughly slammed into the ground ten feet below. Before he had the chance to recover from the shock of the fall something, several somethings in fact, were grabbing him around his shoulders, his ankles, his wrists, and his waist.

Jessy was pulled face-first into something hot and sticky. With no time to even struggle, Jessy was enveloped in the hot stickiness.

My first catch, Darkon thought with a predatory smile. Darkon watched as the structural analysis of this newly captured creature began. Darkon was able to monitor the process, of course, given his newfound telepathic connection with the teknopods.

Hmmm, apparently these creatures call themselves 'humans'. Darkon considered his first captive; the boy's name was Jessy Summers. A rather plain sounding name, Darkon personally thought. One of the younger humans on this planet, called a teenager by the older humans.

Darkon considered this 'Jessy'; he would certainly not make a sufficient guide, since he held close ties to this planet. Darkon needed someone without connections, someone who would not care about the damage that the Radam would do to this planet.

Incidentally, Darkon wondered, what do the humans call this planet? Darkon searched Jessy's mind. Earth? That's what they call it? What a plain name for a planet.

Darkon sighed silently; he was still transformed, wearing the armor of a Tekno-Warlord. He could see Jessy struggling within the teknopod, and he knew how much pain the young human must be in. Darkon didn't care in the slightest.

If Jessy was strong enough, he would survive the transformation. If he was not, he would die. It was that simple.

As he watched, Darkon started to suspect that Jessy just might be able to survive the process, he was still alive, and the weaker creatures would have died by this time. But it still remained to be seen whether Jessy would survive the remaining tests. Or the implantation of the parasite, for that matter.

Darkon had heard of a few cases where the prospective Teknomen went brain-dead upon having the parasite implanted. Darkon hoped that his first warrior would not suffer from such a defect. But there was always that chance.