Shadow of a Girl
Chapter One:
A Past of Happiness
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"Maria!"
It's coming... I can't stop it...
"Maria!!"
I can feel the shot pierce my skin...
... it hurts...
"MARIA!!"
Shadow... no... stay back...
... I'm afraid... there's nothing you can do...
... I'm sorry... my friend...
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As he dashes towards me, I push him back.
His own momentum causes him to stumble. He scrambles to his feet...
... but not fast enough.
I clutch the side of the control panels and hit the button that will save his life...
In a flash, the escape pod closes, with him inside...
He slams his fists against the glass walls, staring at me with shining eyes, full of tears...
Please... please Shadow, don't be sad... don't be angry...
My strength is leaving my body... I start to collapse against the panels...
... and still, he stares at me with huge eyes...
"Maria... "
He looks so sad... so innocent... so alone...
... exactly like how I met him...
... and I see a flood of my memories...
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When I was first born, the doctors didn't expect me to live...
... I was weak... and the medical technology at that time was not very advanced...
But my grandfather had gotten a request from the president for research, just a little bit earlier...
... he had turned it down... for it was asking for a study of immortality...
... he didn't believe that it was man's place to seek eternal life...
... but that same research held an opportunity...
... to cure me...
My grandfather had already built and launched a space colony, named ARK. It had previously been used for space research, and had given him the reputation of the greatest scientific mind of his time...
My weakness caused me to be susceptible to disease... even something as small as a cold could possibly kill me...
Grandpa knew this. So he cleared everyone off of ARK and sterilized it completely. My family and I, along with some of his most trusted staff, were moved into space, where I would be safe from the many germs that inhabited Earth.
Grandpa began to experiment and research, trying to find a way to create a cure. He knew that my disease was genetic, so he began researching biotechnology...
... which led to his pursuit of creating an organism...
... a perfect one...
... the Ultimate Life Form.
For the first few months, he pored over books and his science, trying to get a good start...
... but nothing.
His problem was that he couldn't find a source of energy for these creatures.
An unlimited energy source, to power these life forms through eternity... that was what he needed.
... finally, a staff member found an old legend in a book...
... of beautiful gems, called Chaos Emeralds.
Supposedly, they contained a power that had been burning for thousands of years. The legend that went with them was that they had once powered a great water monster that had wiped out an entire civilization...
Such power... my grandfather finally located one and began to use it for research.
It was true. The Emeralds generated their own power, from somewhere deep inside them...
And Grandpa's project truly began.
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The research was named, Project Shadow, and the quest for the Ultimate Life Form commenced.
The first problem that Grandpa encountered was to find a creature that the Ultimate Life Form could be based from. To create an entire creature from scratch was going to take too long... I was already two by the time he reached this point.
Grandpa decided to start with a creature that had survived for ages: a lizard. I didn't like lizards... I wanted something furry. But Grandpa had chosen a lizard, and the project was underway.
I would watch through the windows at my Grandpa working away, and I never stopped being amazed at his work. In only a year, he had completed the first major prototype of an Ultimate Life Form. He called it the Biolizard. "Bio" meant life... and he hoped it would give me a chance for a new one.
But the big reptile scared me; as time passed, it grew bigger and bigger, and it always reacted badly to Chaos Energy. It would roar loudly, and my grandpa would be worried that it couldn't survive at its size. He solved the problem by building it a machine that would transform Chaos Energy into energy that it could more readily use.
Life started to be more quiet... and lonely. Even Grandpa didn't have much time to spend with me, because he was working on something new; he didn't think that lizards were quite what he needed, and he was looking for some other animal.
At my age, I started to feel alone. I was all by myself on ARK, because I didn't have any brothers or sisters, or even any cousins to play with. I had to play by myself, so I made a game out of hiding in the labs, then surprising the staff that would come in.
But more often, I would stand by a window to the outside, and look at the Earth...
... it was beautiful.
Sometimes, a staff member would come sit near me and show me what all the different things were.
The oceans... the land... a thunderstorm...
... but most of all, I wanted to see the people.
The staff told me about huge cities, and some would even talk about their home towns. "Station Square" was one. They said that it wasn't very big yet, but it was growing. They told me about all the tall buildings that almost seemed to reach the sky, and so were called "skyscrapers." I wondered what "trees" really looked like, and what a "field" or "playground" was. Grandpa often went back to Earth for supplies, and he brought me back picture books.
I would sit by the window and read them and stare at the sights. In the books, the view always seemed so wonderful... the sun, the grass, everything... even the moon seemed more pretty from Earth than from the window of the space colony.
Grandpa would always bring me some nice present from an Earth store. Of course, everything had to be sterilized first, but after that, I was free to do what I wanted with them. My favorite presents were always wax roses... I loved how the petals were perfectly preserved in the wax, and how they would probably last forever... I kept them in a vase, that Grandpa brought from Earth, in my room...
I would lie on my bed, stare at the flowers, sitting in the small, crystal vase on the wooden nightstand, and dream of flowers, real, fresh flowers, all in a huge "field", as far as I could see...
But the one thing that I really wanted, that Grandpa couldn't buy in a store and bring back to ARK... was a friend...
One day, when I was seven, I saw Grandpa leave his big lab, for some coffee. I smiled, then went inside, hoping to surprise him when he came back.
The lab was big, with a white floor, white ceiling, and a shining metal table, slightly taller than I was, and it was very bright. I was under the table, trying to decide if it was a good place to hide, when I heard something move. I jumped, thinking that Grandpa might have come back already. Then I listened carefully, and heard something small breathing.
I backed out from under the table. I looked up, and saw a small face staring back at me, looking out from the edge of the table. Startled, I fell backwards and yelped.
The small thing squeaked, and scrambled back to where it had been sitting. Curious, I pulled a stool to the edge of the table and climbed up on it.
The small thing was round and fuzzy. It had soft, black fur with red stripes down its head, arms, and legs, and had soft spikes on the back of its head and on its back. Its big, pointed ears twitched nervously, and its big, round, bright eyes stared at me. It had a small patch of long, white fur on its chest, and it was sitting up cautiously.
I started to reach towards it, to pet its fur, but it squeaked and rolled into a tight ball, its spikes on the outside. It trembled in fear.
"Don't worry... I won't hurt you," I said quietly, kneeling on the stool with my arms leaning on the table. I sat there silently, waiting for it to uncurl...
Which it did in a few minutes. It slowly peeked its eyes out from its fur, and I could see its red irises, studying me. Little by little, it unrolled its chubby little body, and lay on its stomach, with its head turned to one side, looking at me.
I reached over and started to pet its head. It flinched at first, but eventually relaxed. I started to scratch behind its ears, like how one of the staff members had said they used to pet their cat. The fuzzy thing on the table murmured happily and rolled over. I tickled its tummy and it giggled.
Just then, Grandpa walked in!
"Maria!" he said. "What are you doing here?"
I sat on the stool properly and said, "I came in here to surprise you when you got back... I didn't mean to mess around with anything!"
The fuzzy thing started to complain in some sort of baby talk, wanting me to pet it some more. Grandpa and I looked at it, and he started to laugh.
"Well! I suppose he's taken a liking to you," Grandpa said, walking over to the fuzzy thing and putting a baby's bottle in its mouth. It started sucking and started getting drowsy. It yawned and fell asleep.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a hedgehog," he replied. "He's the next step in Project Shadow!"
"Does he have a name?" I asked.
"Well, he's got an ID number... "
"No, a name!"
"Well... no."
"Can I give him a name?"
"Er... I suppose... " Grandpa seemed kind of worried.
I didn't pay much attention to his mood. I started thinking of a name for the black and red hedgehog.
"Let's see... " I pondered. "Umm... Grandpa? Your experiment is called 'Project Shadow,' right?" He nodded. "Let's call him Shadow, because his fur's black. And, he's Project Shadow, right?"
Grandpa nodded. I smiled. I reached out and touched Shadow's head. He moved slightly and curled up tighter.
Finally... my days of loneliness were over...
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As Shadow grew bigger over the next few weeks, the two of us grew closer together. But, for some reason, this started to worry Grandpa...
But with a new playmate, nothing really seemed to stop Shadow or me from enjoying life to the best of our ability.
Once he could toddle around, the two of us continued to play the game of hiding, then jumping out to surprise the staff members. They would always jump in surprise, laugh, then send us on our way, saying, "There goes Maria and her little Shadow... "
Which, after a while, he started to become. He'd follow me everywhere...
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However...
One day, when Shadow was about ten months old, Grandpa came to me when I was walking with Shadow down the hallway. He took me by the hand and we walked to his main lab, Shadow tagging along behind us.
When we reached the door, Grandpa turned to Shadow and asked, gently, "Can I talk to Maria for a few minutes?"
Shadow stared at Grandpa with big eyes. He nodded slowly, since he couldn't quite talk yet.
Grandpa looked at Shadow with soft eyes, then took me into his lab and shut the door.
When we got in, I asked, "What do you want to talk to me about?"
Grandpa sighed and sat me down in a chair. He paused, then said, "Maria... I can't keep this from you any longer...
"You're a big girl now, and I think you can understand now... You see... well... let me put it this way. Maria... all things die, eventually... "
I nodded, not knowing where this was leading.
"And... well... The thing about Shadow is that... " He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "In the past, I've worked with many experiments, but the biggest test that they all must take is to be exposed to Chaos Energy in its pure state.
"Unfortunately... many of the experiments have, well... passed on... due to an overload."
My throat tightened. "But what about... "
He sighed. "Maria... I didn't want you to become this attached to him at first... I didn't think you would become such good friends... "
I jumped up. "No!" I shouted angrily. "You can't do that to him! You can't... !" I sat down, crying.
Grandpa walked slowly to me, and patted my shoulder. "Maria--"
I yelled, "Why can't you just do your test to something else?!" I ran out the door.
Shadow had been staring at it the whole time. As I burst out, I tripped over him and fell to the ground, crying.
"Shadow... " I cried, hugging him as if I would never let go.
Grandpa came out of his lab. He sat down and hugged me.
"Maria... listen. It hurts me, too, when they have to leave...
But I have a theory... I think that Shadow would be able to pull through the test."
I wiped my eyes and nose on my sleeve. "H... how do you know... ?"
He looked at the two of us gently. "Well... several reasons, most of them having to do with science... But also, because, he loves you, and has something to live for... What do you say? I'll be easy on him... this first test is just to get him used to it."
I swallowed. "I... can I be there too?"
He smiled. "Yes... of course."
I smiled back at him through my tears. Shadow looked at both of us, our conversation passing through one ear and out the next.
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As I sat there in the lab, holding Shadow on my lap, I hoped that everything would go smoothly...
But, when I grew older and could understand more, I discovered that Grandpa actually knew what he was talking about...
Shadow was the last in a long line of bio-engineered hedgehogs. The most recent experiments had actually survived the exposures to Chaos Energy, for quite a while, but had unfortunately passed away because of the Chaos Energy temporarily weakening their bodies.
Shadow had been born with a more powerful body, more powerful than any other hedgehog before him. In fact, the only creature that could possibly rival him in possible strength was Biolizard itself...
I even learned that Grandpa had many pieces of medical equipment, including a life-support system, that would be able to save Shadow if something went wrong.
At heart, Grandpa was a kind person... but he was willing to do anything in the name of science to cure me.
When I discovered this, I felt guilt-stricken...
I went to a lab that had been abandoned once the bigger lab was built... I made a small shrine there to all of the creatures that had died... because of me. I left some of my flowers there, for their spirits... and I felt better... Shadow would always watch, and then leave his gifts... most of the time, food. We would burn incense that Grandpa got for us, then leave the room quietly.
I know now that Grandpa felt terrible about having to continue his almost-finished project, even if it meant conducting experiments on Shadow. But, as I was to learn, to create another hedgehog with the same strength as Shadow would have taken maybe another year... And, he really had trust in Shadow's abilities and will to live.
But now, we had to see if Shadow would be okay...
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I watched Shadow as Grandpa attached all sorts of wires to him. Then, he put Shadow into a glass chamber.
In another glass container, a green Chaos Emerald was glowing slightly, emitting a warm light. Grandpa connected the two chambers, then held my hand as he turned a dial on a control panel.
The green Emerald began to shine more fiercely, and the light bathed the whole lab in a strange, green glow. The energy traveled through the wires to Shadow, where it engulfed him in pure energy...
Shadow's fur started to prickle, and he shivered. But after a few seconds, he sighed, smiled, and closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of the Chaos Energy.
Grandpa left the machine going for a few minutes longer. Then he turned it off.
"Is it over... ?" I asked, quietly.
"Yes, it's over, and he passed with flying colors," Grandpa said happily. He lifted Shadow out of the machine. "See, he even fell asleep... "
Shadow was snoring loudly. Grandpa and I looked at each other, and laughed.
"Do you think... he's the Project Shadow?" I asked.
"I don't doubt it," Grandpa said. "I think... I think he's the key I've been searching for... I think he'll be able to cure you, Maria!"
But, even if he would eventually cure my disease... I didn't need it anymore.
I had a friend.
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Of course, as Shadow grew bigger, the tests became more rigorous... but always, he'd always come out of it just fine, if not better.
But when he was about three years old, and I was almost eleven... that was the year that would really begin to tear everything down...
... the final test... the maximum trial of Chaos Energy...
... the one that the others had failed at...
But Grandpa had faith.
And so did I.
Even at his age, Shadow was still like a little child... he didn't say much of anything, and he still followed me nearly everywhere...
... so, together, we walked into the lab...
Grandpa placed Shadow into the Chaos Energy machine, then attached all the wires, just like all the times before...
Then, he slid the dial all the way up, higher than ever before...
As I thought back to that first time, I realized exactly how far up the level of Chaos Energy had gone. Over the past three years, he'd inched it up, little by little, getting Shadow used to the high dosage of energy...
... and now, it would finally have to pay off...
The Emerald burned with a bright light, and Shadow was completely engulfed in the energy.
For the first time, I saw fear in his eyes. Shadow had his eyes screwed up tight, crying out in fear and pain.
Grandpa stared in shock at the computer that showed Shadow's energy levels. He adjusted his glasses and stared even harder.
"Grandpa! Shadow's scared! Get him out of there!" I screamed.
"Wait... wait... !" Grandpa shushed me. His eyes turned to Shadow, where they widened. I turned too, and gasped again.
Shadow was staring back at us... but his fur had changed!
His fur was flashing from black and red to a metallic silver-gold and red. He was no longer yelling, but looking at us with a deep gaze...
He smiled, then laughed. He started to make faces at me through the glass, smushing his nose against it. He laughed again.
I had to laugh, too.
Grandpa shook his head in amusement at the two of us, then proceeded to shut down the machine...
... for the last time.
Shadow's fur dimmed down to his previous black and red. He sighed loudly, then slumped down against the side of the glass container.
I was worried for a few seconds, before Grandpa said, "It's nothing... he's just a little tired from having such a big power source removed from him."
Such a big power for such a little boy...
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Now that Shadow was free of these tests, we spent more and more time together.
One day, after searching around ARK for him, I found him staring out a window at Earth.
I walked slowly to the window. We were in the small, abandoned lab.
He was leaning on the windowsill, on his elbows, his hands propping his face up towards the glass. He studied the planet below us for some time before turning to me.
"Maria?" he asked me. "Maria" was the only word he knew.
"That's Earth," I said to him, pointing at the blue sphere floating below us.
"Urf," he said. I giggled at his mispronounciation.
"Silly! Earth," I said, drawing the word out.
"Urf!" Shadow jumped down from the window and ran to the panel that controlled the escape capsules.
"Shadow! Don't!" I ran after him and pulled him away before he could send himself to Earth.
He sat on the ground, bewildered. I laughed at his expression. He began to laugh along with me.
We stood up and walked back to the window.
"Shadow, I promise you... someday we'll go to Earth, okay?"
"Urf, oh-kay?"
I laughed.
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Those were good times.
But everything wonderful...
... must, someday, come to an end...