Chapter 2

File

While all of this was taking place, Lexington was in the storage compartment of the dropship. His personal watch revealed the activity within the main bridge via hidden micro-cameras placed throughout inconspicuous areas. The soldiers removed a few control panels, most likely the navigations to erase the course the arrived from, and later to erase the way they left. Code-slicers could adjust those systems all they wished, but their modifications would be trapped and later presented to the transport's authorized operators for confirmation or deletion.

The scanning team overlooked Lexington's compartment, and he was thankful for that fact. The departed and the boarding ramp rose into place. It was time to get moving.

His plan was underway. He had to get out of the dropship and hangar with his makeshift Tenlos uniform without the guards noticing, find his way to a fully-functioning computer, slice his way through the security, and upload his program. Then get back and wait. It would be tough, but he was a raven, and he could do it.

***

General Menniker and the Crimson Tide members swept into a command area that was a riot of activity.

A narrow but full-length dinner table, large enough to accommodate twenty people and more than half-filled with diners. Seated at the head of the table, his back to video screens now showing a recording of Earth swiftly rotating, a red four-pointed spiral-type object in the center. Sitting casually, in his spotless white commanding uniform, was Saitoh. His hands were clasped over his torseau, and his expression was of great content.

The officers assembled at the table were engaged in vigorous conversation. They were all talking, a jumble of noise that made the chamber sound like a conference hall rather than a war room.

General Menniker led Roger and the others toward the head of the table and had them sit before offering introduction. "Warlord, allow me to present you Negotiator Smith, Reese Rein, and Kaori Caan, honored representatives of the raven guild Crimson Tide. Roger Smith, your host, the warlord David Saitoh."

Roger offered a seated half bow.

Saitoh finally turned his attention to the new guests and smiled, "Good to meet you at last." His voice was nearly monotone. His string of words, obviously meant to be friendly, but seemed to strike fear. "Welcome to the empire of the Tenlos."

"A formidable syndicate. I hope we didn't do too much damage in the past, working for the CSA..." Roger said.

"Certainly not. Oh, several encounters with a Megadeus would be most inconvenient, but our capacity for repair is unparalleled. This entire construct was made to survive the Great Destruction. It used to belong to the remnants of some ancient government, what were they called... Natsee's, Nazei's, or something like that... Well, it's of no concern now."

Roger drew a hand across his brow, an exaggerated demonstration of relief. "Well, that's cause for us to celebrate. I have no qualms about preying on 'ground-pounders' like the people of Europe, but . . . and it costs me no honor to say it . . . I would avoid earning the prolonged enmity of Saitoh."

The warlord's smile became broader, "It was already obvious that you were an intelligent raven... else you would not have enjoyed your earlier successes. But before we get to the main subject of conversation for the evening, let us dine."

"Please." Roger knew he'd kept all tension from his voice and manner, but it was still there, and the meal was one more opportunity for Saitoh to visit some new difficulty upon them... such as poison. If they'd read the man correctly, there would be no such subterfuge here. But they could have made a mistake in their evaluation.

But, Roger was actually enjoying his main course, some sort of foul in a sunfruit marinade, and idly hoping it wasn't poisoned. Saitoh, seeing whatever lied behind Roger's eyes, seemed to make him laugh.

***

Lexington waited until the hallway was momentarily clear. He moved up to the closed elevator door and quickly popped open its control panel. Beneath was the usual collection of wiring and computer boards. Deftly, he stripped the insulation from two wires and twisted them together.

The elevator door slid open, revealing an echoing shaft beyond. Lexington untwisted the wires, slapped the control pad shut, and stepped out to grab the maintenance access rungs inside. He swung his feet clear of the opening just in time; the doors slid shut again just as rapidly.

Now he had to find a level where he could have some privacy... and access to a computer interlock.

Down or up? He could see the terminus of the shaft above him, some considerable distance, but not below him. That meant there was more to explore below. He climbed down.

Moments later, he gripped the rungs as though his life depended on it while a fast-moving elevator sailed past. The wind of its passage shook him and knocked his feet from the rail they rested on. Swearing to himself, he pulled himself back up and continued downward.

He needed to find a door that seemed as if it wasn't used as much as the others... Six levels down, he found an elevator door where the borders showed almost no wear. A good sign. He opened the maintenance panel leading to the control box . . . and nearly dropped off his rung in surprise.

This control box was not standard. In it was a sealed security module, an indication that whatever was beyond this door was very important to somebody.

He leaned away and held tight as another elevator shot past, this time rising from below, then returned to the problem at hand. This was probably too dangerous a level to enter for his task. On the other hand, this might be a security block, where Raven might be held. He broke out his pouchful of tools.

He could open the door from here without effort, but once the door was closed, he wouldn't be able to leave without proper authorization codes. It was time for some improvisation.

He put away his tools and brought out his automatic rifle. Then he tripped the switch to open the door.

It slid open silently, unlike most elevator doors, revealing a darkened hallway beyond. There was no-one in sight. He hopped from his rung perch to the passageway floor and swept it around in a covering arc, but there was still nobody to see.

It wasn't a passageway, exactly. It was a gallery, a long hall in which one wall was made up of large windows. The chambers beyond the windows were well lit. He liked that; it would be next to impossible for people within to see him. He activated the door panel from which he entered, and the door slid gracefully shut.

There was a computer terminal here on the panel, but that would not be safe. He advanced along the hallway with the precise pace of a Tenlos soldier looking for another.

There was one human male inside the first room, his feet up on his desk as he idly tapped away on a personal terminal; he looked as though he were playing a computer game. He took no note of Lexington.

Up ahead, despite the dimness of the hallway, Lexington could see an individual computer terminal in the left corner. He couldn't tell whether this passageway ended there or turned to the right. That was the terminal he needed, assuming it wouldn't alert anyone.

He passed by the next section of windows. These displayed a larger chamber, an operating theater. There was an operation in progress, a team of four males, gloved and masked, working on a human? Then he took a closer look.

Lexington tried to suppress a gag. He wasn't prepared for the sight of his friend Raven Cross being worked on as an experiment! Raven had some sort of drip tubes implanted in his head; fluids moved slowly from the bottles set up beside the operating table. He was also strapped in place . . . and he was awake. As Lexington watched, Raven screamed, the noise not penetrating the sound-proof windows.

These were not screams of pain, Lexington decided, but of rage. An unsettling image... Lexington shook his head. This couldn't be Raven, he thought, no way in hell! Just someone that looked like his friend.

A few steps more, and the operating theater was behind him. He seated himself at the terminal and took out his viral program. Before he slid the disk into the drive, however, a file was already up on the main screen...

The main title itself caught Lexington off guard. He thought he was hallucinating, but... it drove him to read the file. In bold letters, the main title stated...

RAVEN J. CROSS

ID NO.#: TENLOS/59102734

PROJECT LEADER: Professor Cross, PhD, M.D., P.A., Professor Cosado PhD, M.D., LC 086 Lab Corp.

PROJECT NO.#: TENLOS.GENE.SCI.vrc8706521

VRACE (Viral Responsive Anomaly with Cognitive Evolution) TEST PROJECT- INITIAL SUBJECT

1658a.34.99.vrace.nib.4728

INITIAL GENOMIC SEQUENCING OF FETAL HUMAN

BEGIN DATE: XX/XX/XX

END DATE: XX/XX/XX

DATE OF BIRTH: XX-XX-XXXX

PARENTS: MOTHER - Sera Cross, ID NO.#: TENLOS/8084209

FATHER - UNKNOWN

PROJECT'S EXPECTED RESULTS - To genetically create a human with the powers and abilities of the Martian ancestors.

EXPERIMENT LOG/SUBJECT PROGRESS:

ENTRY 1: Month 1: He is developing well, despite the feared complications associated with his totally compromised immune system, due to his previous rejections of exogenous VRACE cells. He appears to have contracted an unknown strain of cystic pneumatic infection in both of his lungs. His current treatments of tetracycline and erythromycin are being withheld due to the drugs' negative reactions to the VRACE cells. He is currently running a fairly high temperature of 102.4 F and is eating very little. Professor Cross is complaining that the drug therapy should be reinstated because of Raven's poor health. I am resisting these ideas, because any further complications with the implanted VRACE cells will put us so far behind schedule that we may risk losing even more valuable data.

ENTRY 2: Month 2: We have finally rid Raven of his persistent pneumonic infections by placing him in a clean room inside a sterile incubator. The VRACE cells have taken nicely now, and some mild developmental changes are being noted. His weight is considerably low, and he is now constantly crying at all hours of the night. Tranquilizers are administered to him now primarily to maintain the sanity of the staff, none of whom can seem to keep him quiet anymore.

ENTRY 3: Month 6: Some amazing transformations have occurred with Raven over the past few months. His hair and eyes have both changed color over a two week span (the previous two weeks). His solid black hair has changed to being almost completely silver, and his dark brown eyes have now changed to an electric red that is almost luminescent. Unfortunately, he has contracted yet another unknown disease, which manifests itself as some sort of an reddish, oozing skin and nail disorder (an unknown fungal dematokeritosis?) and he is still feverish and crying heavily now, and the tranquilizers seem to be working less. I am worried that Professor Cross's nerves may be wearing thin on the entire project and I fear that he may try to cancel it because of Raven's failing health and constant complaining. I will switch his tranquilizers to low doses of diazepam and morphine without Professor Cross's knowledge. Perhaps if I can get Raven to be quiet, Cross might not be so inclined to cancel the project.

ENTRY 4: Month 8: Raven is learning at a highly advanced rate, as shown by a recent intelligence exam. He has the memory capacity of a five-year old child now, and I am sure that he is comprehending what we are saying. Yet, he defies us yet again with his failure to communicate. His language skills are far behind those of even normal children. He has yet to utter a single word. Cross is worried that our techniques are far too clinical for Raven's personality and fears that he may be severely stunted emotionally, almost to the point of being permanently mute or autistic. He has brought up the subject of bringing in the child's biological mother for support, but I said that that is not feasible. Professor Cross herself said that contact with her son would endanger the experiment... and her, how did she put it... 'life insurance.'

ENTRY 5: Year 1, 4 months: Raven is plagued with constant little afflictions and illnesses, which I do my best to hide from Professor Cross. I have been also secretly hiding the fact that I am treating Raven with far more VRACE cells than stingy Cross would ever allow. Cross's VRACE regimen for Raven has already been completed by his notes for fear of transmutation or further destruction of his body - i.e., Raven would receive no more treatments with any VRACE cells or genes because Cross is afraid to. But I am not happy with Raven's development as of now... so since he is my subject, I believe that in the end, it is MY decision as to how many treatments he will be given, and for how long. Raven is still not talking, and has only very recently has he begun to walk correctly. (He has either crawled on his belly or has knelt and walked on his knees for months now.) No amount of trying could seem to break him of these bad habits, as he is showing signs of being very stubborn and belligerent to authority figures. He has completely ignored me for months and no longer even looks at me or nor will he acknowledge my existence when I step into his room. Although it is strange... he does not seem to show these ignoring tendencies with Cross's lab assistants.

ENTRY 6: Year 2, 10 months: Raven got angry with me almost six months ago and uttered his first words! This came about while I was trying to give him another VRACE treatment, and since he has a bad fear of needles, he did not want the injection, naturally. So as I was holding his arm down to insert the needle, he yelled very loudly, and told me to stop. I was so shocked by this outburst that I nearly dropped the syringe into my leg. I asked him if he could talk again, but he once again became quiet. When I composed myself, I got one of Cross's female assistants to come in and ask him for me, to speak again. She did, and he answered her politely, as if he had known how to speak the entire time! He speaks now, but only when he is asked to. He never offers any extra information or interrupts an adult while they are speaking. He is still quiet and reserved, but I assume that it is some part of his personality showing through. He appears to be withdrawn and depressed most of the time, but a few of our younger techs have been successful in prodding him enough to get him to laugh. (His rare laughter appears to be very contagious among some of the less-experienced college-age assistants.) Some of the assistants have reported that he sometimes sits alone in a dark corner of his room with his knees drawn up to his chest, and sings to himself. This is very odd, and quite unusual because of the fact that he has never heard any songs before. His fevers have subsided (thankfully!) for a while, but I have every reason to assume that they will return. His skin problems have faded and he is doing much better. He is showing signs of becoming more like the child that I had hoped that he would become.

ENTRY 7: Year 4, 11 months: He is constantly studying! He has been reading since age 3, and is now doing rather complex arithmetic now. All subjects seem to interest him; literature, philosophy, history, art, science... all subjects seem to hold immense fascination for him. Some of the assistants tell me though, that when I leave the room, Raven begins reading other books when I turn away. When I have asked 'what books does he read then?' they always tell me, 'fairy tale books.' I can't even possibly begin to see why he would like those dusty old nonsense stories so much. He has a firm grasp on both concrete and abstract thought, and has the equivalent intelligence of a 12 year-old child. It is odd, but it would appear that Raven never plays, but he does draw and write a lot, although he never lets anybody see his pictures or read his writings. (He has the nastiest tendencies to destroy his secret works by writing and drawing only in watercolor paints... and then when an adult comes by, he immediately immerses his work in water from either his paint water cup or from his sink. We tried to videotape him while he was creating his pictures and writings, but he would not do these things when a camera was in his room. Sometimes, we would catch him writing or drawing when we knew that a camera was hidden in the room... but when we would go to look at what was taped, only to find that he had either destroyed or disassembled the so-called 'hidden' cameras. We also tried to prevent him from having any water to destroy his work with, but he succeeded in foiling us again by simply plunging his works into his toilet. I must give him credit for his incredible ingenuity! We eventually gave up trying to see his secret work, which will remain a mystery to all but himself, but what I can say for sure is that he seems to use a lot of black in his art, apparently from the heavy usage of that color in his paint-set.) Right now, as I write my personal notes here, I can see him, reading yet another book. I think it is one of his favorite books, 'Childhood's End.' I do realize the irony in that fact, and I realize the fact that the book was never intended for children of his age... but he is no monster. He is getting better all the time. He will be better than me one day, soon, and perhaps he will become a scientist, like me, but better. I think that being around him may be making me too soft towards him. I have to remember, that he is only so good because I made him that way. I have to continue my hard work. But all in all, he is doing good. In fact, Raven is doing so good, that even stubborn Cross is now approving of my work! (A rare feat indeed!)

ENTRY 8: Year 7, 3 months: It has been as while now since I have logged anything here. Many things have happened in this time. Raven is very strong now. And he is very anti-social and active, and is required to be drugged at all times with Ritalin and various Quaaludes and opiates. This problem began when he was 5, when Cross mistakenly thought that Raven had 'social problems that could be fixed with more contact with people of his own age outside of this lab.' So the idiot took him without my knowledge to some children's daycare center, where immediately upon arrival, Raven was placed in a playroom with several other children. Some other child then took a plastic ball bat and began swinging it around like some little ape, and hit Raven in the head with it. He immediately responded by turning on the offending child with such quick and brutal violence that the attack resulted in that child's loss of hearing in one ear and the loss of an eye, both due to extreme head trauma. A young daycare worker was severely injured as well when he tried to intervene. I believe that attack ended in a broken arm. Also, after the series of brutal attacks at the daycare center ended, Raven promptly fainted, and appeared to have gone into some sort of strange neurological spasms and intense an uncontrollable grand mal seizures, and nearly died of shock related to a hyper reaction to an overproduction of epinephrine in his system. But after he recovered, he was forever banned from having any contact with other children (this was perfectly fine by me, seeing as how they treated him in the daycare center) his violence returned yet again, Raven began constantly attacking the male assistants and technicians (He has never bothered the female assistants, in fact, we have never had any problems with Raven and the female workers)... and even I too have been injured by his great strength and physical capabilities. I have suffered several black eyes and a broken nose from harassing him too much when he did not desire my intrusion. In addition to all of this, Cross found out about my extra VRACE treatments. Raven told her assistant one day, when I was not around. Cross of course, was furious. But what do I care? I have made Raven strong, his attacks prove this. He is far better than any normal child. Cross just does not seem to realize this yet, but it does not matter anymore, Cross has recently had enough with me and this project and thankfully, has left it! Unfortunately, she has also taken with him an assistant which herself may be the very last surviving Martian immigrant! This is a surprising turn of events here, and one that is far too intriguing to pass up.

ENTRY 9: Year 13, 4 months: After he found out about Professor Cross's untimely death on the IBIS project, Raven has become far more withdrawn and depressed than ever before. He is still as he always was, quiet and never rude or defiant, (Although... actually, he does try to defy me in one way - he has let his silver bangs grow very long, and he simply will not allow it to be cut it anymore. But actually, it does look quite good on him, so much so, that even I have decided to try letting my hair grow long, too - but I will not tell him this.) but I have found that he does not listen to me when I instruct him and teach him his lessons, unless I am very rude to him. I have always remained very calm and collected around him, but for these past 6 years, I have been forced to play 'evil taskmaster' around him. Personally, I would prefer it if he simply followed my orders as I give them. He has become very self-reliant, like me... so actually I cannot blame him entirely for that. I believe that he is selectively following directions and orders, depending on whether or not he thinks that he can execute his task masterfully or not. (Which, he when he does choose to do his work and follow orders, he performs his tasks with impeccable flawlessness and perfection, as he constantly desires approval and positive attention from anyone.) He has not been sick for several years now, and he is now almost my height. He is incredibly strong and has gained considerable respect among the Tenlos family. And yet he remains depressed. Although I can't understand it, I have been trying to solve it chemically with Prozac type anti-depressants... but they don't seem to work anymore. It would appear that Raven has reached a sort of plateau in his VRACE developments, as he is no longer getting any stronger or brighter. I am now searching for something that will allow him to challenge himself further as he has too much potential to sit idly around, relearning the lessons that I have already taught him, while he wastes his powers looking out of the lab windows.

FINAL ENTRY: Year 14, 1 month: At President Tenlos and young General Saitoh's request, (This was secretly against my own desires, but since it had been Tenlos who had funded this and all of my side programs, I was truly stuck between the literal rock and a hard place.) Raven was enlisted as a raven (mercenaries hired by corporations, how ironic...). They both thought that a boy of such potential could serve the Tenlos best in their war against the CSA. Raven was not exactly thrilled with the news, and he responded by not eating or talking for a week. Soon after he began talking with us again, the President himself came and spoke to Raven. Raven was finally talked into accepting the assignment sometime later that week. He will leave soon for training camp, perhaps in three days, if Saitoh has his way about it. I am not sure if he is excited about beginning his training or not, but he seems to be excited mostly about the trip to the training camp. I suspect that he probably just wants to get away from me and this boring lab. Personally, I am not really looking forward to seeing him go, but if that is the way that it must be, then so be it. Perhaps the raven fold will teach him the things that I have been unable to. The things like discipline, how to follow orders, how to handle yourself in social situations, how to effectively channel your physical energy into something other than staring out at the world. Perhaps it might even be the thing that I was searching for.. his new challenge in life. But I do still have secret hopes that one day, he will come back to me and he will realize everything that I have done for him, all of my sacrifices to make his life perfect...

- Professor Cosado , PhD, M.D., LC 086 Lab. Corp.