CHAPTER ONE Less then six hours after recieving the call, Chris Reynolds climbed off a 747 airliner, just after a three hour flight to Africa. He was now fully dressed, in casual jeans and a button-up shirt, which were the first things he grabbed when he had awaken. Slung over his shoulder was his backpack; the contense extra clothes, tooth brush, laptop - the normal stuff he brought along for these... 'Adventures'. Not even ten feet into the third world airport, Chri was greeted by Litenant Louis York, the military escort he had been promised over the phone. "Mr. Reynolds, Litenant Louis York; I'll be taking you to the facility in the forest. I understand you've been fully briefed on the situation?" "Actually Litenant York, all I know is that I was called down to check out some kind of break through or what not..." Chris chuckled lightly, still tired, even after catching an hour of missed rest on the flight. This didn't shock Louis much, who shook hands with Chris, before extending his arm away. "We'll have you briefed on the chopper then. This way sir..." Louis gestured for Chris to follow, and the two moved out of the airport with haste. Five minutes later, Chris and the military escort were onboard a helicopter, the roters of the bird warming up for take off. Chris sat back in his seat, tucking his pack between his legs under the seat. Louis sat in the seat across from Chris, giving a thumbs up to the pilot in the cockpit. With that, the heli lifted off from the ground. Durint the short flight, Chris was informed of the discovery the Horizon Corporation had made. A break through that quickens the evolution of the average dog from three or four generations to a week. Now he understood why they had called him down; and it made clear sense. Instead of funding an operation that they weren't sure of, have a real expert come down and see things with their own eyes and report back. If things were all good and he thought the 'Project' looked promising, the Commitee of Science would be more then happy to fund Horizon, if not... Well, that was a whole other thing. The helicopter set down gently a half hour later on the roof of the facility, miles and miles of the tropical rain forest spreading in all directions. Stepping off the chopper, Chris starred out at the ocean of trees, a bit surprised at the location. Why build a science lab in the middle of a forest? It's not like you were planning to set free any testing subjects - but then again, you could sure as hell gather up a few in the woods. Louis escorted Chris inside two minutes after that, and in another three, they stood inside John Taylor's office. "Chris Reynolds, I'm the Evolutionist Expert the commitee sent down..." Chris introduced, extending one hand in greeting. "John Taylor, I'm in charge of the 'Project' here." John repiled, taking the hand and giving a firm shake. Sitting in the chair in front of the desk, Chris glanced around the office. It was plain, a picture of what looked like Taylor's family on one wall, but then nothing else. The desk wasn't crowded, little paper work. The boss mustn't have spent much time up here. "So, you're here to judge how likely it is that this operation will go smoothly, am I right?" "Well, I guess you could say that Mr. Taylor, but I prefer it to be called 'go right'." Chris gestured, but John didn't find humor in it. Already, Chris knew he wasn't wanted here from the reaction. Backing down from the pleasant chat, he sat up a little bit. "When do I get to see 'em? I mean, the evolved animals?" "I'd like to begin as soon as possible," John repiled, and Chirs nodded in responce. As soon as possible. It was true, he wasn't wanted. Most likely, this John fellow wanted him to say that everything was prefect, and then leave as fast as he had come. No shock to Chris, everyone hated examinations, espically the ones when the doctor asks you to strip yourself of all clothing. "Well, how about now?"
* * * * "Whoa, those fella's look almost as big as me!" Chris noted with amazement, his eyes watching one of the smaller of the shaven dogs strecth, it's massive figure showing how different it was from the normal pet. "That's one of the smallest, ID Number Two, one of the first subjects we began on. The newer ones are four times as big, bigger then any of the men around here as well." John explained to Chris, who focused on the animal now trotting slowly towards the glass. It's dark blue eyes watched the two humans on the other side, almost like it was thinking about them. Smiling, Chris leaned back, nodding. "Alright, well - I'm going to need blood samples from all... Fourteen, you say?" "Correct, there are fourteen subjects." "Right, from all fourteen subjects to run a test on. It'll just tell me what kind of things they have running through their veins that makes them grow so fast." Chris told the doctor. "Well, I could just give you the reports from when we started the 'Project' insead if you like." "How about both? I'll need to compair your reports to the results I get..." Chris nodded, and John Taylor put a fake smile on. 'Sure thing ass, I'll just go and get it for you since you're in charge...' John thought as he lead Chris a little ways down the hall to another viewing area. In this view, there were the two biggest creatures, the two John loved the most. "These the big ones?" Chris asked, starring at the two large dogs sit peacefully without a care in the lab room, one of them licking it's large fangs. Chris figured they must have just eaten. "Yes, ID Numbers Thirteen and Fourteen." "Christ, they are big doctor... You said these are the newest ones?" Chris asked, looking at John, who nodded in response. Looking back the the dogs, he stared in amazement like before. "From the looks of it, your evolution advancement shot is getting better each time you test it on a new dog." "Of course, we've made better versions each time we inject one of our pets. The only thing is these two eat so much, we're running low on food, and without the funds your people can give us, they'll just die in here!" John answered, trying to get the point across that they seriously needed the money. Chris caught on, but made no comment. He didn't have enough information to say anything to agree or disagree the good doctor. Looking back to the holding room, Chris caught glimse of a camera monitoring the room in the far corner. "Doctor Taylor, who watches over these rooms on those cameras?" "Oh, no one Mr. Reynolds... We have an built in AI Secriuty System, the one that Horizon built before going into gentic studies. We call it 'Shiva' and she works like a charm. And no, she's never gone crazy like that cyborg shit head in Alien." John informed Chris, and then turned, and kept walking down the hall. Frowning slightly, Chris looked back to the camera. Shiva, eh? There was something he didn't like, a computer watching over everything... Shrugging, he turned, and followed John to the next holding room.