Testing
The golden sun dawned on Turo, casting shadows from the buildings onto the ground. A fine dew covered the grass and a sweet smell of a light rain hung in the air. Bugs native to the planet hummed at the approaching daylight, their song filled the air with a different tune than that of the cruisers floating about the place. Smoke drifted into the clear morning sky, creating a haze that hung for several hours. The crescendo of voices shouting echoed in the distance, an alien language no one on Earth had heard. Birds or if you could call them birds floated through the air on unseen currents, high above the surface. A beautiful day.
His mind raced, some thing still lingered there, a thought that would not move. Something clawed at the back of his mind, it wouldn't go away, a craving for something to destroy, some thing to eradicate from existance. It was a dark feeling, crawling over him, up his spine and into his head, it made him shiver. He tried as hard as he could to remove it, no avail. The silence his ears sent to his brain was eerie, he was used to machine huming and other lab noises. Another feeling swept over him.
Cold, it was cold that forced him awake, his vision blurred. The charcoal black eyes opened and stared, he felt thoughts moving through his head, things from yesterday, all the sounds from the audio lessons. The vision of the small blue alien focused, the room was still dark. He slowly recalled the events of the past day, Jumba, 625 who he took immediate dis-liking to. And something of more to come. Some thing else, something more. He forced himself up, the cold bit at him again. His head swam for a second, getting used to sitting up from a flat position was something his body wasn't accustomed to yet. The blanket that he'd placed on himself lay on the floor, a wrinkled mass of fabric.
The lights slowly lit, this confuzed him. They must have been motion activated. The unsurpressable urge hit him again, he needed some thing to desacrate. The same dark creeping feeling. He stood up and stretched his limbs, yawning he turned to 625's bed. He hoped this would stop the craving for an object to distroy. He grinned, revealing a set of not-so-pointy, but still sharp teeth. He lunged at the defenceless bed.
*
625 had woken up several hours earlier, the time was now 1100 hours, military time. He filled his morning routine with making several sanwiches and putting all but one into the refridgerator, which he now chewed on. He used the same bottle that had the plastique earlier. Besides the bread the sandwich had an overall texture and taste of sand, or coarse garvel. He sipped slowly at a cup of Tersian tea, Jumba's experiments were not allowed to have coffee, he'd found that out early. The caffine in the coffee reacted with the nerves on of the experiments, sending impulses of total uncontrollable random emotional swings. This was a problem because he based his experiemnts actions on thier moods, thus a happy peaceful experiement was less likely to wreck something than a testy-edgy experiment.
625 shared company with 327 and the only experiment with a name, well not a real name unless X was an exception. 327 was an early experiment so she had the luxury of coffee which she slowly sipped at while reading the daily news on a datapad, she was like that, reading anything she could. 625 sat by her, reading over her shoulder and half eaten crousant. X hummed at the next small table, reading a Jules Verne, the sea had alwas interested him, although he barely swim.
X was black, all black, he was one of the early experiments, number 97, or somewhere arround that number. He was the oldest of the experiments, a veteran as Jumba called him. He wasn't really smart, oh he had basic skills, but none that rivaled the later experiments, he was sort of Jumba's janitor. His character was a deep one, like to talk, if you brought up the right subject, eager to laugh and was almost constantly humming a tune from another planet. He had run many missions for Jumba on many planets, he always had a good story to tell. He had named himself X that was on a label a poisin gas cylandar he'd stolen from Trescus.
625 heard it first, a shrieking sound of metal being pushed into permacrete, but he wasn't sure. It had hurt his small ears. It came again, more clearly now, "327" he whispered to her, "Listen," .......nothing. She now hummed tunelessly ignoring the pestering twit. " Listen!" he said in an audible voice, she stopped, "What?" she asked. "Just listen" 625's voice trailed off. He heard it, loud and clear, the sound again, the shrilly screetch, he shivered. "What am I waiting for?" she asked, unaware of the noise. X was oblivious of the conversation, he'd reached the part with the giant squid, he couldn't put it down, "Forget it" 625 slid out of the kitchen. "If only they had a cure for doormats." she sighed.
Jumba had heard the noise too, he ran down the hall toward the sound. It apperaed to be comming from 626 and 625's room, 'imagine that', he thought. He was almost past the kitchen's dark door, it opened suddenly, something ran out. It ran right under his feet. "Gaughhh!" he fell face first into the cold floor. "Six two--! " he paused, he wasn't sure of the next digit, with all of the experiments running arround the place, he looked back, 625 was sprawled on the floor, "Five!, your always under foot!" Jumba yelled. "So turn me into a doormat." was his cocky reply as he recovered. "I plan to." Jumba grumbled as he stood up, and continued his run down the hall.
The door was bowed out to the extent one could see inside a tiny bit. "GAGHH-." Jumba was stopped, another high pitched shrill pierced the air. He knocked on the door, "626!, open the door right now!" he yelled. A noise came from inside, a shuffle, "Who are you to ask me to do this for you?" came the repy. 'Uho' Jumba thought, he feared 626 had not retained any information from the past day. "625, you're going to have to break the door in." Jumba told him. "Not my forte` fatty. I only make sandwiches, you want one, call me." 625 announced. "You're useless 625, remind me to infect you with my latest leprogenic viris." Jumba shoved him aside. "I can't, too lazy to remember." 625 retorted.
Jumba grabbed the knob on the door and pulled hard. The wooden baracade didn't budge, it stayed shut. "I really wish you'd help." he said to 625, but the aquamarine experiment wasn't listening. Jumba tried again, this time putting his feet on either side of the door and pulling. He tried untill his face turned red, but still nothing. "626!" he yelled. This time he tried pushing instead of pulling, it opened without any force. "Dr. Jumba Jookiba, the greatest genetic doctor in all the galaxy, evil geneous, inventor. But still can't open one way doors." he luaghed.
Jumba was at a loss of words. The room was a total wreck, three of five pole from 625's bed were shoved into the wall, and barely stuck out, save several inches. The air was more like a blizzard, the remnants on 625's small mattress floated freely in the air. The blue four armed alien sat in the middle of the room, grinning like a schoolboy. Red crossed Jumba's face, he seemed to raise the temperature by twenty dereeze, 626 looked at the volcano on temper, he drooped his big ears down, in a sign of remorse and turned away, staring at the floor. "626, if you are going to distroy anything, make it OUT side my lab facilities" Jumba said crossly.
625 snaked out from the door way. Upon seeing his bed, now floating in the air, he screamed like a little girl, "My bed!, what have you done to my bed?!!" In an act of desperation, he ran about collecting all the pieces he could catch. "You!... You!...... abomination from hades!!.....I oughta....." he fumed. "625, be quiet, or I'll get my syrenge." Jumba said comically. 625 threw the pieces down and stompped out of the room in a fit of anger.
Jumba cast a glare down on 626, he smiled evilly, "I think you are ready for training." he waded through the sea of feathers ot 626. "Get a uniform out of the locker, 626," Jumba spoke,"Then follow me." he said coldly.
626 padded over to the locker, twice the size of him. He creaked open the red door. Inside he found three shelves with three uniforms on each, he pulled one from the stack. It was orange, an unusual color, with brown tiangular elbow pads, the knee pads were square ( He soon found they doubled as pockets), one also sat on the chest area. The materiel felt soft in his small four-clawed hands, but the weight told hit that it was well made. A rubber-like substance was made into cuffs on all the orifices of the suit, it stretched easily, then returned back to original size. He opened the neck hole so that his body could fit through into the combat suit. He slipped his legs and four arms into the designated holes, the barbs he slipped through the small hole in the rear, his small stub of a tail poked out also. The suit was loose arround his arms and legs, when he stretched he found out why, it didn't decrease the motion of his arms and legs. He spotted a black belt on the door of the locker, he slipped that on, in the brown buckle sat a homing device, so as long as the suit was on him Jumba'd know where he was. He quickly warmed up, but didn't get too hot, the suit had pores that let extra heat escape.
He emmerged to find Jumba waiting, in his hands was a clipboard, filled with tattered papers. "Took long enough." he mumbled. "This way." He started to walk off to the end of the hall. The suit was uncomfortable at first as he walked. He hadn't ever worn any thing in his short life, so it was a new experience for him. Several minites of walking cured that, he soon didn't notice it at all.
The long white hallways seemed to run on forever, never stopping. The white wall was interrupted by the dark wooden doors, although they were never frequent they still appeared none the less. None of the doors were locked, save the huge vault and the front entrance, they didn't need to be. Jumba's lab was only one sector of the vast complex, all of them were cut off from each other, aside from a huge octangular room in the dead center of it. Seven of the eight led to other labs, the eight one went throught to the front entrance of the huge complex. Private loading docks ensured no one could 'borrow' any records or experiments, Jumba had no fear of intruders, all his experiments were trained to kill, if necessary.
Jumba led 626 into the controll room. He thought it was strange that 327 was not inside. "626, try to sit still untill I finish a call." Jumba told him. "And if I have to tell you to be quiet, or stop anything, It'll be your head." Jumba picked up a rather large object and pushed some numbers on the reciever. 626 however found the computer, he climbed up on the chair and stared at the keyboard for several seconds before he started to do something. He remembered the lesson about the computer. Before long he was anywhere and everywhere on the highway of information, the internet. After Jumba was finished with his call he put the phone back on the hook and pried 626 away from the computer.
The two entered the huge octangular room, Jumba locked the door behind him. He walked over to a door with alien lettering on it, he knocked. A two by five slot at eye level slid open, brown peircing spheres stared out, they spotted Jumba and softend, no longer a cold stare but one of a friendly welcome. "Oh, hello Jumba, come right in." a deep voice said. The slot closed, a beep and the door raised up. A tall thin, elongated alien stood on the other side, the white lab coat too short for his long three fingered arms, it was opened and revealed a black under shirt. The shirt was tucked into a pair of brown pants that hid his elephant like feet. On top of his long head were stripes of two colors, brown and a light green. He wore a pair of thin wire rimmed spectacles. "What can I do for you?" Zri asked. "Experiment 626 is ready for testing now." Jumba answered. "And where is 626?" Zri looked arround. "He's right...." Jumba looked down, he was gone."Oh no." he mumbled. He began looking arround in the octangular room, he looked under the bench and the two potted trees beside it. He glanced down the hall to the main entrance, nothing. A crash inside the lab confirmed his suspicion. "He's already let himself in." He mumbled as he passed Zri who was helping in the search.
The big genetic scientist and the thin tactician walked down the hall towrad where the had been heard. The brown door was the only one open in the hall, so they slipped inside. The scene was that out of a television mystery, lamps broken on the floor, books strewn about, couches turned over. 626 was chasing a weasel like creature arround the room, hissing and snarling as did the furry thing. Every few seconds he would lunge at it, but the weasel thing was fast, he landed on his face, got up and started chasing again. He spotted Jumba, "Don't stand there! get a stun gun or something!" he yelled as he ran about. "626 knock it off." Jumba yelled above the hissing of the weasel and 626's growling. 626 made a final dive for it, he ended up it a shelf full of books. The weasel, sensing the end of the chase, slinked off into a corner to hide. Jumba sighed, "Always have to have the last action don't you 626." The blue alien grinned. "He did bite me though, and it hurt." 626 held up his arm. Jumba srcibbled something down onto his clipboard. "I'm sorry," Zri apologized. "Patookie is like that arround strangers."
Zri was a combat specialist, he'd joined the Galactic defence force when he was 19 earth years. He had a rough time at first, then on a distant planet him and several of his men were trapped with no way out. While on the planet he'd learned hundreds of combat tactics and guerilla warefare. Surving on the hostile planet was enough fight itself. Eventually the GDF made a rescue attempt and succeeded. He was promoted to Staff Sargeant and eventually became a tactician for GDF because he showed remarkable field planning while fighting when he was stuck on the planet. His part of the complex had training equipment and was also a lab for making soldier enhancement drugs. V-5 was his latest, it was a neural depressant that enabled the soldier to run up a beserker type attitude, he cared not for himself and viciuosly attacked the enemies without avail. But the side affect was that after it wore off the soldier went into a state of depression and despair for several days.
Zri looked at 626, intrigued at the size and build, "I thought that you'd try another approach this time, thought that he'd be bigger, but whatever works for you." he mused. Jumba picked 626 up, who offered no resistance. "Just so you don't get any ideas." He followed Zri out of the room.
"My aproach has always been the same. I did once try out a bigger species, but he was too big for most of the practical uses we're looking for, so I kept my work small. Smaller species have a harder time being hit when shot at, and for my uses that is what I need. Also with the reduced body size it is a whole lot easier to make the hide laser proof." Zri had a moment of complete stupification, then his brain went "Oh.", he reached up to open the steel door that led to the gym. The two stepped inside, Jumba set 626 on the floor.
The gym was huge, appromately one hundred meters by three hundred meters. The dull steel walls absorbed the lighting, making the huge room appear dimly lit. On the walls were scores of laser marks and several blackened spots from whenever Jumba used the holo feature as a warzone. The roof vaulted above thier heads and ended in steel crossbeams and supports. Arround the edge was a track for running, the center was filled with all kinds of equipment, bars set at different hights, ropes and other objects were strewn about in an unorderly fassion. The gym seemed sparse though, that was why a controll panel sat in the corner of the room, so you could customize the setting, raising up hidden machines of various exersizes, or lowering them all down into the floor and then activating the holographic emitters, effctively creating an unending holo room for play or practical use. A small door to the right of the gym led into and adjoining shooting range, which was equally long as the gym.
Although 626 had been built to be extremely strong, his muscles had to be toned and conditioned to get to the level where they would be that strong. Jumba started out 626 on twenty pounds, spotting him as he went. Slowly he increased the ammount by five pounds each ten-set. He stopped 626 after an hour's worth of work and 100 standard pounds of pure steel. He allowed 626 to stop for a break.
Speed is also essential, "Speed could put distance between you and your enemy or help to close a distance....." Jumba quoted from a book he'd read while jotting down notes on his clip board. Jumba let 626 run the track once, just to time him. 626 panted the whole time, when he reached the end he was gasping for air, he slouched down to the ground and beathed the cool air from off the cold floor of the gym. "Five minutes, 626." Jumba announced. Zri walked over to the big scientist. "I think you're pushing him too hard." he observed. Jumba shook his head. "This isn't his full potential, he's only started. I pulled him from the cryo chamber the day before, it's early for him, mentally but not physically. He'll be ready for anything in a week. I know, I built him." Jumba told Zri.
Five minutes had passed, "626, UP! ANOTHER LAP NOW!" Jumba yelled to him from across the gym. He clicked his stopwatch. 626 pulled himself up from the floor in a pushup style manner then jolted off like a runner. The seconed time was better, he went slightly faster. "Thirty seconds faster 626, good, but not as I expected. Again, this time on all your appendages." Jumba said. 626 crouched down, He almost stood up for a second, but then corrected himself. He gripped the spongy track tile as he went, propeliing himself as he went. He was done and halfway arround again before he realized that Jumba was calling him. He slowed to a stop and looked for Jumba, he was walking toward him,a huge grin on his face. "626, that was marvelous, faster than anything ever before." he praised him. Zri was close behind, he was speachless, just staring in awe. "That was great, tomorrow we'll work on that some more. But for now you can do some combat maneuvers. Zri can take the floor at this time." Jumba stepped back.
Zri walked silently over to the controll panel. He pushed some buttons and a grinding noise started. 626 turned arround, the exercize equipment was slowly sinking into the floor. As soon as it was gone Zri hit several more buttons. 626 heard a beep, lights flashed. The gigantic gym vanished in a blinding white flash, 626 threw his paws up to cover his eyes. Zri looked over and raised his eyebrow at this. The white light flashed again, this time it was a huge open field, Huge green and hite snow capped mountains bordered all arround the field. 626 looked arround. He was standing under a roof of some sort, thick wooden poles supported it at either corner, he glanced down to see a bamboo floor. He also realized that his orange combat suit had been replaced with a white, red belted karate uniform. Zri also had a white suit on.
"While Jumba says that strenght and speed are essential, and I agree. But there is more than just being stong and fast." he told 626, who seemed uninterested at the moment. "To better know yourself is to better understand your enemy. To know when enough is enough, to be able to differ between friend and misguided enemy." he continued. 626 was now begining to listen. "It is better to know when to strike then go head on into battle. The wise warior avoids the battle of weapons, instead he uses the weapons of words. The wise warrior also knows when the use of a weapon is apropriate." he cited. 626 was now hooked. "These are some dirivitaves of Sun Stzu's book of war. There are also thousands of other quotes that are as useful as these."
"What are they? Can you tell me more?" 626 asked as he sat down on the floor. Zri grinned. "Warriors never attack out of anger, or revenge. A cool head in battle is not likely to get lobbed off. Death is more honorable than defeat. Keep your weapon and you shall keep your life. These are the ways of the warrior, they applied three thousand years ago and still apply to day. Enough talk for now." Zri walked over to a weapons stand placed oddly in the corner of the area. He took two spears off the wall. "Spears are useful, they can keep the enemy at a good distance, far away from you." Zri handed one to 626. He swung it arround for several seconds to get the feel for it.
"How will this help me at all? Today we use lasers and blaster riffles." 626 presented. Zri let out a small laugh. "Spears of long ago are like the riffles today, tey are used to keep the enemy at bay and away from you. Small pistols are like daggers, deadly up close but useless at any great distance. Arrows are comparable to long ranged weapons, but are weak and powerless up close. Do you see now what I mean?" Zri answered. "Small similarity, if at best. Yes." 626 said. "Good, now comes the tricky part." Zri grinned. He swung the spear right down onto 626 head. 626 moved slightly to the side and put his spear up. Zri's hit his spear, effectively stopping it. "Good." Zri moved back. He came again, this time from the side. 626 was able to bounce it into the air. Zri let the momentum get lost in the air, "Again, good." Zri did it again, except he re-did the first two attacks in one fluid motion. 626 was able to deflect them both.
"Each opponent has a certain fighting style, the move and act accordingly. Every one is different, they have thier own prefrences to what weapon they use and what manner they will use it in. Get it?" Zri said. 626 nodded. "Now, it's your turn." 626 took the spear and tried a weak, straight on poke. Zri brushed it aside. "Is that all you have?" he sighed. "Jus tgetting started." 626 said confidently. He swung the spear low, hoping Zri wouldn't be able to stop it. Zri instead stepped back, the tip brushed his pants. 626 wasn't finished though, he jumped toward Zri and feinted bringing the spear down over his head, but then slid it down and came up from under him with the back end. Zri leaned back to let the spear come down, but saw 626 redirrect the thing, he then leaned back more and seemed to roll over in the air. 626 fumed, he'd missed.
626 went beserk, wildly swinging the spear all over. Up, down, left, it didn't matter, as long as it was moving. Zri blocked the thrusts he couldn't dodge, and kept moving. Anywhere and anyway the spear could be swung 626 found it, he relentlessly swung. 626 started to slow down after a while, untill he stopped to catch his breath. "You see, you cannot do that. Keep your head in battle. Doing that does no good, all it does is wear you out. Let go of everything, don't think. Let your attacks come naturally. Fighting is an art, like a fine ballet, only with weapons." Zri told him. "Try again." he lowered his spear.
626 made some sence out of Zri's words. 'Just let go.' He took a deep breath. 'Let if go.' He cleared his mind, thougt of nothing, he watched Zri come closer. The spear came down, 626 put his spear up, they hit. Zri came again, this time from the side, 626 moved back and the tip missed him. He tried this time, as Zri's spear was returning he took a swipe. Zri brought down his spear hastily. 626 made contact, then spun arround, comming low. Zri missed this, and the spear handle knocked him off his feet. 626 stopped. Zri collected himself "Good, you did it. Some more practice and you could be as good, or better than me." He stood up, 626 waited for another attack. "No more for today, there's always tomorrow." Zri told him. 626 relaxed and lessened his grip on the spear. Zri hit a button on his wrist watch.
The area flashed white, pause, then flashed again. They were back in the gym. 626 made sure he had his orange suit on, to his relief he did. Zri looked over to the corned where Jumba sat, resting. "If Jumba would approve, we can start the weapons training." Jumba put his drink on the ground and stood up. "Only if 626 isn't too tired, we can come back tomorrow." Both looked over to the blue alien. "I'm up to it, I just need a drink." he said. Jumba grinned. This would be interesting.
After a long drink, Jumba followed 626 and Zri to the room adjoining. The shooting range, unlike the gym, was climate controlled and it was always at a constant temperature of 70 degreeze. There was another room in the shooting gallery, it was a small with a huge window and bolt and pressure locking door. It was also laser and plasma proof, just in case one of his experiments got a crazy idea and tried to shoot Jumba. A small wall seperated the rest of the range from the shooting area.
Jumba went into the small room and observed, he still wasn't sure about giving any experiment a weapon of any kind, especially 626 who had no prior experience. Zri on the other hand was totally confident that he had controll over the situation. Zri started 626 off with the standard blasters. 626 felt the weight of the two, "These things are improperly balanced." he told Zri, he let the pistols swing down on one finger to prove his point. "That's because when you run out of battery they are deadly when swung." He tried swinging them, the heavy front proved to be deadly.
Zri pushed a button on a controll pad, three holographic targets appeared from nowhere and started to move arround. "Try your skill 626." He fired off shot, it missed all the targets and embedded itself in a wall. 626 grunted in displeasure. He tried it again, the shot flew closer and almost hit. He'd picked up learning every thing else, but the shooting was a problem, he growled in disgust and just reigned fire on the infernal targets. His anger proved to be a powerful asset, his shots all hit successfully. When all the targets had been blown away is when he stopped. The crescendo of the echoing gunfire filled the air. Zri smiled "Good, good, your learning fast." 626 didn't feel that way though. Zri presented two more blasters for a total of four. He pushed rhe switch again, 626 shredded the targets before they got to move. Zri pushed the button several times, all the targets exploded again, this time he locked the button, so it wouldn't come back up.
In a total of four minutes 626 had turned all the targets into holographic dust. Zri let the computer calculate the total number of shots versus hits. He printed out the results, along with statistcics of how many shots hit where. He put the blasters back into the weapons locker and handed Jumba the sheets of paper. Jumab paged through them, shocked. "One thousand confirmed hits of three thousand some odd fired. Ten percent were head shots, the rest were chest and torso.....Wait, the blasters should have ran out of ammo way before.." Zri cut in "Everything was holographicly generated, the guns were empty to start with." he explained. "Alright, now it makes sense." Jumab shrugged. "Care for tea?" Zri asked.
"No, I'm sorry. We've bothered you enough for today. We have to be going." Jumba declined. Zri led them out of the gym and to the front door. "You weren't a bother, I rather enjoy your company. It gets lonely over here sometimes." Zri complained. "I'm always in, well most of the time anyway, you are always welcome." Jumba invited. "Alright." Zri sighed. "Tomorrow I guess?" Jumba nodded.
They both said their good byes to Zri who waved then shut the door.'Good, their gone.' Zri thought, he walked down the hall to the comms room. Inside were six pads about three feet in diameter, three were for sending your immage and the other three were for recieving. He went over to a computer in the corner and punched in a seven digit code then stepped onto one of the pads. An image of a species like him appeared, the hologram immage wore a cloak with a hood that covered all of the face. It looked somewhat like a phantom or the grim reaper. "Your disturbance at this hour is most unexplainable." the figure growled. Zri hung his head. "I'm sorry, you see, Jumba.." "JUMBA?!" the voice interrupted. "What were you doing arround Jumba?" Zri raised his head. "This time I think he's done it. Made the perfect 'super soldier' Isn't that what you were waiting for?" A long peroid of silence followed. "I see," the shrouded figure said, his voice raised in interest. "What do you have for information? A confirmation of this?" Zri nodded. "I have recorded the whole training session. I will down load it to your private personal datapad." A few beeps and the data was transfered. "I will view the video and contact you later." The immage said, then dissappeared. Zri hacked into the comm recorder and deleted the communication.
The golden sun dawned on Turo, casting shadows from the buildings onto the ground. A fine dew covered the grass and a sweet smell of a light rain hung in the air. Bugs native to the planet hummed at the approaching daylight, their song filled the air with a different tune than that of the cruisers floating about the place. Smoke drifted into the clear morning sky, creating a haze that hung for several hours. The crescendo of voices shouting echoed in the distance, an alien language no one on Earth had heard. Birds or if you could call them birds floated through the air on unseen currents, high above the surface. A beautiful day.
His mind raced, some thing still lingered there, a thought that would not move. Something clawed at the back of his mind, it wouldn't go away, a craving for something to destroy, some thing to eradicate from existance. It was a dark feeling, crawling over him, up his spine and into his head, it made him shiver. He tried as hard as he could to remove it, no avail. The silence his ears sent to his brain was eerie, he was used to machine huming and other lab noises. Another feeling swept over him.
Cold, it was cold that forced him awake, his vision blurred. The charcoal black eyes opened and stared, he felt thoughts moving through his head, things from yesterday, all the sounds from the audio lessons. The vision of the small blue alien focused, the room was still dark. He slowly recalled the events of the past day, Jumba, 625 who he took immediate dis-liking to. And something of more to come. Some thing else, something more. He forced himself up, the cold bit at him again. His head swam for a second, getting used to sitting up from a flat position was something his body wasn't accustomed to yet. The blanket that he'd placed on himself lay on the floor, a wrinkled mass of fabric.
The lights slowly lit, this confuzed him. They must have been motion activated. The unsurpressable urge hit him again, he needed some thing to desacrate. The same dark creeping feeling. He stood up and stretched his limbs, yawning he turned to 625's bed. He hoped this would stop the craving for an object to distroy. He grinned, revealing a set of not-so-pointy, but still sharp teeth. He lunged at the defenceless bed.
*
625 had woken up several hours earlier, the time was now 1100 hours, military time. He filled his morning routine with making several sanwiches and putting all but one into the refridgerator, which he now chewed on. He used the same bottle that had the plastique earlier. Besides the bread the sandwich had an overall texture and taste of sand, or coarse garvel. He sipped slowly at a cup of Tersian tea, Jumba's experiments were not allowed to have coffee, he'd found that out early. The caffine in the coffee reacted with the nerves on of the experiments, sending impulses of total uncontrollable random emotional swings. This was a problem because he based his experiemnts actions on thier moods, thus a happy peaceful experiement was less likely to wreck something than a testy-edgy experiment.
625 shared company with 327 and the only experiment with a name, well not a real name unless X was an exception. 327 was an early experiment so she had the luxury of coffee which she slowly sipped at while reading the daily news on a datapad, she was like that, reading anything she could. 625 sat by her, reading over her shoulder and half eaten crousant. X hummed at the next small table, reading a Jules Verne, the sea had alwas interested him, although he barely swim.
X was black, all black, he was one of the early experiments, number 97, or somewhere arround that number. He was the oldest of the experiments, a veteran as Jumba called him. He wasn't really smart, oh he had basic skills, but none that rivaled the later experiments, he was sort of Jumba's janitor. His character was a deep one, like to talk, if you brought up the right subject, eager to laugh and was almost constantly humming a tune from another planet. He had run many missions for Jumba on many planets, he always had a good story to tell. He had named himself X that was on a label a poisin gas cylandar he'd stolen from Trescus.
625 heard it first, a shrieking sound of metal being pushed into permacrete, but he wasn't sure. It had hurt his small ears. It came again, more clearly now, "327" he whispered to her, "Listen," .......nothing. She now hummed tunelessly ignoring the pestering twit. " Listen!" he said in an audible voice, she stopped, "What?" she asked. "Just listen" 625's voice trailed off. He heard it, loud and clear, the sound again, the shrilly screetch, he shivered. "What am I waiting for?" she asked, unaware of the noise. X was oblivious of the conversation, he'd reached the part with the giant squid, he couldn't put it down, "Forget it" 625 slid out of the kitchen. "If only they had a cure for doormats." she sighed.
Jumba had heard the noise too, he ran down the hall toward the sound. It apperaed to be comming from 626 and 625's room, 'imagine that', he thought. He was almost past the kitchen's dark door, it opened suddenly, something ran out. It ran right under his feet. "Gaughhh!" he fell face first into the cold floor. "Six two--! " he paused, he wasn't sure of the next digit, with all of the experiments running arround the place, he looked back, 625 was sprawled on the floor, "Five!, your always under foot!" Jumba yelled. "So turn me into a doormat." was his cocky reply as he recovered. "I plan to." Jumba grumbled as he stood up, and continued his run down the hall.
The door was bowed out to the extent one could see inside a tiny bit. "GAGHH-." Jumba was stopped, another high pitched shrill pierced the air. He knocked on the door, "626!, open the door right now!" he yelled. A noise came from inside, a shuffle, "Who are you to ask me to do this for you?" came the repy. 'Uho' Jumba thought, he feared 626 had not retained any information from the past day. "625, you're going to have to break the door in." Jumba told him. "Not my forte` fatty. I only make sandwiches, you want one, call me." 625 announced. "You're useless 625, remind me to infect you with my latest leprogenic viris." Jumba shoved him aside. "I can't, too lazy to remember." 625 retorted.
Jumba grabbed the knob on the door and pulled hard. The wooden baracade didn't budge, it stayed shut. "I really wish you'd help." he said to 625, but the aquamarine experiment wasn't listening. Jumba tried again, this time putting his feet on either side of the door and pulling. He tried untill his face turned red, but still nothing. "626!" he yelled. This time he tried pushing instead of pulling, it opened without any force. "Dr. Jumba Jookiba, the greatest genetic doctor in all the galaxy, evil geneous, inventor. But still can't open one way doors." he luaghed.
Jumba was at a loss of words. The room was a total wreck, three of five pole from 625's bed were shoved into the wall, and barely stuck out, save several inches. The air was more like a blizzard, the remnants on 625's small mattress floated freely in the air. The blue four armed alien sat in the middle of the room, grinning like a schoolboy. Red crossed Jumba's face, he seemed to raise the temperature by twenty dereeze, 626 looked at the volcano on temper, he drooped his big ears down, in a sign of remorse and turned away, staring at the floor. "626, if you are going to distroy anything, make it OUT side my lab facilities" Jumba said crossly.
625 snaked out from the door way. Upon seeing his bed, now floating in the air, he screamed like a little girl, "My bed!, what have you done to my bed?!!" In an act of desperation, he ran about collecting all the pieces he could catch. "You!... You!...... abomination from hades!!.....I oughta....." he fumed. "625, be quiet, or I'll get my syrenge." Jumba said comically. 625 threw the pieces down and stompped out of the room in a fit of anger.
Jumba cast a glare down on 626, he smiled evilly, "I think you are ready for training." he waded through the sea of feathers ot 626. "Get a uniform out of the locker, 626," Jumba spoke,"Then follow me." he said coldly.
626 padded over to the locker, twice the size of him. He creaked open the red door. Inside he found three shelves with three uniforms on each, he pulled one from the stack. It was orange, an unusual color, with brown tiangular elbow pads, the knee pads were square ( He soon found they doubled as pockets), one also sat on the chest area. The materiel felt soft in his small four-clawed hands, but the weight told hit that it was well made. A rubber-like substance was made into cuffs on all the orifices of the suit, it stretched easily, then returned back to original size. He opened the neck hole so that his body could fit through into the combat suit. He slipped his legs and four arms into the designated holes, the barbs he slipped through the small hole in the rear, his small stub of a tail poked out also. The suit was loose arround his arms and legs, when he stretched he found out why, it didn't decrease the motion of his arms and legs. He spotted a black belt on the door of the locker, he slipped that on, in the brown buckle sat a homing device, so as long as the suit was on him Jumba'd know where he was. He quickly warmed up, but didn't get too hot, the suit had pores that let extra heat escape.
He emmerged to find Jumba waiting, in his hands was a clipboard, filled with tattered papers. "Took long enough." he mumbled. "This way." He started to walk off to the end of the hall. The suit was uncomfortable at first as he walked. He hadn't ever worn any thing in his short life, so it was a new experience for him. Several minites of walking cured that, he soon didn't notice it at all.
The long white hallways seemed to run on forever, never stopping. The white wall was interrupted by the dark wooden doors, although they were never frequent they still appeared none the less. None of the doors were locked, save the huge vault and the front entrance, they didn't need to be. Jumba's lab was only one sector of the vast complex, all of them were cut off from each other, aside from a huge octangular room in the dead center of it. Seven of the eight led to other labs, the eight one went throught to the front entrance of the huge complex. Private loading docks ensured no one could 'borrow' any records or experiments, Jumba had no fear of intruders, all his experiments were trained to kill, if necessary.
Jumba led 626 into the controll room. He thought it was strange that 327 was not inside. "626, try to sit still untill I finish a call." Jumba told him. "And if I have to tell you to be quiet, or stop anything, It'll be your head." Jumba picked up a rather large object and pushed some numbers on the reciever. 626 however found the computer, he climbed up on the chair and stared at the keyboard for several seconds before he started to do something. He remembered the lesson about the computer. Before long he was anywhere and everywhere on the highway of information, the internet. After Jumba was finished with his call he put the phone back on the hook and pried 626 away from the computer.
The two entered the huge octangular room, Jumba locked the door behind him. He walked over to a door with alien lettering on it, he knocked. A two by five slot at eye level slid open, brown peircing spheres stared out, they spotted Jumba and softend, no longer a cold stare but one of a friendly welcome. "Oh, hello Jumba, come right in." a deep voice said. The slot closed, a beep and the door raised up. A tall thin, elongated alien stood on the other side, the white lab coat too short for his long three fingered arms, it was opened and revealed a black under shirt. The shirt was tucked into a pair of brown pants that hid his elephant like feet. On top of his long head were stripes of two colors, brown and a light green. He wore a pair of thin wire rimmed spectacles. "What can I do for you?" Zri asked. "Experiment 626 is ready for testing now." Jumba answered. "And where is 626?" Zri looked arround. "He's right...." Jumba looked down, he was gone."Oh no." he mumbled. He began looking arround in the octangular room, he looked under the bench and the two potted trees beside it. He glanced down the hall to the main entrance, nothing. A crash inside the lab confirmed his suspicion. "He's already let himself in." He mumbled as he passed Zri who was helping in the search.
The big genetic scientist and the thin tactician walked down the hall towrad where the had been heard. The brown door was the only one open in the hall, so they slipped inside. The scene was that out of a television mystery, lamps broken on the floor, books strewn about, couches turned over. 626 was chasing a weasel like creature arround the room, hissing and snarling as did the furry thing. Every few seconds he would lunge at it, but the weasel thing was fast, he landed on his face, got up and started chasing again. He spotted Jumba, "Don't stand there! get a stun gun or something!" he yelled as he ran about. "626 knock it off." Jumba yelled above the hissing of the weasel and 626's growling. 626 made a final dive for it, he ended up it a shelf full of books. The weasel, sensing the end of the chase, slinked off into a corner to hide. Jumba sighed, "Always have to have the last action don't you 626." The blue alien grinned. "He did bite me though, and it hurt." 626 held up his arm. Jumba srcibbled something down onto his clipboard. "I'm sorry," Zri apologized. "Patookie is like that arround strangers."
Zri was a combat specialist, he'd joined the Galactic defence force when he was 19 earth years. He had a rough time at first, then on a distant planet him and several of his men were trapped with no way out. While on the planet he'd learned hundreds of combat tactics and guerilla warefare. Surving on the hostile planet was enough fight itself. Eventually the GDF made a rescue attempt and succeeded. He was promoted to Staff Sargeant and eventually became a tactician for GDF because he showed remarkable field planning while fighting when he was stuck on the planet. His part of the complex had training equipment and was also a lab for making soldier enhancement drugs. V-5 was his latest, it was a neural depressant that enabled the soldier to run up a beserker type attitude, he cared not for himself and viciuosly attacked the enemies without avail. But the side affect was that after it wore off the soldier went into a state of depression and despair for several days.
Zri looked at 626, intrigued at the size and build, "I thought that you'd try another approach this time, thought that he'd be bigger, but whatever works for you." he mused. Jumba picked 626 up, who offered no resistance. "Just so you don't get any ideas." He followed Zri out of the room.
"My aproach has always been the same. I did once try out a bigger species, but he was too big for most of the practical uses we're looking for, so I kept my work small. Smaller species have a harder time being hit when shot at, and for my uses that is what I need. Also with the reduced body size it is a whole lot easier to make the hide laser proof." Zri had a moment of complete stupification, then his brain went "Oh.", he reached up to open the steel door that led to the gym. The two stepped inside, Jumba set 626 on the floor.
The gym was huge, appromately one hundred meters by three hundred meters. The dull steel walls absorbed the lighting, making the huge room appear dimly lit. On the walls were scores of laser marks and several blackened spots from whenever Jumba used the holo feature as a warzone. The roof vaulted above thier heads and ended in steel crossbeams and supports. Arround the edge was a track for running, the center was filled with all kinds of equipment, bars set at different hights, ropes and other objects were strewn about in an unorderly fassion. The gym seemed sparse though, that was why a controll panel sat in the corner of the room, so you could customize the setting, raising up hidden machines of various exersizes, or lowering them all down into the floor and then activating the holographic emitters, effctively creating an unending holo room for play or practical use. A small door to the right of the gym led into and adjoining shooting range, which was equally long as the gym.
Although 626 had been built to be extremely strong, his muscles had to be toned and conditioned to get to the level where they would be that strong. Jumba started out 626 on twenty pounds, spotting him as he went. Slowly he increased the ammount by five pounds each ten-set. He stopped 626 after an hour's worth of work and 100 standard pounds of pure steel. He allowed 626 to stop for a break.
Speed is also essential, "Speed could put distance between you and your enemy or help to close a distance....." Jumba quoted from a book he'd read while jotting down notes on his clip board. Jumba let 626 run the track once, just to time him. 626 panted the whole time, when he reached the end he was gasping for air, he slouched down to the ground and beathed the cool air from off the cold floor of the gym. "Five minutes, 626." Jumba announced. Zri walked over to the big scientist. "I think you're pushing him too hard." he observed. Jumba shook his head. "This isn't his full potential, he's only started. I pulled him from the cryo chamber the day before, it's early for him, mentally but not physically. He'll be ready for anything in a week. I know, I built him." Jumba told Zri.
Five minutes had passed, "626, UP! ANOTHER LAP NOW!" Jumba yelled to him from across the gym. He clicked his stopwatch. 626 pulled himself up from the floor in a pushup style manner then jolted off like a runner. The seconed time was better, he went slightly faster. "Thirty seconds faster 626, good, but not as I expected. Again, this time on all your appendages." Jumba said. 626 crouched down, He almost stood up for a second, but then corrected himself. He gripped the spongy track tile as he went, propeliing himself as he went. He was done and halfway arround again before he realized that Jumba was calling him. He slowed to a stop and looked for Jumba, he was walking toward him,a huge grin on his face. "626, that was marvelous, faster than anything ever before." he praised him. Zri was close behind, he was speachless, just staring in awe. "That was great, tomorrow we'll work on that some more. But for now you can do some combat maneuvers. Zri can take the floor at this time." Jumba stepped back.
Zri walked silently over to the controll panel. He pushed some buttons and a grinding noise started. 626 turned arround, the exercize equipment was slowly sinking into the floor. As soon as it was gone Zri hit several more buttons. 626 heard a beep, lights flashed. The gigantic gym vanished in a blinding white flash, 626 threw his paws up to cover his eyes. Zri looked over and raised his eyebrow at this. The white light flashed again, this time it was a huge open field, Huge green and hite snow capped mountains bordered all arround the field. 626 looked arround. He was standing under a roof of some sort, thick wooden poles supported it at either corner, he glanced down to see a bamboo floor. He also realized that his orange combat suit had been replaced with a white, red belted karate uniform. Zri also had a white suit on.
"While Jumba says that strenght and speed are essential, and I agree. But there is more than just being stong and fast." he told 626, who seemed uninterested at the moment. "To better know yourself is to better understand your enemy. To know when enough is enough, to be able to differ between friend and misguided enemy." he continued. 626 was now begining to listen. "It is better to know when to strike then go head on into battle. The wise warior avoids the battle of weapons, instead he uses the weapons of words. The wise warrior also knows when the use of a weapon is apropriate." he cited. 626 was now hooked. "These are some dirivitaves of Sun Stzu's book of war. There are also thousands of other quotes that are as useful as these."
"What are they? Can you tell me more?" 626 asked as he sat down on the floor. Zri grinned. "Warriors never attack out of anger, or revenge. A cool head in battle is not likely to get lobbed off. Death is more honorable than defeat. Keep your weapon and you shall keep your life. These are the ways of the warrior, they applied three thousand years ago and still apply to day. Enough talk for now." Zri walked over to a weapons stand placed oddly in the corner of the area. He took two spears off the wall. "Spears are useful, they can keep the enemy at a good distance, far away from you." Zri handed one to 626. He swung it arround for several seconds to get the feel for it.
"How will this help me at all? Today we use lasers and blaster riffles." 626 presented. Zri let out a small laugh. "Spears of long ago are like the riffles today, tey are used to keep the enemy at bay and away from you. Small pistols are like daggers, deadly up close but useless at any great distance. Arrows are comparable to long ranged weapons, but are weak and powerless up close. Do you see now what I mean?" Zri answered. "Small similarity, if at best. Yes." 626 said. "Good, now comes the tricky part." Zri grinned. He swung the spear right down onto 626 head. 626 moved slightly to the side and put his spear up. Zri's hit his spear, effectively stopping it. "Good." Zri moved back. He came again, this time from the side. 626 was able to bounce it into the air. Zri let the momentum get lost in the air, "Again, good." Zri did it again, except he re-did the first two attacks in one fluid motion. 626 was able to deflect them both.
"Each opponent has a certain fighting style, the move and act accordingly. Every one is different, they have thier own prefrences to what weapon they use and what manner they will use it in. Get it?" Zri said. 626 nodded. "Now, it's your turn." 626 took the spear and tried a weak, straight on poke. Zri brushed it aside. "Is that all you have?" he sighed. "Jus tgetting started." 626 said confidently. He swung the spear low, hoping Zri wouldn't be able to stop it. Zri instead stepped back, the tip brushed his pants. 626 wasn't finished though, he jumped toward Zri and feinted bringing the spear down over his head, but then slid it down and came up from under him with the back end. Zri leaned back to let the spear come down, but saw 626 redirrect the thing, he then leaned back more and seemed to roll over in the air. 626 fumed, he'd missed.
626 went beserk, wildly swinging the spear all over. Up, down, left, it didn't matter, as long as it was moving. Zri blocked the thrusts he couldn't dodge, and kept moving. Anywhere and anyway the spear could be swung 626 found it, he relentlessly swung. 626 started to slow down after a while, untill he stopped to catch his breath. "You see, you cannot do that. Keep your head in battle. Doing that does no good, all it does is wear you out. Let go of everything, don't think. Let your attacks come naturally. Fighting is an art, like a fine ballet, only with weapons." Zri told him. "Try again." he lowered his spear.
626 made some sence out of Zri's words. 'Just let go.' He took a deep breath. 'Let if go.' He cleared his mind, thougt of nothing, he watched Zri come closer. The spear came down, 626 put his spear up, they hit. Zri came again, this time from the side, 626 moved back and the tip missed him. He tried this time, as Zri's spear was returning he took a swipe. Zri brought down his spear hastily. 626 made contact, then spun arround, comming low. Zri missed this, and the spear handle knocked him off his feet. 626 stopped. Zri collected himself "Good, you did it. Some more practice and you could be as good, or better than me." He stood up, 626 waited for another attack. "No more for today, there's always tomorrow." Zri told him. 626 relaxed and lessened his grip on the spear. Zri hit a button on his wrist watch.
The area flashed white, pause, then flashed again. They were back in the gym. 626 made sure he had his orange suit on, to his relief he did. Zri looked over to the corned where Jumba sat, resting. "If Jumba would approve, we can start the weapons training." Jumba put his drink on the ground and stood up. "Only if 626 isn't too tired, we can come back tomorrow." Both looked over to the blue alien. "I'm up to it, I just need a drink." he said. Jumba grinned. This would be interesting.
After a long drink, Jumba followed 626 and Zri to the room adjoining. The shooting range, unlike the gym, was climate controlled and it was always at a constant temperature of 70 degreeze. There was another room in the shooting gallery, it was a small with a huge window and bolt and pressure locking door. It was also laser and plasma proof, just in case one of his experiments got a crazy idea and tried to shoot Jumba. A small wall seperated the rest of the range from the shooting area.
Jumba went into the small room and observed, he still wasn't sure about giving any experiment a weapon of any kind, especially 626 who had no prior experience. Zri on the other hand was totally confident that he had controll over the situation. Zri started 626 off with the standard blasters. 626 felt the weight of the two, "These things are improperly balanced." he told Zri, he let the pistols swing down on one finger to prove his point. "That's because when you run out of battery they are deadly when swung." He tried swinging them, the heavy front proved to be deadly.
Zri pushed a button on a controll pad, three holographic targets appeared from nowhere and started to move arround. "Try your skill 626." He fired off shot, it missed all the targets and embedded itself in a wall. 626 grunted in displeasure. He tried it again, the shot flew closer and almost hit. He'd picked up learning every thing else, but the shooting was a problem, he growled in disgust and just reigned fire on the infernal targets. His anger proved to be a powerful asset, his shots all hit successfully. When all the targets had been blown away is when he stopped. The crescendo of the echoing gunfire filled the air. Zri smiled "Good, good, your learning fast." 626 didn't feel that way though. Zri presented two more blasters for a total of four. He pushed rhe switch again, 626 shredded the targets before they got to move. Zri pushed the button several times, all the targets exploded again, this time he locked the button, so it wouldn't come back up.
In a total of four minutes 626 had turned all the targets into holographic dust. Zri let the computer calculate the total number of shots versus hits. He printed out the results, along with statistcics of how many shots hit where. He put the blasters back into the weapons locker and handed Jumba the sheets of paper. Jumab paged through them, shocked. "One thousand confirmed hits of three thousand some odd fired. Ten percent were head shots, the rest were chest and torso.....Wait, the blasters should have ran out of ammo way before.." Zri cut in "Everything was holographicly generated, the guns were empty to start with." he explained. "Alright, now it makes sense." Jumab shrugged. "Care for tea?" Zri asked.
"No, I'm sorry. We've bothered you enough for today. We have to be going." Jumba declined. Zri led them out of the gym and to the front door. "You weren't a bother, I rather enjoy your company. It gets lonely over here sometimes." Zri complained. "I'm always in, well most of the time anyway, you are always welcome." Jumba invited. "Alright." Zri sighed. "Tomorrow I guess?" Jumba nodded.
They both said their good byes to Zri who waved then shut the door.'Good, their gone.' Zri thought, he walked down the hall to the comms room. Inside were six pads about three feet in diameter, three were for sending your immage and the other three were for recieving. He went over to a computer in the corner and punched in a seven digit code then stepped onto one of the pads. An image of a species like him appeared, the hologram immage wore a cloak with a hood that covered all of the face. It looked somewhat like a phantom or the grim reaper. "Your disturbance at this hour is most unexplainable." the figure growled. Zri hung his head. "I'm sorry, you see, Jumba.." "JUMBA?!" the voice interrupted. "What were you doing arround Jumba?" Zri raised his head. "This time I think he's done it. Made the perfect 'super soldier' Isn't that what you were waiting for?" A long peroid of silence followed. "I see," the shrouded figure said, his voice raised in interest. "What do you have for information? A confirmation of this?" Zri nodded. "I have recorded the whole training session. I will down load it to your private personal datapad." A few beeps and the data was transfered. "I will view the video and contact you later." The immage said, then dissappeared. Zri hacked into the comm recorder and deleted the communication.