Sorry for the late update but I have been at work and out and drinking and art focused for a little longer than I had planed to be. But here is the next chapter!
Meryl's POV
Project K59-13
A history lesson
What is the earliest memory you have? Mine is being released from my incubator with nine others. If you really wanted to you could call us siblings. The same group of people created us, by the same technology and on the same day. But this is where our similarities end. We where dubbed Project K59-13. There was a series of project K59s before us, but none were like us. We were the demon spawn of science, monstrosities capable of anything and the government's new favourite soldiers. We were genetic gods, who were labelled a mistake only a handful of years after coming into existence.
Most children are given names when born. I was given a number, 367861. I remember being called 61 for short but only by the others. It wasn't till I was in my late teens that I was given a name. I will never forget that day. I was nineteen, and it was my first undercover mission. Sure I had been to war and missions before, but not like this. I was to have an identity for this job. I remember how proud I had been to be the first to do an undercover mission. 367860 hadn't even done one yet, but who she is can wait for later. I was to investigate the smuggling of weaponry but posing as an exchange student staying with the supposed dealer's family. It wasn't the mission that was wonderful but the fact that I was out in the real world. I could sing and dance and go places and laugh, oh sure it doesn't seem like a big deal to you but it is if you come from a place where laughter isn't an everyday activity. The Alias I had was Meryl Carrson, I was no longer a number I was a person, like the scientists and other soldiers that came in and out of the base. I was the same as Dr. James Nickelson and Major Frank Ashton now.
The others found names for themselves in their own time. Your youth passes quickly when you don't have a childhood and before we knew it we where flying all over the world on missions or a rare holiday. One thing that never changed was our admiration and loyalty to 367860. She was our General, Big sister and God. She could do and handle anything. I remember asking her when I was around, by my guess, the age of five why we had to sleep at regular intervals. It was then that I was introduced to the concept of time and dates. I was told that the year was 2436. Telling you all this makes me feel old. A feature of the K59-13s is our cell regeneration capability, which basically means that if we take care of ourselves our bodies do not die on us but are renewed continuously. This also eliminates the absolute need for sleep. I could go two maybe three weeks with out sleep without feeling tired.
Our creators betrayed us on 21st of May 2553. I told you we where labelled a mistake. We were never meant to be able to make our own discissions based on our life experiences, values, beliefs and conscience. If left to our own devices we could very well take out everyone we so desired to. So on that day we were placed in suspended animation, used for long space exploration, for over 100 years. In that time much had changed. Our government had risen and fallen, new minds had shaped the world and passed on and our Earth was dieing. But we were not brought back to save the world; they wanted to use our genetic structure to create a breed of super-humans. Apparently this government was having some troubles with rebels and… other such things. Lets just say that didn't go over well with 867860 or the rest of us. After that… incident we went away for a while, all together, this world wasn't ready for us and we weren't ready for it.
We didn't come out of hiding for nearly 400 years I am told, but it seems much less, to the point where I wonder if I was frozen the whole time. Our reason for returning, you ask? The Earth was dead. It had died on October 2nd 3031. The water was as dark as blood, the soil unfertile, the magma core was cooling and we faced our extinction. And gladly I would have seen it if it had not been for Project Greenhouse. That is what started it. With focial fuels gone Project Greenhouse created cells that could be used as energy, then names for these cells were Plants and they eventually became so advanced that they could very well be classed as intelligent life forms. No one hated plants more that 867860, I still don't know exactly why. From the events of Project Greenhouse came the War of Sole, Project Seeds and the end of the world.
No one speaks of Sole, no one who went anyway. That war was the war to decide what was the sole future of mankind. Our enemy, radicalises, who wanted to take everyone down with the world, and us? We good little government projects fought to save those who had been chosen to be on Seeds. The war took place on Mars, the planet of red, not because of the soil but because of the blood that was spilt. 100 million died on the hellish planet, Projects K59-01 to K59-09 where completely wiped out, we lost a good man, I learnt to cry and we met her.
Alex, brother, friend and lover to one Rem Saverem. Rem, a name I can say I came to hate. She was nice, pretty and idealistic. A reason I think 867865 was drawn to her. She had dreams of a gentle future, dreams that I was never innocent enough to have. We tried to like her for Alex's sake and she us. 867860 didn't get along with her one bit, but she was polite and indifferent towards her, a skill learnt though dealing with diplomats. But Rem showed her true colours at Sole. I laugh about it now, a twisted sick laugh that villains use. A pretty little government scientist girl has no place at war. I doubt that she had any idea what a war was. 867860 drew the line when Saverem was found to be an informant for the enemy. When confronted she said that she didn't want them to get hurt. I can still hear their voices before… before all hell broke loose.
"Oh but our lives mean nothing right?" 867860 said, a rare venom filling her voice.
"We have no right to kill them." Rem said back with passion. "Who are we to take the life of another?"
"They will kill us without thought, do you want to die?" 867860 ran a hand through her cropped brown hair.
"We should try to make everyone happy." Rem said with a smile as if trying to convince the war hardy woman.
"Happy?" She laughed a real laugh. "Rem… child, despite what you want to believe this is war and people die, these people are going to die anyway. Unless you haven't forgotten your department insured that when they limited the amount of people we were taking from this dried up solar system. Life is a bitch Rem child." 867860 turned to walk away but she hadn't made two steps when the explosion hit.
"Move out!" 867863 screamed clambering over the rumble, I think she stepped on me. "You lot get the wounded out of here, and for god sake get yourself a weapon."
"They must have followed wonder woman home." 867860 said beside me nursing her sliced arm.
"You should pull back." I remember telling her, she smiled that older sister smile telling me it was just a cut.
"Come on girls we are missing the action." Alex said his happy go luck smile never left his face as he turned his attention to Rem who had called after him begging him no to fight.
"65 get down now." 867860 screamed as we all hit the dirt, I looked up to see my Alex motionless. He turned back to look at us, his arm resting strangely on his stomach a smile on his soft face even as the bullets tore at his face and body. Sweet, sweet 867865 lingered a moment before collapsing. It was the first time one of our kind died. I didn't know what to do so I stayed there just watching him. 867860 grabbed my hand a pulled me up.
"Do something, we have to get him help." I said to her somewhere behind me I think I could hear Saverem screaming.
"He is dead 61, there is nothing we can do, now lets go." She said without emotion, I don't get how she could do that, I sometimes think nothing can affect her, but deep down I know better.
"But he is dead!" I just couldn't believe it, I was in such shock I didn't notice the shells going off around us. And then, I did what we were made to do, what I was best at.
You need not know the rest, the outcome is known to all. We returned one man down and joined the seeds project. All K59-13 units were assigned to be on the ship Nortica, a battle ship charged with the external protection of the seeds project. Once more I went into the cold sleep, we weren't even awoken for the so-called 'great fall'. I don't know went we got out of those god-forsaken contraptions but I remember being hit by a monstrous heat. 867869 was a mummy like corpse by the time we found his pod, or so I was told, 867860 wouldn't let any of us see the body. I wonder how bad it really was.
I am envious of those lucky enough to die on our home and also I am envious of those who will never know how beautiful our home was. They have no comparison to this place, but I do. I wish Rem hadn't had died in the fall. I would have loved to hear her soft worlds about this place, just to have some form of hope and comfort. I know 867860 wanted her to be alive too, if only to slowly force the breath out of her and watch her die. By the time we located other people we had been walking the sand for years. Some of us split up, others went mad. There was only 60, 68 and myself together when we found a town. We had to have been in those chambers for nearly sixty years. Sixty years have never seemed so long. It was time enough for humans to reconstruct their way of life and gain a somewhat comfortable way of life. For that alone humans are amazing. After all that I went away, I could no longer take this kind of life and without the knowledge of our existence there was no organisation to stop us or use us. I travelled to December and I forgot everything and everyone slowly over the long, long decades. I stopped being 867860 and I became Meryl permanently, Meryl Strife.
You lot rock. My reviewers should be given medals of honour!
