PREY II End of Era

PG-13

Disclaimer- Some characters in this story come from the book PREY written by Michael Crichton, I thank him for the inspiration. I also include references to some of his other fiction books. Characters such as Ghost, Tristan, Ben, Major Ion, Captain Tyrh and ώύ are all my own charaters.

(This is my first story so please review it, I'm begging you to give me a review and I'll post the next chapter ASAP)

CHAPTER I

Strange Encounters

It was official; Nicole Forman hated Northern Irish weather. She had thought Ireland was the land of green grass, shamrocks and vertically-challenged people with pots of gold. She put her university papers over her head and ran to the nearest bus stop. She took the books off her head, thank God for bus stops. "S!", she swore under her breath, her biology essay for Queen's University Belfast, was soaked in a blonde liquid and ruined. Nicole just realised her highlights had washed out. "That's the last time I go to that hairdresser", she thought.

Her cell phone began to ring, it was linked to her watch, which now displayed 'Tristan'. Tristan was one of her friends she'd met over here; he was studying quantum physics along with computer programming. "Hi Nicole, how are you?" his usual jolly tone had disappeared, something was obviously wrong. "Hey Tristan, I'm fine! How...", she couldn't finish as she heard, 'whirr, click!' "What was that?" She asked, Tristan was hesitating to answer, "It…eh….wass...um….my egg-timer! Um…anyway could you give me the whole file on the PREY incident?" Fear and nervousness swept over her like a tidal wave. Nicole had recognised that 'click': nine years ago when her father had to do phone interviews, the 'click' meant the line was secure and being recorded. Also why would Tristan bring up the subject now after he had known about it for 3 years?

Nine years ago, her mother Julie was working at a FAB lab in Nevada, for the Xymos Company. Julie and the rest of the group working there ran in to trouble, so her father, Jack, was called to help them. The particles had escaped and were evolving and reproducing at an alarming rate, causing havoc for the team. Then the particles were destroyed but then Julie was found to be hosting a symbiotic version of the swarm. They were eating Julie alive. Ricky, one of the team, turned the safety valves off and filled the place with methane gas and Mae who hadn't changed heart because of the swarm, placed thermite near the lab. The last Jack saw was a bright yellow flash! Though no bodies were found, all the team were presumed dead.

Nicole now had doubts.

"Look I'm being held at gun point!" Tristan reminded her of his presence on the other end of the phone. For being a rugby player he sounded extremely scared. And who wouldn't be, with a gun to their head, she thought. "I'll try and get them," he then spoke quickly, "Bye". The phone went dead and she felt it would be scarier than getting a phone call telling you that you are going to die in 7 days. Shaking with fear for Tristan, she made her way down Botanic Avenue. The rain had turned into a drizzle and it was hard to see the traffic floating past on air cushions and magnetic fields.

Technology had gone from strength to strength since 2005; Hover-vehicles™ were something everybody had in the later part of the 21st Century. Car engines had been replaced with hydrogen fuel cells and the cars themselves with hovercrafts. Cell phones were built into your ear, thus no-more annoying people with ring tones. Also, no one needed to worry any longer about radiation due to a system called ATDM (All Terrain Digital Messaging).

Biometrics was being used in everyday life now, glasses were no longer needed and the National Health Service was ever present in your body. Tiny nano-machines now took over whenever surgery was needed to do the repairs. And still, there were always people who didn't believe robots could be trusted, groups like AAC and Anti-AI. These were part of the Reformists branch of the church, who claimed robots were unholy, no agreed with them but they caused havoc at robot-building factories.

END OF CHAPTER ONE