0430 Hours, 12/25/2434

Careris Aerospace Design Bureau

Corneria City, Corneria

Eugene "Slippy" Toad shivered violently from the bitter winter cold. As an Amphoid and among one of Lylat few sentient species without a warm coat of fur, the cold weather was particularly harsh on his body. Even the ten or so meters distance from the elevated Maglev train stop to the warm passenger receiving area seemed like a trek across the ice fields of Fichina.

He carefully descended a flight of stairs to the ground floor. A perfectionist, Slippy was not happy to see the steps still coated with fresh ice. Why hadn't someone scattered a melting agent on the ice? Some poor idiot could break his spine going down these stairs.

But then Slippy remembered – there was virtually no one else here this early.

Slippy exited the receiving area as the maglev silently coasted away. He looked at the sky. It was early morning and Lylat's sun, Solar, had not even risen yet. The horizon off to the east was indigo and the color faintly silhouetted some of the taller buildings of downtown Corneria City. A few stars still shone brightly in the remaining darkness above Slippy, but he ignored them. He had seen the same picture every day for too long.

This was the headquarters of the Careris Aerospace Corporation's design bureau – known to those who worked here as "the think tank". Though built to be aesthetic sweeping and bold, the compounds high stone walls, matte black steel buildings, and imposing battlement-like towers made it look more like some kind of medieval castle to Slippy.

He walked down a wide cement path lined by a shallow garden on either side. The flowers were dead however, wilted and brown in the biting cold. The walk would take him into the main reception area. But first, he prepared to submit himself to the first of many daily annoyances in the form of a battery of strict security procedures.

Though he had gone through the routine daily, Slippy found the entire process to be lengthy and irritating. The entire security system was automated and rarely monitored by an actual security officer. If one got stuck or held up by the system, meant that one often took twice as much time to go through the system as quoted. To make matters worse, at this entrance most of the screening process was outdoors in an unsheltered area.

Slippy could have very well skipped the process. He had studied it in his first days working here and by now he knew it inside and out. He knew how easily he could bypass the security checks. Or how much havoc he could reek on the system with nothing more then a palm-top "Reader" computer. But that kind of boldness was not like Slippy. Better to submit then conquer was his philosophy, at least as far as work was considered.

He could still remember a different time, barely more then a year ago, when he hadn't thought like that. Back when he thought was going straight to the top. To think that he'd arrived here not much more then a year ago, fresh from university with ideas and dreams of being a great engineer, of designing the next great revolution in Lylatian space travel technology.

As the security systems began to do their work, Slippy thought back. Back to his successes, his failures, and back to the time when he was sure it had all gone wrong…

A native of Corneria City and born to the genius engineer Beltino Toad, Slippy had almost naturally aspired to be an engineer. He was a child prodigy, a master of all things mechanical. He had many fond memories of his childhood in the suburbs outside Corneria City, disassembling his toys and household gadgets before rebuilding them as easily as a jigsaw puzzle.

Slippy had found two passions; aerospace engineering- one of his father's areas of expertise- and robotics. He fondly remembered how he and Fox McCloud, a childhood friend, had spent hours in the dungeon-like basement of his home cobbling together tiny flying machines. The two found a strong friendship in each other.

All that had changed after Andross's attempted coup. Fox's mother was killed and Fox was promptly spirited away to a CDF military school. Slippy had barely seen his friend since then.

Slippy himself had gone to Corneria City University at the age of fourteen and had graduated only two years later. There Slippy had demonstrated his extraordinary grasp of aerospace engineering. He had laid the groundwork for a number of designs, including an advanced civilian craft he called the CUC-144, which was now being built by Space Dynamics. Despite its expense, the ship was popular with Cornerian businessmen and military officials.

His father had tried to get him an internship at Space Dynamics where he himself worked. But as it turned out, Careris Aerospace had offered him a fat tuition check first. Slippy had accepted, but not for the money. He took up the offer because he thought the company really wanted his skills. He had started working at the company even as he worked towards his diplomas in aerospace, mechanical, and robotic engineering. The future looked very bright for him; a long and glorious career at one of Lylat's finest aerospace companies designing starships.

What he discovered however was that despite his obvious genius, no one took him seriously simply because of his age. Slippy often wondered however if any of it had to do with anti-amphoid sentiment, a rampant social problem in Lylat; Corneria in particular.

Eventually, he was given his first assignment; a CDF contract known as Project: Whirlwind. This was a conversion of Careris's unsuccessful freighter design – the Pegasus – into an escort carrier. Whirlwind's goal was to create an effective, yet lower priced alternative to the larger fleet carriers already in service.

Slippy went into the project very excited. He was put to work designing the ship's computer interface. Suddenly he was reassigned to the reactor systems. And then the hangar bay's launch systems… It didn't take long after this shuffling about for Slippy to figure out that the project was understaffed. He eventually concluded that the whole project was a company backwater.

But Slippy had grown up being taught to always push ahead' to never give up. He and his small team did persevere. They submitted their final designs ahead of schedule and the big orbiting yards began to build the first ship.

But then, after more then a year of work, the CDF cut the project. Slippy was hurt, but not surprised. The real insult came when the company simply stuffed him in an out of the way office. Once again anti-amphoid feelings seemed to have taken effect. While the canines, felines, lizards, and lupines – some of which had been Slippy's teammembers on Project: Whirlwind – got promoted and got to work on the great military and civilian contracts, Slippy might as well of been exiled from the elite engineer's community.

True, he had never expected to start on top. But he certainly hadn't expected being placed near the bottom either. He became a lowly engineer, used only on projects with little budget, scheduling problems and low priority within the company.

Life had become a sad routine of living from one day to the next since then. In a matter of months, Slippy's hopes and dreams for the future had been taken from him. Suddenly there was no prospect, no chance for advancement. Everything Slippy had dreamed to aspire now seemed beyond his reach…

Slippy was already well on his way to starting one more day at Careris Aerospace. As one of Lylat's top defense contractors, the company possessed a top-of-the-line security system. This was only the first step in another monotonous day and it was one that Slippy greatly disliked. Although he had gone through the system several times, Slippy found it lengthy and frustrating. Completely automated and rarely monitored by anything breathing, the system could hold an individual up for hours. Most of the process took place outdoors; a cruel task to endure in the biting winter cold.

The first step, a set of metal- and explosive- scanners, was over in moments. Slippy entered an area constantly scrutinized by a barrage of cameras. A computer would record his dimensions and image and then match it with the data on record. All the while Slippy couldn't help but think how easy it would be to bypass these checkpoints.

There was, however, one obstacle Slippy knew he couldn't easily cheat through, the security android called AND-I. Someone had seen this name stenciled on the robot's chest and mistakenly called him Andy. The name stuck. Although Slippy knew he could wreak utter havoc with Careris's security measures, Andy was a different story. Slippy should know. After all, he had designed and built Andy and he'd made him as hacker-proof as possible.

"Good morning Eugene," said Andy in an uncharacteristically natural voice, rather then the harsh machine-like monotone of most androids. Slippy had personally seen to it that Andy would not seem like just another android.

"Hello Andy," replied Slippy with a sleep-starved voice, "How are you today?"

"As well as an android can be in this weather," replied the android, "How are things with the latest project; Project 219?"

"You know I can't say anything," Slippy told the mechanical figure. The amphoid spoke the truth; he knew nothing of Project 219. In fact, he hadn't even known of it before now.

"Well you know me, always wanting to stay on top of things. But you know better then anyone how I can get into the network. I'll know sooner or later," said the android, trying to lull Slippy into a false sense of security.

"Sorry buddy," replied Slippy, catching himself before becoming too personal, "my hands are tied."

And they always will be, thought Slippy bitterly.

Slippy knew this was more then ideal chitchat, even though Andy was a notorious conversationalist. He knew that invisible lasers and scanners were scrutinizing everything about him; his voice, his body language, and even his basic thought patterns. It was all part of a complex biometric scan. Andy's security subroutines would match today's responses with previous ones.

"I see," said Andy, "you may proceed… Slippy." The doors behind the android finally parted and Slippy rushed into the warm reception area. He breathed a sigh of relaxation as he took in the warm air. Maybe today he would request the security personnel to build an enclosed security station. Or maybe he would get some information on Project 219, whatever it was.

Maybe, just maybe, today someone would take him seriously for once.

He ignored the lady wolf receptionist filing her nails and walked through the massive lobby. A holographic model of the Project: Whirlwind carrier launching Fury starfighters confronted him. Slippy greatly disliked this. The project was long since canceled; why was there a damn model on display as if it was actually flying. To him, it was like being confronted with his failures every day.

He had been with Careris Aerospace for over a year now and he had barely done anything worthwhile. For Slippy, an engineer, patience was a must to complete any job satisfactorily. While he certainly had plenty of it, even Slippy's patience was wearing thin with his supervisors and the others placed over him.

Slippy didn't like to reflect on how he'd gotten here. But the lazy and monotonous work he was left to do let his mind wander to what might have been.

Why, with three separate degrees was he stuck behind a desk doing the lackey work for the corporate executives and the designers, right where he should be?

He entered his 'office', a stuffy little room in the north wing of the building. A little closet in a corner far away from any draft tables, CAD equipment, or hangars; far away from where he should be, living his dream. He envied the engineers, the designers, and especially the test pilots who flew their creations. They had all the fun.

Slippy settled behind his tiny desk, turned on the lights, and steeled himself for another long, monotonous day.