Disclaimer: See the Prologue
Chapter 5 – Human
"Holy shit!"
The chair spun around to reveal what was sitting in it, much to Fox's fright. All eyes turned wide at the sight of it.
"Whoa!" Slippy cried, "I don't believe it!"
Fox's fright-filled curse was heard back on the Great Fox. Peppy and Krystal almost jumped out of their skins as well, hearing Fox like that. As for ROB, he was just unmoving as always.
"What just happened?" Krystal demanded, "What's happening out there?"
"I don't know," Peppy replied.
All torches shined on the chair, which was what appeared to be a human being encased in ultramarine-blue coloured armour, also wearing a helmet with red-eye ports.
"I can't believe I'm seeing this!" Bill exclaimed, eyes still wide.
As well as the size of the human encased in that armour with the omega symbol and the left shoulder plating, what caught their eye was the gold-coloured winged skull on the chest plate. It filled all those in the room with the feeling of dread.
They soon realised what they were facing: A soldier of the oppressive Imperium of Man. They all heard rumours of the superhuman 'Space Marines' and what they could do, and what they were capable of doing: Destroying even the largest enemy force without chipping a tooth.
"Is this what Andrew was looking for?" Falco queried, "A space mummy?"
Slippy took out his scanner and skimmed it over the seated human. His eyes widened once again, this time with surprise.
"I wouldn't say that," Slippy replied.
"Why not?" Fox asked.
"He's still alive," Slippy answered.
"WHAT?" Falco cried.
Slippy showed Falco and Fox his scanner, revealing the human's hearts were beating, albeit painfully slow.
"Hearts?" Falco cried again, "This thing's got two hearts?"
"What?" Slippy said, looking at his scanner and smiling nervously, "Well, what do you know?"
Suddenly, Peppy's image appeared over the communicator.
Fox? Peppy begun, exasperated, Are you ok? What was that screaming?
"Peppy," Fox begun, "You are not going to believe this."
Fox pointed the communicator at the human….
Back on the Great Fox, Krystal and Peppy saw him on his terminal screen. Their mouths were open in a silent gawk of surprise.
"Is that a …?" Peppy begun.
You bet your ass! Falco's voice boomed over the communication system, Tinned human, still fresh.
Krystal was at a loss for words. She was looking upon a human being, one of the few Space Marine warriors to survive that final battle on Cerinia, and the planet's destruction.
She then thought of something…dark.
'Could it be…?' she thought.
Fox stepped up to the still Space Marine, and looked deeply over him.
"He's definitely a guy," Falco said, "In case you want to know."
He then sniggered. Fox looked back at him with vehemence.
"Thank you for that," Fox replied sternly, before turning back to the Marine.
He waved his hand in front of the human's face, before snapping his fingers in front of his face a few times.
No response. Fox looked back at the other guys questioningly.
"Sealed inside this tub for God-knows how long and still alive?" Bill remarked, "It boggles the mind. Still…"
He grabbed one of his marines' rifles and walked up to the human, gripping the gun like a club.
"The joke ends here, Marine," he said to the human, "You're not fooling anyone. Time to get up and at em'."
Everyone watched in anticipation as Bill struck the human in the chest. The human didn't flinch.
"That's really strong plating," Falco commented.
Bill glared at the avian, before winding up and striking the head…actually shattering the handle of the rifle, making splinters of it.
All eyes widened as seeing Bill break a blaster rifle, and more surprised to see the human still sitting there, on the seat.
"Ok, Bill," Fox said, taking the shattered gun off him, "He must be out already."
"Hey guys?" Slippy spoke up.
All eyes turned to him.
"What are we going to do with him?" the frog asked, "We can't leave him here."
"We got it all sorted out," Bill said proudly, "We'll tow this hulk back to Corneria. The eggheads at HQ would just love this baby."
"The ship or the Space Marine?" Falco asked.
"The ship!" Bill retorted, being worn down by Falco's cheap remarks.
Suddenly, Bill's communicator beeped like crazy. He answered it.
"Commander Grey here."
COMMANDER, THIS IS FRIGATE DELTA, the other line practically screamed, WE'VE JUST BEEN HIT BY SOME ENERGY BLAST…
All eyes widened once again.
"What!" Bill exclaimed.
Fox ran to the windows and look out, seeing the capital ship above them burn.
"Are those freakin' apes back for more?" Falco queried, glaring and rolling his hand up into a fist.
Thinking fast, Fox reached for his communicator
"ROB?"
Standing by, the robot acknowledged him.
"Aim the ship tractor system onto the Imperium craft," he ordered, "We're taking it with us."
Falco and Slippy looked at Fox, understandably confused.
"Say what?" Slippy blurted with surprise.
"There's no time!" Bill exclaimed, before yelling into his com, "All crews evacuate station and prepare for combat!"
They all ran out of the bridge and down the corridor towards the airlock. Fox and the others rushed out the ship and through the mining station, en-route to their ships where they wasted no time in jumping into them, along with the Cornerian personnel and their Venomian prisoners.
They flew out the hangar and back into the blueness of Sector C, formally known as Cerinia. The mighty capital ship above them burned brilliantly, the voices of the burning and trapped blurted through Fox's Arwing communicator.
The Great Fox descended upon the station, where it flew overhead of the Imperium ship. Suddenly it began to rise slowly and follow the Great Fox.
"We've got the ship in our grasp," Peppy said, "What now?"
"We get out of here," Fox replied.
Bill spoke up from his transport.
"We'll hold off whatever's coming this way," Bill said, determined, "Get that human hunk-of-junk back to Corneria."
"Roger that," Fox replied, "Give them hell."
Bill smirked, "Will do!"
The Great Fox accompanied by the Arwings blasted away from the asteroid and away from the fragments of Cerinia.
Fox, Peppy said, Unidentified targets are approaching Sector C. Their readings are not that of Venomian, or even Cornerian.
Fox! Bill's voice exclaimed over the radio, Bulldog unit has engaged the enemy near the edge of Sector C! They report it's…OH MY GOD!"
Fox suddenly felt fear creep over him.
"What?" Fox cried, "What's going on?"
We're under attack by…! Bill begun, suddenly being cut off as static filled the coms.
"Bill!" Fox said, tapping the com, "BILL!"
Something's jamming the external coms, Peppy said, And whatever it is, it's big and it's projecting the same kind of energy as Andrew's superweapon.
Falco wasted no time in projecting his thoughts towards the situation…
"Time to go, Fox!" Falco exclaimed, "Whatever it is, it'll rip us to shreds."
Knowing all too well of their situation, Fox nodded.
"Let's go!" Fox ordered.
The Arwing flew into the Great Fox as it left Sector C, with the human ship in tow, leaving the Cornerian ships to fight against an unknown enemy.
Unknown to them, but known to the rest of the universe.
Once they were a safe distance from Sector C, everyone was assembled at the bridge.
"So there really a human in that ship?" Krystal asked.
"Uh-huh," Fox replied, relaxing in his chair, "The real question is: How did he get there?"
Everyone thought on that question, which was a really good one.
"Why don't we ask him?" Krystal suggested, smiling.
All eyes turned to her, almost in disbelief.
"Bring a human on-board the Great Fox?" Falco asked, "That's by far the most disturbing thing to be ever done in the history of Star Fox."
"Agreed," Fox said, smirking.
Falco quickly turned to him, unamused.
"ROB? Bring the human ship near airlock #1."
"Affirmative," ROB acknowledged.
The tractor beam positioned the Imperium craft beside the Great Fox. Fox, Falco, Krystal and Slipp were at the airlock, where the chamber extended to the ship's side door.
Hovering behind them was a human-sized slab, controlled by remote by Slippy.
"That's the plan," Fox begun, "We get him to the infirmary, check him over and see if we can…wake him up."
"And if he decides to takes his armoured fists out on us?" Falco queried in his usual sarcastic voice.
"Then we'll have to put him down," Fox replied as-a-matter-of-factly
Krystal turned to Fox suddenly, hearing that.
"You speak of him as if he's an animal," Krystal pointed out, a bit irritated.
"We have to take precautions," Fox explained softly, "Human are dangerous, of course."
Soon, the human was lying on the surgical table in the infirmary, with Fox and company watching him from the next room through the two-way mirror. The infirmary itself was a clean, white-coloured room with all manner of medical equipment strewn about.
"So that's a human being?" Peppy said, impressed, "I never thought in all my years I would see one in the flesh, or rather…?"
He coughed.
"…in his armour."
"What's he made of?" Falco queried, remembering he had to try to get the human out of his seat and onto the slab, "Lead? The guy was freakin' heavy."
A scanner went over the Space Marine, carefully enveloping him in its red beam. Read-outs appeared on Slippy's computer.
"Here's the spec on our friend," Slippy announced, "He's definitely more different than any other human."
"How do you figure?" Fox asked, walking over to him.
"For starters," Slippy begun, "A human's biology is no different than us actually. Brain, liver, lungs, all our organs are the same. But this…"
Slippy typed and the Space Marine's x-rays appeared.
"Check out the ribcage," Slippy said, pointing to it, "It's all fused over."
They all saw this, and were somewhat impressed.
"Whew," Fox whistled lightly, "Just like an endoskeleton."
"And apart from the second heart and possibly his height, being about 7 feet tall," Slippy continued, "He has all these other different organs."
Ultrasounds of the body appeared on the terminal screen. On one side were the readouts of a Cornerian Fox and a human on the left side of the screen and the right was that of the Space Marine.
There were around 19 different new organs in the human, including several different implants located all around the body. These included an implant to the back of the spine, a third stomach, a third lung and other unexplainable insides.
"It's almost as if," Slippy begun, almost off-track, "That he is superhuman."
"I'll say," Falco said, crossing his arms.
"Perfect more like," Krystal spoke up.
All eyes turned to her, seeing her break her periodic-as-of-late silences.
She sighed, "There is something I have to you guys that I've been unfairly keeping from you. It's got to do with Cerinia and of that human lying in our infirmary."
Fox was stunned for a bit, nearing slightly mad with Krystal for keeping vital information from him, but he just smiled understandably.
"We're listening, Krys," Fox said.
Just then, Falco noticed something.
"Hey, where's Slip?" Falco said, eyebrows queered.
They saw he wasn't at his terminal, but now in the infirmary right next to the Space Marine, carrying what appeared to be a cutting device.
"What's that frog doing?" Falco said, heated.
Don't worry, guys, Slippy said reassuringly, his voice projected into the next room, I'm only going to remove the mask. To see what our friend looks like.
Slippy put his fingers under the helmet, seeing if he could just pull if off by hand. Surprisingly, he heard a couple of clicking sounds. The others watched as Slippy pulled the helmet off, seeing the human's face; or most of it.
He had short brown hair with 2 metal-looking implants above his left. He had what appeared to be a mouthguard with a voice-piece around his mouth.
"Well he's a handsome devil," Fox remarked.
Slippy looked at the back of his head, where the mouthpiece was connected together and saw couple of locks at the back. He fiddled with it.
Careful, Slippy, Krystal's voice was heard.
Slippy nodded at the glass mirror, before unlocking the breather and removing it, two clicks later.
His whole face was no shown, revealing he was a young man, and that he was sleeping. Slippy put a finger to the side of his neck.
"He's freezing," Slippy said suddenly, "But his pulse is strong. It's almost as if…"
He turned their way.
"That he is in some sort of coma."
How do you figure? Fox asked.
"Check the computer.
Fox did so and found several ultrasound patterns.
"What are we looking at, Slip?" Falco asked.
On the left you'll see a read-out of the brain of a normal, awake Lylatian, he begun, his voice transmitting into the room, On the right is his mind. Our friend is definitely is some kind of coma.
They looked at the screen carefully. Fox scratched his head.
"I'm lost," Falco said.
"Me too," Fox added.
"Same here," Peppy also added, though he had garnered tons of knowledge throughout his years, medical science as always baffled him.
And the old hare was surprised that Slippy has knowledge in medical science.
Krystal however, said nothing. She was busy gazing straight at the human as he laid there, being examined by Slippy.
'Could it really be…?' she thought.
Suddenly, ROB's metallic voice cut over Fox's communicator.
Incoming transmission from General Pepper, ROB announced, Priority One!
"Roger," Fox said, "We'll be right up."
"Wow," Falco said amused, "That was quick."
"Come on Slip," Peppy said into the infirmary, "To the bridge."
On my way, Peppy replied.
In the infirmary, Slippy put his scanner down on a nearby table and left the room, taking one last look at the Space Marine lying there.
Slippy smiled, "Boy, I wonder what would happen if you ever woke up."
He then stepped through the door, turning the light off after him.