CHAPTER 11: HUMANITY
Hunter
Log 3847
Pirates infused with pure Chozo
energy...that's not good news. Those Ultimates were tough. None of my
shots really damaged them...they scarcely moved them. I have to
figure out a way to hurt them before I meet another one. Plus if I
find one alone, that might be a problem.
It seems to me, though, that while they grew in stature and strength, their intelligence didn't...if anything it decreased a bit.
Ugh...what a day...I gotta get off this rock...
It's just getting worse by the minute...
Samus out...
Samus
took a moment to look around and witness the destruction in the room.
A pile of rubble, a pile of Ultimates, a dead girl...this was almost too much for Samus to fathom.
She knew she had done a good job, and had done what she was sent to do, but it didn't feel right. Was she supposed to kill a child?
The thought erased her doubt, "No, she attacked me and tried to kill me."
Another thought refreshed it, "H-help me...please..." The last words of the dying girl.
Then a vivid memory resounded through her mind, "They were...acceptable losses." The words of the President.
Was this an acceptable loss? Was she an enemy or a victim? Was she an unwilling participant?
No, she couldn't think about this. It would compromise the mission. If she lost the will to fight, the ability to kill, she would be killed herself...
That can't happen.
She had to get moving before this internal dialogue consumed her. She quickly moved to the door and opened it.
It revealed yet another room filled with tanks. These tanks however, were not large like the others, but maybe slightly larger than Samus herself.
Another difference...you could see inside the tanks...
The creatures inside looked like no race Samus had ever seen. She approached the nearest tank and keyed the display screen.
Subject 896A
Subject's body parts continue to morph into odd shapes.
Spinal column shattered from muscle development.
Samus was puzzled. She could see no distinct head or neck, and there were no digits on any limbs.
She moved on to the next tank.
Subject 896C
Subject showed
promise at first, but then suffered mass degeneration of nervous
tissue. Loss of muscle control and severe sclerosis of nervous
tissue. Dead.
The creature in the tank was as thin as a rail. No clear gender could be determined. It looked like a skin covered humanoid skeleton. She moved on to another tank.
Subject 896x
Subject has incredible
response to the process. Also underwent gene therapy. Muscular
enhancement: 275 No human has ever shown such progress. Process will
continue.
There was a human male inside that tank...were the others human? Was this some kind of bizarre testing to create an unstoppable army?
Something startled Samus. Did the man in the tank just blink?
"No, it must have been a bubble or something," Samus thought.
As she was turning, Samus heard something.
The man's palm was flat against the side of the tank. He was looking directly at Samus. He began to tap the side of the tank.
With each tap, a small crack developed in the glass. Before long, the tank shattered and he fell crashing on his chest in the floor. When he landed, he immediately began coughing loads of the fluid onto the floor.
After a moment, he began to gasp and catch his breath. He looked up at Samus.
"W...why are you here?"
"I'm on a mission from the Confederation." Samus replied.
"The Confederation...wasn't it the Space Federation before?" the man asked.
"Before the current president took office." Samus said with a hint of irritation.
"Ugh...help me up." the man said as he extended his hand.
Samus reached to grab it. The grip nearly crushed Samus' hand. She hoisted him quickly and let go, clutching her hand close to her body.
"What did they do to you?" she asked, shocked.
"They injected me with Chozo blood and charged it with their energy. I told them that it wouldn't work. After the first few subjects, they stripped me of my lab coat and put me in the tank." the man explained.
"So you performed these projects?" Samus inquired.
"Yes. I didn't want to, but the hunters I was working for brought me along. They told me that I'd be working on a replenishable food source." he said.
"You mean the farm?" Samus remembered.
"You've seen it, I guess. Yes, that was my work, but after I finished with that, the hunters handed me over to the pirates for warfare projects. They demanded that I make "super soldiers" so they could start an invasion." he stated.
"So you created those beasts in the last room?" Samus asked intently.
"Yes, the Ultimates. They're virtually unstoppable." he replied.
"So I noticed. There are four dead ones in the other room." she said.
"You managed to kill them?" he blurted.
"In a way. They really killed each other." she resounded.
"The only way they can be injured is by being hit with Chozo energy. I take it they shot each other." he guessed.
"Yeah, they pretty much incinerated each other with those beams. Hey...you don't happen to have anything that would allow me to shoot a beam like that, do you?" she asked.
He pointed to a compartment on the wall.
Behind a glass shield was a purple marble-looking object. Upon closer inspection, the marble pulsed with small blasts of electrical energy.
"What is it?" Samus asked.
"It's a micropulse energy orb. I created it from the Chozo energy. The small pulse inside replenishes itself, creating an endless supply of pure Chozo energy. Every time the pirates had a "sacrifice", one of these was the product," answered the man.
Samus took it and inserted it into her arm cannon. It shuddered and pulsed with energy. She felt that energy throughout her body. It was incredible...like floating on air.
After a moment however, the placebo wore off as she remembered how the Chozo had suffered to produce this power.
"Please, take it and finish your mission. I'll die soon from the side effects of the process. There's nothing you can do from here except move on. The Chozo are being kept in a detainment facility on the next planet fragment, but I will warn you, it's a dangerous place," said the man.
"Chances are that I've been there before," Samus replied.
The man opened a door that revealed another energy bridge, and Samus proceeded through.
He shut the door behind her. The man began coughing uncontrollably. First, red blood started flowing from his mouth, then a viscous purple liquid replaced it. The liquid also flowed from his ears and eye sockets. He fell to the floor and convulsed, then lay motionless.
