Steve Keller and Henry Sarton were two best friends I knew from the Arklay Mansion, a secret Umbrella laboratory know to the public as the Spencer Estate, a Mansion that was originally designed for Umbrella executives visiting Raccoon City, but they ditched the Mansion soon after it's construction, and in the public eye they wasted the several million they spent on its extravagant décor to use it as a chemical storage dump. No one really saw it as suspicious because the loss of a few million dollars wouldn't have hurt Umbrella if they wasted the Mansion. Besides, they provided a ton of jobs in Raccoon City, so it was unlikely the people would bite the hand the fed them and investigated into these strange occurrences. Currently, I was supposed to lead the Mansion facility, though it rarely felt like it. Things had been busy there recently, what with the development of the Tyrant - currently our most powerful bioweapon – and the partially secret development of the dimension gate that had got us to Nosgoth.
As I was saying before I deviated a little there, Steve Keller and Henry Sarton hung out a lot with Rabbitson and me on our breaks in the Arklay Mansion lab. The two were aggravating, narrow-minded, piggish men who rarely cared about anyone else other than themselves but much like most of the mentally irregular men of Arklay labs, they were good researchers to the point that it redeemed them. . . .Sort of. However their behaviour was disruptive from time to time which was why they originally weren't on either Team A or Team B, but this time, Birkin had made an exception.
"I don't know why you're all so –like – happy to be doing this." Said Rabbitson, sobering down from his usually elated mood, like he'd taken a cold shower or something. . . "The only reason Birkin gave us this job was because it's the shitest one."
"Bunny," Steve addressed Bill Rabbitson as he tried out an N.V.G (night vision goggles) headset despite it was about two in the afternoon. "The most exciting thing I've seen in the line of my research was the time a few month back when you got three human donor hearts out of the cold room and juggled them."
Henry, sitting on the floor net to a large, black plastic box of hi-tech equipment, chuckled like a naughty, giddy schoolboy. "I remember that! That was great!" Henry acted surprisingly immature when he wanted to, despite being mostly bald except for a strange halo-like formation of hair around the top of his bald dome, and clearly being in his early fifties or something. Steve was more mid thirties, but from the way he behaved and spoke, he came across as more of a well developed twenty-year old.
After testing out the N.V.G a little more and finding it to be crap in the light of the middle of the day, he replaced it with Thermal Goggles, took one look at Henry, and shrieked in laughter;
"OH MY GOD I CAN SEE YOUR THING!"
"This was what I'm afraid of!" Yelled out Rabbitson over the din, taking control of the gang of idiots in what I personally saw as a heart-warming, maternal way. "He didn't set us on this mission because he thought it was easy to handle. I'm afraid to think of whether he wanted us to survive unscathed or not. . .and you all act like a bunch of morons! I don't know where the hell John's disappeared to, and Birkin freaked out not so long ago but I don't think he thinks I noticed so I don't think some of the stuff the Sarafan tells us is all bull like we all think."
Steve took off the Thermal Goggles and quickly inserted a cigarette into his lips, lighting up before he expressed his views. "C'mon, you don't honestly think vampires are real?"
Henry looked up to Steve from his sitting position. "They guys a hippy: what do you expect?"
"I'm not a hippy!" Rabbitson argued. It was always a sensitive issue for him, what with his appearance; he wore a red bandanna with white polka dots around the top of his forehead to keep his large and fluffy brown hair from falling into his eyes. "Looks – Seriously for a moment: What if they're right? What if vampires are real?"
"As if something with such light sensitivity is going to evolve naturally." Commented Steve. "All life needs light to survive at some point in their evolutionary chain: The most basic life forms animals eventually evolved from were plants, which have chloroplasts, which need light, so it's unlikely such a large animal can evolve such a lethal weakness towards light. Single celled organisms, viruses, yeah; it can happen. Just take a look at the Ebola virus we researched back in the old days of Umbrella, but how the hell can a whole intelligent life form develop a lethal weakness to light? You can't tell me that such a life form can go that long without needing to expose themselves to light, I mean; they feed on humans for gods sake! Humans are light loving animals, they get some of their vitamins from the light, so it's likely they're gonna at least withstand natural light if their prey live in it."
"But you're looking at this from a scientific standpoint!" Warned Rabbitson. "What if there's more going on than the forces of science in Nosgoth?"
"You mean magic, don't you?" Chuckled Henry. "Magic's not real. It's a label given to anything primitive cultures can't explain. 'The sun shines – it's magic - the wind blows – it's magic – a meteor is hurtling towards Earth at an incredible rate and threatens to destroy all mankind as we know it – it's magic'"
Rabbitson couldn't think of something to say back to that. Back on Earth that was the case, but here in Nosgoth. . . was that really the case? Was it really as simple as the humans of Nosgoth trying to explain something they couldn't?
"Do you guys really think we should be doing this alone? Don't you think we need a guide or something?"
"Moebius won't do it." Said Henry. For a moment Rabbitson though he might be talking seriously, until he added; "He had a hip replacement operation recently and he has to go easy on it. Doctors orders."
-"And he told us that won't let Malek go." Added Steve. "Apparently he has a beef with the vampire we're supposed to be getting at some point 'in the future' and he doesn't want to endanger the Time Stream. Whatever. He naturally hates vampires even before then so I guess there'd be a risk of Malek killing him if he let him go with us." As he spoke, Henry pulled out a cattle prod from the box of equipment.
"We can easily knock him out without killing him with the shit we got here." He then proceeded to use the cattle prod on his own hand and cursed out loud in pain and shock.
"We are so gonna die." Commented Rabbitson.
By the time Mortanius and I arrived back at Camp B, the whole place - aside from the now manned and fully constructed surveillance consoles taking up the bulk of the area - seemed relatively empty. No guards, no gas mask-clad soldiers. . .
"What's going on?" I said aside to Mortanius, as if I was expecting a reply. He simply shook his head. I approached one of the men at the consoles, his black outfit complete with dark shade rendering his physical appearance utterly indistinguishable from all the others. "Where's Rabbitson?"
""We're monitoring his teams progress right now." He responded, spinning around in this swivel chair to face me.
"What progress?" I asked in distress, shoving past him to view the small TV screen displaying a shaky camera viewpoint, and sure enough, I saw Rabbitson in it, apparently talking to the camera holder as they organised equipment in a vehicle that seemed to be a bus or something, but instead of being lined with seats, it was a mobile laboratory, like the ones we used when doing field work. "How did they manage to get a mobile lab into Nosgoth through that portal?" I asked. The Dimension Gate that held the portal may have been big, but it didn't look like you could get a vehicle shaped like a bus through it, especially when it ended up in the Sarafan Stronghold.
"Moebius and one of our Gate engineers found a way to hack into the interdimensional pathway using Moebiuses Time Streaming abilities. Time and space aren't very different from each other, and through the marriage of their techniques, they devised a way to open portals into the interdimensional tunnel from multiple points. Part of Rabbitson and the others mission directives is to set up mini-gates in the shape of doors at checkpoints to allow instant teleportation between both the Sarafan Stronghold and the main gate back in Raccoon City, the location the gate sends you to being a selectable option. The technology was being using in Nosgoth in the first place but the gates weren't crafted by human hands so our scientists found it difficult to imitate the technology." The man smiled at me slightly. "Moebius says our gates provide speedier travel, too. A real improvement on the technology."
Mortanius seemed to be taking an interest, and suggested the question: "This 'interdimensional pathway' you continue to mention. . ."
They guy nodded. "Seems that there's a pathway that's billions of years old between our two worlds. It's always been there, but it seems that a long time ago, there was some kind of successful connection, an ancient point at which this pathway was physically joined onto Earth to allow free passageway between worlds, but was destroyed. The Earth end of the tunnel was open in a sense but not possible to access from any point on Earth so the only thing our Dimension Gate back on Earth had to do was connect back onto it and we could send anything we wanted to Nosgoth."
"Then that must imply that the union to this 'tunnel' you speak of was still active on Nosgoth." Stated Mortanius, questioningly.
"There is some evidence of breakage at some point on the Nosgothic end, too." Told the man. "But shortly after that, it fused onto the Time Streaming Device. All this time, it had a secret second function and you've not been aware of it because the Earth connection hadn't been made. If it's not connected at both ends, then the tunnel is utterly useless and doesn't seem to be at full power, which could be why you Pillar Guardians never detected it with your magic."-
- "And why people from our world could, through the use of science." I added. "Because if something doesn't emanate magical power, it becomes something closer to the laws of science and so it becomes detectable via science."
"That's right." He said. "When Umbrella discovered it, the tunnels magical power was at an all-time low. It was the most scientifically based, and drained of magic, it could become without collapsing. Now that we've re-established the connection, the tunnel is powering back up and in a matter of years, it'll be at full power again."
"Tell me more of the broken connections." Asked Mortanius. I guess I really couldn't be surprised that he cared so much about it; it had been under his nose the whole time and he knew nothing about it.
"Well we figured the original Nosgothic end of the connection was to a Dimension Device here, possibly close to the Time Streaming Device, but was destroyed, intentionally or accidentally. Because Time Streaming is so similar in its basic principals to Dimension Streaming, the tunnel automatically fused to its functions, like a broken bone fusing to similar bone tissue; it's a natural progression. However the problem for the tunnel was that the connection on Earth had been destroyed too, and there was nothing for the Earth end of the tunnel to fuse to. As a result, the power contained inside it leaked out of this massive gaping wound and threatened to destroy it. We re-built the connection before that could happen, giving it a chance to heal."
"How is this tunnel possible?" I asked in amazement.
"We don't know whether it's natural or man made." He confessed. "One idea is that all worlds are connected to a sister world to provide a balance and when that connection is broken, both worlds descends into madness. Another working theory is that the non-human life on Nosgoth built the gateway to Earth because it was the closest planet in the Universe that had life on it. It would also explain why Earth has vampire legends and Nosgoth has humans. I mean, in England, Earth, the grey squirrel was an animal introduced from a foreign land and now it thrives as if it was there all along. The same could have happened to Nosgoth. Humans are a little different, though. A sufficient evolutionary gene pool can't consist of something like a mere two hundred humans. It has to be a few thousand at the very least. Whoever brought humans to this world meant for them to live here; we're not talking an escaped science project or something."
I felt uncomfortable with his analogy, but for different reason that you might think. "When grey squirrels were introduced, they wiped out the native red squirrel population. Now they exist in very few places. . ." From the solemn look in his milky, pupil-less eyes, Mortanius knew what I was comparing this to even before I said it. "It sounds a lot like how humans, an introduced species, have got the vampires on the run."
The guy at the monitors snorted arrogantly. "Red squirrels don't have pointy teeth and eat grey squirrels."
"My point exactly." I said gravely. "Humans are the violent ones, pretending vampires are the real monsters and savagely wipe out the vampires despite the fact that we have the main foothold on this world, yet we justify it by pretending they're the hideous, ungodly ones trying to dominate Nosgoth. And we call them bloodthirsty . . ."
"You should be mindful of what you say on the matter, Doctor Howe." Warned Mortanius. "There are those who would kill you for what you have just said."
"I proved to the Arklay Researchers a long time ago that I wasn't afraid to ask questions about my work." I said defiantly. "So long as there is breath in my body, I'll want to know the truth above all else."
"Though foolish," Commented Mortanius. "It is noble of you to whish as such."
"I'm a scientist. Truth . . . is really something we all should aspire towards." The words felt uncomfortable in my throat, considering Umbrella was developing bioweapons behind the backs of almost everyone on the planet but it was something I felt had to be said. In history, so-called scientists had disregarded some of the greatest theories known to man - such as that of light, gravity and evolution - because of simple personal belief.
There was that world again; 'belief'. Guess I wasn't wrong in thinking belief was a powerful force. It caused self-confessed men of science to block out mentally scientific fact not because it wasn't true, but because it interfered with their belief. If 'mere' belief could stop scientists, the very gatekeepers of enlightenment, from realising inescapable scientific fact, then the power of belief had such a tangible effect on society and way of life as propaganda or even the very laws of nature themselves. I shuddered momentarily. Belief . . . It had a far more substantial effect on the quality of life and the nature of death than I had let myself understand.
I got a grip on myself and asked the man at the monitors: "What else are Rabbitson and the others up to?"
"They're trying to secure a live vampire specimen in the heart of Termagent Forest, roughly off to the North East."
"They what?" Growled Mortanius.
"Apparently Moebius set it as a test to secure a specimen called Vorador before he let them take the real prize."
Mortanius shook his head in disgust. "If such a powerful creature asVorador's role is but there mere test, then that can only mean the Time Streamer plans on giving them Kain!"
"What's going on?" I demanded, trying to grasp Mortaniuses attention.
"Moebius desires nothing more than to be rid of the vampire Kain. With your fellow scientists current arrival, Moebius has potentially received massive shortcut in his plans. Your men are the only creatures currently active in Nosgoth that are free from this worlds Time Streamer and its Wheel of Fate meaning the researchers, with all your technology and man power, are capable of taking Kain from this world regardless of his destiny!"
"And removing him from this worlds Time Stream is as good as killing him . . ." I felt a lump in form in my throat. If Kain was nearly as important to this world as Mortanius was making out, then we all could be in serious trouble if I didn't get this information recognised before it was too late. "Where's Birkin?" I demanded to the man at the control desk who had been politely listening to the whole thing without a sound after his length explanation.
"He was here a little while ago, talking to some of the Pillar Guardians but he just disappeared . . . I'm sorry but I really didn't notice anything strange going on. To be honest, I was too busy watching these screens to notice where he went and when you guys came in, I though he was still in here."
Mortanius took control of the situation. "John, you have to find a way of contacting your friends heading for Termagent. I'll find Birkin."
"Why can't we do it the other way 'round? You know Nosgoth better than I do and it would be easier for you to track them."
"Their mission as well as to capture the vampire Vorador is to set up checkpoints for future use. There is a chance those checkpoints could be manned with armed guards and if I follow, then they may take me into their custody. You, they would recognise and allow to pass."
-"If this really is important"- piped up the guy at the control desk. "you could take the all terrain vehicle we imported from Earth. It might come in handy, especially if they've already gotten to the swamp by now." I nodded to him and he took a set of about six keys from an arrangement of hooks on which was mounted labelled keys on the side of the system of monitors. He also took another key from there and added it to the ring. I guessed this must be the key for the car. "This is the spear key set for the ones they took with them on their mission." He instructed me. "They're all labelled; a key to the alarm system, a key to the electrified cage, a key to the weapons locker on the jeep belonging to the Umbrella soldiers accompanying them, a key to the door of the mobile lab, a key to the draws and cupboards on the mobile lab and finally two keys, one for the ignition on the soldiers jeep and one for the busses ignition."
"Got it." I turned to Mortanius. "You know what you're doing, right?" Mortanius nodded. "Then I'll see you when we're done. Remember to tell William I'm going for the others and get them to bring backup at least."
"Where are all the other researchers?" Mortanius enquired.
"They might have gone back for a bit to Earth to bring more supplies and the soldiers may all be with Rabbitson and the others. This place is manned by Sarafan so they wouldn't worry about leaving this stuff without Umbrella guard."
"Very well. If necessary I shall travel back to Earth to find him."
"That might be a possibility." I replied. "He could have gone back to prepare for Vorador."
We parted ways and I headed down through the Stronghold searching for one of many secret passageways towards the back of the complex that lead out onto an empty plot of land being used as a vehicle depot. Apparently some idiot had an idea to get a Harrier in. Like that was going to happen. If we brought in a Harrier (as if we need that kind of airspeed) we'd probably waste a ton of budget. That's why those working on the project were bringing everything in by hand. If we got someone in from another area of Umbrella to do all the heavy work, then we would have to pay for it and more people would know about our work than necessary.
At the time I didn't think twice about telling Mortanius to go and find William. I'd even given him spoken clearance to travel to Earth regardless of any quarantine directives put in place. Looking back I can't believe I was so trusting but it's not like it didn't bother him. We didn't give him much of a choice when we barged into his world and threatened to destroy everything everyone on Nosgoth had ever worked towards because of some petty desire to gather life forms. Mortanius realised before Moebius that nothing on Nosgoth could prepare for the things Earth brought or took from them. I realise now that we needed to be stopped but back then when I was heading out to find Rabbitson and the others, it all still took the form of a mission, just like any other. The repercussions of what took place with us here in Nosgoth would affect our lives for years to come, especially William. His connection with the forces in this world would become something far deeper than we could have guessed. By this point in time, the Time Streams of both our worlds were beyond repair, technically speaking. Mortanius would do what he did in order to salvage what was left of both our worlds but he could have at least warned me first. . .
Mortanius held Doctor John Howe's key card between thumb and finger, scanning over its space-aged circuit-board-like detail embedded inside the translucent card with his white eyes memorising the information upon it. Apparently, it gave him 100 security clearance in the Spencer Estate beneath which was hidden a Mansion in the Arklay mountains. It also it allowed level 4 out of 6 security clearance for another laboratory contained beneath a chemical plant somewhere inside or around 'Raccoon City'. That appeared to be where he was now. Mortanius had travelled through the researchers dimension tunnel and had ended up in a mission control contained within the Chemical Plant inside Raccoon City. Of course he was challenged at first but a flash of John's card he had stolen from him and they allowed him to move freely about the facility, which surprised him at first until he discovered just how much John's security clearance was worth around here. John was apparently a more influential character within this operation that Mortanius had assumed. He wasn't very comfortable with backstabbing his internal agent so soon in the game, but things had already taken a turn towards a sinister plot. He hadn't expected Moebius to arrange for Vorador's capture so soon and if he didn't react quickly then those scientists could pass the preliminary rounds, at which point things would become beyond Mortanius's redemption. If Mortanius were guessing at the plot correctly, Moebius wouldn't give them the version of Kain from this age. At this point in the Time Stream, Kain had travelled back in time along with the Hylden champion in the search of their true destinies, meaning Kain was much beyond the scientist's level of abilities, at least for the time being. No, Moebius would give them a younger Kain, a vulnerable Kain, but a version of Kain he did not have direct access to. There was only one period in the Time Stream Moebius forbid all contact with, and that was the age of the revival of the Sarafan order at the hands of the Sarafan Lord. The reason for this was the this age was still unexamined even to him, a newly formed age as the result of a new and alien choice made at an earlier stage of the Time Stream, no doubt something to do with that Hylden champion and his Freewill.
If they successful completed their trial and took Vorador (needless to say Vorador would be in danger, but he wasn't Mortanius's primary concern) then Moebius would waste no time in allowing them access to this age this vulnerable version of Kain, at which point Mortanius would be unable to stop them. Of course there was still John. If Kain were to be taken from the Sarafan Lord era, then John would no doubt accompany Birkin on the mission and if John trusted Mortanius's view on this, then he'd try to stop them from taking Kain independently of him. If Mortanius's plan here on Earth worked, however, then there would not be an operation to steal Kain, because they would be too busy with his little bombshell to even consider gathering more samples.
