Chapter 1: A Rude Napping
At around midnight, the winds of the desert blew fiercely. The Pyramids, or whatever was left of them, began crumbling to dust and blowing away. Abstergo however, still needed the pyramids, their history to be exact. Using the mechamorph, the internal structure of the pyramid held while its outer features collapsed. A team of five was sent in to find the Tomb of Tutankhamun.
"This is Alpha Squad, communication checks are a go. Entering detonation site 1." Spoke Raiden.
"This is Command, we read you." Said Pequod.
No one was allowed to know who Pequod was, thought Raiden. The voice was always amplified to mimic Darth Vader, something of a custom for Abstergo employees, to refer to cultures long dead. Raiden had no way of knowing if Pequod was a man or a woman. Still, the time for flirting could come later.
"The old woman appears to have been correct. Detonation site 1 appears to have had its contents stolen, specifically Section Omega Lambda 7XL9."
"Hmm, that is most unfortunate. It seems that Desmond shall have to enter the machine again and find out which one of his ancestors was responsible for this."
"Mam, something else is afoot. Permission to speak freely."
"Granted."
"The section was dragged across the floor, as shown by the marks of something breaking the tiles. There are also scorch marks, leading me to believe this was done recently."
"That doesn't really help us. We are in a desert, we can't simply track footprints all the way back to the point of origin."
"That's not your decision to make."
"Fair enough. Wait. How did you know-"
"I have a way with these things. Certain ways of speaking are quite feminine."
"….I am going to remove that last piece of conversation."
"Acknowledged."
What was Abstergo thinking, hiring civilians to aid mercenaries? Raiden thought to himself, At least I am a military man. Did my fair share of fighting on Luna. Speaking of which;
"Oi, fat man, get over here and look at this painting." Said Raiden.
"Alpha squad, use your codenames!" Roared Pequod.
"Ugh, Rock, get over here and look at this hieroglyph." Sighed Raiden.
Rock, known as fat man, occasionally referred to as Qasim, made his way over to the group. The squad consisted of men dressed in black, wearing protective gear, bulletproof vests, Ak 47's and plasma grenades. And then there was this fat scientist wearing a hazard suit too big for him and far too heavy. Raiden could feel his every step. Yet, that face. It stopped him from cracking any jokes.
Qasim was clean shaven, with a tad bit long hair on top of his head and short hair on the sides. He was said to be of Pakistani origin, though he certainly didn't speak like one, nor did he speak much of his religion. Assuming of course, he was Muslim. He wore a doctor's uniform and pajamas, the bizarre combination making him stand out amongst other Abstergo employees. He claimed it was traditional clothing. Raiden saw it as an excuse to wear pajamas to work and Qasim had not denied it. Normally he would have left it be, that chubs mc gee didn't scare anyone.
Then Qasim had stopped wearing lenses after one of them fused to his eyes during an accident. After eye surgery and Nano augmentation, Qasim face looked more harrow and intimidating, plus he could change eye colors at a whim. Something to do with having damaged retinas, Raiden didn't care for the math. As a welcome back, Raiden had shoved a gun in his face.
Qasim flinched but he showed no fear, only annoyance. Only trained soldiers and psychopaths don't piss their pants while in danger. It was quite obvious which category Qasim belonged to.
He approached.
"This place sucks." Moaned Qasim.
"It's a desert." Replied Raiden.
"No not like that," said Qasim, as he observed the surroundings, "This is the tombs of the greatest historical discoveries of all time and it's empty. I think there's a library section to the left and a pool to the right, but the pool's dirty and books don't normally last for thousands of years."
"My God, you're right. Anything else you want to add, Captain Obvious." Deadpanned Raiden.
"Not really."
"Then get into that library and see what you can find." Said Raiden through closed teeth. God, one of these days, he was going to give Qasim a smack upside down the head. For now, he left it be.
…. .. ….
As the squad began covering the pool, Qasim scanned the area sadly. Once historians had stepped into this place and seen into a past that could only have been built by demigods. Now it was alone and forgotten, just a building in a world, no universe, of space stations and exploding suns. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Qasim glanced at Alpha Squad. How easy it would be to sneak up behind them and slit their throats? To watch them squeal like the pigs they, always snacking on the fallen, always-
Stop it, Qasim spoke to himself. Remember the therapy sessions. You're not a psychopath, you just have sexual sadism disorder. God that sounds wrong in my own head. I'm a 46 year old virgin, of course I'm going to be having lewd thoughts.
The walls looked so far away. Qasim activated his augments, viewing past the walls into the contents of the room. Nothing. An empty shell, a place devoid of all that gave it meaning. Just like himself.
I keep pretending to be happy, but I never was good at lies.
Qasim peered into the library, going past the rotting wooden, soon to be nonexistent, door. The library looked picturesque, multiple columns of books were on each…column.
Huh, that's convenient. Better mark this in my phone, on the off chance this means something to my fellow historians.
Qasim took out his phone, 2 metal spheres with an untouchable, electronic surface in the middle. He went into the camera setting and took a picture. He noticed that the center of the room had a small artifact in the middle, something used to show that it was an important book. He didn't remember its name. He didn't care.
"Well if you ever wanted to do something you wanted no one else to see, might as well do it here." Qasim said to himself. He took off his suit, then threw down his pajamas and peed on the wall.
"Hey, Qasim, you here, we found something!" Said Ramses.
"Shit, shit, Shiite!" groaned Qasim. He finished, pulled up his pajamas and went over to his colleague.
Ramses was everything Qasim wasn't. For one, he was here much earlier than expected. He was very tan, with yellow hair and a well-muscled body. He wore white combat armor, fancying himself as Indiana Jones. If there was a Greek demigod in the modern world, he was it. Perfectly shaved, sharp chin, smooth hands. Of course, a swimming champion couldn't exactly be fat now, could he?
Qasim didn't swing that way but he imagined a lot of men did, as seen by the lack of contact between Ramses and other Abstergo employees. Or maybe he was grasping at loose straws.
"Why are you here in my pajamas?" Articulated a confused Ramses.
"It was a gift and now I'm using it." Qasim vocalized, trying to avoid eye contact.
"…Ok, wait a minute, why aren't you in your hazmat suit." Expressed a now bewildered Ramses, realizing that he should have noticed Qasim not being in his suit instead of the fact that he was wearing his gift.
Qasim thought for an answer. He found one "I wanted to feel the weight of the books. For you see, books are a hobby of mine." Lied Qasim. No one was gonna buy that, sighed Qasim inwardly.
Ramses was about to reply when they received a transmission on their radios. It was from Command.
"Pequod here. We have found Primary Objective A. We can begin setting up the Animagus."
Ramses uttered "You mean the Animus, right?"
Pequod voiced her response "No, the Animagus. You'll get briefed back at base. Qasim, you want to take any souvenirs from the library, go ahead but do it fast. Egypt doesn't look too kindly on trespassers."
Raiden announced on his radio "I don't imagine anyone does," as he uncloaked right behind me. With him having scared my pants off a few dozen times, I should have been prepared for it this time. Suffice to say, I was not, as I felt my soul leave my body while I screamed like a tweedy bird.
"Geeeeaaaaah!" Cried Qasim, immediately jumping two feet forward and hitting his toes on a corner, causing him to grunt in pain and fall over.
"Ha ha, that never gets old. Ramses, apply the medigel. If he needs it," laughed Raiden. Before Ramses could so much as talk back, Raiden once again Cloaked in Silence.
"Get over here dimwit, "I ordered, as I began to clench my hands and close my eyes.
….
"Well that was a pretty rude way of taking a nap." Quipped Ramses, as he applied the medigel to reset Qasim's bones and blood.
Qasim vocalized his response "That's because I wasn't the one who wanted a nap."
Ramses stated the obvious "You needed the boost. Pain and Medigel does exactly that. You have, after all, not slept for three days. Seriously, what do they put in your meds?"
Qasim glanced up at him. He looked sad.
Sad? At what, me? Now or in a hundred years, what difference does it make how I die? Ok, how does make a difference, but when I die, that doesn't make a difference. Whoever extended human aging was a genius, but he or she did not account for mental side effects.
Qasim looked at his torn shoes. They did seem more ragged, somehow, as though the beating his toes had taken hadn't been the cause for their destruction. After getting reset, Qasim stood up and walked into the library. Ramses followed suit.
Something was different.
The walls were gray, instead of the traditional yellow color of a pyramid. There were lit fires on hanging chandeliers. In the center of the room, was a cauldron. It was empty.
Suddenly the radio came to work "Surprised yet man?" gloated Raiden, "I changed a few things while looking around. Let's see how much it pissed you off. Oh by the way, your heart rate accelerated so that's how I knew."
The radio cut off without time for being snarky.
"So Raiden's screwing with us again. Want to figure out what he changed?" declared Ramses.
"Nah, I'm grabbing a book and going home." Stated Qasim.
He was only out for two minutes. Could Raiden really have changed so much in so little time? Probably. Best not to think about it, super soldiers do all kinds of wacky stuff.
Qasim's hands touched the books. They felt old and weak. Like him, but different, in that despite being so, they had withstood the test of time. Qasim hands left the books instantly. Qasim turned to leave when he saw a faint purple glow out of the corner of his eye. He turned towards the floor and saw a purple book with hard blue lines etched across the surface. He picked it up and noticed a red figure in the middle. It was an optical illusion and his eyes shut off for a second, leaving him in darkness. Then they miraculously turned back on, when he should have been blind for 24 more hours.
Qasim opened the books. It was blank.
"Well that's just perfect." Announced Qasim to himself.
"Hey, at least you got a diary now."
"True…"
Hmm, a diary. I wonder what it's called. Qasim flipped the book. It showed a bizarre series of diagrams mashed into each other, somewhat resembling a pentagram and some kind of figure in red and blue, lifting a glowing blue book. Qasim could go no more info from it.
Well then, I'll just write some quick stuff, Qasim told himself. Just some tales from my day to day life. Can't be too bad, can it?
Qasim and Ramses turned to leave.
…. .. ….
As Qasim carried the book, the Book of Infinity awakened and quickly tried to determine which universe it was in now. Its answer baffled it so it closed its red eye and waited for more to come. More info, more talk, more of everything this universe had to offer.