A/N: This is in Engie/Dr. Gromov's POV. Not all the chapters are going to be in Captain's POV, so we can see all sides of the story.
Chapter 3- Project Seven
I was doing my daily routine, making sure everything was in order. After buying a sadly overpriced cup of coffee, I went down into the supercomputer room to work on my new project: Seven.
Recently, the Biology Department has discovered that luck is a physical form of energy, and, if strong enough, it can affect a person's surroundings. I am doing research to find the luckiest person on the planet so that he or she can lead Directorate troops to victory. For weeks, I've been running ANNET's supercomputers, trying to find this person. ANNET has scanned every person on the planet by now- I hoped that she had found Seven. To my delight, she had.
"Annie! You've done it!" I exclaimed, rushing to the large screen in the center of the room. More often than not, the research I do requires calculations that would exceed the capacity of the human mind, so I use a screen. At the moment, it was lit up with a profile of a man. The mother E.I. of ANNET hung from the ceiling, pointing towards me.
:It was very difficult, but I managed. You engineered me well.: She said. I smiled. It was true.
I looked over the profile of the man.
:Name: Z. Gender: Male. Age: 17. Nationality: German. Alliance: ICM.: Annie dictated. My hopes sank. He was on the side of the International Conspiracy of Majesty, the force we were at war with. But I wasn't going to give up so easily.
"Any pictures?" I asked. The screen lit up with an image of a tall teenage boy. He had brown eyes and dirty blonde hair. But then…
:Updating. Please Hold.: Another picture came on screen. It was clearly the same person, but he now had purple streaks in his hair and brilliant violet eyes. A caption read: "Test 1- recruit Z. Genetic Modification level 7." Wow. Now all I had to do was find him.
"Annie, zero in on him with one of your tower cameras. I need to track his location," I said. The screen filled with a live video feed.
Just in time for me to see him jump out of a window.
"NO!" I shouted. But wait! He landed on his feet? He really was the luckiest man on Earth!
I continued watching the video feed. He was holding… a mug? How strange. He was running away from the building he had jumped out of. Two gas-masked men chased after him. He was escaping! He wasn't one of the rebels after all!
I watched, flabbergasted, as he and his pursuers reached the so-called "border" between Directorate and ICM territory, which is just a broken chain-link fence. Z shot the soldiers a look of pure hatred and, mug still in hand, jumped over the fence as if it was nothing.
The video shut off, Z's profile reappearing on the screen. :Have you seen enough?: ANNET asked.
"More than. Thanks, Annie." Connecting via my mind, I found Z's profile again. I added it to the end of a summary I had written on Project Seven. I sent it out to all of the workers along with a short message saying that he would be here in around a week- something I would make sure of soon. Then I remembered. "Charles. Right. Well, he's important enough, I'll just give it to him." I printed the document on my office's printer. I pretty much only had it for anomalies like Snippy.
"Bye, Annie-girl. I would be nowhere without you." I said. Whistling cheerfully, I left to deliver the papers to Charles. This was turning out to be a very productive day.