-1Okay, here's the next part… Sort of an interlude, I guess you could call it. Look for the segment that owes its inspiration to 'Whispers In The Dark' by Oni-Gil!
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Things were finally back to normal for Sector Seven. The loss of both of their prized specimens had just about meant the end of the organization itself. Now the elaborate web of scaffolding and wires that had secured NBE-01 and held him to his frozen sleep had a new occupant. The brilliant silver the workers had all come to know over the years had been replaced with incredibly glossy coal-black, a pure shade and a bright sheen that would make even the finest racecars look grungy. As they got used to the change, they found themselves fascinated by the intricate blue traceries that trimmed each spike and highlighted each curve, adding a sense of delicate beauty to an otherwise intimidating shape. Preliminary testing was beginning to indicate a radically different internal design schematic, nothing like NBE-01's in the slightest, and it was generally accepted that the much heavier insulation they found throughout indicated the presence of a very powerful energy source tucked away somewhere deep within the ice-encrusted body.
The lab technicians and engineers were as happy as could be, thrilled by the possibility of discovering something entirely new. Through long years they and their predecessors had gained the most intimate knowledge of NBE-01's inner workings, and the discoveries they had made had changed the world more radically than any of them had ever dreamed. The new specimen seemed to be a step up from that design, more evolved if that word could be used, or perhaps an upgrade. What groundbreaking discoveries could the study of the energy contained within the specimen produce? Humankind's knowledge could very well experience another leap ahead like the one NBE-01 had brought, elevating their species to pinnacles undreamed of. Here, perhaps, could be an answer to the energy crisis, or more. NBE-01 had placed the stars within their reach. What would NBE-Alpha bring them?
Simmons, too, was as happy as a proverbial clam. Sector Seven was a family business for him, after all, and he was following in the footsteps of his father, and his father, and his father. All of them had considered Sector Seven theirs, the Cube theirs, NBE-01 theirs… What greater legacy could a man hope to pass on to his children than the world-changing knowledge that could be gained from the study of both? In his mind, losing both the Cube and NBE-01 had been a massive blow to his family's honor, something he had simply refused to accept or willingly bear. Both specimens had been something he too had hoped to pass on in the manner of his father, continuing the tradition he felt was inherent in his family name. But now they had NBE-Alpha, an entirely new specimen, and all the secrets she held… all his, all of it his to make the most of and pass on! Sometimes he would just stand and stare up at her in something approximating awe and think "Mine… All mine!" Other times he would climb the scaffolding to NBE-Alpha's eye level… those brilliant blue eyes that had blazed so brightly, now closed forever in endless icy sleep… and speak to her of how safe and secure she was in this place, how they wouldn't lose her as they had NBE-01. She was his, his to pass on to his children, and to their children, and so on…
As everyone else rejoiced over their new specimen, the base's security guards did the exact opposite. Being assigned to guard the laboratory area overnight was beginning to be considered an initiation ritual, as it was swiftly becoming what they all considered the worst assignment possible, and no one ever volunteered for a second night. After all, it was a generally accepted fact among them that the area where the specimen was held was haunted by the ghost of one of the many people who had been killed when NBE-01 broke loose that day. Tales of terrifying experiences were swapped whenever there was free time, stories told over lunch or coffee, all stating the same thing without variation. When the workers left for the day and the lights went down, when the machines were shut off and the daytime activity was all done, any security guard unlucky enough to be stuck on patrol duty there would inevitably hear the faint sound of a woman crying…
For Zephyr, the next unknown interval of time was spent in a vaguely unpleasant haze of restless nightmares and semi-awareness of being poked and prodded in sometimes painful ways. The scientists crawled over her comparatively massive form, sometimes removing parts for a closer look, or to study how she regenerated those parts… Other times they would do various things to her neural circuitry, things that left her silently screaming… It was only through the blessings of luck that they had yet to touch her spark chamber, though how long that would remain the case was literally anyone's guess. Thoughts of her beloved drifted through her mind. Was this how it had been for him? Boredom, unending cold, the feeling of violation mingled with bolts of screaming pain… When she had first made contact with Megatron's mind, before she even knew what was going on, she had felt his utter hatred for the human race. Now, in this moment, she felt she couldn't blame him in the slightest. To have known only Sector Seven as his sole example of humanity… She also felt she knew why she had hated Simmons right off the bat. As it turned out, the hatred hadn't been hers at all… not initially. The hate she had felt at first had been Megatron's. He had known the man's voice during his imprisonment and grown to hate him most of all, so strongly that it had even passed to her. As she stood paralyzed in her icy prison, listening to him gloat about owning her, as if she was just a thing and not a person, she found herself swiftly beginning to develop her own hatred for the man.
There really was no warning, although it wasn't as if much of anything could make it through the ice-spawned haze that filled her mind. She'd never been able to make any sense of the muffled, distorted hum of their speech, though that was understandable, given the fact that her mental state barely qualified as such. And thus it was that the bolt of white-hot agony that speared right through the center of her chest came as a complete surprise, setting every fiber of her mind, body and spark ablaze as she screamed like she had never screamed before. Horror joined the pain at the sudden feeling of exposure, of having her very being laid bare, as she felt the cover to her spark chamber be pulled off. Human screams rose to join the cries she could only utter in her mind as the All Spark's power, released from the container that had been pretty much the only thing to control it save her will, which the ice had silenced, erupted forth to scour the room that contained her with thick tendrils of what appeared to be pure lightning. The power acted like water, in that it sought out and seeped through any cracks it could find in the impenetrable walls, walls no energy or transmission was supposed to be able to pass. The walls proved to be less impenetrable than had previously been thought as the energy found its way through…
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It won't be too long now…
Read and review, please! Seriously.