And "Act 1" as I have now dubbed it, is complete. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, I had fun writing it.
Turtwing 163, thanks, I've enjoyed writing it :)
please read and review, I want and need the input.
The Cure is being deployed. Raynor's forces are holding out against the Protoss, although the relentless march of the Purifier has removed two colonial bases from existence. I'm not concerned with the Battle, however. I am standing at the head of a long line of colonists underneath a medical tent with the words "treatment here" on it. Those who are fully infested were put down, but the rest have been split into three groups, those that need immediate treatment, which they have received or are receiving, and are currently undergoing final infestation, we can only wait and see whether those will keep their minds. The second group is listed as "at risk", they are the ones who have begun showing early symptoms, but will not fully transform for a while yet. Those have second priority on the Gene treatment. Then there is this group, the largest of the three, labeled "not at risk" they are the ones not showing symptoms, and they receive whatever is left over after those who are actively being converted receive theirs. The amazing thing is, these people don't seem to care that I myself am infested, as they have been informed about what the cure will and will not do. Most of them just look grateful when I give them the cure. I volunteered to hand out the cure, along with Hanson and Matt Horner. Hanson herself began showing symptoms a few minutes ago, and so received a treatment. The Retrovirus is being made as fast as it can in our labs, and there should be more than enough to give to everyone. Because this virus, as in the one we used as the sheath for our own code, can only enter into Nerve cells to begin with, it will not be spread along the entire body. It was also incredibly resilient in its wild form, with the body's natural defenses barely able to keep up, which should reduce the risk of rejection.
A man breaks away from the main line, and runs towards the "at risk" line, barely able to keep himself upright. He seems to be on the verge of throwing up, and is shuddering uncontrollably. Why he was in my line in the first place I have no idea, but Hanson sprints towards him, knowing that he is about to turn. She doesn't reach him in time, however, and Carapace bursts from his body. At that point, the Marines guarding the line open fire, knowing nothing can be done. He falls to the ground, dead, and the line begins to become more agitated. The Marines struggle to retain a semblance of order, but the terror in these people spreads faster than the Zerg virus ever could. Those in the back begin to push forward, and those in the front begin yelling incoherently. This isn't good, a mob of people terrified of what is happening and without the training to overcome their base instincts. All they know is that Salvation is at the end of this line, and so they need to get there as fast as possible. A guard shouts out over the pandemonium "there is Treatment enough for everyone, if you are experiencing symptoms, go to the At Risk or High Risk line depending upon their severity. If you are not, be patient, we will reach you eventually!" He does little to calm the writhing mass of humanity begging for protection, however. The situation is growing out of hand, I'm still handing out Treatments, and have been joined by others to help diffuse the terror in these people, but it's not going fast enough, and they are growing desperate.
The situation has gone from bad to worse. We are out of Treatments, all across the table, there are none left, and the newest shipment is still fifteen minutes away. We try to keep the people calm, but now people are growing from simply agitated, to violent. People have begun trying to share needles, trying to squeeze a little more out of one that has already been used. Such is the terror these people are facing. Anyone who has one, is now a target to some of the more aggressive individuals, the Survivors, in under five minutes the situation has changed from slightly afraid and hopeful, to terrified and aggressive. Finally, a gunshot is heard over the cacophony, and it quiets. Everyone turns to see Raynor himself standing there, his pistol aimed into the air, and still smoking from the bullet he had fired. "now, y'all better calm down, we're doing this as fast as we can, and what you're doing here ain't helping anyone." He puts down the pistol says "thanks" and walks towards the head of the line, where we are standing, waiting for the next shipment to arrive. After that, a semblance of order finally returns to the proceedings.
"thanks for that" I say, "it was getting out of hand, and someone might have gotten hurt."
Raynor is standing next to me, having already checked up on the other two. "not a problem, it looked like you needed some help getting these folks to calm down."
After he says this, I ask "aren't you supposed to be stopping the Protoss advance?"
He shakes his head "we've beaten 'em back. Selendis wasn't happy about it though, said she'd bring it up with Artanis."
I nod absently, "hopefully they will see that we're telling the truth".
He then looks at me differently and says "you know it's not gonna be that easy, we all got burned real bad in the Brood War, and the Protoss can hold a grudge like almost nobody else."
I sigh, "it's frustrating to be blamed at every turn for something that you didn't do, but I understand their concerns. At least, I understand them up to the point where it blinds them to any new evidence." We're quiet for a while after that, until the new shipment comes in via Dropship, at which point I say "well, I'd better get back to work." He nods, and walks off.
The line has dwindled to almost nothing, after three more near-shortages, and a lot of time and effort. All of the High-Riskers, and some of the At-Riskers have transformed, and are currently exploring their new forms. An interesting phenomenon occurred as we investigated this. It appears that most of them were able to decide for themselves certain attributes of their new form. For example, most people wanted their face to be clear of any new growths, and almost without exception, that was the case. After we learned this, we announced it to the general population, and the results were astounding.
Although none of them appear fully human, most have developed more humanoid characteristics than is normally seen among infested, in addition, they seem to be more adapted to the jobs they had as a human then to war, those who were farmers gained less in the way of natural weaponry, but more strength and endurance which would help them in their duties. The researchers' fingers grew more supple, allowing them more dexterity in their work, improved reaction time caused by muscles increased response to any stimulus from the brain, and many other adaptations. Among marines, the transformation gave them the most hardened carapace, hand-eye coordination, strength, as well as the strongest natural weapons in the Zerg arsenal. Hanson herself when she transformed, was given the researcher's adaptations, in addition to a head completely clear of any changes. Even her hair has not changed. I'm not certain what this means, but it is interesting to note, and is one more example of the amazing adaptability of the Zerg. Even through this, however, every single person was given defenses and weapons by the changes, leaving this possibly the most heavily Militarized Terran colony. Finally, the last vial is given out, and I move to begin packing up the station we are at.
The reception of the change amongst the population does not even begin to be described by the word "varied". Some people revile their new forms, and are unwilling to be seen by their family and friends in the form of a "monster." Others have seen it as anything from a stroke of good luck, to a blessing from heaven. The only thing that can be certain of the response is that everyone reacts differently, although most are grateful to have kept their minds and personalities intact. Those the least affected are the children, they get over the fact that they are now different very quickly, and almost immediately begin using their enhanced abilities to play games and get into trouble. The Raiders are moving out of the colony, giving over the defense and maintenance to the local militia. The Protoss will likely come back, but if and when they do, these people will be ready.
"Here with UNN, this is Donny Vermilion, we've got good news and bad news for you tonight. The good news is that the influx of refugees has slowed, as the various fringe-worlders have found new planets on which to settle. For more, we go to Kate Lockwell."
"is the feed live? Oh, um hi Donny, well, as you said many of the refugees are starting new colony worlds. Unfortunately, these worlds have become prime targets for Zerg forces looking to beef up their ground armies. As such, many of the colonists have become Infested, a process in which one of our own is turned into one of them. I'm reporting live from a ship above the world of Haven, The target of one of these attacks. On this world, however, which has since claimed independence from the Dominion, a partial cure was distributed to the population."
"so the Dominion has discovered a way to combat this insidious attack?"
"um, no. s-"
"you heard it here first, folks, our Dominion scientists taking the fight to the Zerg on the molecular level."
The scene then cuts to commercial. I sigh, and lean back against my chair. "I'm surprised they even reported on that." I say, turning from the screen to Zeke, who is sitting next to me. "
They had to say something, I guess. That Donny guy sure loves his pro-dominion spin though, cutting her off when she was about to say who really did it."
I chuckle, "yeah, well, what can you expect from the state-sponsored media?" Zeke had been watching, and he invited me over when he saw this story. Hanson is staying on with us, hoping to help any other colonists with this new cure as well. After Haven, the last doubts about me have disappeared, thankfully, and I'm allowed to walk around without a guard. We picked up several other Infested from haven, who wanted to join up with us, so I'm less of an oddity now. We have received our reinforcements, a medic named Angelique, and a marine named Thomas. Both are from haven, although neither was exposed to the Virus, and therefore are still human. Now, I can hopefully get some real time off, no hurrying to find a cure for an entire colony, just relaxing.
Or maybe not, I honestly thought I would be getting some time off, but that is not meant to be, apparently. I've been called upon to distribute the Treatment to the people in our Barracks, and so had to pull myself out of my comfortable position, and go down to the secondary Laboratory. Hanson has officially moved in here now, because she's Zerg too now, and so the artifact drains her. I get the Treatment, and head back to my barracks with orders to distribute it, and observe them for the next five hours. That's unfortunate because those hours happen to fall within the ship's Night cycle. It could be worse, but it's still annoying. I head back, and distribute it, and settle in for a sleepless night.
None of my squadmates had a bad response to the treatment, so the worst one off is me. I'm still required to be awake at the regular time, in spite of the fact that it only gave me three hours of sleep. Tiredness apparently affects me more than it should, as for the first time since I've gotten them; I actually trip on my high heels. Note to self, never stay up this late if you can help it. It's not good for you. Of course, it was compounded by my recurring nightmares. They've been sapping my strength. Thankfully today's workload is rather light, orienting the new additions to our squad, the day passes without incident, or anything really to report.
The next day I am feeling better, the fatigue left after a good, and blessedly dreamless, night of sleep. for my assignment, I am to report to the armory for a Physical Testing exercise. They've decided to test all the Infested, to get a good idea as to what our strength level is. Before it wasn't necessary, as I was the only one, now that we've picked up more though, it suddenly is. I therefore report to the Armory for the assignment.
Hanson and about ten other recruits are there as well. They run us through a grueling set of exercises, sprints twice as long as I had to do as a human, larger weights, and all around just more, however my body takes this as a professional challenge, and I'm able to complete the course quickly. This is the first time I've pressed my body as hard as it can go since the change, and it springs to excel. I am at the head of the group, but all of us have vastly improved scores over the last recorded ones we had as humans. The Sprints were surprisingly easy for me, as I let instinct take over. If I had concentrated on it, it would have been a lot harder.
There was a conflict that day in the Valhalla facility. Other marine squads took over, and we were able to watch the mission from a "commander's post" which is a bird's-eye view of the area. I watched as that giant machine of death, the Odin, tore through the bases. When the wraith pilots, including Arcia, stumble upon that gigantic battlecruiser, however, I feel more than a little worried for her. True to form, though, she flies around the missiles, dodging expertly. The behemoth, known as the "Loki" goes down, and we watch the remaining bases fall, cheering when the nuclear missile hits the last one.