Chapter 18
Derk's POV
Darkness surrounded me. I couldn't see. Where was I? I moved my arms around, hoping to find something to grab onto. The air was very dense and humid. It was like I was in a moss temple. Perhaps I am. I reached out with my mind, trying to find the walls. There has to be something. Why can't I find anything? And then suddenly a loud voice hummed inside my head.
"Derrrrrrk Treeeeeeton."
"What? Show yourself?!" I yelled. "What do you want?!"
"Fear not, terran," the echoing voice said. "My name is Falcicadar Eletraz."
"Why can't I see you?" I asked, still franticly searching around in the darkness. My psionics seemed useless. And then unexpectedly a Protoss warrior stepped out of the shadows. It had purple cloth rapped around hips and shoulders. The alien had brass colored armor covering its upper and lower arms. A long piece of cloth extended from its face so all you could see was its eyes. This… was a Dark Templar. I was surprised enough that the creature would even let me see it.
"There isn't much time," Eletraz said, approaching me. I stepped back.
"Keep away from me you Protoss filth," I snapped. Not a moment after the words left my mouth did the Templar disappear in a puff of pitch black smoke. And suddenly he was in front of my face.
"The prophecy was foretold and must be perceived. Your resistance is impracticable and will be in vain." The Dark Templar echoed. I was swiftly sprung into a spiraling wave of shades. I appeared to be falling. It seemed never ending. All emotions and feelings were stripped of me. I felt nothing. But as if a nuclear explosion went off I was jolted out of the experience and landed hardly on the ground. I moaned in agony.
Pulling myself off the ground, I looked at my surroundings. Light shined off of the Zerg creep covering the ground. The purple gray substance appeared to be alive. Moving in waves, the ooze-like matter spread across the dirt. I glanced up to see a gigantic Hive in front of me. It had five large tentacles curling inwards. This giant Zerg fortress stood at least fifty stories high.
Around me stood more Zerg structures. These slimy compositions were all over the place. I reached for my weapon. Unfortunately it didn't seem to be there. I gasped in shock. This isn't good. Sweat poured down my brow as I viewed many Zerg monsters gathering. I quickly went for my knife. Yet again nothing was there.
In desperation I sprinted forward, hoping to catch the beasts off guard. Noticing that they didn't take any sign of me, I stopped. What? Am I cloaked? I looked down at my arms. They were still visibly there. Psionicly, I checked my settings on my suit. Nope cloaking was off. Remembering that there was Zerg still in front of me I jerked my head up and ducked to the ground. On instinct I went for my gun again. And of course it wasn't there.
The Zerg still hadn't appeared to move. I slowly breathed in and out. What the heck are they doing? I crawled over to the side of a Spawning Pool, a large cylinder-type structure filled with green gas. In hopes of having some form of cover. And then suddenly a figure walked out of the Hive. My heart skipped a beat.
How could this be? I starred in horror as Rod walked up to a hydralisk and petted it on the head. The monster towered over him and I was afraid it would rip him to pieces right then and there. I flinched forward wanting to help, but was surprised to see the snake-like creature do nothing.
What sort of cheap prank is this? I'd had enough. These monstrosities were going to die. I lunged forward. But just as I reached Rod I was sucked out of the vision. Everything was dark. Again. But, then I heard something.
"The prophecy has been beheld. I have done all I can. The rest lies with you, Derk Treeton." The voice reverberated.
Light blinded me as I opened my eyes. I rapidly through my hands on my face and yelled in irritation. My eyes adjusted and I looked around the room. Still angered by the light, I rubbed my eyes. I was lying in a medical chamber with monitors surrounding me. Oh great what did I do this time. Attempting to ignore the vision I had just seen, I thought back to what might've happened.
I was probably on another nuking mission. I always seemed to hurt myself in those. Shaking my head I looked at my self, trying to find any sign of infestation. Nope, my skin color was the same and I had no tentacles sticking out anywhere. All in all I looked fine.
Glancing over at the monitor again, I looked for some sort of date. Eh, it won't help me. I never know what day it is anyways.
Thinking of my armor I fearfully looked down to see what I was wearing. Irritably I didn't have a shirt on and a white blanket covered my legs. Lifting the sheets I saw that I was in a pair of military cameo jeans. Well at least I got something on. Without my suit I felt naked. Considering I partially was, but still, not having my suit on made me nervous.
Finally getting bored I stood up and walked over to the computer. Why am I here? Looking through some files I noticed a folder named, Selethicks. Realization came flooding in, yelling that this was the name of the injections given to me in training. They told us these were safe! Tapping the folder I looked inside. There was a long list of medical gibberish that made no sense to me.
Continuing my search for information I found a folder called Dangerous Mood Swings. I opened it revealing a document titled details. This opened a file loaded with information on it. I scanned through the paragraphs noticing a lot of "dangerous" and "lethal" words. Footsteps came from down the hall. Curiosity got the best of me as I psionicly cloaked myself.
I continued to read, finding out that the Selethicks contained a very treacherous substance called Hyucicle. It stated that the particles inside would arose the host's emotions, mainly anger. This chemical produced by the Terrans long ago was supposed to be an element put into the brains of people who had no sanity; reducing the person's nerves so they could be operated on. Why would they use this for the Military? Hearing the steps grow closer I quickly I read on.
Researchers continued looking into the substance to find more information regarding why it helped people who were insane. They found exactly what they were looking for and decided to implant it into Selethicks. This would hopefully help maintain the Ghost's ability to remain calm.
It worked for a time, but on occasion they would get a Ghost who was driven crazy and would go on a killing rampage. Mostly targeted were the ones they cared most for. If caught early, Hyucicle can be removed/replaced and the victim would move on with no further problems. For most, this chemical isn't hard to find. The victim will be engaging in severe mood swings, making it easy to pick them out.
The door to my room opened. I stiffened and remained cloaked. I could sense the shock and fear radiating from her body. I waited for her to run off down the hall before becoming visible again. I closed the program and lied back down on my bed. I wonder when she'll be coming back. Hmm, maybe I should go retrieve my gear? I put my hands behind my head. Naa, I'm probably in enough trouble as it is.
After lying there for what seemed like an hour, I sensed several people running down the hallway. I smiled, imagining their reactions. There was the same medic that was here earlier, a man in a tuxedo and a marine. Their worried expressions were priceless. They came barging into the room, just to see me laying there with my hands behind my head. They sighed in relief.
"Where were you!" The medic yelled. I chuckled.
"I'm sorry, but perhaps next time you should give the patient something to do when they wake up. It gets awfully boring in here." I said. "Now if you'll be so kind as to bring me my equipment and some food I would be extremely pleased."
"Very well," The tuxedo guy said. "And since we found you, I am no longer needed. I will send a nurse to get you something."
"Hmph, so you going to tell me what's going on?" I asked, watching tuxedo guy and the marine walk out.
"All will be explained, but first we need to run some more tests," The medic replied, approaching the monitors.
"Pff, why didn't you do the tests when I was out?" I questioned.
"You have to be awake for these ones. It's how the brain works," She said, pushing some buttons. A large oval-shaped scanner moved over my head. A green laser ran up and down my body. Another round machine lowered above my skull. Head fit inside the round machine. The second scanner made a loud beeping noise and then lifted away.
"So, are you going to tell me what's up now?" I asked, losing patience.
"Relax ghost, I'm almost done," She said. After a couple minutes I sat up and turned to her. She was sitting in front of a computer looking at the results. "Okay, so when you were in training they should have given you Selethicks, which are the injections they give ghosts, am I right?"
"Of course they gave me Selethicks, and yes I know all about Hyucicles," I said. Not mentioning that I only knew what I had read. "I want to know how I am functioning now and what I did."
"Huh," she sighed. "Very well, but I am only allowed tell you how you're doing at this point. I am not authorized to convey what happened before."
"Yeah whatever, so have you taken them out yet?"
"Well, we had orders from your commander to replace them. So that's what we did."
"You mean to tell me I still have a chance of going insane?!" I said, aggravated.
"No, after you have problems with Hyucicles once, it is near impossible to have further issues. You are one hundred percent ready for combat."
"I'm not so sure; I have obviously lost some memory. How can you be so certain that I am ready to be out on the field?"
"I am fully and completely confident. Your memory will return in a couple days, as well as anything else you might've lost."
"So you were wrong when you said I was one hundred percent ready," I responded, annoyed at her mistake.
"Well, by the time you get back into battle you'll be fine," She said, embarrassed.
"Hmph; reasonable," I said, standing up. "May I set off?"
"Yes, as soon as you fill out this pamphlet," she said handing me a packet. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the papers.
"You have all my information on the computer, what the crap do you need this for?"
"Look, it's just procedure," She replied.
"Pff, it's just procedure," I huffed, signing my name. "It's just stupid, that's what it is."
I threw the pamphlet back to her and marched out the door. She followed me.
"I expect you have a dropship waiting?" I asked, anticipating the exact opposite.
"Well, not exactly," She said. "We have called one to pick you up, but it won't arrive until later this evening."
"What time is it?" I asked, walking down a spiraling flight of stairs. "Time zone Forty Quad Terran Period?"
"Just after noon," She replied.
"Lovely," I said, sarcastically. "Just lovely."
Hey! So I finished another chapter. :D. I'm not sure if this one took longer than usual because I wasn't paying any attention. So... heh, hope it didn't. Please review! Especially all you bums who sit back and read without reviewing! Even if it is on the negative side. I want to KNOW!